Editor: In some ways, this is really Core77's first-ever True I.D. Story! Told to us years ago by designer and entrepreneur Pat Calello, this charts his challenging course from wide-eyed design student to CEO of his own company. Here it is, in his own words.

Many of us can recall the pride we felt the first time we spotted a product that we had a hand in designing sitting on a store shelf. And this pride turns to absolute nirvana when that product is your product—something that you've brought to market completely born of your vision and manufactured by your own company.

The story I'm about to share with you chronicles my journey with Automoblox, a product that started out as a school project and ultimately turned into a full-time obsession. My road to nirvana was a dark and bumpy one, fraught with emotions that ranged from exhaustion and panic to frustration and rage. But the day I delivered the first order for Automoblox to a small toy store in Darien, Connecticut was a day that rivals only the day that my daughter was born.

The Starting Line
The high school I attended didn't present awards for "most likely to design stuff." Nonetheless, I was pretty good at it (for an 18 year old) and headed to Carnegie Mellon University to study graphic design. Fortunately for me, CMU lumped together aspiring artists and aspiring designers into a basic Art School where students were exposed to art, 2D and 3D design. Like many of us, it was in a basic 3D design class where I first learned of the Industrial Design profession—a turning point for me. My future took on a new direction as I abandoned graphic design and pursued a future in I.D.

During the fall of my senior year, a local wood manufacturer came to campus, offering to sponsor a project challenging students to come up with new products for the wooden hobby market. Being a car-guy, I immediately rolled up my sleeves and worked on a novel wooden car concept. Soon after, the wooden car idea evolved into a modular wooden toy system—one that inspired children to design their own cars instead of simply duplicating an image displayed on a package. I was intrigued with the idea of an interchangeable toy system that would be both fun and educational, and with one semester left until graduation, I developed the first Automoblox prototypes during that class.

Along with the design development, I spent much of my final semester in 1993 discovering that it was going to take more than a business minor to bring my vision of Automoblox to market. A cousin who had contacts in the toy industry put me in touch with a retired buyer from Toys R Us, who, while impressed with my wooden cars, advised me that they would need to retail for the low price of $14.99. At that price, I couldn't see any possibility of my making money on the project, and, stepping back from the cut-throat nature of the toy world, shelved the Automoblox idea, deciding to take a safer, more familiar road for awhile.

Some people love guns, some people hate 'em. But the fact is that lots of Americans have them, and they need a place to store them. And the design of gun storage furniture has two main requirements seemingly at odds with each other: Gun owners want their firearms readily accessible, yet they don't want them out in the open where children or burglars can get to them.

The current solution is to create furniture with hideaway compartments (a sub-genre we looked briefly at here), as New Jersey Concealment Furniture does. And if web traffic is any indication (140,000-plus Facebook likes, 30,000 website hits last Saturday alone), business is booming for the Jersey-based company. Founder Dan Ingram designs and builds coat racks, end tables, nightstands, coffee tables, wall shelves and even clocks that secretively stow the end-user's firearm of choice.

Do you think that young people, girls particularly, deserve meaningful training in creative and critical thinking? If so, get ready for some high-octane choir-preaching.* School of Doodle is a free interactive program designed to build skills and confidence around creative thinking, and it's targeted towards teenage girls. (No gender or age is barred!) The online curriculum combines entertaining videos and how-to information from talented artists and thinkers, and leads into a call-to-arms where participants can make or do something new.

I admittedly hate the word Doodle. It sounds like a knockoff Cheeto or something your horrible step-grandma's horrible shih tzu did on the carpet. But if you're like me—or the hundreds of people who already pushed the campaign past its first goal—steel yourself because this doodle-filled curriculum seems solid. Get past the overly riot grrled introductory video and slightly overwhelming Kickstarter page and you'll find a goldmine of contributing talent, projects, interactive possibilities and cool takeaways. As they put it: "What's with the word Doodle? Simple, a doodle is the only form of creativity that everyone does, cannot be taught, and has no measure of good or bad." Fair enough.

Among the selling points are the chance to learn from leaders in a bunch of fields in their own words, opportunities to skill-build in a variety of disciplines, and the chance to earn rewards in the form of "Doodle Dollars" by engaging with the community through taking, teaching and sharing. What are Doodle Dollars? A points-based system that lets the earner cash in on their own shared efforts for "Access to Real World Experiences, Mentor Lessons and Tools for Imagination." Specifically, you can buy curriculum-ok'd items in partnering stores, take a live online lesson with an expert like "Sofia Coppola walking you through how to frame a shot!", or visit a local expert on site. To distill: get rewarded for doing creative projects with tools and experiences to help you do more creative projects. I want that.

It doesn't take designing an entire ecosystem to make an impact in the world of service design—singling out individual issues can be more manageable and realistic than attempting tackling an entire industry or product category at once. And each of the honorees in the Service category of this year's Core77 Design Awards prove it. From efforts to help women better understand their financial systems to a punchcard for ordering pizza, the projects illustrate the breadth and depth of service design.

Take some time to peruse the 11 entries the jury chose as honorees from the 2014 program. Read on to see what the team—led by Tennyson Pinheiro of Livework Studio—said about the projects that stood out most to them:

Professional Winner: The damda, by M&M

Facing our mortality as humans is practically inconceivable, not to mention something that not many people voluntarily likes to discuss. The damda, designed by M&M, is a toolkit for those facing their own or a family member's death, enabling the user to better cope with his or her loss and live out the rest of their days in a meaningful manner. The kit itself consists of tools that will help the user record their past and present activities—a printer, paper and a compact note scanner. The jury called the work "to cry for." They continue: "The designer brilliantly spotted a delicate time span in people's lives that is priceless and designed a service to make sure it can be experienced as it should be. Great empathetic eye."

» Learn more about The damda

Student Winner: Kandu, by Bahareh Shahriari

Information on reproductive health and family planning is a resource that is often lacking even in the first world, to say nothing of the developing world. In countries where the discussing the topic publicly isn't socially acceptable, it can be hard to unite women in a way that's both safe to them, informative and unifying as a community. Kandu was designed by CIID student Bahareh Shahriari specifically for women in Iran. The jury's thoughts: "A simple and easy to implement service, relying lightly on technology, with the potential to deliver maximum social impact."

» Learn more about Kandu

Professional Runner Up: PillPack—Pharmacy Simplified, by PillPack

Through intuitive and appealing packaging and a delivery service, PillPack is making it easier than ever to take your daily dose without worrying about taking the wrong medication or amount. Each individually packaged dose lists when to take the medication and the specific pills housed inside. While there are other subscription services for drugs already out there, the jury thought there was one aspect that put this work above the rest: "The breakthrough in my opinion is on the 'right-dose' package. This is a clever and well executed one that addresses a huge known problem. Difficult model, with an incredible difficult ecosystem."

» Learn more about PillPack—Pharmacy Simplified

Professional Runner Up: Care Maps: Transforming Diabetes Care with Peer-to-Peer Support, by CIID Consulting

Tracking diabetes is a constant job. CIID Consulting designed app that facilitates a peer-to-peer community of those living with Type II Diabetes for Novo Nordisk. The app tracks personal progress and disease monitoring, while location-based features cultivate local community services and activities for users. Even though the jury had some reservations about the actual involvement the app would see, they applaud the work: "A peer-to-peer service that can be extended to the community and physicians. It is unclear about the sustainability of this P2P user+physical relation as those professionals tend to have a busy frantic schedule. Overall, I believe the solution has its place."

» Learn more about Care Maps: Transforming Diabetes Care with Peer-to-Peer Support

Student Runner Up: The Library Compass—A Strategy for Public Libraries in Times of Digitalization, by Andreas Schuster

The transition to fully digital libraries has been a slow one, much to the chagrin of millenials looking to find a reference or light reading, and find it fast. TU Munich Industrial Design student Andreas Schuster has introduced a system that will make the digitizing transition easier on both ends. The Library Compass consists of a navigation app and iBeacon-enabled bookshelves for easy finding. "Loved the simple prototyping sessions and to see how the design team advanced the concept with users via those prototypes," says the jury. "Also the student showed a good service design maturity level by choosing not to focus too much on showcasing tools but, instead, kept both eyes on the user the whole time."

» Learn more about The Library Compass—A Strategy for Public Libraries in Times of Digitalization

First thing I had to check was that this wasn't released on April 1st. But no, in a research paper titled "The Visual Microphone: Passive Recovery of Sound from Video" submitted for the upcoming SIGGRAPH 2014, a team of researchers have allegedly discovered how to extract sound from video images.

I'm still waiting for Snopes to debunk this, but this research collaboration from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Microsoft Research and Adobe Research makes the following claim:

When sound hits an object, it causes small vibrations of the object's surface. We show how, using only high-speed video of the object, we can extract those minute vibrations and partially recover the sound that produced them, allowing us to turn everyday objects--a glass of water, a potted plant, a box of tissues, or a bag of chips--into visual microphones.

Sounds crazy, no? Watch this and see (er, hear):

As you can see, the technology is predicated on using high-speed, high-resolution video. But just imagine if it was possible to apply this to old, audio-free archival footage.

Shaped like a burrito, feels like a blackjack, works like two Kryptonites stuck together? The Vierlock is a U-less u-lock, designed by Tallac to make big locks smaller. As protective bike-, trike- and moped-riders know, a big lock may be necessary to secure your ride but it can also be a big bummer in your bag. This right angle filled solution hit Kickstarter today, and it promises a few interesting features. Up first: It's collapsible in a responsible way.

Made of separate solid arms and not one but two locking bars, you get a lock that packs down to a more portable size with extra room internally when assembled. In addition to its smaller off-duty size, you can also replace the arms for longer or shorter ones, which is a pretty cool feature for those of us with dramatically different bikes in the stable. Even using the Sheldon Method the mini u-lock that fits my road bike is a bit of a pain with my fat-tired cruiser.

The multi-part design raised the eyebrows of the official and occasionally clumsy C77 bike department. However the design takes fumbling into consideration, allowing you to lock in one side entirely before closing the assembly with the second shackle.

Polygons all started with what was supposed to be a classroom lesson in what not to do. National Institute of Design student Rahul Agarwal elaborates: "Polygons was a result of a course we have in our curriculum called Simple Product Design, for which one of my seniors advised me not to take up products which have reached near-perfection in their evolutionary cycle—specifically giving me the example of a spoon. And that was it: Challenge accepted." The design itself is an intriguing take on the all-in-one design thinking that people so eagerly eat up.

At first glance, this comes off nothing like the traditional spoon shape we've grown to know and love for its fantastic soup-capturing capabilities. But that's because it's not a traditional spoon by any means. Polygons is a measuring tool, taking the functionality of multiple load sizes—both in tablespoons and teaspoons—and combining them into one form.

Going even further into the realm of "extremely useful must-haves," Polygons' design was made with easy cleaning (read: fold it flat and wipe it down) and storage in mind—the single-material construction is just as at home holding a page in a recipe book as it is measuring out spices. The entire product is very reminiscent of Joseph Joseph's folding chopping board, which the designer cites as inspiration for this work. See the spoon in action:

Obviously, the principle of form-follows-function is strong with this one."The common problem of most design projects is knowing when to stop with the form/styling iterations," says Agarwal. "But for Polygons, the product kept shaping up along the design process so clearly, that there quickly came a point where there was not a single line on the product which didn't have a clear function."

We've seen plenty of furniture with secret features, but none quite like Sebastian Errazuriz's "Explosion Cabinet." Instead of the usual hidden compartments, the Brooklyn-based artist and designer opts for a latent form as opposed to a discreet function. As with past projects such as the spiny shelf and articulating armoire, the new cabinet has a lot of moving parts.

Because our view of an aircraft interior is typically what you see above, it's kind of cool to see, below, what we're actually sitting in:

Now you see why airplane cargo containers are shaped the way they are.

And it's only in cross-section that we can appreciate how truly gargantuan an Airbus A380 is:

While it's rare for us average Joes to see airplane cross-sections, there's at least one company that looks at them all the time. In fact, they create them. Air Hollywood, started by a movie producer who found shooting films in actual airports too logistically constraining, bills themselves as "the world's premiere aviation-themed studio." Whenever a movie, television show or commercial needs to be shot inside an aircraft, without the pesky security regulations of an actual airport, Air Hollywood is the only game in town.

Perhaps due to the relative proximity of L.A. and Washington State, the company's mockups are Boeing-based, with nary an Airbus in sight. Air Hollywood stocks full interiors for the 727, 767 and every model in between.

New Balance has a history of 100 years of enduring performance and is still running strong today. This company thrives because of the passion and dedication of the people they hire and they rely on their associates to match that enthusiasm for the business and to help drive consumers to move further, faster and more frequently. They seek associates who are always on the move and ready to move the world. Are you the Senior Innovation Designer they are looking for?

As a Senior Innovation Designer, you will analyze and drive innovation in product and manufacturing technology within New Balance's domestic manufacturing division. Your work will help strengthen US domestic manufacturing as a competitive advantage. You will seek out and research new ideas from a variety of industries that can be leveraged in building New Balance's future. Don't hesitate - Apply Now.

As the eyes of the world fell on Glasgow, a special countdown was devised by Jack Morton Worldwide to promote community and craft groups through out the city. 14 groups were approached to make the numbers involved, as a billion viewers around the world counted down to the start of the XX Commonwealth Games.

The numbers were filmed at locations around the city to showcase to the world both the talent and the sites of Glasgow. Clocking in at number 7 was the amazingly brilliant social enterprise, GalGael Trust, a community and heritage association located in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, near the River Clyde. Aside from fabricating the elm handle for the Queen's Baton for the XX Commonwealth Games, GalGael is best known for its fight against the problems of unemployment and poverty, especially the high incidence of family breakdown, alcoholism and drug problems. Founded in the mid-1990s by the late Colin Macleod, GalGael has been providing participant based programmes that help people regain a positive sense of both self and community ever since. The phrase "GalGael" comes from 9th Century Norsemen, who mingled with native Celts; gall meant "foreigner," and gael meant "native." When they adopted the emblem of a 9th-century birlinn (a highland galley or large rowing-boat) as a logo, it occurred to them that they could achieve many of their social objectives by actually building a boat, so this is what they set out to do: to provide learning experiences anchored in practical activities that offer purpose and meaning to marginalized people. From there they took inspiration in the community boat-building revival in the Shetlands and in Norway, which they envisaged also would make a good template for reclaiming heritage and reconnecting to Clyde coastal communities.

The diverse activities at GalGael range from producing a small selection of crafts and reclaimed timber for sale to volunteering for the organization itself, but the main activities are a joinery apprentice program, community boat-building and voyaging and, most recently, recovery stays at Barmaddy Farm in western Scotland, just southeast of Oban and the Inner Hebrides.

Sometimes inspiration for how to use a material can come from the natural world. Case in point: The beauty of Utah's arches like the Rainbow Bridge above. A recent study out of Charles University in the Czech Republic breaks down how such sculptures form—and, in doing so, allows us to see potential for our own design and creativity.

The natural occurring arches and narrow stone towers do not require a complicated mix of materials or the natural variables involved in geology or weather. All we need is some sandstone and stress.

The way we eat food—you know, through our mouths—hasn't changed a whole lot. But where the method has stayed the same, the processes that make up our favorites and tools we use to make our meals have seen radical innovations. The 2014 honorees from the Food category of the Core77 Design Awards vary from multi-purpose kitchen tools to breeding homes for insect protein.

Led by Eating Designer Marije Vogelzang, the jury team chose 12 designs that stood out among the rest and shared their thoughts on the work. Read on to see how cricket-infused cocktail bitters, liquid flower petals, edible Menorahs, and more:

Student Winner: 432 Farm: Insect Breeding, by Katharina Unger

We've been seeing insects pop up here and there in future-focused culinary designs, but there hasn't been a whole lot on how to keep our insect reserve alive and thriving. University of Applied Arts Vienna student Katharina Unger has developed an in-home breeding tool for insects—specifically looking at insect protein as a substitute for meat. "We chose this winner unanimously," says the jury. "This project stood out from the others due to it's high quality and designing every single aspect of the process. The project takes on a very current issue and transforms it trough in-depth research, design quality and the ability to make a very complex structure simple and understandable. Eating insects will still be quite a step for the western consumer to make but with this product the designer takes a bit of the horror away and provides a practical, consumer oriented product that people can relate to."

» Learn more about 432 Farm: Insect Breeding

Student Runner Up: Food Radiation Scanner, by The Furious Fika

Japanese households located in the blast area of Fukushima are still suffering the consequences. The Furious Fika, a team from the Umeâ Institute of Design, designed a scanner that helps identify food with dangerous amounts of radiation, in a hope to make purchasing locally grown food safe again for consumers. The jury's thoughts: "A very powerful design for a very realistic issue. In many cases technology in combination with food enables loss of connection to the own soil. In this case the design is made to ensure a more firm connection, feeling of safety and trust in local food. Also it will help fight against food waste. Another interesting effect of showing this design at an international contest like this is that it gives us a glimpse into the reality of daily life of many. It shows us a creepy glimpse of something that could happen anywhere, also next to our own doorstep. A big issue is made tangible."

» Learn more about Food Radiation Scanner

Professional Notable: Blow Dough, by Omer Polak and Michal Evyatar

Bread has been a source of sustenance for longer than any of us can remember—and it's been made and consumed the same way for just about as long. Omer Polak and Michal Evyatar have reintroduced us to the starchy staple with a new baking method that involves a blowtorch. The experience starts with seasoned dough that's transformed into herbed balloons with a flamed clocking in at temperatures as high as 1,112°F. The jury called it "a fun and engaging project with a very strong cultural aspect honoring heritage whilst innovating and creating a bonding experience extraordinaire."

» Learn more about Blow Dough

Zoos have a horrific history. Roman emperors imported "exotic" animals by the hundreds and forced them to fight each other to the death to entertain arenas packed with crowds. Monarchs amassed collections of animals from far-reaching places to display their power. In the 19th Century there was a movement towards forming zoos in the name of scientific research, but their function quickly devolved into public spectacle. The 20th Century was perhaps the most appalling, with the Bronx Zoo "exhibiting" a human being, the African Pygmy Ota Benga, in the Monkey House.

What will the 21st Century bring? Zoos are unlikely to be abolished, as proponents argue that modern-day zoos educate children and spread awareness of the importance of conservation. So Bjarke Ingels' BIG is at least attempting to improve their condition with a little design.

BIG's "Zootopia" project aims to redesign Denmark's Givskud Zoo by at least visually masking human visitors from the animals. Under the plan, the animals will roam in three separate wild-looking enclosures—"Africa," "Asia" and "America"—while the humans observe surreptitiously. "Instead of copying the architecture from the various continents by doing vernacular architecture," BIG writes, "we propose to integrate and hide the buildings as much as possible in the landscape."

After first entering a large staging area, obscured from the animals' view via a surrounding berm, visitors travel to camouflaged vantage points via underground tunnels.

Amid all the flashy concept bikes up for consideration during the Bike Design Project, this little guy managed to catch our eye last week. Miilo is a balance bicycle for kids around 2 or 3, designed to grow as fast as they do. The slick flippable frame was designed by Andreas Bhend, who has previously gotten our attention with his IKEA hacks and another adorable bike idea.

Like those other projects, he's working in well-traveled territory but manages to bring a few elegant little moves to the subject that make even this hardened bike heart skip a beat. To start, this isn't just another pedal-free bike for tiny bumbling humans. Balance bikes in general are a great start for kids. In my humble opinion, they're entirely better for getting a tot cycling than transitioning onto and then off of training wheels, because they teach internal balance and mechanical control at low speeds and without building reliance on an awkward crutch. Many balance bikes now take rapid child size change into account, and come with a main frame that starts low and can later be reversed for a higher riding position. Miilo offers that feature in a shape that does a good job at maximizing the difference between low and high.

Professional organizers know that easy-to-use tools get used the most. Hooks beat hangers—and floor-standing coat racks have that "easy" factor, too.

Bonaldo's Tree, designed by Mario Mazzer, is made of polyethylene; the base has a steel disk to provide stability. (And stability is a big deal in homes with children and pets running around.) Bonaldo notes it can also be used outdoors, which might be nice especially for homes with large front porches.

The Merkled coat rack is made from powder-coated aluminum. It's shipped flat, but is designed to be easy to assemble and disassemble. (Some end users with memories of bad Ikea assembly may cringe at that.) The coat rack is specifically designed to accommodate tall umbrellas, either in the center or hanging off the top ledge. Also note those nice rounded edges along the top—easier on clothing than squared-off designs.

Coat trees can incorporate hooks or pegs in a number of ways. The Tree from Cascando, designed by Robert Bronwasser, is made of lacquered MDF; it has enough aluminum pegs to hold 20 coats. One concern: The pegs seem slippery and have no upward slant, so I wonder if some coats might slide off.

When a product design asks for $7,000 on Kickstarter but nets $228,000, it's worthy of study, particularly when the design is not an obvious home run. Any product designer should be asking themselves: What is it that these guys tapped into, in the backers' consciousness, that made it such a hit?

First let's look at the product in question. The mininch Tool Pen is a hollow, magic-marker sized hexagonal rod that holds six driver bits, with the frontmost ready to use. It's essentially a bit-storing screwdriver in a more compact form, and with a pen-like cap to prevent the front bit from spearing the inside of your pocket or bag.

If you're an industrial designer who also has a thing for bicycles, how would you like to:

- Work on products that people love?
- Work for a fun company in a great industry?
- Have control of your design intent?
- Work on an industry leading design team?

SRAM Industrial Design is seeking a dynamic senior industrial designer to join their global design team at their head quarters in Chicago. As a senior industrial designer, you will be directly involved in evolving and developing suspension, hydraulic brakes, and wheels for mountain bikes. Jump on this opportunity and Apply Now.

Soft Goods is one of those ecumenical categories that encompasses dozens of objects we use every day. While we typically think of articles of clothing, shoes and bags as fashion or its generic function of keeping us warm, clean and well-equipped on a daily basis. Yet a wide range of products qualify as soft goods, and the honorees of the 2014 Core77 Design Awards illustrate some of the more specialized designs in the category.

The Soft Goods jury team—led by Carl Moriarty of Arc'teryx—shared their thoughts on this year's picks. Read on and see what they liked best about the eight honorees.

Professional Winner: SAM Medical Junctional Tourniquet, by Ziba Design

Ziba's design for medical product supplier SAM Medical took low-tech materials and created a revolutionary live-saving tourniquet device. It only takes 25 seconds to inflate and apply the tool, which weighs in lighter and less expensive than competing designs. The jury appreciated the team's clear mission in designing SAM: "The attention to detail take it beyond a strap with an inflatable bladder... The designers understood their brief, fulfilled it and importantly knew when to stop."

» Learn more about SAM Medical Junctional Tourniquet

Student Winner: eQu - Therapeutic Riding Saddle for Disabled Children Focused on Children with Cerebal Palsy, by Stephanie Knödler

Although horseback riding might not be the first thing you'd prescribe for a disabled child, animal therapy can offer benefits to htose looking for alternative treatments. Umeå Institute of Design student Stephanie Knödler created the eQu so disabled children can enjoy riding a horse without clunky equipment, or even another person. The product is an adjustable seat that helps bring the rider's legs close to the horse, using the animal's body heat to soothe spastic muscles. The design takes the horse into account, as well—anti-shock pads and eQu's open shape help keep the horse's shoulders free for movement. "Classic product design project—focussed on multiple stakeholders/customers, utilizing thorough, methodical processes (she even made a life-size polystyrene horse!)," says the jury. "We like that the design seems to be not only resolved functionally but also aesthetically. The aesthetic is appropriate and non-medical. We especially like that consideration has also been given to the horse as a stakeholder with the adjustable springs/pads to allow for the riders' weight, skill and physical ability."

» Learn more about eQu - Therapeutic Riding Saddle for Disabled Children Focused on Children with Cerebal Palsy

Professional Runner Up: Skyline WindScape, by Skyline Exhibits

Tradeshows can be a drag by any measure, and those of you who have been responsible for setting up and breaking down booths. For your next show, consider the Skyline WindScape, which consists of inflatable "airframe technology." Pull the plug and deflate for a quick tear-down. "It suffers from being in a somewhat unexciting field but we do believe that there will be a bunch of professional show-goers who will be very excited and benefit directly from this," says the jury. "It looks to be simple to use, flexible, compact and light. We like that they seem to have looked at the problem with a clean sheet and synthesized existing technologies into a new product that solves some very easy to articulate problems."

» Learn more about Skyline WindScape

Student Runner Up: O-Rings, by Increment

It's not often that you find a toy that's universally enjoyed by kids of all abilities. Many times, disabled children are forced to enjoy playthings that are specifically designed for their needs. Rhode Island School of Design team Increment Studios has reversed that sentiment with O-Rings. The series of stackable rings all feature different textures, densities, materials, colors and weights, making them a great way to improve motor activities and sensory simulations. The jury weighs in: "The goal of the product—inclusive play for kids of a range of abilities—is a good one and frequently neglected by elaborate toys. I could see these being used frequently by a range of kids and being quite useful for disabled ones."

» Learn more about O-Rings

While this informercial below cracked me up...

...I can't deny that I hate pulling the bags out of the large garbage can I keep in my studio. To conserve bags, I wait until they're fully laden, and the suction effect seems to add 20 pounds to the already-heavy load.

I probably wouldn't buy the "Can-Air" solution, partly because I hate the commercial, and partly because I assume one could easily build whatever their device is made out of. (Notice they're careful not to mention what it actually is, which makes me think it's a rebranded piece of something you find in a hardware store.) Meanwhile, a common hack is to drill holes in the bottom of your garbage can for airflow, but since people in the studio are fond of throwing full cups of coffee and sharp, broken plastic hangers in there, I'll forgo that solution too.

There's got to be a better way!