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Mathematical art
I have a soft spot for curiosities — unusual artifacts, either born or made. In fact, I have a whole wall of them in my studio. I recently added some weird mathematical shapes that could only exist because either they were grown biologically, or 3D printed. These lightweight nylon 3D artifacts are created by mathematician Henry Segerman, and sold in his Shapeways Shop. They are stunning, with bold, simple complexity, like the shells of creatures from alien planets. For art, they are reasonably priced. — KK

Change your default snooze times in Gmail
“Snoozing” is a Gmail feature that helps me hide and postpone emails until I am emotionally ready to handle them. Unfortunately, the default snooze time in Gmail is 6PM which is long after I want to be checking work emails. I only recently discovered how to change the default snooze times (No. 5 on this list) which is go to Google Keep > click on the “gear” icon in the upper-right corner > select “Settings” > and under “Reminder Defaults” you’ll find the times that affect Gmail snoozing. — CD

Idea generator
My daughter told me about director Harmony Korine’s brainstorming tool, which he demonstrates in this video. It’s loose, unstructured, and irrational, which may turn some people off, but my daughter gave me examples of how she’s used it with excellent results and I’m impressed. — MF

Remote parlor game
A really fun parlor game you can play with friends and family at a distance is Among Us. It’s a bluff and deceit game like Werewolf or Mafia. The fun of the game is the cascading social ramifications of bluffing, being fooled, not being fooled, detective work, psy-ops, acting, being found out, persuading, leading, and getting surprised. The game runs on mobile phones ($0, or $2 for ad free) or Windows PC (everyone does NOT need to be on the same kind of device), and usually the group gathers in parallel on Zoom or Discord to chat during the game. There is some degree of coordination needed to perform mindless busy work tasks in the game, but otherwise no fast twitching is needed to really enjoy this social game. I think of it as playing Werewolf remotely. — KK

My sketches on stuff
Lately I’ve been posting photos of my sketchbook drawings of monsters, robots, space creatures, and contraptions on my Instagram feed, and people have asked if I could put them on various products. So I started a store on Society6, which has clocks, water bottles, bath mats, tables, notepads, stickers, and so on. Check it out here. — MF

Recomendo storefront
If you’re looking for gift ideas, check out our Recomendo storefront. Here you’ll find the books, tools or products that we’ve recommended in our newsletter (if they are available on Amazon). Other Cool Tools Lab storefronts that you can check out are the items shared in the weekly What’s in My Bag? newsletter or the four favorite tools shared by guests on the Cool Tools Show podcast. — CD

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson 12/6/20