Tue, 08/31/2010 | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

How MIT’s Hybrid Bike Wheel Came to Life

Can a student design change the world? Absolutely, and the Copenhagen Wheel -- a hybrid-electric wheel you can bolt onto almost any bike -- might soon prove how fast that can happen.

Developed by a student team out of MIT's SENSEable City lab, the wheel recently won the U.S. round the James Dyson Awards. Even Sir James lauded the design's versatility and elegance, telling us, "It's a well thought out design in that it addresses a number of problems beyond tired legs."

Redecorated Oval Office Turns Right-Wingers into Design Critics

The White House has dolled up the Oval Office in modern* decor and, suddenly, conservative commenters fancy themselves the next Jonathan Adler.

Eye Candy: Once a Communist Hideout, Now a Glorious Homage to Berlin’s Past

Nobody does history better than Berlin. You can’t walk two feet without confronting some bombed-out arms factory or a crumbling Bauhaus monument or an old watchtower looming ominously over the ghost of the Berlin Wall. Its unsavory past is just a fact of the city’s present.

Solving the World’s Toughest Problem: Turning Public Policy Into Private Action

This is the next piece in our PATTERNS series, written by IDEO. Read more from the series here.

Frog Design’s New Vitals Monitor: An Antidote to Human Error

Frog Design and medical equipment manufacturer Welch Allyn have unveiled a new device that vows to radically reduce errors during the measurement of patients' vital signs.

EPA’s New Fuel Efficiency Labels: Will They Help Sell Greener Cars?

Going car shopping has never been more complicated for someone who wants to buy a fuel-efficient vehicle. The traditional MPG rating doesn't hold up for some hybrids and electric cars which -- depending on how much and where you drive them -- might never revert to gas. Which is why car companies such as GM have been lobbying for new EPA standards that make the the benefits of green(er) vehicles more transparent to consumers.

Infographic of the Day

Infographic of the Day: Pasta, Not Bacon, Makes You Fat. But How?

Expert Perspectives

Paddy Harrington Discusses: Wanna Figure Out If Your Product Is Any Good? Think Like A News Editor
Roderick McMullen Discusses: Usability Is King For Your Product. Here’s How We Can Finally Measure It
Enrique Allen Discusses: Silicon Valley’s New Secret Weapon: Designers Who Found Startups

From the Editor

Thanks for stopping by Fast Company’s Co.Design. If you’ve been a reader for some time, you’ll notice that we’ve just unveiled a brand-new redesign. You can read about the thought process behind it here. Our content, of course, will be the same: Our focus is on highlighting the world’s best examples of design and innovation, working in concert.

We started this site with a few simple premises in mind. First, design is a window onto the world at large, and the culture we live in.

Continued