Toy Lab has just the thing for you: the Party Whistle! Try it out on New Year’s or your next birthday bash. The Party Whistle is the Toy Lab’s first foray into fun, playful iPhone apps, and the group shares the experiment with IDEO Labs readers. The app costs just 99 cents at the iTunes or App store.

Learn more about it here.

By Kara Johnson

Gizmodo’s editorial director Brian Lam gives Kara Johnson the final word on tomorrow’s gadget materials. Kara explains that unpainted plastic is the future, and that we need to move beyond injection molding and look at sheet processes for 2D layers.

Read the article here.

On December 17, IDEO’s Bill Moggridge talks at ITRI about how it used to be normal to develop a new service with the help of a training program for the staff. But digital technology and the Internet have changed the way we interact with everything and everybody. Now, services are an opportunity for design and design thinking, as well as training. Bill will give an overview of how this has happened and propose a service design process. He’ll illustrate his talk with examples, including the i.mode mobile phone service from Japan, the Amtrak Acela train service, and an online bank from the USA, and a car sharing service from Italy.

By Paul Bennett

IDEO’s Paul Bennett writes about his theory on why heaven might not be that far from YouTube on C&binet, a network that links the international creative and commercial communities.

Read the blog post here.

Journalist Burt Helm writes about PNC’s ‘Virtual Wallet,’ an account offering designed by IDEO to pull in the next generation of banking customers as they start to shop for home loans and brokerage accounts while dealing with their above-average balances. IDEO’s research turned up two things that fed into the strategic plan: twentysomethings consider bank sites clunky, and they typically don’t know how to manage their money.

Read the article here.

Project Form, a collaborative effort between California College of the Arts (CCA) and IDEO to develop CCA’s next strategic plan, is completely transparent in process and findings through this lively blog. Watch the process unfold through brainstorming sessions at IDEO and online debates.

Join the discussion here.

Ford came to IDEO for an architecture blueprint that would map out the interaction experience of the company’s hybrid drivers. IDEO conducted extensive user research, studying some three dozen drivers’ habits and incorporating new-found information into a design brief. “Our big finding was that drivers interested in fuel efficiency were playing a game. They want a high score,” says Steve Bishop, IDEO’s global lead of sustainability.

Read the article here.

By Diego Rodriguez

IDEO’s Diego Rodriguez reviews What Matters, a collection of photographs and essays about the issues of our time.

Read the article here.

IDEO’s receives Red Dot Award for work with Yello Sparzähler.

Fast Company puts Fred Dust + IDEO’s Eyes Open series on its list of Best Business Books of 2008. The theme running through Fast Company’s picks this year is that new ideas are the lifeblood of business, and the process of finding and sharing new ideas is essential to success. The Eyes Open books are technically travel guides; however, as the editors point out they’re really exercises in opening your mind to new experiences and ideas. As the editors explain, “Flip through their beautiful, distinctive color photographs and you’ll not only see these cities in a new way, but you’ll realize that there’s a different way of viewing the world around you.”

Read the article here.