Cool Tools: Most pesticides I’ve used are full of toxic chemicals, but this spray doesn’t have anything like that. The active ingredient is natural mint extract, which is a neuro-toxin. It works just as well or better than any spray I’ve tried, and smells very minty. I’ve been fighting roaches this spring, mainly in the kitchen, and my dog has become pregnant. I have never been a fan of the toxic chemicals in most roach sprays, so when I found this at the hardware store I decided to give it a try (it was also less expensive than the more toxic stuff I’d been using). I sprayed the baseboards and everything in my kitchen, and I found that not only does it kill on contact, the roaches seem to avoid it like the plague for about a month. I have also used it to spray and kill spiders, and it was just as effective.
Victor Poison-Free Ant & Roach Spray [Cool Tools]

Bigfork Eagle News: Julian Cunningham started Swallow Crest Farm in 1999, a few years after moving his family to this scenic area on LaBrant Road. He taught a preschool for three years before deciding his heart was in farming — and he wanted to grow the healthiest food possible.
Local wildlife helps him control pests, for instance. He’s put up 40 “swallow houses” to attract swallows and bluebirds, which eat almost all the insect pests that might threaten the three gardens full of vegetables and berries. Hundreds of swallows swoop through the air overhead, fearless of the humans in their midst.
“We have no mosquitoes,” Cunningham said as the birds flitted around, catching insect prey.
The fertile Creston soil is “as good as it gets” for raising produce, he said. To lengthen the growing season, he starts his cool-season crops in greenhouses and “hoop houses” that look like mini-greenhouses made of white plastic sheets draped over half-circles of plastic piping anchored in the soil. Hoop houses allow Cunningham to plant directly in the soil while providing the protection of a greenhouse.
Indeed, the hoop houses are full of mature mixed lettuces, arugula and other salad greens by early May. These are the first crops that will be delivered to more than 100 families who subscribe to the bounty of Cunningham’s farm. He and Kip Drobisch of Raven Ridge Farm in Kalispell are partners in a “community-supported agriculture,” or CSA, enterprise.
In a CSA arrangement, families and individuals pay a fee at the beginning of the growing season. Each week they receive a box full of locally grown produce harvested within hours of delivery. Deliveries start in mid-May and continue through October. Cunningham delivers in Bigfork, Lakeside, Polson and Kalispell. Most customers come to a central location to pick up their “shares.”
A ‘new’ way to farm [Bigfork Eagle]

Popgadget: Instant noodles have been around long enough that we take their 2-minute preparation time for granted. Now Japan brings us Hotto! Raisu – specially packed rice that can be served up as a piping hot meal, just by pouring water over the packaging. No cooking required!
The rice is packed by being subjected to 4,000 times the normal atmospheric pressure and thus retains its moisture. The rice packet contains an exothermic agent which is activated when water is poured over it, taking about 15 minutes to heat the packet’s contents to an appetizing temperature.
Hotto! Raisu for dinner – self heating rice [Popgadget]

The Cool Hunter: Call it the relentless march of capitalism, or the material manifestation of our fickle society, but the high street is in a constant state of flux. Shops change hands at the drop of a hat, and most of the time, it’s not for the better.
It is precisely this commercial whimsy that inspired Canadian brothers Ben and Hall Smyth to create GrandOpening, a space that will constantly reopen every three months. Except, rather than hand over the keys to new owners, the Smyth’s will completely overhaul the 400-square foot space into something new.
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Based in Norfolk Street, New York, GrandOpening is currently a ping-pong parlor equipped with full-sized table and recording facilities so you can watch your performances on YouTube. For $6 you can get the table for twenty minutes, and for $50 you get the whole room for an hour with access to the projector screen and bleachers.
But it won’t be around for long. Come July, it’ll be gone, replaced by something equally quirky. Perhaps a cinema, driving range or even a dominoes emporium, who knows.
GRAND OPENING – Pong [The Cool Hunter]

TrendCentral: A social networking site with a musical slant, Indaba Music gives users a place to not only share their own music, but also facilitates public and private sessions through which multiple artists can collaborate on recording projects. For example, someone who has a guitar part but needs a bassline may use the service to complete their vision. The objective is to link members with other musicians worldwide who they wouldn’t typically have the capability to work with otherwise, thus allow them to collaborate, mix and create a completely new sound.
New sites allow musicians to collaborate online [TrendCentral]

Cool Hunting: Call it ingenious marketing or just plain bad taste, but a company promoting its laxatives on a bus stop billboard on busy Avenida Faria Lima in São Paulo has incorporated toilet lids attached to the seats where bus passengers sit and wait to further drive home its message. Those innocently taking a rest while waiting for their rides on public transport unwittingly become part of the ad, which gives off the impression they’re sitting on a toilet actually waiting for, well, something other than the No. 2 bus line.
Lax(ative) Advertising [Cool Hunting]

Iconoculture: They’re just concept phones for now, but we’re guessing the idea could be reused: ModeLabs has created a series of concept phones that run off sustainable energy sources.
One concept phone looks like a yo-yo that hangs around the user’s neck and continuously harnesses both solar and kinetic energy using a pendulum and voltaic cells.
Knowledge is nothing; power is power. Consumers have lots of wants when it comes to batteries these days — a long life, a quick charge and, increasingly, a sheen of green.
ModeLabs explores phones that use sustainable energy [Iconoculture]

Mobile Digest: Following on from Orange’s new pre-pay tariff yesterday, 3 has announced a new pricing structure for its Pay As You Go customers, with calls now from 5p per minute – the cheapest any network any time call rate available from any UK mobile network, according to the company.
3’s Pay As You Go Top-ups are also now available in a wider range of
denominations – £10, £15, £20, £25, £30,£40 and £50 – and with no expiry dates. And customers can convert Top-ups to an Add-on. Voice Add-ons reduce the cost of calls per minute to any network from 30p to 5p and text Add-ons can reduce the cost of texts from 10p to 5p each. You can also surf the net for £1 per day and access seven TV channels for £2.
Pay As You Go users can convert Top-ups to Add-ons by going to My3 on their handset or dialling 444. John Penberthy-Smith, marketing director at 3, commented: “3’s Pay As You Go tariff demonstrates our ongoing commitment to delivering the cheapest deals on the market for our customers.”
3 offers Pay As You Go from 5p per minute [Mobile Digest]

New Business Ideas/Opportunities Featured In This Issue:
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Chilly Billy
Bensons, a small family run business based in the English countryside, has produced an ice-pop that contains nothing but fruit. Chilly Billy consists of no added sugars, waters, preservatives, or artificial colours – just pure English pressed apples and a handful of raspberries.
Food For Health
From digestive health products such as Kashi Vive and Dannon Activia to joint health products such as Minute Maid Active with Glucosamine, we’re beginning to see food and drink emerge as alternatives to taking medicine.
GADGETS
Appetizing USB Ports
The upcoming bread series in Vavolo’s Freshy Baked USB Drive lineup is pretty cute. These cross-platform thumb drives are encased in housings made to look like the following baked goods: hot dog, french bread, hamburger, pizza, sandwich, and the oddly specific raisin challah bread
Gourmet Quick Food
Once banished from the gourmet kitchen, they’ve come back with a Twist of the Wrist in a cookbook by famed chef Nancy Silverton. Quick-and-easy meals that jazz up gateway ingredients like boneless chicken breasts with jarred or canned delicacies like tapenade, capers and white asparagus.
ADVERTISING
Free Letters
Dutch Gratis-Post lets people order envelopes with free postage for mailing within The Netherlands. Ads are printed on the back of the envelope, and in exchange for 5 free ready-to-mail envelopes, users also agree to receive advertising messages by email for a period of four weeks.
HOMES & LIVING
Igglo
Finnish real estate site Igglo lets potential buyers ‘pre-order’ houses that aren’t on the market. Igglo has photographed every building in Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, and combines these photographs with satellite images and maps. Every property is listed, not just those that are currently on the market.
SERVICES
Night Salons
The city that never sleeps has another reason to stay up late: after-hours beauty salons. New Yorkers who want a glass of wine with their color treatment head to meccas like Frédéric Fekkai/Soho and Red Market Salon, which are open for business — and socializing.
ENTERTAINMENT
In The Backseat
In an effort to provide some entertainment for the kids while mom or dad is busy driving, DaimlerChrysler and Sirius teamed up to create TV programming specifically for the backseat.
Barbie Girl Takes Kids Online
On Thursday, Mattel unveiled Barbie Girls, a doll-shaped MP3 player that turns into a live character at BarbieGirls.com, a Web site where girls can interact with each other in a manner reminiscent of Second Life, the virtual world for adults.
FASHION
CoolZips
A quirky gift idea in the form of a wearable zipper pull and charm has just been introduced by CoolZips, a company that has also launched a new fund raising program to benefit non-profits and other charitable organizations.
LIFESTYLE & LUXURY
Lomme Pod Bed
These pod-like luxury beds infuse art and design into an otherwise mundane piece of furniture. Offering the ultimate in relaxed environments, the protective, egg-like design features “state of the art” light and iPod-ready sound therapy system which removes outside noises.
CONSUMER GOODS
Smart Coffee Lid
The multi-award winning color changing coffee lid is set to become a worldwide hit after Australian inventors secured an international license agreement. The innovative lid alerts consumers their coffee/tea may be too hot by changing from a dark coffee bean color to a bright red when the lid is applied.
MOBILE
Cheapest Network
Following on from Orange’s new pre-pay tariff yesterday, 3 has announced a new pricing structure for its Pay As You Go customers, with calls now from 5p per minute – the cheapest any network any time call rate available from any UK mobile network, according to the company.

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Popgadget: The upcoming bread series in Vavolo’s Freshy Baked USB Drive lineup is pretty cute.
Soon to be available in 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB capacities (prices unknown), these cross-platform thumb drives are encased in housings made to look like the following baked goods: hot dog, french bread, hamburger, pizza, sandwich, and the oddly specific raisin challah bread.
Very cute, actually. I think I’m beginning to see the appeal.
Freshly baked USB drives [Popgadget]

The Cool Hunter: Amidst the chaos of dietary requirements, five-a-day, buying organic, food miles and a new fangled sense of providence, choosing food has never been so wrought with issues. Whatever happened to buying something based upon the principle it tasted good?
Well, thankfully, one company has ticked all the ethical boxes and made sure their new lollies taste of something. Bensons, a small family run business based in the English countryside, has produced an ice-pop that contains nothing but fruit. Chilly Billy consists of no added sugars, waters, preservatives, or artificial colours – just pure English pressed apples and a handful of raspberries. In fact, eating two counts as one of your five portions of fruit and veg a day.
Chilly Billy Ice Pops [The Cool Hunter]