Cool Tools

Cool Tools

In each episode of the Cool Tools Show, Kevin Kelly and Mark Frauenfelder talk to a guest about some of his or her favorite uncommon and uncommonly good tools they think others should know about.

Episodes

December 20, 2024 49 mins

Paleontologist-Futurist Michael Garfield works in mind-jazz across genres to help navigating our world of accelerating weirdness and cultivate the curiosity and play for people to thrived in it. Host of Future Fossils, former Digital Media Strategist for The Santa Fe Institute and host of Complexity Podcast, former Community Manager for The Long Now Foundation and Research Analyst for a stealth Mozilla AI spin out, his latest proje...

Mark as Played

Mr. Burke is a serial entrepreneur. Mr. Burke has over 34 years of enterprise software company management and start-up experience and has worked for 11 software and technology services companies. Mr. Burke is a father of 3 kids and husband to his lovely wife, Irina.

WEBSITE

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
0:31 – Leatherman Skeletool
6:13 – Samsung Galaxy Ring
14:26 – Kindle Paperwhite
19:27 – SimpleNote
23:17 – Cognitive Medical Systems

Mark as Played
December 6, 2024 30 mins

Christina K. is a home organizer based out of metro Vancouver area. She helps the neurodivergent to the neurotypical find space and peace in their home whether virtually or in person. She also in a previous life was a marketing coordinator helping small and big businesses in the tech space find their voice in a loud world. When not working you can find her baking, watching educational YouTube or collecting too many squishmallows.

W...

Mark as Played
November 29, 2024 33 mins

Based in Texas, Chordophony, is a software engineer by day who moonlights as a music technologist and sound explorer. He has developed innovative devices and software to facilitate sonic creation and streamline production workflows. Chordophony is an avid collector and enthusiast of music-related tools and instruments.

Social Media Links:
Instagram.com/chordophony
Twitter.com/chordophony

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
0:45 – Bluetooth MIDI Foo...

Mark as Played
October 25, 2024 34 mins

Data storyteller RJ Andrews is obsessed with data graphics. He helps organizations solve high-stakes problems with visual metaphors and persuasive graphics. He recently produced designs for The White House, Google, and MIT. RJ’s newest book is “Info We Trust: How to Create Value with Data Graphics.” He is also author of “Florence Nightingale: Mortality and Health Diagrams” and other works. Learn about all publications at Visionary ...

Mark as Played
October 11, 2024 42 mins

Julian Bleecker, Ph.D., is an accomplished engineer and author with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, an MSEng from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz. He founded Near Future Laboratory in 2005 and OMATA, a one-person innovative hardware product design studio, in 2014, which he sold in 2022. Julian has written It’s Time To Imagine Harder and co-authored The Manual of Design Fiction. H...

Mark as Played
September 13, 2024 26 mins
Mac Moss is an Idaho based graphic designer who operates his own one man studio known as mm.s. Heavily inspired by science fiction and the American West, his work has naturally drifted into predominantly the outdoor industry. Outside of work, Mac races competitively at ultra marathon distances.
 
Mark as Played
September 6, 2024 37 mins

David Rager is an accomplished Creative Director with over two decades of experience in design leadership, brand building, and environmental experiences. As NASA’s current Creative Director, he oversees the agency’s visual brand and iconic Graphics Standards Manual and is responsible for reintroducing the NASA Logotype (Worm). Previously, Rager led teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Disney, the Museum of Contemporary Art Lo...

Mark as Played
August 30, 2024 39 mins

ABOUT DANNY KIM:
20+ years of vehicle architecture & prototype development. Inventor w/ 65 issued int’l patents, 22 USPTOs. Focus of HBS case study: Industrial design & sustainable transportation. Former Land Rover mechanic, machinist, woodworker, welder, and vehicle integrator. Reed College, UCB, RISD, & Media Lab.

LINKS:
LIT Motors
Wefunder
Flickr
Instagram
YouTube

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
1:19 – 48″ Margining steel lead screw shaft Ro...

Mark as Played
August 23, 2024 34 mins
Aishwarya Khanduja is the founder of a stealth entity working to solve wicked problems through lenses of complexity, markets, and power. She's spent the majority of her career thus far being a founder or supporting founders. Her companies span biotech, ed-tech, and the future of work. She writes a weekly letter, essays, technical primers, and other musings on aishwaryadoingthings...
Mark as Played
March 15, 2024 33 mins

Adam Hill (He/Him) is a dad who loves science, cooking, math, engineering, skepticism, espresso, and politics! He has been a teacher, an engineer, and now a software business analyst. Curiosity now and forever!

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
0:46 – Burley Bee Bike Trailer
5:20 – Nanofoamer Pro
12:07 – Magsafe wallet
16:22 – Eat Your Books

 
Mark as Played
March 8, 2024 32 mins

Mia Coots is a Senior at Nokomis Regional High in central Maine and an amazing presenter for the Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine for the Department of Education.

LINKS:
http://SLAMShow.org

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
0:53 – ATEM Mini Switcher
7:50 – Rode Wireless II Mics
15:22 – MuteSync
18:50 – Canva

Watch on YouTube
 
For show notes and transcript visit: ...
Mark as Played
March 1, 2024 52 mins
Josué Moreno, a Spanish composer and sound artist, has made Finland his home, where he inspires the next generation of musicians as a teacher at the prestigious Sibelius Academy’s Music Technology Department. Known for pioneering Urban Sonic Acupuncture, Josué seamlessly blends the vibrancy of live electronic compositions with the innovative realms of Computer-Assisted Compositio...

Mark as Played
February 16, 2024 32 mins

Kern Kelley is a Technology Integrator at Maine School Unit #19. Starting his teaching career in New Zealand, he has provided support to educators for over two decades and conducted professional development across the globe. He advises a student produced technology show for the Maine Department of Education at MLTI.me and brings his student presenters, the Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine to numerous conferences around the w...

Mark as Played
February 9, 2024 42 mins

Rich Edwards is the CEO of Mindspan Systems, which helps community financial institutions transform themselves with data-driven strategies and technologies. Rich has worked extensively with banking, insurance, and financial services clients worldwide during his career. He has led product strategy in data center automation and artificial intelligence, including the launch of IBM Watson Developer Cloud. Rich has a Bachelor of Science...

Mark as Played
February 2, 2024 36 mins

Brent Deverman founded and sold a China-based internet startup providing services to tourists and English speakers based in Shenzhen, China. With over 20 years of experience in software development, analytics, digital transformation, and e-commerce development, Brent has also executed technical projects for HSBC, CNN, DFS, and AIA. He graduated from Michigan State University with a dual degree in Computer Science and East Asian Stu...

Mark as Played
January 26, 2024 54 mins
Chris Butler is a chaotic good product manager, writer, and speaker. He has extensive experience in product management leadership at Microsoft, Waze, KAYAK, Facebook Reality Labs (aka Meta), and Cognizant. He is now Group Product Manager in Google’s Core Machine Learning team. He is also the co-founder of The Uncertainty Project a community focused on decision making and strategy...

Mark as Played
January 19, 2024 48 mins
Bud Thorpe is a long time photographer, a life long educator, and former paramedic. He and his wife specialize in creating artwork of dogs (and their well behaved families). They run the Dog Art Gallery in historic Portsmouth New Hampshire. He teaches studio lighting for photographers online at The Master Lighting Course. His website is BudThorpe.com.
Read more
Mark as Played
January 12, 2024 40 mins
Davey Rogulich is a Stagehand and Maker from Albuquerque, NM. He has toured internationally with Tricklock Theater Company and throughout the US with “Blue Man Group” and “Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan!”. He is currently the Technical Director of NDI New Mexico at The Hiland Theater in Albuquerque and the owner of Davey Craft & Tools. His hobbies include woodworking, leather working, ...
Mark as Played
December 15, 2023 28 mins
Mike Harris legal assistant, bookworm and amateur photographer who likes the surreal and the silly. Mike writes a newsletter called ThinkTrove, where he wrangles the week's wonders.
 
TOOLS:
0:00 - I...
Mark as Played

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