A few years back, we covered ride-sharing site Hitchsters, which matches travellers to help them cut down on cab fare to airports in New York and San Francisco. Now, in the UK, Luton Airport has now joined forces with ride-sharing enterprise Liftshare to connect commuters en route to the airport.

Interested passengers and airport employees can register to access a database of other commuters, dropping a line to those heading to the airport at a similar time. The site never reveals the user's email or other contact information, and suggests that ride-sharers meet in a public place for the first trip just to keep things safe. The program, which is the first of its kind in the UK, is a smart move by Luton Airport. Not only does it improve its less-than-stellar transportation links to London, but it can ease its negative impact on the environment by helping to reduce the numbers of cars on the road. Key, of course, will be to make it easy and safe for travellers to share, and targeting frequent flyers seems like the way to go. Other airports to follow?

Website: www.londonlutoncarshare.com
Contact: londonluton.carshare@ltn.aero

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

Hard on the heels of our coverage of Kult—the vintage-arcade-machine-turned-3D-magazine—comes word of another paradigm-busting publication. Rather than breaking the mold on its form, however, this one shatters the norm by virtue of the fact that it was created and produced in 24 hours.

The clock began at 3 pm Central European time on June 27, when an all-volunteer team of designers, photographers, writers and others began to work nonstop on 24Hour Magazine, beginning from scratch with no design and no content. Twenty-four hours later—at 3 pm on June 28—the magazine was ready for the printing press, featuring articles, photos and illustrations on topics including lifestyle, fashion, music and design. The point was not just to create a product, however. Rather, the concept focused heavily on the experience of the process as well. With that in mind, the Kortrijk, Belgium-based team meticulously shared the day’s experience with the world through a variety of social media and other online avenues, including live video feeds, Twitter updates, continuous blog posts and a behind-the-scenes Flickr stream. The 47-page magazine itself was produced using Issuu—the publishing platform we covered last year—and is now available online. The 24Hour team expects it will soon be available in print as well, both for order online and through select bookstores, priced somewhere between EUR 20 and EUR 30. Also on the way is a “making of” DVD and music created specially for the experience.

No word yet on a next issue—or, indeed, on reactions to the magazine-cum-experience—but in the meantime, 24Hour Mag is actively seeking sponsors and advertisers. One to get involved with?

Website: www.24hourmagazine.com
Contact: tuffer@24hourmagazine.com

There's a new truck roaming the streets of LA—just in time for summer—and it's being followed by legions of devotees who track its whereabouts via Twitter. It's not Korean barbecue tacos on the menu this time, however—rather, it's gourmet ice cream sandwiches.

Much in the manner of Kogi Korean BBQ, which we covered earlier this year, Coolhaus sells handmade ice cream sandwiches from a pink and chrome converted postal jeep. Featuring local and organic ingredients whenever possible, Coolhaus sandwiches are 2-by-2-inch confections, about 1 inch deep, assembled to order using two cookies and a scoop of ice cream. Five architecture-inspired, "prefab" flavours are currently available from Coolhaus's two-woman team (for example: the Frank Behry, made from sugar cookies and strawberry ice cream; the Mies Vanilla Rohe features chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream), but customization is also possible, they say. The sandwiches are also available with an edible, rice-paper wrapping that can feature a brand, name or logo in edible ink. Pricing is about USD 3 per sandwich, or USD 3.50 with the edible wrapper, according to LAist.

In addition to broadcasting information about its whereabouts via Twitter (@coolhaus), Coolhaus actually partners with Kogi in Venice on Saturdays, LAist reported; coming soon from its truck are edible spoons and popsicles shaped like famous buildings.

Have we ever mentioned that everything can be upgraded? Well here it is again! Both Kogi and Coolhaus are perfect examples. Then of course there's the fact that recessions tend to make people value little luxuries more. What's next? How about mobile restaurant rows, like the one at Dwell on Design '09 two days ago, which included the new Sprinklesmobile alongside Coolhaus, Kogi and others. (Related: More high-end dessert trucks — Sprinkles Cupcakes: Betty Crocker, upgraded.)

Website: www.eatcoolhaus.com
Contact: freya@eatcoolhaus.com

Spotted by: LAist via Judy McRae

Digital publisher Zinio has teamed up with Starwood to offer guests free digital copies of their favourite magazines. As of last month, a variety of well-known titles can be downloaded at Starwood's Element hotels, with Aloft and Four Points by Sheraton joining at the end of the year.

Zinio's 'digital newsstand' can be accessed on guests' laptops in their rooms, or via a kiosk in the lobby. After logging on to the Starwood portal and registering with Zinio, guests can select as many single titles as they wish, choosing from a wide range of popular publications like Caribbean Travel & Life, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Field & Stream and Ski Magazine. (Prices for magazines purchased through Zinio are normally similar to those paid for paper copies.)

With editions that can be read online or off—and that are identical to their printed brethren—travellers are freed from schlepping around a bag full of paper. Zinio gets the chance to demo its service to new users, and Starwood can offer its guests magazines they actually want to read, instead of a standard selection. And there's an environmental benefit too, of course, which is fitting since Element is Starwood's new 'green' brand. Reminds us of another download service for travellers we spotted recently: airline alliance offers free audiobook downloads at airports.

Website: www.zinio.com — www.starwood.com

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

We've written fairly extensively about city bike schemes already, and Barcelona's two-year-old Bicing is a shining example. Now, bringing the service into the iPhone era, Bicing recently launched a mobile application that consumers can use to get location-based information about bicycle and parking availability.

Residents of Barcelona use Bicing by applying for a personal card and then using that card to rent and pay for use of one of the service's 6,000 bicycles. Bicycles can be picked up from and returned to any of 400 stations throughout the city. With the new iBicing application—downloadable from Apple's iTunes Store for EUR 0.79—consumers can now see in advance the best place to find or bring back a bicycle. All they need do is send an SMS to "7010" for information about the availability of bikes and parking slots at the stations nearest them. iBicing taps the iPhone's GPS capabilities to pinpoint a user's location and select which stations would be most convenient, but users can also search for information about others. Google Maps with interactive navigation can be displayed as well.

Bike sharing schemes are already laudable for so many reasons, most notably their benefits for the environment and urban congestion. Making such services more convenient for consumers through maps and the increasingly ubiquitous iPhone is the obvious next step toward realizing those benefits more fully. This is "mapmania" at work, as our sister site would say, and it's one to emulate in bicycle-sharing cities around the globe! (Related: Zipcar's iPhone app will find and unlock cars — Free coffee for iPhone users at Swedish 7-Eleven.)

Website: www.bicing.com
Contact: info@bicing.com

Spotted by: Daniel Rodriguez