By Chris Cosci

In an effort to make life easier for everybody, companies are constantly producing dual-purpose items. You have cell phones that play video games and pens that double as mini-flashlights. I don't think that was what Thoreau had in mind when he said, "simplify, simplify, simplify." But as long as there are opportunities, companies will continue to come up with innovative ideas that will improve our way of life.

If not, then they will at least find ways of taking ordinary objects and making them extraordinary. For example, take the airline sickness back. In general, this is not a particularly exciting product. It's basically a small paper bag you keep in front of you in case your free peanuts try to resurface during a severe spell of turbulence.

The air sickness bag has a bad reputation. Nobody really wants one, and people only use them if they have to. Air sickness bags are in desperate need of a little PR. That may be why a Scottish-based film lab has come up with an ingenious solution to their plight.

The film lab, Klick (which rhymes with "sick" - coincidence?), has teamed up with easyJet, a popular European budget airline, to produce air sickness bags that can also be used to send film off for processing. Basically, the bag can be converted into an envelope that you put a roll of vacation photos into and mail off to Klick.

It's important to note that the bags really should be used for one purpose or the other, and not both. My recommendation would be to wait until you land before placing your film into one of the bags. After all, nothing would ruin a vacation more than putting your film in the bag early on, only to wind up using the bag for its primary purpose during the last leg of the flight.

Boasting about this incredible new concept, marketing manager Moira Findlay states that "easyJet has always been at the forefront of airline innovations." Yes, a combination barf bag/film envelope is just the kind of technological marvel that could save the airline industry from its downward spiral. While other airlines are spending precious time and money on wider seats, bigger planes, and more in-flight entertainment, easyJet is paving the way for convenience and a highest standard in flying.

And even if people feel a little squeamish about sending their film to be developed in an air sickness bag, Klick can still benefit from the extra advertising. Should a flight get a little bumpy and a bunch of people start reaching for the bag in front of them, the Klick logo will be staring them in the face as they fight to keep their lunch down.

This creation may be the start of a new trend in cross-marketing. We can have hypodermic needles that transform into darts when not used for injections. Ping pong paddles can be wired so you can hook them up to defibrillators in case of emergency. And bedpans can be created in hot, new colors to double as fruit bowls.

Perhaps it's a little easy to get carried away. But when you think of the endless possibilities, it's hard not to. We are living in an age where items with a single purpose are practically archaic. For some people, I would imagine that the ideal future would be a simple house with one machine that does everything - a television, dishwasher, clothes washer, oven, vacuum cleaner, and iron all compressed into one portable unit. We may still be a long way off from that, but the air sickness bag/film envelope brings us one step closer.