How do you reconcile a humanitarian need (vaccines for diseases that effect millions in the developing world) with the necessary exigincies of the free market (people in the developing world can’t afford to pay enough for the vaccines to justify the research necessary to develop them) without substituting heavy-handed and ineffective government coercion for market efficiencies? One option is to fund advance market commitments, in which a developed world government promises to buy a certain (substantial) quantity of vaccines if and when they’re developed.

In Robert Cringely’s world, everything is a lot simpler, and logic is enough. Like in a recent column, where he suggests we solve the last mile problem by building it ourselves, with Microsoft’s help.

The Industrial Designers Society of America recognizes well designed products with the Industrial Design Excellence Award. Business Week presents the winners. Cool stuff here, if you’re into design.

The Excalibur artillery shells soon to be on their way to Iraq and Afganistan use satellite guidance systems and tailfins for manuevering to increase accuracy. Seems somehow inappropriate to put them in the same category as the dumb hunks of metal and explosives used in the last few wars.

Seems kind of gimmicky to me, but I guess a GPS navigator that doubles as a camera and lets you pick your destination by its photo can’t be worse than the UI on most car navigation systems that I’ve seen.