
This is either China's armed police demonstrating their rapid deployment abilities during an anti-terrorist drill for the Beijing Olympics or athletes training for a new Biathlon event combining the segway with shooting.

It's big, it's brawny, it's dude heaven! (No - not mud wrestling!) Power Tools! This month we challenged Core readers to flex their skills and design the next greatest piece of mechanical muscle in one hour or less. Together with guest judge Brian Matt of Altitude, Inc. we've narrowed it down to a selection that would make Tim Allen proud. Here are the results:
First Place: Air Force
Second Place: Hacksaw

Protect Pendant by seeingthingsconz
Ponoko's 10 Day Challenge to design laser cut jewelry inspired by summer is underway. Ponoko will make and deliver the top 20 designs as voted by the community which will go into the running to win $1,000 in cash.

Keeseh Studio is inviting students and design enthusiasts to celebrate the pursuit of ecodesign through an international competition to utilize waste material. Here's the pitch:
Now this looks interesting. A Recent History of Writing and Drawing is the new show at the ICA, opening on Wednesday 9 July. It's curated by design historian Emily King (who's also design editor at Frieze magazine), and is a...

Yesterday Bruce Sterling was one of the international speakers at the Frontiers of Interaction IV conference in Turin, Italy.


OOF is a group of product designers who graduated from Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication in 2005:
Three weeks ago we have announced the Style Switchers Design Contest where we've presented some ideas for style switchers design and encouraged our readers to create a style switcher for their own web-sites. One of the participants was to be awarded with an Apple Cinema 20 Flat Panel Display. Over 60 designers participated and — as in all of our earlier contests — the results are indeed pretty smashing.

Start liftin! It's time to design some powertools!
Brief:
Shhhhh...can you hear that? It's the sound of summer! (No! Not tight thong speedos and hairy backs!) It's home renovation time! All those Do-it-Yourselfers are crawling out of their dens to tackle this summer's To Do List -- men and women clamoring to Home Depot to buy the latest and greatest power tool to cut that next plank 2 inches too short.

Plastic bag projects are a dime a dozen, but a plastic bag happening? Hmm..Over at Kiosk, Jason Rosenberg is facilitating a bag exchange through July 1st. The rules are simple:
1) Come with a plastic bag and leave with a different one

Currently underway at the Istanbul Modern is "Design Cities," which "tells the story of contemporary design through the focus of seven key cities, in each case looking at their decisive roles in the development of design. While focusing on how specific moments in the history of cities contributed to the evolution of design, the exhibition investigates the ways in which design has shaped contemporary culture."

For those of you in NYC and eagerly anticipating the show, the Bucky Fuller Institute has organized a slew of events and celebrations this week, from the Buckminster Fuller Challenge ceremony to dialogues, roundtables, screenings, and a birthday party on Saturday!
Get everything you need to know at the site.