6 Chrome Extensions to Help You Maximize Google Drive

The feature that lets users upload documents, images, spreadsheets and more has millions of neat little ways to boost your everyday activity. It's also a useful online warehouse that holds all the things you don't have space for on your computer.

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Students Sue Google for Monitoring Their Emails

In a challenge to one of Google's more controversial practices, a group of students in California are suing Google, claiming that the company's monitoring of Gmail violates federal and state privacy laws.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is currently hearing the complaint from nine students whose emails were subject to Google surveillance because Gmail is a component of Apps for Education. Apps for Education is a suite of free, web-based education tools that has some 30 million users worldwide, most of whom are students under 18 exposed to the software via their schools.

A Google rep told Education Week that the company scans and indexes emails from all Apps for Education users. The company uses the data for potential advertising, among other purposes.

Education Week speculates that the case could have "major implications" for how the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act [FERPA] is interpreted. FERPA, which was issued in 1974, ensures the privacy of records of students under the age of 18. The Department of Education'srecent guidance on the issue also appears to indirectly state that Google's Gmail practices run afoul of FERPA.

The students are seeking class-action certification for the case.  

If successful, that could lead to a payment to millions of Gmail users. However, in a victory for Google, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday declined to combine other related suits against Google's Gmail on similar grounds into one class-action suit.Google's surveillance of Gmail for advertising purposes has raised hackles among privacy advocates. In particular, the ElectronicPrivacy Information Center (EPIC) points out that even if Gmail users agree to Google's terms, that doesn't mean that non-subscribers who email with them do. "Non-subscribers have not consented and indeed may not even be aware that their communications are being analyzed or that a profile may be compiled of him or her," states anFAQ on EPIC on the subject. EPIC also takes issue with Google's ability to compile a detailed profile of a Gmail user by linking their Gmail data with cookies used by Google's search engine. Google has said that it doesn't cross-reference such data.

Microsoft has also criticized Google's Gmail practices in its Scroogled campaign, contrasting Google's data mining with Microsoft's Outlook, which doesn't use email data to serve users ads.

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Smart Eyelashes and Fingernails: The Next Wave of Wearable Tech

It was crowded on the sidewalks in Hong Kong. Early morning commuters, shoulders tightly pressed against the strangers walking next to them, moved in a sluggish blob through each crowded intersection.

Katia Vega didn't mind the congestion. If anything, it made for ideal people-watching.

She'd done a lot of it since moving to the city two months ago. She noticed many of the women on the streets donned artificial eyelashes and flashy fingernails. It wasn't anything over-the-top, just basic accessories with a trendy kick.

That day, Vega suddenly formed an idea: Could she merge micro-technology into fashion?

Just a few months later, she coined a new career for herself: "beauty technology." She planned to build wearable computers into basic accessories, like fingernails, eyelashes and makeup. The projects are still largely in their prototype phases. But, Vega says, she's hoping to build a support group of sponsors and soon bring the devices to the mainstream marketThe principle is similar to most wearable tech, only here, the actual tech is disguised. While wearing the accessories, people can accomplish everyday actions like opening doors or flipping through TV channels by blinking their eyes or snapping their fingers.

"Beauty technician" isn't a frequently used title, mainly because it's made up.

Vega, 30, is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She officially incorporated beauty technology into her thesis when she returned from her Hong Kong exchange program last year. The term seemed like the most fitting way to describe her focus on fashion and tech. Plus, she figured, it sounded catchy.

"My main area of study has been wearable computing," she tells Mashable. "For a long time I'd been thinking about how that technology could disappear into everyday objects. And seeing all these glamorous accessories in Hong Kong made me realize exactly how I would do it."

Girlfriend Leads Man Around the World in Breathtaking Pics

She's focusing on two main branches of the project, so far: fingernails and conductive makeup.

The fingernails are rigged with individual radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. They can be applied the same way as any other artificial nail. The tags, pictured left, are hidden beneath polish, glitter and plastic decorations — whatever the wearer prefers. They're all extremely customizable, Vega says.

The RFID readers recognize tags within two centimeters, and can be synced to a variety of tasks you'd normally perform with a card. If, for example, the door to your office building is activated via card scanner, you can program one of the RFID nails to open the door instead. The program recognizes actions, too, so if you'd prefer to add a little flare — say, a finger snap — you can.

The makeup works in a similar way, using conductive material in the form of eyeliner and fake eyelashes, turning basic eye and facial movements into programmable actions — like Google Glass, without the Glass. The lashes are chemically metallized to mimic a natural, black color.

"This works, again, as a substitute to wearing an electronic device on your face," Vega says. "The eyelashes and eyeliners work as switches. When the user blinks, a microcontroller can activate things like lights, TV channels and even drones."

Image: Katia Vega

Vega's recently taken the experiments a step further. Last month, she presented the "AquaDJing" project at the Women 2.0 Conference in Las Vegas, alongside DJ Congo Sanchez from the band Thievery Corporation.

For the project, Sanchez used Vega's tech nails to perform and mix more than 25 tracks through a layer of water. The RFID readers recognize tags through different materials, such as water, glass and wood. A "DJ Controller" pad at the bottom of a water container was able to pick up on Sanchez's hand movements. The effect, then, is one of controlling and mixing sound effects by "touching" the water up top.

Overall, the project is just getting started. Vega plans to continue experimenting with different uses of the nails and makeup — and finish her Ph.D., at the same time. She'd eventually like to turn the idea into a company and make her products available for sale. For now, though, she's tweaking the existing products and actively looking for sponsorships. One step — err, blink — at a time.

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This Is What Booze Looks Like Under a Microscope

Turns out Great Uncle Phil was right all along: Concocting the perfect whiskey ginger nightcap really is an art form.
A website called BevShots captures photographs of alcohol taken through the lens of a microscope. The rainbow-like patterns it produces are then converted into metallic prints, bar accessories and even clothing, meaning you can (almost literally) say you're wearing what you drink.
Granted, it's less this:

Image: Tumblr, never-perfect-always-original...and more this:

The idea dates back to the early '90s. Michael Davis, a research scientist at Florida State University, was looking for new ways to fund his lab. He'd compiled hundreds of photographs of DNA, biochemicals and vitamins from working for more than 20 years as a researcher, and figured they had the potential for commercial art.
He pitched the photographs to a handful of retail companies, but not to much luck. One necktie manufacturer, however, suggested he switch his focus from DNA to cocktails. It looked just as cool, he figured, but it would bring with it the ability to "wear" a popular drink.
Davis returned a few weeks later with photographs of several popular adult beverages, and soon, the Molecular Expressions Cocktail Collection of ties was born. In the resulting years, he sold more than 5 million ties.
The sales slowed down eventually, however, and the photos were nearly forgotten. Then, in the early 2000s, Davis met entrepreneur Lester Hutt at Florida State. Hutt was interested in launching a startup in partnership with the science department, and when he came across Davis' photos and the necktie collection, he knew he'd found what he was looking for.
"I just remember thinking, 'These are really fun, modern art pictures. They're simple and just easy to look at,'" he says.
With Davis' permission, Hutt launched BevShots, and turned the somewhat dormant photos into paintings, knickknacks and fashion accessories. They've since added non-alcoholic photos of cranberry juice and cola to the collection, too.
BevShots creates the photographs by crystallizing the drinks. For the full effect to take place, Hutt says, the alcohol — or soda — needs to be frozen, then shot under a polarized light microscope. The colors appear after light shines through the crystal, creating a basic rainbow affect.
Here are a few of our favorite images from the collection:
American Amber Ale:
Image: BevShots
Bloody Mary:
Image: BevShots
Gin and Tonic:
Image: BevShots
Coffee Liqueur:
Image: BevShots
Margarita:
Image: BevShots
Sex on the Beach:
Image: BevShots
Tequila Sunrise:
Image: BevShots
Whiskey:

Image: BevShots
White Russian:
Image: BevShots
White Zinfandel:

Take a look at all the products, from straight-up gin to ginger ale, on BevShots.

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LED Mood-Sweater Shows People How You Really Feel

As the wearable tech market grows, creatives are introducing more high-fashion and interactive designs.
The GER Mood Sweater reads human emotions by reflecting specific LED light colors onto the white fabric of a sweater, which looks like a glowing futuristic loose fit turtleneck. Developed by San Francisco-based design firm Sensoree, the mood sweater contains a type of sensor known as the Galvanic Extimacy Responder. You wear the sensors on your hands, similar to lie detector test technology.


The emotions corresponding to the five light colors are tranquil or zen teal, calm or relaxed blue, ruffled or excited magenta, nervous or in love red, and ecstatic or blissful light yellow.
Kristin Neidlinger, Sensoree's founder and lead designer, describes externalized intimacy, or "extimacy," which aims to outwardly reveal sensory awareness to both yourself and others.
"Instead of intelligent technology, we create 'sensitive' or Sensoree technology that is intuitive, responsive and illuminates the senses," she told Mashable. "I believe technology can make us more aware. With responsive clothing, you can animate your body and heighten communication with yourself."
Currently, a limited edition of 100 mood sweaters are available for preorder on Sensoree's website. Its final retail price is still undecided.
This isn't the first example of high-tech fashions. An "intimacy" dress made from opaque smart e-foils turns transparent when the heart races, and the robotic spider dress has jerking and twitching limbs that move to protect those who get too close.

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4 Cutting-Edge Gaming Technologies With Incredible Promise

As he delivered the 2012 DICE conference keynote, Skyrim creator Todd Howard said he sees games "as the ultimate combination of art and technology." It's true. No other art form more tightly ties technology to its innovations and storytelling techniques.
With a new generation of video game consoles upon us, a booming world of innovation in tablet and mobile games, and PC gaming more robust than it's ever been, the future of the technology and game art is nothing short of exhilarating.

So what technologies are developers experimenting with today that give us a glimpse of future gaming innovation?
Some of these examples are audacious, so much so we can't be sure they'll ever actually go anywhere. Others are surefire hits for the next decade of gaming.

1. Oculus Rift

Image: Oculus VRSince the 1980s, science fiction authors and geeks have dreamed of a future in which we all play games with virtual reality headsets.
Oculus Rift seeks to make that dream a reality, as many before have tried to do. It was funded on Kickstarter, and went on to impress tech pundits and reviewers as the best effort yet.
It's easy to write off — "No one ever wants to look goofy, wearing a giant VR headset while he games in the living room." But here's some food for thought: Doom creator and actual rocket scientist John Carmack just left the game software company he founded more than 20 years ago to serve full-time as Oculus VR's chief technical officer.

2. Xbox One Kinect

Image: Mashable, Christina AscaniThe Xbox One's Kinect voice command navigation sure feels like the future.
Even the Kinect's Xbox 360 predecessor was impressive, particularly the full-body motion controls made possible by its 3D camera. We haven't seen much in the way of motion controls on the Xbox One yet, but the new Kinect is even more powerful than the last.
Sony’s console offers many of the same features with the PlayStation Camera, but it’s not as powerful as the Xbox One’s improved model.
The Xbox One's entire user interface is built around voice commands, and they feel amazing. It's too bad they only work about 80% of the time. That precludes any hardcore gaming applications, but you feel this should be the future of user interfaces — and it might just be.

3. Digital Distribution

It's already happened on PC and mobile: You download games; you don't buy them at the store anymore. Yet consoles still lag behind. Why?
There are socioeconomic factors at play, but it's as much a culture gap. Console gamers have spent years collecting discs and special edition artwork or toys with their games. And don't forget the established culture of game lending among friends.
When Microsoft announced the Xbox One would require an online connection to facilitate digital games, live updates and cloud computing, console gamers backlashed vigorously.
PC gamers already went through this turbulent transition when Valve Software's Steam platform launched in 2004. At first they resisted the change, but the benefits and convenience of digital distribution for both consumer and publisher became too obvious to ignore, when the right infrastructure was finally in place. The same switch is inevitable on consoles; it just might take awhile.
It reminds us of a wise William Gibson quote: "The future is already here; it's just not evenly distributed."

4. Gaming in the Cloud

Image: Nirak, FlickrThe sky, as it were, is the limit with this technology. Nothing offers more longterm promise for the future of gaming than cloud computing. It's not 100% about the graphics; that will still be accomplished best on a local machine in the immediate future. Rather, it's about connecting players with each other, with the developers and with the dynamic game world they're inhabiting.
Imagine a game world in which players leave hints for you at every turn, as in 2011's Dark Souls. Or picture fellow gamers dropping in and out of your game seamlessly, blending in with the crowd of non-player characters on the simulated streets of Chicago, as in next year's Watch Dogs.
With cloud technology, game developers could push live updates and events into your game world in seamless real time. They could even carry the load of some non-urgent, non-visual calculations, allowing your Xbox One or PlayStation 4 to dedicate more brainpower to making things prettier.
There are other uses, too. Sony acquired Gaikai, a service that streamed entire games like interactive YouTube videos, in 2012 for $380 million. We later learned Sony plans to use Gaikai's technology to offer old games from past PlayStation platforms on the PS4 by streaming them, handling all the graphics on Sony's servers.
As long as consumers adopt faster and faster broadband Internet connections in the coming years, this tech shows a lot of promise.

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Google Glass: I’m Not Winking at You, Just Taking Your Picture

It takes just one muscle, the orbicularis oculi, to wink — but not everyone can do it. I’ve recently learned, for instance, that my wink is more of a blink. This matters now that I’m using the latest creepy-but-cool experimental feature on Google Glass: Wink to take a picture.

Google Glass, still something of an experiment (you need an invite to get a $1,500 device), is the wearable heads-up display technology that connects you to the Internet and your smartphone. A glance up can bring you news, weather and tweets, and grants access to an ever-growing list of features and apps. (Mashable has a Glass app, too.)

The ability to take photos and videos via Glass' rim-mounted camera isn't new, but winking to take a picture certainly is. Interestingly, Google patented the ability to recognize facial expressions, including winks, earlier this year. Google officially added the "wink for picture" option on Tuesday along with several other Glass enhancements. As soon as I heard about the feature, I knew I had to try it.

Setting Up Wink

First, I upgraded my Glass software, which is now on version X12. Glass auto-updates its OS via Wi-Fi, so I didn’t have to do much. Then, I touched the Glass frame and swept my finger back to access settings. I tapped and swept forward until I reached the “wink for picture" option, which comes right after the new screen lock security feature.

When I tapped to turn on “wink for picture," Glass guided me to a calibration screen. Right before my eye, I saw the face of a woman wearing Glass. She was blinking repeatedly — a slow, steady blink. The on-screen text told me to blink my right eye just as she was. Instead, I kept blinking as if my eye had a tic; I couldn’t seem to control it. The on-screen guide also asked me if I could see all four corners of the Glass virtual screen. I could, but just barely: I wear Google Glass along with my regular prescription glasses, so they’re positioned slightly further away from my eye than they would be for wearers without prescription lenses.

Initially, I gave up. I couldn’t control that darn orbicularis oculi properly. Eventually, though, If went back and tried to relax my face and slow down my blink (err, wink). Finally, I noticed the screen sort of wink back at me once, then again as I winked. I received an on-screen confirmation of success.

How Winking Works

The experimental winking feature is turned on all the time. In other words, blinking while wearing Glass can accidentally capture a picture. The more typical scenario, though, is to wake Glass by tapping the frame or looking up. I have my Glass set to wake up on an 11-degree head tilt.

In theory, winking equates to taking a photo. Initially, I had to wink a dozen times or more to do so (I blame myself because I am a terrible winker). Sometimes, it took three or four tries; once, miraculously, it only took me a single wink.

When the feature does work, Glass beeps, the screen blanks and then switches to camera mode. A second later, you’re staring at the latest “taken through glass” image.

Pitfalls and Conclusions

During my test run, I decided to calibrate again. This helped improve the blinking accuracy — so much so, in fact, Glass misinterpreted a casual blink for a wink as I was writing this post and took pictures of my desk. Initially, I thought turning off head tilt would address this issue: My 11 degree head-tilt wake setting means that Glass is on more often than it should be. I glance up and down a lot when working and blink more than I thought.

But even turning this off didn’t entirely stop Glass from grabbing photos based on a random blink. (Anyone want to see a gallery of images featuring my desk?) So a word to the wise: 

I have to admit, "wink for picture" is innovative and makes Glass feel like a futuristic gadget. On the other hand, I have trouble imagining how it could be considered cool in polite company.Adjust all of your settings if you plan on using wink. I eventually turned head-tilt off and am now hunting for additional feature controls before I disable it.

It’s already difficult enough to wear Google Glass in some environments: bathrooms (not cool), bars (too dark, too loud and you look like a dork) and schools (“hey, did you just take a picture of my kid?!”). Now Google makes us wink surreptitiously to snap pictures of the world around us. I suspect more than a few Google Glass wearers are about to get slapped.

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Your Wireless Router Could Be Murdering Your Houseplants

Are you slowly killing your houseplants? Probably. But there might be a reason other than neglect that they’re all yellow and wilting: your Wi-Fi router.

An experiment by a handful of high school students in Denmark has sparked some serious international interest in the scientific community.

Five ninth-grade girls at Hjallerup School in North Jutland, Denmark, noticed they had trouble concentrating after sleeping with their mobile phones at their bedsides. They tried to figure out why. The school obviously doesn’t have the equipment to test human brain waves, so the girls decided to do a more rudimentary experiment.

They placed six trays of garden cress seeds next to Wi-Fi routers that emitted roughly the same microwave radiation as a mobile phone. Then they placed six more trays of seeds in a separate room without routers. The girls controlled both environments for room temperature, sunlight and water.

After 12 days, they found the garden cress seeds in the router-less room had exploded into bushy greenery, while the seeds next to the Wi-Fi routers were brown, shriveled and even mutated. See for yourself:

Teacher Kim Horsevad told the Daily Dot that her students did the test twice with the same results. She was quick to point out that while the students did the experiment to test only one variable to the best of their ability, it is a high school experiment and this isn’t a professional study.

“Some of the local debate has been whether the effects were due the cress seeds drying up because of heat from the computers or Access Points used in the experiment, which is a suggestion I can thoroughly refute,” Horsevad said. “The pupils were painstakingly careful in keeping the conditions for both groups similar. The cress seeds in both groups were kept sufficiently moist during the whole experiment, and the temperature were controlled thermostatically. The computers were placed so that the heat would not affect the seeds, which was verified by temperature measurements. Still, there may be confounders which neither the pupils or I have been aware of, but I cannot imagine what they would be.”

She said the results are clearly dramatic and could trigger additional research. Two scientists, neuroscience professor Olle Johanssen at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy at the Imperial College in London, have both expressed an interest in the experiment and may repeat it in a professional lab environment.

Perhaps coolest of all, the students were awarded for their work at the Danish national science fair.

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Apple's New Mac Pro Goes on Sale Dec. 19

Apple's new Mac Pro will be available to order starting on Thursday, the company announced on Wednesday.

The oval-shaped desktop machine for professionals will start with a 3.7GHz, quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs with 2GB of VRAM each, 12GB of memory and 256GB of PCIe-based flash storage — with a price tag of $2,999.

More demanding users can opt for the 3.5 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon E5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, dual AMD FirePro D500 GPUs with 3GB of VRAM each, 16GB of memory and 256GB of PCIe-based flash storage, starting at $3,999.

If you really need a powerful machine, upgrade to the 8-core or 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processors, AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of VRAM, up to 64GB of memory and up to 1TB of PCIe-based flash storage.

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15 Themed Planes for Die-Hard Fans

Look, up in the sky! It probably isn't a bird and it definitely isn't Superman. As one of the fastest modes of transportation, airplanes are a common part of the world's everyday scenery.

With distinctive colors and artistic designs on the wings and tail, it's easy to see which planes belong to which companies. But large commercial jets also provide ample space for various kinds of promotions, often taking the mostly blank hull of the aircraft and turning it into a flying billboard.

1. Hello Kitty

This plane from Taiwanese airline EVA Airways even comes with Hello Kitty-inspired meals.

2. Pokémon

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has several Pokémon Boeing jets. This is the 2004 version.

3. The Simpsons

Western Pacific Airlines flaunted the famous television family on one of its planes.

4. Disneyland

Alaska Airlines flies its patrons in style to the most magical place on Earth.

5. Tokyo Disneyland

This plane from Japan Airlines (JAL) celebrates Tokyo Disneyland's 30th anniversary.

6. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

AirTran chose to put imagery for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the wizard-themed amusement of Universal Orlando, on its hull.

7. The Lord of the Rings

This plane, which flies via Air New Zealand, also has a Middle Earth-themed safety video.

8. The Hobbit

Air New Zealand continued the Tolkien tradition and decorated planes with the cast of Peter Jackson'sThe Hobbit.

9. The Arizona Cardinals

U.S. Airways has a plane whose facade is decorated with the colors and mascot of American football team the Arizona Cardinals.

10. The Boston Red Sox

For baseball fans, this JetBlue aircraft is adorned with the logo of the Boston Red Sox.

11. FC Real Madrid

The Spanish soccer team Real Madrid has its own plane, and they're proud to showcase their colors and club crest. Sadly, it is a non-commercial plane, so it's off-limits unless you're on the team.

12. FC Barcelona

In case you're a Barcelona fan, Turkish Airlines has you covered -- and you can fly on this one.

13. SeaWorld

Southwest Airlines debuted this special Shamu plane back in 1998.

14. StarCraft II

This aircraft from Korean Air celebrates the popular real-time strategy game StarCraft II.

15. Iron Maiden

There's no doubt this jet from British airline Astraeus rocks hard.

If a particular company, team or group has a large enough following, chances are its likeness has appeared on an airplane. Hello Kitty, the Boston Red Sox and even Mickey Mouse have been featured on aircraft. For those dedicated fans interested in travel, here are 15 themed airplanes that grace the skies with their designs.

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Smartphone App Uses Selfies to Check Your Cholesterol Level

A team of engineers has designed a smartphone accessory and app that allows users to monitor their own blood cholesterol levels. Think of it as a sort of cholesterol selfie — or maybe a healthie?

As researchers from Cornell University explain in a paper in the journal Lab on a Chip, all you need — aside from their attachment and a smartphone — is a reagent test strip and a willingness to draw your own blood. Cholesterol tests tend to rely on reagent strips that turn different colors, depending on the cholesterol levels of the blood placed on them. The researchers’ achievement was to design an attachment to be placed over the smartphone flash and camera that can illuminate and capture the color of the strip, rendering unnecessary specialized equipment or an in-person health professional. The lab is working on a smartphone app that can determine vitamin D levels, too.

The technology is relatively straightforward, and the research group is one of many developing smartphone tools such as these. Already, apps can turn smartphones into heart-rate monitors,sleep monitors or ultrasound machines, to name just a few. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, half of the more than 3.4 billion smartphone and tablet users worldwide will have downloaded mobile health applications by 2018.

Whether they use them regularly is another question. Still, the continuing spread of smartphones globally and the determination of health policymakers to drive down costs make such cheap, idiot-proof (at least, idiot-resistant) technologies all-but inevitable

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Obama Will Meet With Tech Execs to Troubleshoot Healthcare.gov

President Barack Obama will on Tuesday meet with leaders of Google, Apple, Facebook and more of the world's biggest technology companies to talk about how to improve the White House's much-maligned online health insurance marketplace, Healthcare.gov.

The president will reportedly discuss ways to boost the site's efficiency and capacity, according to Reuters. They will also touch on national security, the impact of intelligence leaks on the American economy and how the tech sector can be used to create jobs and reduce social inequality.

The meeting comes after critics have railed against the bugs and glitches of Healthcare.gov since it launched on Oct. 1. It also follows a recent open letter concerning government surveillance written by many of the companies who will attend the meeting and directed at the president and Congress.

The letter, cosigned by Microsoft, Yahoo and more, stated: "The undersigned companies believe that it is time for the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information."

From the looks of the agenda, it appears the president has agreed to hear privacy concerns in exchange for insight into the shortcomings of the online rollout of his administration's signature law.

Below is a list of the executives who will attend Tuesday's exchange of ideas.

• Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
• Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter
• Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google
• Marissa Mayer, President and CEO, Yahoo
• Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
• Chad Dickerson, CEO, Etsy
• Reed Hastings, Co-Founder & CEO, Netflix
• Drew Houston, Founder & CEO, Dropbox
• Burke Norton, Chief Legal Officer, Salesforce
• Mark Pincus, Founder, Chief Product Officer & Chairman, Zynga
• Shervin Pishevar, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Sherpa Global
• Brian Roberts, Chairman & CEO, Comcast
• Erika Rottenberg, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, LinkedIn
• Brad Smith, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft
• Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO, AT&T

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Kickstarter-Funded Tool Kit Fits in Your Wallet

Product Name: Tuls
Price: $22 (stainless steel); $33 (titanium)
Who would like this?: Minimalists, geeks, dads, craftspeople, smartphone addicts
Tools are heavy; Tuls, on the other hand, are the size of credit cards, and they'll fit in a wallet just the same.
New England-based company Onehundred, which is obsessed with providing everyday products through "simple, thoughtful design," created these flat tools out of titanium and stainless steel. Originally a Kickstarter campaign that cleared its funding goal of $1,500 within two hours (and raised more than 25 times as much), the Tuls project takes care of day-to-day problems requiring basic tools.

Each sturdy, wallet-sized tool is known affectionately by a first name, and has its own range of specific purposes, whether it's to tighten a bolt or open a beer.

Image: OnehundredHere's the breakdown:

• Ollie: Ollie is by far the most inclusive member of the Tuls family. This jack-of-all-trades is ready for anything, complete with standard and metric wrenches, rulers, squares, drill guides, a spoke wrench, protractor, pry bar, hex drive and bottle opener. What more could you need?
• Stan: Stan is the perfect gift for techies and Netflix addicts. It contains two holes to wrap both a power cord and earphones. The best feature, however, is the vertical slot to hold 10mm-thick devices, acting as an on-the-fly smartphone stand to play games, watch videos and charge.
• Lucy: Lucy is a slightly simpler version of Ollie, designed for the garage. It contains metric, standard and spoke wrenches, in addition to a coarse screwdriver, hex drive, tire spoon, pry bar and, of course, the trusty bottle opener.
• Roul: Roul has metric and standard rulers, drill guides, squares, a protractor, plumb bob and pry bar. No bottle opener on this one, though — according to Onehundred, Roul is optimized for the workshop, woodworking, carpentry and crafts. It's great for measuring rod stock, lengths and angles.
• Opie: In the Tuls family, Opie is the simplest member, but it still holds that same minimalistic elegance. This one just serves as a straightforward bottle opener, and with a small keyring, it's suitable for keychains and lanyards.

Images: OnehundredTuls are about as thick as a U.S. dime, and just as strong, too. They're also under the 7-inch length restriction for tools allowed in airplane carry-ons, making them great travel accessories.
If there's a craftsman, carpenter, techie, minimalist or even just a practical loved one in your life, consider Tuls this holiday season.

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