Unlike most paper and plastics cups that end up in the trash bin—and eventually in a land fill—after being used, a new disposable cup from product design consultants The Way We See The World is designed to wind up somewhere else: Either in your stomach or as fertilizer in your lawn and garden.

That’s right, these cups, called “Jelloware,” can either be eaten or act as plant food. This is because they’re made from agar agar, a gelatinous seaweed extract that nurtures plant growth. And while seaweed extract may not sound incredibly appetizing, Jelloware cups have a flexible composition similar to Jell-O and are cast in flavors like lemon-basil, ginger-mint and rosemary-beet, so they’re intended to be eaten, too.

According to The Way We See The World, the Jelloware cups re-imagine the concept of drinking and provide a new experience in the way it feels, smells, moves, tastes and—perhaps most importantly—is disposed of. After all, some 58 billion disposable cups find their way into land fills each year.

If you’ve been watching the Tour de France, you may have witnessed a peloton turning into a jumble of broken and bent bikes. Not good. And while the bicycle design innovation from Kevin Scott, a product development student at the UK’s De Montfort University isn’t meant for venues like the Tour, his bike bends in half because it’s supposed to.

Scott’s “bendy bicycle” design features a cable that runs through two segmented tubes connecting the rear part of the bike to the front. This cable can be loosened with a ratcheting device located underneath the seat so that the bicycle literally folds in half, allowing it to be wrapped around lamp poles, trees, signs, etc. This bending allows it to (a) lock to itself with an ordinary D-lock (not clunky chains), which Scott thinks will cut down on bike theft, and (b) become more compact for home storage and public parking purposes. When not parked, the cable can be fully tightened so that the frame straightens back out and it rides like any normal bike.

The bending design may not be the flashiest element to be developed for bicycles, but it could provide a greater sense of security to the 3 million people worldwide who have their bikes stolen annually.

The RapMan 3.1 may sound more like a new rap artist than a prototyping machine, but don’t be fooled. This 3D printer developed by Bits from Bytes is a DIY kit and includes an upgrade that allows a second printer head to be added to the machine. This means two different types of materials can be printed at once, which adds much more versatility to the end product. If you already have a RapMan with one head, the upgrade is available for £149.50 (approx. $230). A new two-headed printer costs £1,050, or about $1,615.

It’s estimated that an average of 99.2 million people worldwide have tuned in for each game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. But consider this: Some 2 billion people throughout the world don’t have access to electricity, so you can just imagine how much greater the audience would be for the world’s most popular sport if they did.

Four Harvard engineering students may have found the solution to this problem in the “sOccket,” a soccer ball that generates electricity to work as an electrical outlet. The device was developed on the idea that while not everyone has access to electricity, most everyone has access to a form of exercise.

Here’s how the sOccket works: When in motion, a cylindrical magnet moves along an inductive coil which is located inside the ball. This creates the electricity. After creating enough electricity, users can plug appliances equipped with a DC jack into the ball to power them. Its creators say that playing for 15 minutes on the second-generation sOccket harnesses enough electricity to light a small LED bulb for about three hours. Just imagine what kinds of appliances future generations of this device might be able to power.

One kicker is that the ball weighs about 5 ounces more than a standard soccer ball. But unless you’re anyone but David Beckham, we think you’ll hardly notice a difference.

While development in the disposable diaper segment seems to be predicated on changes in materials (e.g., “Dry Max”) and configuration (e.g., “Huggies Baby-Shaped”), there are other ways of approaching what is seemingly a saturated market.

Procter & Gamble is rolling out a collection of diapers that are essentially predicated on: “It’s the first piece of clothing your baby will ever wear, and it should be special.”

That’s fashion designer Cynthia Rowley, talking about “Pampers by Cynthia Rowley.” This line will include 11 styles, including madras, stripes, and printed ruffles.

Jodi Allen, P&G’s vp of North America Baby Care, notes: “While performance always comes first, we know that design is also important to parents.”

Yes, design matters even in dipes.

While there is some concern voiced by the likes of former senator and astronaut John Glenn about the trimming of the budget for NASA manned flight activities, NASA is still putting people on the Moon. Well, digitally, anyway.

And in a game.

On July 6, NASA is launching “Moonbase Alpha,” a single- or multi-player game wherein the participants must restore critical systems and oxygen flow to their settlement after a meteor strike.

The game, developed by the Army Game Studio (yes, as in the U.S. Army) with Virtual Heroes, isn't to get NASA into competition with the likes of EA, but rather to be a proof-of-concept showing how NASA content can be combined with a game engine such that it could inspire interest in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Clearly a case of some clever product development. After all, as NASA has been the only outfit to put people on the Moon, who better to create the environment than rocket scientists?

No, this isn’t some hip car remodeling show coming to MTV, but an open innovation contest to help develop an infotainment system of the future. In order to research the potential use of apps for a next-generation vehicle infotainment system prototype, Volkswagen wants to collect as many new ideas as possible. That’s where you come in. You can upload your apps in a SWF file, share your ideas or provide input on someone else’s idea. And not only could your app be in a future VW, but you could win cash prizes.

Application programs can be submitted for these categories:

• Eco mobility
• Games and fun
• Networking and communication
• Productivity
• Travel utilities

The contest ends June 30.

What better way to distinguish your company from others than by developing innovative products? However, not all companies actually do that. So the government of Singapore has decided to do something about it. It’s offering tax incentives for innovative design projects in Singapore.

Yes, government has budgeted a tax incentive over a five-year period for innovative industrial and product design projects as a means to establish more competitive businesses. The incentive is good for up to 250% of total income. After approval of the project, companies must complete the design process and develop an end product resulting in new intellectual property within two years to qualify. After all, those tax breaks have to have some deliverable.

It pays to be innovative, especially in Singapore

While we don’t ordinarily tout music videos on this site, in an around-about way* we were told to check out one by OK Go, as the Rube Goldberg machine was developed by—and we’re not exaggerating—a group of brainiacs and rocket scientists from Syyn Labs.

You can learn more about this from a NASA—yes, NASA—blog.

Enjoy.

*It was brought to the attention of Dick Morley, the man who, among other amazing things, developed the world’s first programmable controller. Dick then brought it to our attention. And, like the Rube Goldberg machine in the video, we’re knocking the lever to you, so that you. . . .

While you may find it to be cool to flip things around on the screen of your iPhone or iPad with your index finger, consider developing something with this, the 3M Multi-touch Display M2256PW.:

Rather than merely one finger, this screen provides “20-plus finger multi-touch capability.” And for 20 touches, it provides 6-millisecond response time.

In addition to which, there is palm accommodation, meaning that you can still manipulate images on the screen with your hands resting on the screen (presumably after a long day’s designing).

As for the tech specs: It features a high-def 1680 x 1050 LCD screen, DVI and VGA video input, audio input, USB and RS232 dual-mode communication protocol, and a durable, anti-glare front surface. It is compatible with Windows 7, and 3M offers a driver and software utility for those using Windows XP/Vista/7 or Linux.

While we’re not sure whether toes count in the “20-plus finger” capability or not, this would certainly be a wonderful interface.