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Outback Ripper Flashlight
I’ve owned the Outback Ripper Flashlight ($10) for a couple of years and it is an amazingly good flashlight, especially for its size. First of all, it does not have all the annoying “modes” that many...
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Tina Roth Eisenberg, Swissmiss
Our guest this week is Tina Roth Eisenberg. Tina is a Swiss born, raised, and trained graphic designer. In 1999, she came to New York City for a three-month design internship and never left. Over the...
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Shots of Awe/Easy blood pressure/Out of Control
Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox. Transcendental video sermons Jason Silva is a transcendental poet who raps about technology and the spiritual in very intense short videos. He...
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Blogcast
I’ve used Blogcast since I got access to the beta. It is really the simplest way to generate high-quality synthetic voice versions from articles. Before, I’d need to hire someone to read my article on...
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Puck Wrench
The Thorsen Puck Wrench has provided a compact selection of seven sockets that fit metric and English hex fasteners. It is covered with a tactile rubber coating. You can use this to tighten and loosen...
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Gel’O Cool Pillow Mat
This is an 11″ x 22″ gel-filled mat ($25). It sucks heat away, which makes it much easier for me to sleep. It has a depression in the middle so that it can be folded without damaging it. I’ve tried a...
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Stainless Steel Power Scissors
The traditional form factor of scissors is iconic and hard to argue with… Unless you’re cutting something tough: Then there can be problems — even if what you’ve got are sharp. Length can add leverage,...
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Push Mower Sharpening Kit
This week Mark Frauenfelder extolled the virtues of ye olde reel blade push mower for cutting grass. I wholeheartedly agree with him. I have been using a push mower for over 20 years and it is great....
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Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist of Canva
Our guest this week is Guy Kawasaki. Guy is the chief evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool. He is also a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz and an executive fellow of the Haas School of...
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Simplify Gmail/DAFs/88 truths
Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox. Streamlined Gmail If you’re a Gmail user, install this Chrome extension (Simplify Gmail) that strips out all the distracting stuff (like the...
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SqueezIt Tube Squeezer
I have been using the SqueezeIt for over 15 years. It easily allows users to get essentially every last bit of the contents of a tube out of it. I use it with toothpaste and am certain,...
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Advice from Books
Book Freak is the third newsletter from Cool Tools Lab (our other two are the Cool Tools Newsletter and Recomendo). In each weekly issue, we offer three short pieces of advice from books. Here’s the...
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Ratchet Belt
The Mission Belt ($25+) is a game changer for me as far as comfortably holding my pants up goes. Instead of the standard belt and buckle with holes, this belt has a ratchet system which allows finer...
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AmazonBasics Electronics Travel Case
I’ve been using this simple but well-designed electronics case ($11) for 5 months now. I travel a lot, usually 2 – 3 weeks a month. I also work in IT, so you can imagine all the gadgets I have to carry...
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Writing Tips for Everybody
Book Freak is the third newsletter from Cool Tools Lab (our other two are the Cool Tools Newsletter and Recomendo). In each weekly issue, we offer three short pieces of advice from books. Here’s the...
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Wallet Magnifier
I’m a maintenance electrician and sometimes need to read tiny serial numbers in dark dirty places or the color code of a resistor or some other value or rating that is difficult to accurately read with...
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Tangleteezer
I’ve used this fantastic hair detangler ($13) for a year now. This is not a typical tool that many people might obsess about, but I have a lot of very fine, very long hair. There’s a lot of it, and...
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Joshuah Bearman, Epic Cofounder
Our guest this week is Joshuah Bearman. Josh is Epic’s cofounder and CCO and has written for Wired, GQ, the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and is a regular contributor to This American Life. Josh...
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Under the Influence/Book Freak/Death checklist
How to fake influence I blurbed this self-published book, Under the Influence, which explains how popular influencers on social media make a living by buying fake followers, fake likes, and fake...
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Finum Goldton Tea Filters
I make at least five cups of tea daily. Some at home and some at work. Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate nice loose-leaf teas that brew best in a basket that gives them room to “breath.” While...
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