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

From France to Fiji, bottled water brands rely on spring-based provenance to lure customers. A newcomer is focusing on a different kind of message: positivity. A Bottle Of, which claims to be Australia's first Naturally Positive spring water, currently comes in three varieties: wellbeing, love and strength.

Launched last December by Heidi Albertiri, a flower stylist who believes in the power of positivity, A Bottle Of hopes to lift people's moods, encouraging them to "Sip it - Say it - Absorb it - Feel it - Think about it - Repeat it - Believe it". Given the size of both the self-help market and the bottled water industry, there's something to be said for a brand that combines the two.

A Bottle Of is currently sold through a small number of retailers, yoga centers and gyms in New South Wales and Victoria, and the company is actively seeking stockists in Melbourne and Sydney. Furthering its message of positive change, a nickel from each bottle sold goes to Food Water Shelter, a not-for-profit organisation that builds eco-friendly children's villages in Tanzania. How about licensing the brand to other regions where consumers would welcome an affirmational sip?

Website: www.abottleof.com.au
Contact: info@abottleof.com.au

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

While tech fiends are anxiously awaiting web tablets made by Apple and TechCrunch, a recently-launched French touchpad device could become the darling of culinary geeks. Made specifically for kitchen use, QOOQ is a touchscreen tablet that aims to coach and assist both beginning and experienced cooks.

For EUR 349, the device comes loaded with 500 interactive recipes and 10 instructional videos. Customers can add their own recipes and—for a monthly fee of EUR 12.95—get access to a further 2,000 recipes and 500 video, with 50 new recipes added every month. Membership also includes unlimited access to a culinary guide that covers everything from wine pairing to chopping techniques. Spillproof and wifi-enabled, QOOQ was developed entirely to be used in the kitchen. Placed flat on a countertop, it rests on 'claws' that keep it safely elevated from crumbs and damp prep areas. It can also stand upright, for easier reading and for use as a digital picture frame (the device is multi-purpose: it also includes a radio and a weather station).

QOOQ's founders hope to encourage people to rediscover the pleasure of cooking, while making their lives simpler with features like intuitive menu planning tools and automated grocery lists. QOOQ's interface and recipes are currently only available in French—for anyone in food publishing in other parts of the world, this could be a natural fit.

Website: www.qooq.com
Contact: contact@unowhy.com

Spotted by: Thibaut Bayart