Many individuals are philanthropists at heart but there are a few obstacles that are stopping them. The obvious one being that no one has the extra money to do so. But Christine Ho and Kevin Tsoi found that many would if they could. From that, they developed Well of Change, a charity where people donate their skills and time to those who are interested. All of the proceeds go towards the charity of the giver’s choice.

Did you know that all your household cleaners contain more water content than the actual cleaning solution? That’s right, your trusty cleaning product contains mostly of what you can easily get from your tap. Canadian startup company Planet People “tapped” into the innovative idea of completely eliminating water content from cleaning products. Their cleaning product named iQ is a 3.5″ tall refill cartridge of concentrated cleaning solution. To use it, simply add tapwater into their specially designed, multi-use spray bottle, insert the cartridge and then twist on the spray nozzle to start releasing the cleaning agent into the water. Once the cartridge runs out, just buy a new one and reuse the same spray bottle.

If you’ve been following Vidafine since last year, you will know that we are particularly interested in what the Korean designers are working on, evident in our NOTHING dESIGN GROUP posts here, and here. Our fellow Vidafine-r is actually in Korea right now scoping out the scene (p.s. It was his birthday earlier this week, so give him a shout if you’re on Twitter!). So our profile of Lufdesign from Korea should be of no surprise!

With the movie Eat, Pray, Love about to be released around the world, those interested in culinary, spiritual and relaxation journeys will be reminded of how to savour life’s simple pleasures and travel the world while doing it. How appropriate that we were able to speak personally with Geoff McCabe recently, who is CEO/Co-owner of Anamaya Resort (which we wrote about not long ago) in Costa Rica, the world’s first ‘carbon-neutral’ country.

Not a fan of the Kraft dinners and Michelinas you often find at the grocery store? Looking for something a little more exotic, hungry to test your culinary skills, and perhaps a feast that will take you across the globe? Enter.. Destination Dinners. These pre-prepared ingredients from San Francisco based company, are a great alternative for those families on the go, but who also want a bit of flare to their dinners. I’ve personally never tried this out, however with dishes like Baked Spice Lamb, Green Chicken Curry, Chicken Garam Masala and Beef Bulgogi, I’m tempted to give it a go!

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but the accessories re-crafted by Deborah Sanderson are those shiny rock’s new rival. In her quaint live/work studio in the Artscape Wychwood Barns, Sanderson displays her work for all to see. She had an open house last month that drew in waves of fascinated shoppers.

Remember all those times Mother told you to put away the games to do your homework? Well it seems there is reason now to keep playing. HopeLab, a not-for-profit organization, combines research with innovative solutions to better the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness. Their first product, Re-Mission, is a video game that allows a player to enter a virtual world where they can create an avatar and destroy cancer cells.

Plastic bottles are everywhere. Even though most of us have switched over to our own BPA-free water bottles to store our water in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, plastic bottles still remain in our environment through soda pop or sparkling water bottles. How do we then minimize the amount of soda pop bottles present around us?

I’m personally not a soda lover, but I have am surrounded by many that I would have to say are ‘addicted’ to their bubbly liquids on a daily basis. Similar to the Zoku-which allows you to instantly make your own popsicles, the SodaStream machine lets you, well, make your own soda at home, essentially helping to reduce the number of soda pop bottles floating around town! And with the company’s recent collaboration with world renowned designer Karim Rashid (who was also a presenter at ideaCity back in 2000), it’s no wonder the product is getting it’s well deserved hype with it’s stunning design and also eco-friendly spin.