Volkswagen believes that injecting a healthy dose of fun into the often mundane tasks in our daily lives, such as choosing the stairs or remembering to recycle, is the best method for positive influencing our behaviors.

An installation by Airan Kang at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery showcases books that are made from fiber optics and enclosed in plastic.

Swiss scientific illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger travels to post and near-nuclear sites like Chernobyl, documenting the bizarre ‘morphologically disturbed’ insects that have survived the fallout.

Bits ‘n Pieces is a traveling exhibition of work by international designers, architects, computer scientists, and material and technology researchers. It will showcase projects still in their development stage, as well as furniture, architecture, jewelry, graphic design and products that anticipate the next phase of the digital revolution, focusing on how society is imbued with, shaped by and shapes technology.

To combat falling domestic merchandise sales and increase Mickey Mouse’s relevance amongst children, Disney has undertaken a quiet, albeit full-blown revitalization of the character.

The Inner City Bike is a concept design by Jruiter that eliminates the need for a bike chain and reduces the structure of the frame, causing us to rethink a bicycle’s fundamental design.

I recently presented at the Future Trends conference in Miami. My presentation was called ‘Good Ideas in 2010′ and it is the first part of a project to deliver a book later this month with the same title.

Together, the Jerry Seinfeld Calendar and Pimsleur’s Graduated Interval Recall, create a method for improving the ways we learn.

While far from a comprehensive study on the development of hyper-local languages, Giles Turnbull’s ad hoc research on how different children name Lego’s various building blocks is an interesting, albeit quirky, glimpse into the ways we build internal dialogues and communicate with one another.

Italian coffee maker Illy Caffe will challenge Starbucks Corp’s stronghold over the US out-of-home coffee market by expanding its reach within independent coffee shops, rather than opening up its own.

“Guangzhou Supports You!” is a new crowdsourced, hyper-local online photography activity in Guangzhou, China.

Each year during Tokyo Design Week, DesignTide Tokyo features top design innovations from a variety of fields. With today marking the end of the five-day event, we’ve highlighted three projects below that we find particularly inspirational.

“Living Light” is a piece of public art that uses networked panels to reveal the real-time air quality of each neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea.

As further evidence of the increasing threat that crowdsourcing poses to advertising agencies, PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew will reward marketing duties for a $100 million-plus business to a consumer-picked player, via an online contest beginning in late November 2009.

Musician John Mayer has released a new augmented reality video called Battle Studies that places viewers right in the action.