Cool Tools
394 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 58 ratingsIn 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.
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Episodes
155: Aaron Lammer
December 28, 2018 20:00 - 39 minutes - 29.3 MBOur guest this week is Aaron Lammer. Aaron is the co-host of the Longform Podcast, which has interviewed non-fiction writers weekly for over half a decade. He has been writing songs with the music project Francis and the Lights since college and lives in Brooklyn. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/aaron-lammer-longform-co-founder
154: M.G. Siegler
December 21, 2018 20:15 - 32 minutes - 24 MBOur guest this week is M.G. Siegler. For the past 5-plus years, M.G. Siegler has been a general partner at GV — Google’s venture capital arm. Before that, he helped start a seed fund called CrunchFund. And before that, he was a tech reporter for a number of years at publications such as TechCrunch and VentureBeat. Way back when, he was a front-end web developer. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/m-g-siegler-general-partner-at-gv
153: Maggie Tokuda-Hall
December 15, 2018 00:11 - 32 minutes - 24.5 MBOur guest this week is Maggie Tokuda-Hall. Maggie is the author of the Parent's Choice Gold Medal winning picture book, Also an Octopus. Her debut young adult novel, The Mermaid, The Witch, and The Sea is due out in Fall 2019. She is the host of the Drunk Safari podcast. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/maggie-tokuda-hall-children-and-ya-author
152: Gever Tulley
December 07, 2018 21:02 - 37 minutes - 28 MBOur guest this week is Gever Tulley. Gever is founder of Tinkering School, an internationally famous summer camp where kids build amazing things from rollercoasters to wind-powered trains. He is also the founder of SF Brightworks, a K-12 school where the student is the co-author of their education, with an emphasis on learning by doing. He also co-author of 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do), a book to help children and families learn to assess and mitigate risk by doing da...
151: Anne Briggs
November 30, 2018 22:24 - 24 minutes - 18.6 MBOur guest this week is Anne Briggs. Anne grew up on Montana and spent a lot of her young life abroad because her parents are missionaries. She majored in Chinese and Business hoping to become an international business mogul, but quickly realized that working in the tech industry wasn't a life she wanted to live. So she started a garden and built a workshop in her spare time. One thing led to another and now she's a farmer, woodworker, blacksmith, musician, and full-time content creator. For ...
150: Michael Lorsung
November 23, 2018 10:00 - 37 minutes - 27.8 MBOur guest this week is Michael Lorsung. Michael is a transmedia artist based in Snowmass Village, Colorado. He is a practicing artist, tinkerer, and experimenter who also works full time managing the sculpture program at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. His work investigates human questions through the lens of industrial production and technology. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/michael-lorsung-transmedia-artist
149: Trey Ratcliff
November 20, 2018 00:23 - 26 minutes - 18 MBOur guest this week is Trey Ratcliff. Trey is a photographer, artist, writer and adventurer. Each day, Trey posts a new photo to his website, StuckInCustoms.com, the #1 Travel Photography blog. His images and stories capture the beauty of exotic travel destinations as well as the humor of bizarre situations he often finds himself in. There is always something new, unexpected and beautiful to see. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/trey-ratcliff-photographer
148: Jeri Ellsworth
November 09, 2018 18:33 - 31 minutes - 23.1 MBOur guest this week is Jeri Ellsworth. Jeri is an inventor, entrepreneur and amateur scientist. Her career started when she dropped out of high school and formed a business building, selling and racing quarter-mile dirt-track cars. In the mid-90’s she founded a small retail computer store chain, and in the 2000’s she launched her engineering career where she designed a wide variety of electronic components and consumer products. She's passionate about educational outreach and maintains a yout...
147: Elan Lee
November 02, 2018 18:44 - 27 minutes - 20.7 MBOur guest this week is Elan Lee. Elan is a professional game designer. He is a co-creator of Exploding Kittens, the most backed crowdfunded project in history. And before that, he was Chief Design Officer for Microsoft's Xbox. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/elan-lee-co-creator-of-exploding-kittens
146: April Wilkerson
October 26, 2018 17:53 - 23 minutes - 17.9 MBOur guest this week is April Wilkerson. April is a maker who started building stuff out of necessity, but then it turned into a passion, and now it's her full-time job. Anything she needs, she figures out how to build, so nothing is off-limits. Woodworking, metalworking, construction, renovation. She does it all. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/april-wilkerson-maker
145: Saul Griffith
October 19, 2018 21:57 - 30 minutes - 22.7 MBOur guest this week is Saul Griffith. Saul is a compulsive user of tools, he works across disciplines with a focus of making tools and technologies that help us solve climate change. Consequently, he ends up doing thermodynamics, precision machine design, and robotics on a daily basis. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/saul-griffith-inventor
144: Laura Cochrane
October 12, 2018 18:33 - 22 minutes - 16.9 MBOur guest this week is Laura Cochrane. Laura Cochrane is a content strategist living in Berkeley, California. She currently works at NEO.LIFE, a biotech publication. Before that, she was an editor at two different DIY project publications: MAKE magazine, where she worked alongside Mark, and Instructables. Her hobbies include rock climbing, drawing, dancing, and yoga. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/laura-cochrane-content-strategist
143: Carl Bass
October 08, 2018 18:12 - 25 minutes - 19.1 MBOur guest this week is Carl Bass. Carl has been designing and making buildings, boats, sculpture, and machinery for the last 40 years. He is the former CEO of Autodesk and now spends his time researching the boundaries of digital fabrication in his shops in Berkeley and with a number of companies he’s working with. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/carl-bass-former-autodesk-ceo
142: Anita Sarkeesian
September 28, 2018 17:25 - 28 minutes - 20.9 MBOur guest this week is Anita Sarkeesian. Anita is a media critic and the host of Feminist Frequency Radio. She has a new book Called History vs Women, which she wrote with Ebony Adams. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/anita-sarkeesian-feminist-frequency-radio
141: Steven Levy
September 21, 2018 21:15 - 26 minutes - 19.7 MBOur guest this week is Steven Levy. Steven writes about technology. He’s editor at large at Wired and his books include Hackers, Crypto, Artificial Life and In the Plex. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/steven-levy-editor-at-large-at-wired
140: Bran Ferren
September 14, 2018 19:32 - 20 minutes - 15.9 MBOur guest this week is Bran Ferren. Bran is the former President of Research and Development of Walt Disney Imagineering and is now the Chief Creative Officer of Applied Minds, which he co-founded in 2000 with Danny Hillis. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/bran-ferren-chief-creative-officer-of-applied-minds
139: Adam Fisher
September 07, 2018 18:40 - 28 minutes - 21 MBOur guest this week is Adam Fisher. Adam grew up in Silicon Valley, playing Atari, programming computers and reading science fiction. He still lives in the Bay area, but now spends his time thinking about the future, tracing its origins and writing about it for Wired, MIT Technology Review, The Economist, and The New York Times Sunday Magazine. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/adam-fisher-author-of-valley-of-genius
138: Steve Lodefink
August 31, 2018 20:08 - 25 minutes - 19.3 MBOur guest this week is Steve Lodefink. Steve is a software User Experience designer by day, and a tinker and maker of things by night. As a contributing author Make and Craft magazines, and blogger, Steve has written and shared numerous how-to and articles. He enjoys exploring new tools and methods as well as learning the old ones. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/steve-lodefink-user-experience-designer
137: Michael Dubno
August 24, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutes - 21.9 MBOur guest this week is Michael Dubno. Michael is a former Wall Street CIO/CTO and a software developer. He's an inventor, artist, welder, machinist, polar explorer, photographer, roboticist, tech entrepreneur, mentor, co-founder of Gadgetoff, co-chair of FIRST in New York City, and exaggerator of accomplishments, and a collector and user of tools. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/michael-dubno-founder-of-gadgetoff
136: Larry A
August 17, 2018 20:37 - 24 minutes - 34.5 MBOur guest this week is Larry A. Larry is a longtime subscriber to Cool Tools and an occasional contributor. He's an engineer who loves technology, and who sees things differently and in more depth than the average consumer. Kevin and I picked Larry as a guest for the Cool Tools Show because he's active in the comment boards. He has great things to say: questions, assumptions, interesting opinions. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/larry-a-engineer
135: Dan Dubno
August 10, 2018 22:19 - 21 minutes - 16.3 MBOur guest this week is Dan Dubno. Dan is an Emmy Award winning journalist, technologist, curator, and founder of nonprofit organizations. At CBS News, he developed many new technologies that have changed the face of broadcast television. Presently, Dan is working for DARPA and is also Contributing Editor for Popular Mechanics. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/dan-dubno-contributing-editor-for-popular-mechanics
134: Rose Eveleth
August 03, 2018 21:05 - 35 minutes - 25.8 MBOur guest this week is Rose Eveleth. Rose is a Rose Eveleth. Rose is a writer and producer based in Berkeley who explores how humans tangle with science and technology. She's the creator and host of Flash Forward, a podcast about possible and not so possible futures, and it's covered everything from fake tumbleweed farms to million dollar baccarat heists. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/rose-eveleth-podcast-producer
133: Theodore Gray
July 27, 2018 21:08 - 36 minutes - 26.4 MBOur guest this week is Theodore Gray. Theodore is the co-founder of Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha. He's also the founder of App publisher Touch Press and the author of many books that Kevin and I own and love, including The Elements, Molecules, Reactions, and Mad Science. He's also the proprietor of periodictable.com. For show notes visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/theodore-gray-co-founder-of-wolfram-research
132: Danielle Baskin
July 20, 2018 22:00 - 39 minutes - 28.7 MBOur guest this week is Danielle Baskin. Danielle is an entrepreneur, painter, and performance artist based in San Francisco. She's created internet jokes, like Custom Avocados and Drone Sweaters. She's also the founder of Inkwell Helmets, a custom bike helmet company, the co-founder of Your Boss, a voice-chat based productivity app, and has started many other companies. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/danielle-baskin-product-designer
131: Alex Glow
July 13, 2018 20:51 - 34 minutes - 25.1 MBOur guest this week is Alex Glow. Alex creates electronics videos and tutorials at Hackster.io in San Francisco; she loves building wearable tech, EEG, music, bikes, holograms, and more. Alex grew into hardware as a FIRST Robotics team member, then as a director of the AHA and Noisebridge hackerspaces and Artist in Residence at Autodesk's Pier 9. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/alex-glow-hackster-io
130: Tom Fassbender
July 06, 2018 20:21 - 21 minutes - 16.3 MBOur guest this week is Tom Fassbender. Tom is a writer and former publisher of books and comics and a traveler who, along with his wife and two daughters, ventured on a yearlong trip around the world where they experienced 36 countries in 333 days. And he also posted about his adventures on Boing Boing, which was really fun to read. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/tom-fassbender-writer
129: Jake Von Slatt
June 29, 2018 17:29 - 33 minutes - 24.5 MBOur guest this week is Jake von Slatt. Jake von Slatt is someone that delights making things. Hours spent in the workshop are a meditation, an end unto themselves. This results in adventures that Jake has coined “toolchain journeys,” the most recent of which started with a desire to learn blacksmithing and lead to 3D printing a model to cast in aluminum to make a pulley to drive an alternator converted to a welder with a 1946 car engine to weld a pile of scrap steel into a serviceable anvil. ...
128: Dan Ruderman
June 22, 2018 22:21 - 23 minutes - 17.2 MBOur guest this week is Dan Ruderman. Dan is a physicist and technologist. He is faculty at the Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, where he applies machine learning to individualized cancer treatment. Dan enjoys overseas travel, and picking up enough foreign language to never again order a plate of organ meat. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/dan-ruderman-physicist-and-technologist
127: Becky Stern
June 15, 2018 21:06 - 25 minutes - 18.9 MBBecky is a Content Creator at Instructables, and part time faculty at New York’s School of Visual Arts Products of Design grad program. Making and sharing are her two biggest passions, and she's created hundreds of free online DIY tutorials and videos, mostly about technology and its intersection with crafts. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/becky-stern-content-creator-at-instructables
126: Charles Platt
June 08, 2018 09:00 - 32 minutes - 23.7 MBOur guest this week is Charles Platt. Charles has written science-fiction novels, computer books, and books about electronics, including Make: Electronics, which is a best-seller in its field. He was a senior writer at Wired magazine, and has designed and built prototype equipment for a California laboratory. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/charles-platt-contributing-editor-to-make-magazine
125: Tod Kurt
May 31, 2018 21:33 - 29 minutes - 21.3 MBOur guest this week is Tod E. Kurt. Tod runs ThingM, an IoT device studio in Pasadena. He is creator of the blink(1) USB notification light and BlinkM Smart LED. He co-founded CRASH Space, a Los Angeles hackerspace. He is the author of “Hacking Roomba” and long ago worked on cameras for Mars probes. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/tod-e-kurt-co-founder-of-thingm
124: Kishore Hari
May 25, 2018 22:30 - 31 minutes - 22.9 MBOur guest this week is Kishore Hari. Kishore is a scientist/science educator who's been building science events for the last decade, but he really sees himself as a community organizer for science. He’s currently the science correspondent at Adam Savage’s Tested.com and the host of the weekly science podcast Inquiring Minds. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/kishore-hari-scientist
123: Scotty Allen
May 18, 2018 20:03 - 38 minutes - 27.6 MBOur guest this week is Scotty Allen. Scotty is a nomadic engineer, entrepreneur, adventurer and storyteller who orbits around San Francisco and Shenzhen, China. He runs a YouTube channel Strange Parts, a travel adventure show for geeks where he goes on adventures ranging from building his own iPhone in China to trying to make a manhole cover in India. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/scotty-allen-strange-parts
122: Kari Byron
May 11, 2018 17:36 - 22 minutes - 16.5 MBOur guest this week is Kari Byron. Kari is best known for her role as a host on Discovery’s flagship show Mythbusters. Since then she has gone on to host and produce shows spanning several networks from White Rabbit Project on Netflix to Thrill Factor on Travel Channel to Positive Energy on Nat Geo. She just released her new book Crash Test Girl: An Unlikely Experiment in Using the Scientific Method to Answer Life’s Toughest Questions. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/kari-byron...
121: Talin
May 04, 2018 18:49 - 30 minutes - 21.9 MBOur guest this week is Talin. Talin is a “recovering game programmer” whose career spans 25 years, stretching from the early years of personal computing to more recent games like Sim City 4 and The Sims 2. He’s also a writer, artist, cosplayer, musician and web developer. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/talin-recovering-game-programmer
120: Grant Thompson
April 27, 2018 22:21 - 34 minutes - 24.9 MBOur guest this week is Grant Thompson. Grant was an airline pilot when he started posting videos of his crazy science experiments and DIY projects. His channel became wildly popular for making science fun, and he's become home to nearly 10 million subscribers. He's been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, Good Morning America, Discovery Channel, and Jimmy Fallon. As "The King of Random," Grant's mission has been to share the joy of experimenting and hands-on learning. Through constant experimenting ...
119: Bob Clagett
April 19, 2018 21:08 - 31 minutes - 22.5 MBOur guest this week is Bob Clagett. Bob loves making stuff. He loves showing other people how he works to hopefully inspire them and empower them to make whatever is that they're passionate about. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/bob-clagett-maker
118: Michael Borys
April 13, 2018 19:36 - 27 minutes - 19.9 MBOur guest this week is Michael Borys. He is a designer who creates experiences for the entertainment industry. He is currently the Vice President of Interaction and Game Design at 42 Entertainment, a Magician Member of The Magic Castle and his immersive magic show is called The 49 Boxes — which is not to be missed. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/michael-borys-interactive-design-director
117: Matt Blum
April 05, 2018 22:17 - 31 minutes - 22.4 MBOur guest this week is Matt Blum. Matt is a dad, a geek, and a software engineer, who’s been writing for and editing the GeekDad blog for almost 11 years. He foresees the day soon when he’ll need to buy a new house just for his books, games, LEGO sets, and Funko Pop! Vinyls. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/matt-blum-editor-in-chief-at-geekdad
116: Koichi
March 27, 2018 21:19 - 35 minutes - 25.5 MBOur guest this week is Koichi. Koichi started Tofugu, a blog to help people get to Japan and have a good time once they get there, and WaniKani, a kanji learning program that uses mnemonics, SRS, and some morally ambiguous addiction strategies to teach you around 2,000 kanji and 6,000 Japanese vocabulary words up to 10x faster. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/koichi-tofugu
115: Zach Supalla
March 16, 2018 20:55 - 34 minutes - 24.3 MBOur guest this week is Zach Supalla. Zach is the CEO and one of the founders of Particle, the most widely-used IoT platform. Particle is used by more than 140,000 developers and 8,500 companies to build IoT products ranging from the smart home to industrial equipment. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/zach-supalla-ceo-of-particle
114: Scott Smith
March 08, 2018 23:06 - 33 minutes - 23.8 MBOur guest this week is Scott Smith. Scott is a critical futurist and founder of Changeist, where he leads strategy and research. His work taps over 20 years’ experience tracking social, tech and economic trends. He works with brands and organizations to find new futures. He’s also a writer and frequent speaker, and on Twitter @changeist. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/scott-smith-founder-of-changeist
113: Madeline Ashby
February 28, 2018 22:48 - 25 minutes - 18.4 MBOur guest this week is Madeline Ashby. Madeline is a science fiction writer and futurist living in Toronto. Her most recent novel, Company Town, was a finalist for the 2017 CBC Books Canada Reads prize. She has also developed science fiction prototypes for the Institute for the Future, SciFutures, Data & Society, Nesta, the Atlantic Council, NASA, and others. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/madeline-ashby-sci-fi-writer
112: JD Roth
February 23, 2018 21:56 - 30 minutes - 21.5 MBOur guest this week is J.D. Roth started blogging in 1997, before "blog" was even a word. In 2006, he founded GetRichSlowly.org, a site devoted to common-sense personal finance. He sold Get Rich Slowly in 2009 then bought it back in 2017. His mission in life is to help everyday people master their money and achieve their financial goals. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/j-d-roth-get-rich-slowly
111: Nelson Dellis
February 15, 2018 22:57 - 28 minutes - 20.6 MBOur guest this week is Nelson Dellis. Nelson is one of the leading memory experts in the world, traveling around the world as a Memory Consultant and Keynote Speaker. A four-time USA Memory Champion, mountaineer, and Alzheimer's disease activist, he preaches a lifestyle that combines fitness, both mental and physical, with proper diet and social involvement. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/nelson-dellis-usa-memory-champion
110: Kevin Rose
February 09, 2018 00:12 - 29 minutes - 20.8 MBOur guest this week is Kevin Rose. Kevin is a serial entrepreneur and product builder, having founded the social news site Digg in 2004. Later Kevin pursued a career in venture investing, investing in companies like Medium, Ripple, and Blue Bottle Coffee while at Google Ventures and is now investing at True Ventures. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/kevin-rose-serial-entrepreneur
109: Dean Putney
February 02, 2018 18:45 - 38 minutes - 27.5 MBOur guest this week is Dean Putney. Dean is the founding software engineer at laser cutter startup Glowforge in Seattle. Previously he wrote software for organizations like Reddit, IDEO, Boing Boing and Cool Tools. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/dean-putney-founding-software-engineer-at-glowforge/
108: Claudia Dawson
January 25, 2018 23:49 - 24 minutes - 17.5 MBOur guest this week is Claudia Dawson. Claudia works with Kevin in his studio in Pacifica, California. She manages the Cool Tools website and produces and co-writes Recomendo, our weekly newsletter that gives you six brief personal recommendations of cool stuff. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/claudia-dawson-cool-tools
107: Ruben Bolling
January 19, 2018 21:36 - 34 minutes - 24.7 MBOur guest this week is Ruben Bolling. Ruben is the author of the award-winning comic strip, Tom the Dancing Bug, which premieres each week on Boing Boing. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/ruben-bolling-cartoonist
106: Jane Frauenfelder
January 11, 2018 23:13 - 35 minutes - 25 MBOur guest this week is Jane Frauenfelder. Jane was born and raised in Southern California, she co-hosted a podcast called Apps For Kids for two and a half years, and now attends a robotics academy at her high school. In her off time, she designs video games and she aspires to be a video game designer when she's older. For show notes visit: http://kk.org/cooltools/jane-frauenfelder-techie-teenager