Episodes
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   Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xFTW8E6aSVI     For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/adam-hill-software-business-analyst/   ...
Published 03/15/24
Published 03/15/24
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: https://kk.org/cooltools/mia-coots-student/   To sign up to be a guest on the show, please fill out this form:...
Published 03/08/24
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 Composition and Generative Arts. Since 2017, he has been creating interactive soundwalking experiences through cutting-edge...
Published 03/01/24
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 world and authored the Google Apps Guidebook. TOOLS: 0:00 –...
Published 02/16/24
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 in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a...
Published 02/09/24
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 Studies. Personal Website LinkedIn TOOLS: 0:00 – Intro 1:22...
Published 02/02/24
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. LINKS: LinkedIn The Uncertainty Project Chris Butler's product, strategy, randomness, adversarial, and AI/ML...
Published 01/26/24
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. TOOLS: 0:00 – Intro 1:03 – Knipex 12 62 180, Self Adjusting Wire Stripper 8:47 – Snap-On TMS4E 1/4″ drive Speeder 17:49 – Titanium AAA...
Published 01/19/24
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, aircraft restoration, collecting tools, and caring for orchids in his greenhouse. You can find Davey on...
Published 01/12/24
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 - Intro 1:02 - Fidget cube: https://www.antsylabs.com/collections/fidget-cube 5:34 - MyNoise.Net: https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/japaneseGardenSoundscapeGenerator.php 11:46 - Inoreader: https://www.inoreader.com 16:44 - Periodically:...
Published 12/15/23
Casper Kelly is a writer/director of weird TV and movies including the viral short Too Many Cooks and the 2023 horror movie Adult Swim Yule Log. His website is casperkelly.com and he's on Twitter and Instagram @heycasperkelly.   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 0:43 - Chromadepth glasses: https://geni.us/cbvJf 4:53 - Mage.space: https://www.mage.space 21:51 - Tiny Habits; https://bjfogg.typeform.com/to/QXc0WJ? 25:04 - Focusmate: https://www.focusmate.com/   Watch on YouTube:...
Published 12/08/23
Marc Payne is an IT specialist working for the Federal Government. My passion is flipping items via thrift stores, yard sales and retail arbitrage on Ebay and Amazon. You can find Marc on Twitter @houseofpayne.   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 2:24- Index cards: https://geni.us/Jc1f7 7:54 - Box resizer: https://geni.us/xGGHI 12:34 - Scotty peelers: https://geni.us/qUEr9Dy 17:12 - 3” packing tape dispenser: https://geni.us/fBjclC6   Watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/uVCwU78XimE   For...
Published 12/01/23
Theodore Gray is a co-founder of Wolfram Research and creator of the Notebook user interface (since lovingly copied by Jupyter Notebooks). He is the author of several books and iPad apps including the NYTs best-seller The Elements, and writer/director of Disney Animated (BAFTA award winner and Apple's iPad App of the Year 2013). His latest book is TOOLS, which is all about his favorite tools.   Website: https://theodoregray.com   Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k2eZ4W7VgYs   For show...
Published 11/17/23
EDITOR NOTE: Due to technical audio issues, this episode might sound better for those listening at 1.5x or 2x speed.   Tom Robertson is an IT professional, currently leading IT at FreshBooks out of Toronto, Canada. Tom has a background in theatre, and has written and produced several shows in the Toronto area. In his spare time, he enjoys computer related hobbies, and has built a retro arcade cabinet, a kitchen display, and during Covid wrote an automated newsletter summarizing Covid...
Published 11/10/23
Miles Hunter is a UX researcher, based out of Seattle but originally a Brit. Learning to woodwork. I enjoy restoring things, everything from old tools to video and photos.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mileshunter/   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 0:53 - Evaporust rust remover: https://www.evapo-rust.com/evapo-rust-remover/ 5:29 - Incogni - personal information removal service: https://incogni.com/ 10:17 - Japanese 'paper clam' for clipping together papers more securely than a...
Published 11/03/23
Will Walker is a lead human interface designer at Google, working on wearables, digital assistants, generative AI and conversational controls. His design career has spanned across interfaces for hybrid digital maps, 3d printers and volumetric scanners to leading the design of exotic running shoes. He paints, hikes, plants and rennovates a victorian with his daughter, partner and shiba in San Francisco and sunny Oakland CA. You can find him on Instagram @wr_walker and on Twitter @walkerwill.  ...
Published 10/27/23
David Buxton is a tech founder based in London, UK. He loves making stuff, especially with software. He's also a qualified pilot and a pretty good cook.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmrbuxton/ Website: https://hrharriet.com   TOOLS: 0:45 - Workflowy: https://workflowy.com 12:54 - Tern GSD e-bicycle: https://www.ternbicycles.com/uk/bikes/472/gsd 19:47 - Langchain (LLM dev framework): https://python.langchain.com/docs/get_started/introduction.html 27:29 - Leuchtturm Line...
Published 10/21/23
Asa Hillis is a furniture maker who lives in Silicon Valley. He is known for creating pieces of furniture that have a timeless quality. Asa combines traditional and modern techniques, including CNCs and 3D printers, to craft his furniture from wood and metal. He is currently managing Behind The Tech Labs in Los Gatos, CA. When he is not working in the shop, Asa enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter, and standard poodle.   Website: asahillis.com Instagram: @asahillis   TOOLS: 1:00...
Published 10/13/23
Natalie Buda Smith is Director of Digital Strategy at the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. Her career spans three decades in design, technology, and culture. The Library of Congress serves millions daily in their pursuit of researching our rich cultural archives, understanding U.S. legislation, and serving our nation's creative communities through Copyright.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebuda/   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 1:09 - Newspaper Navigator:...
Published 10/06/23
Arun is a product designer, engineer, photographer, and writer. Most recently, he was co-founder and product designer at Carrot Fertility. He writes at arun.is.   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 0:49 - BMI 40b x4 tape measure: http://www.bmitools.com/ads/products/categories/steeltapemeasures/window-tape.html 6:26 - BMI Inklinat level: https://www.bmi.de/en/products-spirit-levels-682-inklinat.php 10:00 - Merco packing tape dispenser: https://mercotape.com/products/merco-dtn 15:00 - Pinecil...
Published 09/29/23
Joseph Wright is a fullstack software engineer and data sensemaker in Pittsburgh. You can find Joseph on Twitter @joegle. His website is joegle.com.   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 0:44 - Benchmade Mini Bugout 533 Folding Knife: https://geni.us/kh2DivE 5:42 - County Comm Glow-in-the-dark parts tray: https://countycomm.com/products/glow-jumbo-parts-tray-armorer-non-slip?_pos=9&_sid=9c8bbb078&_ss=r 10:31 - Snow Peak double walled mugs (for seasoning with coffee): https://geni.us/gGOd 16:24...
Published 09/22/23
Ethan Stone has been a business lawyer for over twenty-five years, practicing in large and small firms and in-house. He has been a solo practitioner since 2011. He has represented clients in raising angel and venture capital, selling and acquiring businesses, technology licensing, executive hirings and departures and a wide variety of strategic partnerships, joint ventures, revenue sharing, service outsourcing and technology development agreements. He and his four parrots live in Berkeley,...
Published 09/15/23
Jason Swihart is a freelance digital product strategist with 30 years of experience developing sites and products for the internet. He specializes in providing product development leadership for clients who need guidance and advocacy through the product development life-cycle. Jason works in wood, metal, and plastic, making furniture and other objects for the home as well as collecting and restoring mid-century furniture; he is a champion swing dancer, event organizer, and founder of Pacific...
Published 09/08/23
Jonathan Whitaker is a deep learning researcher and consultant working on generative AI. He also makes and shares tutorials and courses on the latest AI techniques through his YouTube channel and blog, Data Science Castnet.   Blog: https://datasciencecastnet.home.blog/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@datasciencecastnet Twitter: twitter.com/johnowhitaker   TOOLS: 0:00 - Intro 0:39 - Battery powered jigsaw: https://geni.us/WiFgssh 5:43 - Raynox macro 'lens' adapter:...
Published 09/01/23