Watched a Wired Science episode tonight on PBS and their guest was architect Cameron Sinclair. He helped found an organization that focuses on sustainable architecture for refugees and those living in 3rd world conditions, etc.

Here's the video of the show.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/story/29-cameron_sinclair_architect.html


What really caught my eye was the "Grip Clip." They showed them being use in places where refugees have to make shelters with any material available, tarps, billboard awnings, etc. It allows you to put a lot of tension on tarp material without it tearing. The PBS intereview shows its real world application.

http://shelter-systems.com/gripclips/



They also have an "open architecture challenge" website that allows people to submit thier own sustainable shelter and dwelling designs for extreme environments. Pretty cool stuff with some interesting shelter designs.

http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/

I saw a similar (in function) product at some store I was browsing (Wal-Mart or Lowe’s or something). It resembled a regular plastic spring-loader plier-type grip. Your link looks to be a much safer alternative than the product I saw, though.

As far as the grip clip; they have been around a while. I think they can even be found at REI. Pretty cool though.
The old school way is to tie off a tarp is to use something like a rock to create a tie off. You twist the object into the atrp and wrap line around the "bulge" to create an anchor point.
Doug show this nicely in his PSP instructions.