16 July 2022

Guy’s Cool Tools

Not just tools! Anything useful that should be shared and recommended.

By In Gear 3 min read

This is a placeholder post! I’m a huge fan of Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools site and have loved their recommendations for years. So much, so that I even started a Pinterest board filled with my own recommendations. But after a few years of running into the limitations of the form, I feel such a project works better on my own blog.

I’ll be building up a collection of Cool Tools on my site and will link to them from here.

So this is just a temporary post as I start work on this new part of the site.

Instead of reviewing with a grade of 1 out of 10 or a 5-star scale, we’re just giving out recommendations in 4 categories at most:

Cheap And Cheerful: This cool tool is cheap and does a terrific job, for the price. It’s the first inflection point on the price/quality curve, the spot at the bottom where a little bit more money gets you a lot more usable tool.

Bang For Buck: We’re at the midway point now. This is the optimal point on the price/quality curve for most people, the second inflection point where you get the most value for money without having to pay for things you probably won’t need.

You’re Worth It: This is the third inflection point, where you will get one of the best tools available on the market, but you’ll have to pay for the privilege. After this point, there are very few functional gains to be had when spending more of your hard-earned cash.

It’s Iconic, Okay: We’re far away from any rational recommendation here and are firmly in the territory of stuff that is exceptionally cool but where cost has risen far beyond any linear coupling with function. Traditionally, this does not have a place in a Cool Tools listing but some things are so extraordinary or are from such iconic brands, I just can’t help but recommend them even if it makes no sense financially.

What do you think?