Core77

Under the heading Accidentally Amazing Design Blogs, Afrigadget.com has got to be among the most fascinating, without trying specifically to appeal to the ID community. Recently named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2008 (though it's been around since 2006), the site is a frequently updated survey of home-grown craft and technology from across the continent, with a strong focus on the sub-Saharan region (Anyone know of a similar site for North Africa? We're curious.)

The more predictable water pumps, nut shellers (see pic above), and creative recycling projects are in full effect, but also some distinct instances of technological leapfrogging: the image below, culled from Jan Chipchase's excellent blog, annotates a typical cell phone service and charging station in rural Uganda, and includes in the same post some discussion of technology hacking sub-cultures in practically every developing country on earth.

For all the talk permeating the design communities about appropriate technology, creative re-purposing, and design for the other 90%, looking through blogs like this one gives the distinct impression that we're missing the boat -- design solutions for the developing world may, in fact, be coming along quite nicely without us.