The terrorists "hate our freedom." If that's true, they're probably going to hate our folding bikes.

Montague's bad-ass Paratrooper Tactical Folding Mountain Bike is jump-ready and can be dropped on a static line or attached to a paratrooper. Accessories seem to include a camo wrap for jump time and a handlebar attachment that stores an assault rifle in a "travel" position.

Some deets on the bike's purpose:

Air Drop Ground Mobility
The Paratrooper Tactical Mountain Bike was designed as ground mobility for airborne units. It is a sturdy, durable full size Mountain Bike, designed to fold so the bike can be dropped on a static line. Once on the ground the bike is unfolded and serves as effective, efficient and stealthy ground transportation, allowing easy evacuation upon completion of a mission.

LAV / Reconnaissance Scout
Using the Paratrooper Tactical Mountain Bike in conjunction with LAV's or APC's, allows the company increased mobility and security. The Paratrooper Reconnaissance model folds so you can attach it to the side of vehicle and serves as back- up transportation. The Paratrooper is a stealthy recon/scout vehicle able to travel with little to no thermal and acoustic signatures.

Alternative to Foot Soldier
The Paratrooper Tactical Mountain Bike offers the most efficient form of human powered transportation available. Men on mountain bikes have off-body load bearing capabilities, can traverse any terrain, move at high speeds without breakdown, and can refuel themselves with local water and food. It is also a great moral builder - the guys really enjoy traveling around on a bike rather than on foot.

The only thing that bugs me is they say it allows "easy evacuation upon completion of a mission." I hope that doesn't mean the soldiers are meant to abandon the bikes--you gonna leave these sweet rides behind for the terrorists? If you do, they win!

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A bite-sized list of what's happenin' now:

ag ip news
World Intellectual Property Organization examines areas of possible convergence in industrial design law and practice

gizmodo
Cheap, Thin Laptops Suffering From Cheapness, Thinness

fast company
"Starting a Design Studio In a Downturn" four-part article

forbes
Why Dell Can't Do Gadgets

autospies
Volkswagen receives the 2009 red dot Design Award

gizmodo
Steve Wozniak's Most Memorable Gadgets

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Sydney-based Shane Crozier's been getting some blog love with his Cycle Wip, as seen above on designcrave.

Be sure to check out Crozier's sketching skills and a host of his other projects (like his Nissan Mori scooter, "Flux" e-desk and White Noise Lamp, below) on Coroflot.

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Even using "rapid" prototyping, it took French jewelry house Boucheron's craftspeople 1,500 hours to produce Marc Newson's fiendishly complicated Julia necklace. The fractals-based diamond and sapphire piece will debut tonight in Paris, and unsurprisingly, it will likely be "one of the most expensive necklaces Boucheron's ever made."

Says Newson of his design inspiration, "Fractals are fascinating, complex and rich, and gemstones really lend themselves to exploiting their beauty."

For more on fractals, check out an earlier post of ours on the subject.

via the moment

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"Thousands of fashion minded people at an airport and no one is flying off?" Exactly, after few years of Spanish sun, this year's BREAD & BUTTER trade show takes place from 1-3 July at the historical Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

Last Tuesday, the Swedish rockers Mando Diao kicked off the event with some great songs. The rock concert is followed up by an even bigger trade show where hundreds of brands such as Adidas, Marc O’Polo, Dickies, Lee, Nike, G-Star, Wrangler, ... (see brand bible), are showcasing their latest collections for the upcoming year.

Have you ever seen a super size fashion show at an airport? More photos after the jump!

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University of the Arts ID student Can Onart's Felt Stool (above), produced with classmates Elissa Myres and Bethany Casperite, is eight layers of industrial felt over just two layers of veneer. Onart's Gehry-inspired Basket Bench (below) puts steel ribbons to innovative use, with three tiers of arches providing plenty of structure.

Check out a couple of Onart's other pieces on Coroflot.

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NextLevel Galerie presents Materia, French designer's Nicolas Le Moigne's first solo show.

Materia gives Nicolas Le Moigne a golden opportunity to ennoble four raw materials.
Wood, glass, clay and steel disguise themselves and become the centrepiece of an exhibition
devoted to the duality between art and handcraft, between highly refined objects and the
commonplace.

Matera by Nicolas Le Moigne
NextLevel Galerie, Paris
through July 25th

More pics after the jump.

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Valerie Casey reminded me to reread Paul Hawken's commencement address given at the University of Portland on May 3rd. It is impossible to pick the best sections here; the speech builds upon itself in the most beautiful way, and seems blasphemous to pick out any one or two paragraphs to paste right here.

Get inspired. Read the speech now.

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Senior Design Manager-Visual Merchandising
Proctor & Gamble
Singapore

The Senior Design Manager's responsibilities include: supporting, protecting and growing the Olay brand, managing the development of design across various consumer touch points with primary focus on packaging and below the line communication, developing, briefing documents that include a creative vision and direction, inspire, lead, innovate and create a premium beauty experience in-store for Olay.

» view

The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

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Either the Thunderbird or the Beetle had to go.

With a baby on the way and two vintage cars in our garage, one a red 1963 VW Ragtop Mike's owned since age 15 and the other a champagne 1963 Ford T-bird, a tough decision had to be made. One of them had to be replaced...

The year was 2006, and, believe it or not, these old-timers were pretty much the only cars we'd ever owned. With our purchase of a new car that winter, we made a 43 year leap in automotive technology overnight.

We quickly realized, however, that despite 43 years of automotive progress, with its advances in safety, efficiency, and manufacturing, the driving experience remains basically the same as it was in 1963.

After experiencing this somewhat disappointing time warp, we wondered how we could contribute a new point of view and perhaps spark more significant progress for the next 40 years.

The current climate gave us the final push--with the car industry lost, an urgent focus on global warming, awareness of oil dependency, and the economic down turn, the stars had aligned. It is time to sow seeds, to experiment. Armed with a small design studio, we set out to design a concept car in search of an optimistic new future. And it quickly became clear to us:

A shift must take place from styling cars to redefining them.

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