Ride the City is an online tool that will help find you a safe bike route to your destination.  How does it work?  Enter your starting and ending address or drag the cyclist and stop sign icons onto the map.  That's it!

Unfortunately, it's only available in New York City, Austin, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago and Louisville, but they are working on adding more cities.  Be sure to check out the Ride the City blog for updates and additions.

Laura Feinstein of PSFK writes:

Don’t let your eyes deceive you: those aren’t two separate pairs of shoes. Rather, they are one very special collaboration between cyclist and Creative Director of Intersection Magazine, Yorgo Tloupas and Nike as part of the City Tempo/CTRS/Livestrong collection, in which 8 cyclists from 8 different cities choose a colorway for the Nike City Tiempo shoe. The shoes, which are all black under natural light, but when exposed to car headlight or the flash of a camera becomes white with a black swoosh. This design is not just interesting from a design perspective but is also very useful for those who tend to peddle at night, when they can be  easily missed by traffic.

Link (Thanks, Jodi!)

Jason @ Hackszine writes:

One thing that discourages people from using a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation is that it's a little undesireable to show up to school or work sweaty. In hilly cities, riders are forced to heavily exert themselves during a typical commute, pretty much guaranteeing perspiration and discouraging bicycle use.

Jarle Wanvik, an avid bicyclist in Trondheim Norway, was able to solve this problem with his bicycle lift invention, a cable driven stepping-pad that pushes bicyclists up a steep hill that lies between Trondheim's city center and the University. Though this prototype hasn't been duplicated anywhere else, it's an awfully clever hack that addresses the very real problem of encouraging human-powered urban transportation.

The Bicycle Life: Sustainable Urban Transport - Link.