Water is something that we can’t live without. I have always been surprised that an entire market has been created around selling something that is almost free. For those water snobs only a bottled water like Voss will do, but then there is the rest of us. Plastic water bottles have gotten a bad rap lately, which has helped out companies that make non plastic water bottles like Sigg. Well there is a new kid on the block, and they are here to show that not only can a plastic water bottle be healthy and environmentally responsible, it can look amazing too. The Kor One Hydration Vessel is a new water bottle which will be available soon. It’s BPA free, wide mouthed, and absolutely sexy. At $29 they aren’t cheap, but if you stopped buying bottled water and just filtered your own at home it would not only be better for the environment, but cheaper overall.
More pics after the jump.

Available in August from Kor for $29

Via Coolhunting.
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As we have remodeled our kitchen I have had to do quite a bit of rearranging electrical. Since we moved everything to the opposite walls there are spots were we had power, that we no longer need it. For example we had a fan above our stove, and a light above our sink. Now we just have a blank coverplate over the junction box. I came across this great idea at Interior design room to make the invisible visible. I actually like the idea of making it a design element instead of just trying to hide it. Whether it will actually look good or not…. we’ll see.

I have had several reader write-ins lately about the fabulous Home Hero Fire Extinguisher. This fire extinguisher has all the bells and whistles that you would expect to find in a fire extinguisher plus something you wouldn’t, stylish design. It has a ergonomic shape for easy one handed use, and a modern look that will fit into about any decor. The idea is to create a product that looks nice enough that you can actually leave it in a place that will be easily accessible, not buried in the back of a cupboard underneath your tupperware collection. They also have a 2 in 1 smoke and carbon monoxide detector that connect wirelessly to other Home Hero smoke detectors. This creates a system similar to hard wired smoke detectors where if one goes off, they all go off.

Fire extinguishers are available exclusively at Home Depot for around $30.

Thanks for the tips!
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Tonight is the night. The winner of the People’s Design Award will be announced at 10:00 PM EST on their website, or if you are in New York you can go to the gala. For those of you like myself who aren’t even close to NYC, Target and Cooper-Hewitt have teamed up to provide free admission to art museums all over the country. Check the map to see if there is one near you. If you just want to browse good design from the comfort of your computer you can look at all of this years nominees here.

I am a big fan of cards, and while my wife and I usually make our own, we appreciate a good card. Good cards is what Modern Printed Matter is all about. Everything from modern furniture to tasty graphic design. There is something about the simplicity of this Barcelona chair card that I really like. It’s printed on 80 lb cover stock in black ink and measures 4″ x 5.5″ (folds from the top). It comes with an A2 shimmery white metallic envelope (square flap) and is blank inside for your personal note. Sold as a set of six cards for $10.

Available from the Modern Printed Matter Etsy shop.

Lately I have been thinking about going back to school to get a degree in graphic design. I have been looking for some good blogs that relate to graphic design, but so far I haven’t been able to find any. I know there has to be a bunch of them out there and I figure that if anyone would know about them it would be my readers. So if you know of any good ones, please leave a link in the comments to this post. Thanks!

Illustration by ODL Designs.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the outdoor retailer show looking for cool new product designs. One of the products that I came across while I was there was a Stanley 16 oz vacuum drink bottle. They were kind enough to let me take one home for product testing, and I have to say I have been loving the design. It has a very convenient twist open top that you drink from. My favorite feature though is that all the pieces of the top actually come apart for cleaning. With my other pop top thermos I felt like I could never get that stuff as clean as I wanted to. Personally I that think it looks pretty good in matt green and orange.

Available from Stanley for $30.

We haven’t had a doorbell in a house since we have been married, and honestly with our dog I’m not sure we need one. He assumes it is his duty to bark at anyone who even thinks of approaching our house. If I were in the market for a new doorbell however, I would definitely have my eye on this wireless doorbell designed by Jacob Jensen. It’s a classic example of hi tech meets Danish design, and it makes for one of the nicest looking doorbells around. It features 5 different polyphonic bell noises and can be wall mounted or freestanding. The range is 150 meters which should be plenty for just about everyone. The price is a little steep at $150, but good luck finding anything else that looks this good.

Available from Improvee for $150.

This last week was the outdoor retailer show here in Salt Lake. I always try and get down there to see if there are any interesting new products coming out this year. I was hoping to run into Terra Plana so I could get a peak at their Dopie Sandal, and as luck would have it, I did.

Not only did I get to see this unique sandal in real life, but I also got to talk with the brain child behind the sandal Matthew Harrison. He was a little jet lagged as he had just barely gotten in from London, but it was still a great conversation. Matthew explained that in designing the sandal he was trying to simplify the concept of a shoe as much as possible. The result is the Dopie. For my full review, read on…

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Unless you have been living in a cave for the last 6 months, you have heard about the iPhone. It is the most hyped up phone ever to be released, perhaps even the most hyped apple product ever released too. Surely there is a good reason for all the hype right? Well lets hope so. Despite any potential downfalls, such as a virtual keyboard, you have to admit the iPhone really is a revolutionary product. The question is, at a base price of $499, will they really sell as many as they think they will.
I admittedly am a mac addict and will probably be waiting in line for the 6 PM release today.

How about you, will you be buying a iPhone?