How are vinyl records made? Have you spent nights awake just pondering that? Well, let’s put your mind at ease. It begins with a metal flat disc and a coat of lacquer, and ends spinning on a turntable. Boom. Done. The Vinyl Factory provides a glimpse on how they make records in a 60 second video montage of their manufacturing facility.

Like many other designers and engineers who work in front of the computer all day, robotics engineer Mike Parris was tempted to leave the office environment for good in favor of working directly with his hands. At the time, Parris was working as a robotics engineer at Carnegie Mellon developing the technology that would later be used on the Moon Rover expeditions. When his friends began building powder skis that could withstand an entire season of hard-charging in Jackson Hole, he knew that he too had found his calling outside of the office. With a solid background in robotics engineering and automation, Mike brought his mechanical expertise to the group…

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 an insane custom BMW K100 featuring artwork created using 3d models, a Dieter Rams-inspired redesign of the men’s classic shaving razor, an update to the ever-useful Scanner Pro app, how to make a BBQ grill out of a stump and more… Ready? Let’s go! This week we look at: DESIGN RZR | Shaver “We created a high quality razor that lasts a lifetime. We believe that the blades should have a small ecofootprint at an honest price.”…

You know, Mother’s Day is coming up, and there’s one thing yo’ mamma (or future mamma) really, really wants… You’re not going to guess are you? … No? Ok, it’s a 3D printed self-watering planter. Don’t act like you knew that.

When we first looked at the upcoming SolidWorks Apps for Kids, we had only a quick glimpse of what SolidWorks intends to shape our children’s minds with. But we just had to know more. Fortunately Chin-Loo Lama, Senior UX Design Engineer at SOLIDWORKS, has been all too kind to answer a few more questions we have about the apps.

According to researchers at Princeton University and the University of California at Los Angeles, students who take handwritten notes generally outperform those who type via a computer. Not surprisingly, those who write their notes by hand are able to comprehend new material better while retaining that information for longer. But in a world where we rely on nearly every piece of content to be digitally archived and searchable, what gives? Aiming to solve this dilemma once and for all, Moleskine’s new Smart Writing Set aims to be the answer for writers, artists, designers, engineers and anybody else who wants the feel of analog sketching with the archiving and editing powers…