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 new bottle design with a natural bamboo filter for purifying tap water, a free release of the popular Monument Valley iOS app, how to make your own log chair, a drum battle between Dave Grohl and Animal, and more…
Ready? Let’s go!
This week we look at:
DESIGN
“An elegantly designed bottle with a natural bamboo filter to purify your tap water – a great alternative to single-use plastic bottles…”
“Lumu Power is the light, exposure, flash and color temperature meter for the iPhone. One device with power of many. Express yourself!”
APPS
“With Tictail, you’ll find amazing products that aren’t available anywhere else, and you can even start building your very own brand right in the app…”
“Monument Valley is a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry. Guide the silent princess Ida through mysterious monuments, uncovering hidden paths, unfolding optical illusions and outsmarting the enigmatic Crow People…”
DIY
“I’ve often watched logs burning in a fireplace and wondered what the wood could have become. I purchased these logs for $2 a piece from a guy selling firewood on Craigslist. He claims they’re white oak. By stripping off the bark and carving the log with my chainsaw and angle grinder, I made a nice little chair that’s perfect for a 5-year-old…”
“The Autonomous Sentry Turret is a standalone system capable of detecting and neutralizing unwanted intruders via a barrage of soft foam darts. Built for the office environment, the AST is a powerful piece of hardware that needs no human input (although you can remotely disable it, for y’know, safety reasons). Consisting of a modified electric Nerf gun mounted on servo mechanism, the machine is Intel Edison-powered and fitted with a long-range lidar and motion sensor. Read along to see how it’s made!”
ROCK AWESOMENESS
Dave Grohl and Animal Drum Battle

“Who will win?”
“In the slums of the future, virtual reality junkies satisfy their violent impulses in online entertainment. An expert player discovers that the line between games and reality is starting to fade away. 3DAR’s latest short film explores the frightening potential of our next technological revolution…”
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.