South Koreans are finding a way to utilize their cell phones for additional purposes. To save on the use of paper, retailers are sending coupons, motion picture tickets, gift certificates and more to customer’s cell phones. The message sent has a picture of a barcode that can be scanned by the retailer - ingenious!

“People can actually receive products from places just by showing their phones,” says Ryu Mina, a spokesperson with mobile service provider SK Telecom.

Apparently companies in South Korea started text messaging cryptic numbers and bars about six years ago. This little idea has a lot of potential for retailers, customers and advertisers.

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Gas prices seem to be climbing daily and to very scary prices forcing many to look to alternative fuels. A company in California, E-Fuel Corporation, has created the EFuel 100 MicroFueler which is a device that weighs about 200 pounds and uses 110 or 220 volt power supply and a wastewater drain. Using the simplest ingredients: water, yeast and sugar, consumers can create 100 percent ethanol at just a push of a button (sorta reminds you of making coffee in the morning at the office).

Unfortunately the MicroFueler costs about $10,000 and requires quite a bit electricity, sugar and water to create a sufficient volume of ethanol to distribute. Currently E-Fuel Corporation has arranged importation of inedible or “ethanol-grade” sugar from Mexico for as little as 2.5 cents per pound which will reduce the cost of making ethanol. E-Fuel hopes to have this device ready at the end of this year.

Watch MicroFueler’s Video here.

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A design created by NonObject is expected to deliver a new level of experience for motorcylists. Their new concept, currently in development, is the “nUCLEUS”, a motorcycle built on the principle of “square against air”. The Zero Impact machine is supposed to feature zero emissions, ultra-light materials and an integrated behavior system.

Suprisingly, even with its boxy features, NonObject claims that it is fast. The square side views hide the fact that these pieces of metal are blades from the front to minimize drag.

Ignoring the fact that the side almost looks like 2 missing car doors or a whole side of a car, I would be interested to see if this “vehicle” makes it to production and can prove its eco-friendliness. But for fun, here’s a video on the nUCLEUS here.

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bioME5,an eco-friendly children’s company, has released its “much anticipated” infant version of their popular Alphabet t-shirt line. Founded by two architectural designers in Venice, CA, the designers wanted to connect the beauty of nature with learning for children to appreciate the beautiful natural world around them. The clever upside writing on the shirts and infant onesies allow children to view the word ‘K’ right side up, but the corresponding animal ‘Kangaroo’ is spelled upside for the child to read while looking down at their shirt. The new BioME5 onesies (size 3 to 6 months and 6 to 12 months) are 100% certified, undyed/unbleached organic cotton and made in sweatshop-free facilities. The onesies are even tagless, preshrunk and the founders even took care of making the packaging by using biodegradable plastic bags that will take as little as 9 months to biodegrade.

The new bioME 5 Alphabet infant onesies retail for $32 (with FREE shipping online) and the original toddler short sleeve tees remain at $32 at www.bioME5.com. You can also find the Alphabet line at specialty boutiques such as Crib in Beverly Hills, Blush in New York, Sit Still in Portland and the The Glitter Box in Phoenix.

Raise your hand if dislike being awakened by a bright light? How about your alarm?

There’s a new lighted pillow concept which is a visual alarm clock that could really make some changes to the way we wake up.

The LED lighted pillow is designed to wake you slowing by exposing your sleepy closed eyes to gradual brightness over a 40 minute period. Created by Ian Walton in collaboration with Eoin McNally, the Glo Pillow uses a cutting-edge LED fabric substrate below the pillow’s surface to wake you up.

Once you’re wake enough to lift your head. Glance over at the pillow to check out the current time via an easy-to-read dot-matrix display lying beneath your pillow case. Conveniently the design includes easy to reach controls built into the flap of the pillow.

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