With so many cool things coming out each week, it can be hard to wade through all the rock-awesomeness. With ‘Cool Tools’, we’ve done the hard work for you.

This week we saw everything from a collection of flying cars, an R2-D2-inspired airplane, how to make a droid for just $20, the coolest nature video ever and more…

Ready? Let’s go!

This week we look at:

DESIGN

Flying Cars by Sylvain VIAU

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“Citroen cars are famous for their very smooth handling and hydraulic suspension system. They are usually nicknamed ‘flying carpet’. This is my own flying carpet after little custom works, a Cx Gti Turbo produced in 1984! Much more comfortable like this! Then I pushed the idea with other cars, and it’s still working.”

ANA R2-D2 Jet Design

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“Taking off in autumn 2015 on our newest 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, the ”R2-D2 Jet” will spread its wings worldwide. ”

APPS

Infinit

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“Infinit is the easiest app for sending photos and videos to your friends; and transferring files between your phone and computer.”

Storm by Weather Underground

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“Keep your eye on the sky with Storm by Weather Underground. High definition radar, advanced storm cell tracking and real-time severe weather alerts make this the best app to have by your side when a front is closing in.”

DIY

$20 Droid

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“Building your own R2-D2-style astromech droid can get very expensive very fast and very complex to construct. I challenged myself to come up with a way to construct an astromech style droid that is both relatively cheap to build and you do not have to own a machine shop to construct. “

Outdoor Wood+Concrete Kitchen Island

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“This outdoor kitchen island was designed to be used as a food preparation station next to the grill. Because the island was planned as an outdoor piece, I used cedar lumber and stainless steel screws…”

ROCK AWESOMENESS

The Coolest Nature Video Ever

https://youtu.be/Q0nDQOrBx4A

“Slow-motion nature footage set to a soundtrack by Karen O.”

Kite Fight

“After futebol, soltar pipas, is Brasil’s most popular sport. In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, flying the pipa is more than a leisurely escape from on-the-ground realities—it’s a venue for battle, with the entire sky as the arena.”

And there you have it!

Send your cool tool finds to smoth@www.solidsmack.com, sign up for our newsletter there in the sidebar or ask us a question in the comments or via email about diy, design, tech or anything else. Smoth would love to help.

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