While over a billion people live without clean water, the world is drowning in the waste of millions of water bottles. The Hydros Bottle could provide a simple solution. Available for the US market by the end of the year, the 700 ml bottle features an integrated filter that cleans water as you drink. The bottle was originally developed by the University of Pennsylvania to provide purified water to increasingly mobile, urban people in the developing world. However, the researchers discovered water quality problems closer to home, with high levels of heavy metals and toxins in the tap water in some areas of the States.

The Hydros Bottle's filter reduces arsenic, particulate and dissolved lead, mercury, copper, chlorine and cadmium, which is more than some well-known household filters. The company is also aiming to wean Americans off bottled water by outlining the potential savings: at USD 6, one recyclable filter lasts for 320 refills, amounting to a saving of over USD 500 compared to bottled water. The bottle plus one filter costs USD 25; replacement filters are USD 6 each. Hydros Bottle is treated to prevent odours and can be branded with company logos. (Note that bottles with different types of integrated filters are available for the outdoor sports market; see Trailspace for an overview.)

Hydros Bottle's plans to develop a customizable filter for the developing world are temporarily on hold, but the company is still actively engaged in projects to promote worldwide access to potable water. One to partner with locally? (Related: Reusable water bottle flattens and folds when empty — Generator turns plastic bottles back into oil.)

Website: www.hydrosbottle.com
Contact: www.hydrosbottle.com/contact.php

Spotted by: Eduardo Orozco

Private wine cellars are typically associated with the upper echelons of society, limited as they tend to be to large, old and expensive houses. A UK company aims to change all that, however, with a precast storage system that can be installed in virtually any room of any house.

Spiral Cellars are watertight storage spaces that can be sunk into the ground in an existing ground floor room or incorporated into the build of an extension or new property. Capable of storing almost 1,900 bottles of wine, the spiral-shaped systems rely on the surrounding earth for insulation but also employ a unique air-flow system to maintain constant temperature without requiring any power. Three size options are available, ranging from the Mini Cellar—capable of storing at least 650 bottles—up to the White Spiral Cellar, which can accommodate up to 1,870 bottles. Pricing begins at GBP 9,200. A variety of trap door styles and optional extras such as LED lighting are also available.

Spiral Cellars has installed more than 23,000 Spiral Cellars in France and the UK over the last 25 or so years; one to bring to the growing ranks of oenophiles in other parts of the world...? (Related: Urban tasting room plays host to 8 local wineries — Wine selling & storytelling.)

Website: www.spiralcellars.co.uk
Contact: info@spiralcellars.com

Few would dispute the benefits of eating locally grown food, both for the environment and for human health. Access is the challenge, which is why we've seen such goods sold in vending machines, delivered by bicycle and packed in five-dollar bags for commuters. The latest spotting? Local Dirt, a Wisconsin-based site that connects buyers and sellers of locally grown food nationwide.

Farmers and other vendors begin by creating a profile page to promote their produce, as well as listing the quantities and prices of the products they have to sell. Individual and organizational buyers can then search for local food sellers and products in their area—searching by address, ZIP code or via map—and browsing the listings of those near them. Once they've found something they like, buyers can order food for pick-up at farmers' markets or farms. A purchase order is automatically generated and mailed to them for use in picking up the food and paying the seller. Listing, ordering and bidding on items in Local Dirt is free; yearly memberships for more sophisticated features—such as wholesale capabilities—begin at USD 360.

Whether it's by bringing the food to the consumers or the consumers to the food, there's no doubt the resulting boost for local food consumption is a win-win for everyone—and the planet. One to emulate in your neck of the food-producing woods...?

Website: www.localdirt.com
Contact: www.localdirt.com/contact_us-a194.html

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Billed as a 'virtual taste search engine', Aromicon lists thousands of wines categorised by every imaginable detail. Wines can be browsed by region, grape variety or food pairing, as well as searched by keyword. There's also the option to browse according to taste, featuring a huge range of subtleties to satisfy the requirements of the most practiced palette—everything from 'kiwi' and 'butter', to peculiarities like 'animal' and 'blood' (luckily you can opt to exclude those).

Although the site is in German, it's almost navigable by its icons alone—hence the name. And in a visually innovative twist, a short animation graphically displays a wine's unique blend of flavours, showing berries, chocolate, pipes, etc swirling around in a glass. The concept is a spin-off from the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, and features a vintage revenue model: the site essentially functions as a fully-featured affiliate sales portal linking to several German wine merchants. One to serve up for wine-lovers who don't speak German, or to partner with if you're in the wine business?

Website: www.aromicon.com
Contact: kontakt@aromicon.com

Spotted by: Franziska Luh

We've seen the Wikipedia model applied to car design, a video dictionary and an online publishing platform. The latest? Foodista, an online cooking encyclopedia whose recipes can be edited by anyone.

Launched late last year, Seattle-based Foodista is a collaborative project to build the world's largest, highest-quality cooking encyclopedia. The site says it is the first to organize and cross-link the basic elements of cooking: foods, or the basic ingredients; recipes, or combinations of ingredients; cooking techniques; and kitchen tools. Rather than include hundreds of recipes for the same basic result, however—the way many recipe sites do—Foodista aims instead to perfect a few key recipes through the collaborative editing process. Thousands of high-resolution photos from the Flickr.com Creative Commons currently illustrate the topics on the site—though not the results of specific recipes, as TechCrunch points out—and users can also upload their own photos. Content is fully editable, and a raft of tools aimed at food bloggers include embeddable widgets to forge automated links from Foodista to specific food blogs. Ultimately, Foodista plans to support itself through online advertising.

Will a thousand cooks produce a better recipe, as the site implicitly promises? Or will the collaborative process reduce each of the site's recipes to the most bland, lowest-common-denominator version, as TechCrunch suggests it might? Time will tell. In the meantime, one to watch—or get involved in? (Related: 52 recipe contests to spawn crowdsourced cookbook — Personalized cooking: recipes match cravings — Customized cookbooks stir in online recipes.)

Website: www.foodista.com
Contact: www.foodista.com/contact

Spotted by: Murtaza Ali Patel

There's nothing like a baby to inspire adults to seek new heights of design and personalization. Last week we covered RoomsByYou's customizable fabrics for baby rooms, after which we were happy to spot Alphabet Plates, a line of plates and placemats that can be customized for young kids.

With bright, bold designs and BPA-free construction, Alphabet Plates can be personalized to reflect kids' favourite foods, sports, faces or monograms. Those approximating a child's face, for example, allow customization of the 10-inch melamine plate's colour as well as the child's hair, eye colour, skin tone and accessories; two small text boxes can accommodate the child's name and a phrase like "Big Sister." Food-themed designs include pizza and tofu, while volleyball and bicycling are among the sports represented. Alphabet Plates are priced at USD 22. The Florida company's personalizable USD 18 placemats, meanwhile, show where all the dishes and utensils go and are available in English, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Dutch and German. A portion of every sale is donated to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation.

It seems safe to say consumers will never tire of customization, especially when it comes to their children. What we can't wait to see is, who will make the first line of customizable—reusable or disposable—diapers...?

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

Spotted by: swissmiss

To reduce the number of plastic water bottles that end up in landfills, consumers are encouraged to buy reusable bottles. Since those can be bulky to carry along, a company in Thousand Oaks, California designed an alternative. Vapur is a reusable water bottle that flattens when empty. Like a regular bottle, it stands upright when full. But when it's empty, users can fold or roll it up to stick it in a pocket or a purse.

Made of ultra-durable three-ply, BPA-free polymer, Vapur bottles can be cleaned in a dishwasher's top rack and can be frozen to keep water cool. Vapur's eco-creds aren't limited to their day-to-day use: since the bottles can be shipped flat, they're also greener to ship from manufacturer to distributors and consumers. All in all, it's an innovative way to make it more convenient for consumers to drink and carry tap water. Also of interest is that the product was developed in-house by design agency Tonic, as part of their strategy to create and spin off products of their own.

Website: www.vapur.us
Contact: www.thinktonic.com/contact-us.php

Last month, we reported on Milk Made: a Manhattan members club for artisanal ice cream. Operating on the same principle—food produced in small batches and delivered locally to pre-paying customers—is Dulcinea. The young baked-goods company, also based in New York, delivers 'a wholesome indulgence' every Wednesday. Customers subscribe per month, paying USD 28 per week.

Past deliveries include six jumbo rhubarb muffins, a blueberry lemon pound cake, and a half dozen strawberry scones. Dulcinea uses produce from local farms, choosing organic and sustainably produced ingredients as much as possible. Like the roaming restaurants we've covered, the subscription/members model used by Dulcinea and Milk Made is a great way for fledgling entrepreneurs to get a foothold in the food business, creating a steady income and a client base for other parts of their business (Dulcinea, for example, also does catering). Entrepreneurial foodies in other cities—what are you waiting for?! ;-)

Website: www.dulcineabaking.com
Contact: emma@dulcineabaking.com

Spotted by: Danielli Alejos

We wrote about Omlet's do-it-yourself chicken-farming kits back in 2005, and since then interest in urban farming has only gotten stronger. A number of updates on the topic have graced our virtual pages since then, and now Omlet has added do-it-yourself beekeeping to its line of offerings.

We've covered urban beekeeping atop a hotel and a department store, but Omlet's Beehaus kit brings the practice back down to earth for individual consumers. The Beehaus comes as a complete hive ready for colonization, with all the parts necessary including honey jars and a comprehensive beekeeping guide. Priced at GBP 465, the Beehaus is available in a choice of colours, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. An optional starter kit, meanwhile, includes the accessories a first-time beekeeper will need, such as a bee suit, veil, smoker and hive tools. An average, colonized Beehaus will produce 50 jars of honey per year, UK-based Omlet says, with the potential for up to 100kg if things go well.

Will consumers tire of producing their own, hand-cultivated food? Survey says no, particularly during these rough economic times. One to bring to sweet-toothed consumers in your part of the global hive...?

Website: www.omlet.co.uk
Contact: info@omlet.co.uk

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau