The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently challenged all comers to devise the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people with the most pressing health care needs.

McDonald’s has turned to crowdsourcing for the release of their latest menu item: Chicken McBites. The release of this “cupholder cuisine” item in January 2012 will be accompanied by ten chosen crowdsourced mini films. The community over at Tongal will produce the short, or bite-sized, videos with cash prizes up for grabs for the winning videos.

Expecting to begin principal production in February 2012, a new sci-fi web TV series called Immortal U has turned to the crowd for funding assistance. Using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote her concept, Immortal U creator Rhonda Abrons believes that crowdfunding and web TV are a great way to put TV shows in the hands of the audience instead of seeing their favorite shows cancelled after paying high cable bills.

Users of the Android mobile interface in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County will now be able to contribute to a crowdsourced information sharing project. Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute has recently released its real-time bus schedules and seating information app, called Tiramasu, for Android phones.

Peter A. Wachtel, a toy designer and inventor, developed his better designed farmer’s market bag, called Mercado, on Quirky.com, a crowdsourcing website that brings the best ideas to market.

A crowdsourcing initiative to find a cure for drug-resistant malaria has been unveiled by Scripps Research Institute and IBM. The project, to be partly funded by money won from the Jeopardy! game show by IBM’s Watson computing system, has invited the public to volunteer their computers for use when idle through the World Community Grid (WCG).

What will the world be like in 2025 and how will technology help shape the future? Could technology make sustainable lifestyles easier? What are the challenges and opportunities that life might hold in 2025? These are the questions that the open collaboration project FutureScapes tries to answer.

Crypteks Inc. has unveiled a new ultra-secure USB device that is sure to grab headlines this festive season. The device was launched through the “All-or-Nothing” crowdsourcing funding platform Kickstarter.com. The USB device is predicted to gain instant market fame similar to the heat generated by the launch of the LunaTik and TikToc last fall. What’s unique about this product launch is the use of a crowdsourcing platform, a trend that is rapidly picking up pace.

How do you attempt innovation when it has never been done before?

They live among us. Fallen angels and demons struggle to coexist along side with humans on the city of Los Angeles, torn between love and desire, violence and isolation.