Cool Tools

A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. Among his books are The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All. He has given several TED talks that have amassed over 10 million views. His latest book is “The Puzzler,” which Booklist called “ridiculously entertaining,” and The New York Times called “A romp, both fun and funny.” He was the answer to 1 Down in the March 8, 2014 New York Times crossword puzzle. He is owner of the world’s hardest and most time-consuming puzzle ever made. Website: https://ajjacobs.com/   For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/a-j-jacobs-author/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

Derek Sivers is an author of philosophy and entrepreneurship, known for his surprising quotable insights and pithy succinct writing style. Formerly a musician, programmer, TED speaker, and circus clown, he sold his first company for $22 million and gave all the money to charity. Sivers’ books (How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Your Music and People, Anything You Want) and newest projects are at his website: sive.rs   For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/derek-sivers-author   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

Charles Platt lives in the Arizona wilderness where he writes books about electronics and builds rapid cooling devices for the cryonics community.   For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/charles-platt-author-2/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons.   Website: https://austinkleon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/austinkleon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinkleon/   For show notes and transcript visit:https://kk.org/cooltools/austin-kleon-author-of-steal-like-an-artist-2/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

Diego Rodriguez has had a career spanning business, design, and technology. He served as Intuit’s Chief Product & Design Officer, a Senior Partner at IDEO, and as a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers. He is a founding faculty member of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (aka "the d.school"). Over the last several years he has been an investor, advisor, and member of several corporate, startup, and nonprofit boards. He earned bachelor’s degrees in engineering and humanities with honors from Stanford University, and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Among Diego’s accolades is a Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award. Fortune named him one of “The Smartest People in Tech” and Fast Company called his writing “a must-read for anyone who wants to incorporate design thinking into their work.” He holds multiple patents.  Twitter: https://twitter.com/metacool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegorodriguez/ Website: www.metacool.com   For show notes and transc

Our guest this week is Robert Stephens. Robert is the founder of The Geek Squad and former CTO of Best Buy. The Geek Squad will turn 30 in 2024 and employs over 24,000 people. His newest company launching soon, is ChainList, a platform for re-usable checklists and was inspired by CoolTools. A native of Chicago, he now lives in the Bay Area. Robert’s newest company, ChainList will enter public beta soon. It was inspired by his time building Geek Squad - which is still powered by checklists. Chainlist let’s you find, make, remix, and subscribe to checklists. With NFC and QR codes — you can even store this info onto physical objects like homes and equipment. Just like CoolTools, ChainList hopes to offer everyone access to useful processes. Website: Chainlist.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/rstephens   For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/robert-stephens-founder-of-the-geek-squad-2/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic t

  Brian Lam is the Founding Editor of The Wirecutter.   For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/brian-lam-founding-editor-of-the-wirecutter/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

Charles Lindsay is an artist-adventurer whose work synthesizes ideas about time, technology, eco-systems and semiotics. You can find out more at charleslindsay.com or follow him on Instagram @charles_lindsay_.    For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/charles-lindsay-artist-adventurer/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

Gary Wolf is a writer and journalist and co-founder of Quantified Self, as well as the Director of Article 27, a non-profit organization which supports the human right to participate in science through education, advocacy, and the development of open tools for self-research. You can find him on Twitter @agaricus or visit https://quantifiedself.com.    For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/gary-wolf-co-founder-of-quantified-self/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

James Home is a designer and technologist living aboard a forty-foot sailboat called Rejoice. You can follow him on Twitter @jameshome, or visit his website at jameshome.com   For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/james-home-designer-and-technologist/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools

James Cham is a Seed Stage VC at Bloomberg Beta. You can follow him on Twitter @jamescham. For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/james-cham-vc-at-bloomberg-beta/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools  

John Markoff was (once upon a time) New York Times technology reporter and is the biographer of Stewart Brand — Whole Earth - The Many Lives of Stewart Brand. For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/john-markoff-technology-writer-and-stewart-brand-biographer/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools  

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/jeff-waldman-designer-and-builder/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Jeff Waldman is a designer, builder and author of Tools: The Ultimate Guide. Website: https://www.elevatedspaces.ca/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/jeffreywaldman    

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/jane-mcgonigal-game-designer-and-futurist/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Jane McGonigal is a game designer and futurist, and the author of Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today. She is also Director of Game Research and Development for the Institute For The Future. Follow Jane on Twitter @avantgame, or visit her websites: janemcgonigal.com and urgentoptimists.org.

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/orson-rossetto-mechanical-engineer/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Orson Rossetto is a Mechanical engineer, programmer, and traceur from Carnegie Mellon, and he’s the lead developer for Ethereal Matter, a company translating virtual reality into human physical interaction  

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/lenore-edman-co-founder-of-evil-mad-scientist-laboratories/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Our guest this week is Lenore Edman. Lenore is a co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. When she’s not building pen plotters, she likes to bake, sew, and make jam for relaxation. You can find Lenore on Twitter @1lenore and @EMSL.

For show notes and transcript visit:https://kk.org/cooltools/meredith-arthur-founder-of-beautiful-voyager/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Our guest this week is Meredith Arthur. In 2015, after working at a string of startups, Meredith created the website and podcast Beautiful Voyager for overthinkers, perfectionists, and people pleasers. At Pinterest, where she is a Content Design Lead, Meredith focuses on emotional wellbeing innovation. She’s also the author of Get Out of My Head. You can find Meredith on YouTube, and on Instagram @beyova and on Twitter @mudaba.

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/wendy-frauenfelder-cocktail-creator/   If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools   Our guest this week is Wendy Frauenfelder. Wendy is the family's handyperson. She also likes to bake wild yeast sourdough. She's obsessive about doing the New York Times Crossword Puzzle and Spelling Bee every day. And she loves to make and share cocktails on her Instagram called oh_happy_hour.

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/windell-oskay-robot-designer/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Our guest this week is Windell Oskay. Windell is the co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, where he designs robots for a living. You can find Windell on Twitter @emsl.

For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/barbara-dace-autoharpist-and-pharmacist/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools Our returning guest this week is Dr. Barbara Dace, a pharmacist specialist who creates custom compounded prescription medications. She's also an autoharpist and award-winning singer songwriter based in Sacramento, California.