I’ve been intrigued by the one campaign, from when I first saw the black and white commercials circuiting the internet, full of celebrities discussing a campaign to make poverty history. One.org has 10 backstage passes to each of the Live 8 concerts in Philly, Paris, Rome, Berlin, and of course Tokyo. In collaboration with Live 8– they believe that bloggers can be incredibly influential towards the media, as we get closer to the G8 Conference in Scotland. Richard Branson has also donated an airplane to fly the Live 8 crew, and five bloggers to Edinburgh and back for the conference– in hopes that each of these bloggers will blog all about the trip along the way. Instant press, for a very important event. They make the blogger selection tomorrow (maybe they’ll pick me!). I think with the voice of bloggers behind an event like this, the people can truely be heard, and instantly.

More Information (although the deadline is tomorrow).

It’s a historic moment in sneaker culture (and a fun one). Long time Sneaker Freaker contributor Al Cabino has unveiled the world’s first sneaker chocolate. He teamed up with his friends in Switzerland, to shape the shoe completely out of the world’s finest Swiss chocolate. Not many details have been leaked yet– and at this time, there is only 1 pair of these in the entire world. (Talk about exclusive, heh!) Frank151 Has some exclusive shots and details on the delicious looking shoe.

Andy Huntington is currently completing his 2nd year of the MA Interaction Design a the Royal College of Art. He’s showing one of his very intriguing projects right now at “The Show 2005“, at RCA. There are only a few days of the show left, it ends July 3rd. The project on show, called Beatbox, is a physical programmable drum machine– there is a video showing it in action. Andy has several other interesting interactive projects like Cyclops- a mobile/online community for city cyclists, and a project called “Oy!“, a inter-stop gaming system for the London bus system-very smart.

Via de-bug (German)

Atlantico has a line of simple and minimalist European Ash wood furniture. The company was born from “thinking about what they wanted their houses to be like; calm, pleasant and comfortable”. For that reason, their product designs are extremely simple, and quality. They’re all made in limited runs, in fact– the Atlantico factory literally buys whole logs, and they’re “quarter-sawn” to specifications, before they are dried in the kiln. Although the Williamsburg based design companies furniture is minimalist– I still find it, as they put it, “warm, inviting, and human”. They do furniture for sleeping, lounging, and dining.

So, there is a new t-shirt blog on the block. They’re calling themselves “Tee Junkie“. I’ll be keeping my eye on them. I’ve come to love Jason Cospers crazy, awesome, sick, humor at Preshrunk, and he has good finds– so I have a hard time imagining the blogosphere without humor like Preshrunk. But, Alas…Welcome to the party, Tee Junkie.

The Mahan Gallery, in Colombus, Ohio is hosting an auction called 44 Boards at the end of August. The initiative is to bring an eclectic group of artists, illustrators, and designers of all types from around the globe together. Each of them will apply their style to a blank skateboard deck– and the decks will then be auctioned off. All the proceeds will go to the Human Rights Campaign. Only a few of the artists submissions are up for viewing now, but check back daily as they’re coming in everyday until the show. The gallery is also taking donations of artwork to auction at the show– sounds like a nice way to support Human Rights, and get some exposure at the same time. The opening reception is August 27th.

Mikko Laakkonen is one of four designers from the Finnish design group, Rehti, in Helsinki. He created this new cast iron pan design, a witty and modern take on an old kitchen pan. He replaced the boring griddle with a flower plant pattern– so when you drop a big fresh piece of mahi mahi, steak, or the like down– you can cook it medium rare, and include a nice floral design on the cooked flesh. Rehti has a few other inventive and fun designs worth checking out on their site.