{"id":27779,"date":"2016-12-05T02:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=27779"},"modified":"2016-11-22T17:37:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T00:37:19","slug":"cool-tools-2015-holiday-gift-guide-marks-picks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/cool-tools-2015-holiday-gift-guide-marks-picks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Cool Tools 2016 Holiday Gift Guide: Mark’s Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month and next month, we are presenting a series of gift suggestions selected from the pages of Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities<\/a> (which itself makes a great gift), and from the website. This week: Mark’s picks.<\/p>\n

\n


\nI have used a Kik-Step rolling stool<\/a> ($56) for at least 15 years. Its design is simple and brilliant. Without any weight on it, you can roll it around easily. But with a bit of downward pressure, the round bottom rim hits the floor and it becomes a stable stepping stool. The slanting body design helps it avoid damaging walls and bookcases. — Bruce Oberg<\/p>\n

\n


\nIf Raymond Loewy designed a scoop, it would look like the DuraScoop Cat Litter Scoop<\/a> ($13) (maybe the handle wouldn\u2019t be covered with textured plastic). Cleaning cat litter is an unpleasant daily chore for me, but the DuraScoop makes it much less unpleasant. I\u2019m surprised it is only $13. It\u2019s easily worth three times the price. — Mark Frauenfelder<\/p>\n

\n


\nI\u2019ve found that the Grace Digital Wi-Fi Music Player<\/a> ($158) is a great way to get internet music sources out into the air. If you haven\u2019t yet looked at what\u2019s available over the net, it\u2019s truly amazing. — Wayne Ruffner<\/p>\n

\n


\nI have been trying to pick locks since I was a child. I have many lock picks I have bought or made myself over the years, but never saw what I was doing until I was given a clear plastic padlock<\/a> ($11) a few months ago. Now I can plainly see the pins, driver pins, sheer line and springs etc. (By the way hairpins and paper clips will open padlocks.) \u2013 Kent Barnes<\/p>\n

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\nI have been using a Dino-Lite USB microscope<\/a> ($399) for both work and home projects for the past several years. It has a magnification of 20x-50x and 200x with a 1.3MP resolution. For my work as an electrical engineer it is great for looking at and capturing solder joints on very small pitch components, very fine PCB trace routing, reading part codes off small components and looking at connector alignment\/damage. — Matt Schirmacher<\/p>\n

\nWant more? Check out our other 2016 gift picks<\/a> as well as our 2015 Gift Guide<\/a>, 2014 Gift Guide<\/a> and our 2103 Gift Guide<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Favorite gift ideas from the editor-in-chief of Cool Tools<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[2331],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27779"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27784,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27779\/revisions\/27784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}