Solution = Design

"One definition of industrial design is: a methodical way of solving problems with well-conceived products. Sometimes this process happens outside of the design world limelight, by people who have never taken a single Production Methods class or set foot in an ID studio," states the opening paragraph of this core77 article.  Although it is nothing I could ever relate to I always think its so interesting to see how people find creative solutions to their problems. I think it is essentially the beginning of all designs. In this article, Mary Haugh, a Canadian pig farmer, came up with a new way to heard her pigs using just a roll of red fabric. Here's the video of he invention in action:

JetSetting

So I'm about to go Spring Break to Puerto Rico with my best friends. Since we booked so early, its was only $300 ROUND TRIP, fees included. I'm sorry, but you can't been a spring break thats going to cost around $450 TOTAL.
So what does this have to do with design? Well in this post by Nussbaum, he discuss how JetBlue has taken advantage of the outsourcing and put it to "consumer advantageous" use. By aquiring a new jet designed to make short trips with 100 passengers they could offer fares for only $25 from New York to Boston. Delta and American Airline were forced to follow suit soon after ad who does that equal.....lower prices for all of us and cheap spring breaks.

Oooooo A Fancy Wallet

So this is definitely a benchmark of the future.....a laptop, that is literally no bigger than your wallet:

Don't get too excited, there's no guarantee it'll be available anytime soon. Core77 article here.

Drink Up

This sort of reminds me of the airplane trick you use to get children to eat their vegetables.....
London is trying to get their inhabitants to drink more tap water, so they decided to have the Thames Design Competition to see who could design the most appealing cups and bottles from which to serve it from. Somehow I don't think people will be necessarily be fooled by this "crafty" trick, but hey why not?

Map

Here's my shoppers map of midtown Manhattan: