Site favorite and JS friend Jonathan Harris just launched his latest project entitled The Sputnik Observatory. It’s the result of a two-year collaboration with NYC based Sputnik, Inc, an organization that documents contemporary culture through intimate video interviews with hundreds of leading thinkers in the arts, sciences, and technology worlds. There are about 200 videos on the site today, and there will be thousands more added over the coming weeks, months, and years.

In Jonathan’s words:

The central premise of the Sputnik project is that everything is connected to everything else, and that topics and ideas that may seem fringe and even heretical to the mainstream world are in fact being investigated by leading thinkers working in fields as diverse as quantum physics, mathematics, neuroscience, biology, economics, architecture, digital art, video games, computer science and music. Sputnik is dedicated to bringing these crucial ideas from the fringes of thought out into the limelight, so that the world can begin to understand them.

Italian designer Cecilia Felli knows what to do with a broken umbrella– turn it into an umbrella skirt. Pretty great! check out all her different creations over here.

With the global user base of mobile phones approaching 3 billion people, more than a few music listeners and callers find themselves in a daily tangle of headphones/bags/jackets that might be avoided if Snik creator Rob Honeycutt has his way. His product line of zipper puller and cord grooves featured on snaps and buckles relieves pressure on the earbuds (athletes rejoice). “I believe there is a widespread need for this ‘interface’ between a person’s clothing and their mobile technology,” said Honeycutt, who would like the feature to become ubiquitous on clothing and bags over the next decade. For now, the small devices are available by the 6 and 12 pack–dangling cords be darned.