We've seen the Wikipedia model applied to car design, a video dictionary and an online publishing platform. The latest? Foodista, an online cooking encyclopedia whose recipes can be edited by anyone.

Launched late last year, Seattle-based Foodista is a collaborative project to build the world's largest, highest-quality cooking encyclopedia. The site says it is the first to organize and cross-link the basic elements of cooking: foods, or the basic ingredients; recipes, or combinations of ingredients; cooking techniques; and kitchen tools. Rather than include hundreds of recipes for the same basic result, however—the way many recipe sites do—Foodista aims instead to perfect a few key recipes through the collaborative editing process. Thousands of high-resolution photos from the Flickr.com Creative Commons currently illustrate the topics on the site—though not the results of specific recipes, as TechCrunch points out—and users can also upload their own photos. Content is fully editable, and a raft of tools aimed at food bloggers include embeddable widgets to forge automated links from Foodista to specific food blogs. Ultimately, Foodista plans to support itself through online advertising.

Will a thousand cooks produce a better recipe, as the site implicitly promises? Or will the collaborative process reduce each of the site's recipes to the most bland, lowest-common-denominator version, as TechCrunch suggests it might? Time will tell. In the meantime, one to watch—or get involved in? (Related: 52 recipe contests to spawn crowdsourced cookbook — Personalized cooking: recipes match cravings — Customized cookbooks stir in online recipes.)

Website: www.foodista.com
Contact: www.foodista.com/contact

Spotted by: Murtaza Ali Patel

There's nothing like a baby to inspire adults to seek new heights of design and personalization. Last week we covered RoomsByYou's customizable fabrics for baby rooms, after which we were happy to spot Alphabet Plates, a line of plates and placemats that can be customized for young kids.

With bright, bold designs and BPA-free construction, Alphabet Plates can be personalized to reflect kids' favourite foods, sports, faces or monograms. Those approximating a child's face, for example, allow customization of the 10-inch melamine plate's colour as well as the child's hair, eye colour, skin tone and accessories; two small text boxes can accommodate the child's name and a phrase like "Big Sister." Food-themed designs include pizza and tofu, while volleyball and bicycling are among the sports represented. Alphabet Plates are priced at USD 22. The Florida company's personalizable USD 18 placemats, meanwhile, show where all the dishes and utensils go and are available in English, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Dutch and German. A portion of every sale is donated to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation.

It seems safe to say consumers will never tire of customization, especially when it comes to their children. What we can't wait to see is, who will make the first line of customizable—reusable or disposable—diapers...?

Website: www.alphabetplates.com
Contact: info@alphabetplates.com

Spotted by: swissmiss

Puzzle books are big sellers, but generally not much to look at. Aiming to capture that gap in the market is a series of eyecatching, pocket-sized books. The Pocket Posh line includes about two dozen books, which retail for USD 7.99. Each features 100 puzzles: crosswords, hangman, word searches, logic puzzles and various forms of sodoku.

Floral and geometric designs grace their covers, and the books have rounded corners and elastic band closures that mimic Moleskine notebooks. Developed by The Puzzle Society and published by Andrews McMeel, Pocket Posh is targeting female puzzlers. Proof once again that everything can be upgraded to appeal to design-sensitive consumers. One for other publishers to be inspired by? (Related: Toilet seat covers, upgraded — Chic vomit bags for morning-sick moms.)

Website: www.andrewsmcmeel.com
Contact: www.andrewsmcmeel.com/contact.html

From fine automobiles to designer handbags, we've covered various companies that let consumers rent expensive objects instead of buying them. The latest to join the herd is New York-based Rent the Runway, which allows women to rent designer dresses.

Dress-seeking fashionistas browse RTR's collection and schedule a delivery date (next-day delivery is available, as well as same-day in New York City). RTR then sends them the dress, including a second, back-up size to make sure the fit is as good as the design. Rental costs are around 10% of a garment's retail price, and range from USD 50–200. Customers can rent for four or eight days, after which they return the dress in the USPS return envelope that RTR provides. The extra size—which RTR provides at no extra cost—must be returned unworn.

Further proof that its founders have thought through the concept from a consumer's point of view, RTR also lets members rent a second style for just USD 25. Which gives them a back-up option for last-minute decisions, or a second dress to wear at an elaborate wedding or a multi-day event. Brands currently on offer include Just Cavalli, Helmut Lang, Proenza Schouler and Hervé Leger.

Appealing both to consumers who are cutting back for economic reasons, and to those who value experiences over ownership (dubbed transumers by our sister-site trendwatching.com), there's plenty of room for concepts like Rent the Runway to grow, especially if they provide their clients with heightened convenience as well as heightened style. (Related: Free clothes rental for fashionistas — Clothing rental for size-changing dieters — Baby clothes rental service.)

Website: www.renttherunway.com
Contact: feedback@renttherunway.com

Spotted by: Mike Hudack

To reduce the number of plastic water bottles that end up in landfills, consumers are encouraged to buy reusable bottles. Since those can be bulky to carry along, a company in Thousand Oaks, California designed an alternative. Vapur is a reusable water bottle that flattens when empty. Like a regular bottle, it stands upright when full. But when it's empty, users can fold or roll it up to stick it in a pocket or a purse.

Made of ultra-durable three-ply, BPA-free polymer, Vapur bottles can be cleaned in a dishwasher's top rack and can be frozen to keep water cool. Vapur's eco-creds aren't limited to their day-to-day use: since the bottles can be shipped flat, they're also greener to ship from manufacturer to distributors and consumers. All in all, it's an innovative way to make it more convenient for consumers to drink and carry tap water. Also of interest is that the product was developed in-house by design agency Tonic, as part of their strategy to create and spin off products of their own.

Website: www.vapur.us
Contact: www.thinktonic.com/contact-us.php

What's better than reading? Having someone read to you. Even better—having the author read to you. When book lovers visit an author's reading, they generally know his or her work. Aiming to introduce readers to authors they aren't yet familiar with, zehnSeiten (German for ten pages) promotes writers through videos that feature them reading ten pages from their latest novel.

Available both online and as an iPhone app, the videos are simple, fixed-camera affairs. No dramatic introductions or filmed scenes, just black and white recordings of authors sitting at a table and reading from their work. By eliminating frills, the focus is on the author and production time and costs are kept to a minimum. Videos range in length from ten to thirty minutes and feature work from a variety of publishers. New recordings are added weekly. zehnSeiten is the brainchild of five friends from Munich—an idea they had over drinks. It's a concept that's easily adaptable to others categories or other countries, at relatively low cost.

Website: www.zehnseiten.de
Contact: info@zehnseiten.de

Spotted by: Franziska Luh

P.S. For those of you who don't speak German, zehnSeiten adds that Tim Parks' and Paul Beatty's videos are in English.

We've written about various ventures that connect businesses with 'crowds' of graphic designers. Most work with contests, meaning that only the winning designer is paid for his or her efforts.

While companies like Crowdspring, CustomAdArt and 99designs (formerly SitePoint) tap into a global pool of pro-amateur or underemployed professional designers, a company in the Netherlands recently launched a local version, focusing on Dutch-speaking clients and designers. Like its international brethren, Brandsupply works with contests that run for 7 or 14 days. Clients outline a project and set the price they're willing to pay, after which designers can submit their suggested solutions.

The downside of a national approach is obvious: a smaller pool of talent to draw on. But for clients who don't feel comfortable communicating in English, or who need designers to be able to understand and incorporate local customs and tastes, local crowdsourcing marketplaces make sense. One to try out in your part of the world?

Website: www.brandsupply.nl
Contact: info@brandsupply.nl

Spotted by: Berend Schmit

If Twitter can be used to track packages, publish school menus and crowdfund startups, why not help tackle the US healthcare crisis too? Cell phones are already changing the way healthcare is delivered in the developing world, after all, and now Twitter promises to transform the delivery of healthcare information for stateside consumers.

ASKch is a new service from Nashville-based healthcare information provider Change:Healthcare that allows users to send quick healthcare questions via Twitter and have them answered within 60 seconds. Consumers can simply tweet a question such as, “what is diabetes” to @askch, which is now in beta; in return, they get a short description of the disease and a link to more information. Those seeking prescription pricing information in a particular ZIP code area, on the other hand, can tweet “cost of celebrex near 37209,” prompting the service to tweet back, “average price of $163 in 37209″ in return. Questions must be formatted according to predefined types, which currently include: what is (health issue); what is (drug name); cost of (drug name) near (zipcode); generic for (drug name); and generic discounts for (drug name) near (zipcode). Over time, however, Change:Healthcare plans to expand those possibilities.

The new application is just the first phase of what will ultimately be a much larger service from Change:Healthcare that aims to help consumers "be more informed and potentially save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars," the company says. Where else could Twitter be used to answer consumers' standard questions quickly and in real time...? (Related: In-home STD tests with results by text message.)

Website: ask.changehealthcare.com
Contact: company.changehealthcare.com/contact

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

It's not uncommon to find museums dedicated to showcasing local history; what's less common is to find a city museum constructed almost entirely of locally found abandoned objects. Sure enough, though, that's just the premise behind St. Louis's City Museum, a hyperlocal attraction that offers up a heaping helping of (still) made here appeal.

Housed in a 600,000-square-foot building that used to be St. Louis's International Shoe Company, City Museum is an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The museum actually opened its doors back in 1997 and is the brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur whose crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city. Old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile and even two abandoned airplanes are now part of the City Museum, which continues its ongoing salvage efforts within the bounds of the city. A collection of vintage shoelace machines from the St. Louis-based Alox Manufacturing Company are still put to work at the museum, while an Enchanted Caves exhibit makes the most of the spiral conveyor tunnel system used by the building's former tenant.

Yes, we realize this doesn't entirely fit our regular focus on "new" and "business", but its an inspiring example of a rigorous approach to being a locally-driven organization. In this era of Starbucks, H&M and countless other homogenizing forces, consumers value more than ever the details that make different parts of the world unique. Focus on the local, and you may just set yourself apart! ;-) (Related: Used cooking oil for ultra-local candlemaking in Tokyo — Mass-made to order, here.)

Website: www.citymuseum.org
Contact: info@citymuseum.org

Spotted by: Rick Noyes