design

One look at the Italian Cromatica Bluetooth speakers and...whoa. Think of this lamp-speaker hybrid like a mood ring for your home. You choose the color illumination that suits you, choose your music, then lie back and chill. Or, clean yo…

Last year, I fell in love with the A Color Story app for photo editing, and named it my cool pick of the week on our Spawned podcast . Just this weekend, they launched A Design Kit , their equally fun, friendly, and really wonderful app …

Leave it to my twelve-year-old-daughter to be way ahead of me on the Instagram design tricks -- in this case, how to make an ombre text overlay in Instagram stories. I fell instantly in love. Now we're not the types (ha) to spend hours m…

I admit, my decorating skills are limited, and I'm always worried about painting a room only to discover I really don't like it, so I was intrigued to hear about Modsy , a website that uses your input and photos to help transform a room …

It's amazing how far home tech design has come, even since we started this site six years ago. What once may have looked sleek and amazing -- a baby monitor, a humidifier, even a lawnmower -- now looks clunky and dated compared to what's…

There are times when the brightness of my iPhone flashlight is helpful -- like, when I'm helping my kids look for their forgotten shoes outside in the dark, or I can't read a darn menu in a restaurant. Then, there are times when a little…

It's springtime! Bring on the warmer weather, chirping birds, flower blooms, lighter layers, and the fabulously stylish wearable fitness trackers that look more and more like cool jewels. Why should you be stepping into the sunny skies w…

A few years ago, you could spot someone wearing a big, black, rubber band-looking fitness tracker a mile away. I'm so happy that fashion has integrated its way very nicely when it comes to wearable tech , and I'm especially thankful for …

I tend to browse lots of places looking for cool fonts that I may never use. (When it comes to typefaces I'm more of a collector than a designer; kind of like having lots of books at home you haven't yet opened. But I digress.) I've just…

Think for a minute about how far we've come in games design from the days of Asteroids and Space Invaders. Now, there are some stunningly beautiful mobile games for both iOS and Android that change the way we think about gaming apps. Hey…

I dug these end tables right away when I saw them on Design Milk -- vaguely mid-century lines, clean design, nice contrast between the natural wooden legs and the black or white top. Basically, my furniture style to a tee. Then I took a …

Getting our kids on board with STEM early in the game seems like a great way to go. And just because it's summer doesn't mean that gentle parent-ly nudge in the right direction has to take a break. An easy way to get kids hyped about thi…

Yes, it's an ABC app. But unlike other ABC apps we've covered here, I don't know that the new ABCiné app (as in cinéma) from Spanish design studio Atipo for Meikme is going to help kids with the alphabet as much as it will help adults --…

School's out (finally). Time to really sink into summer's sun and fun. But for many parents, summer also means tackling this gnawing question, how are we going to keep these children entertained? Well, for your tech-head kid, we're happy…

We've found cool iPad cases made out of everything from felt to leather to industrial strength NASA mystery metals. But maybe never one made out of paper. That's the Papernomad iPad and iPhone cases . It's not just they're sustainably ma…

I usually stay away from licensed characters when decorating my kids' rooms, but I might have to make an exception for this awesome pixel duvet cover from Society6, featuring a lineup of cool pixelated superheroes . We've raved before ab…

With 8 bit making a comeback (thanks, Minecraft ) and pixels starting to appear everywhere as a "new" art technique, it's not surprising to see them make their way from our desktops to our countertops and beyond. I'm seeing them on all s…

I recently learned a tip: Waking up and beginning your day looking at Facebook and Twitter can start you off on the wrong foot. Between the political fighting, the depressing news, the spam and the trolling...yeah. Not necessarily the fi…

Usually when I check out a new tech product, it's me in a conference room (or sometimes alone) listening to someone wax poetic about its features. But nope, not LG. They recently announced their phenomenal new LG Ultra HD TV 4K and LG OL…

Remember the old days when a Bluetooth speaker was just some ugly but fascinating little thing that was cool simply because it used Bluetooth in the first place? No more. We're starting to see designer audio collaborations like the Novog…

I am one of those (awful, judgy) people who will unfollow people on Instagram if their feed is filled with too many type-heavy, horribly designed promotions or ads or OMG LOOK AT MY CUTE BEHBEH proclamations over family photos that might…

Kickstarter at MoMA brings together two of our favorite things -- awesome Kickstarter-fueled innovations and the MoMA Design Store. They've gathered a collection of successful Kickstarter products in honor of NYCxDESIGN, and it's a cool …

Ever walk into a friend's finely decorated home and think: Yeah, I'm not leaving this place. Nope. Moving. In. Or, if you're not working the stowaway angle, you basically press them for intel on how you, too, can get skilled at creating …

As much as I love real live, hold them in your hands, save them forever and ever Valentine's Day cards, there are a few reasons I love the digital Valentine eCards from Paperless Post. First, these are not those awful ecards you remember…

If you're a graphic designer, a photographer or a picky decorator, I'm excited about this new app that's designed to help you in an amazing new way. And not surprisingly, it's getting a ton of buzz. I think of it like Shazam , only for c…

If you've ever played around at the social media and fashion community Polyvore (or uh, got stuck there until 3AM ahem) you'll be excited to see that they just launched a dedicated home category, just for decorating and home design inspi…

We love Houzz around here. We've been using it to design our living rooms, bedrooms, and dining spaces for a while now. So we're super excited that they've launched an app that's just made just for parents. The free Houzz Kids Rooms app …

Every so often I go ahead and swap out the photo on my desktop for some soothing, cool illustrated desktop pattern. Often because I have so much crap on my desktop I stop being able to find it. I mean...because I have awesome style and w…

While we adore Instagram , we still approach the Facebook takeover of Instagram with a healthy dose skepticism. Still, the network only seems to be growing, and the fact that there are so many cool things people are doing with their feed…

While we've got spring cleaning and organizing on the brain, that extends to my audio system options too. If you've got unwieldy woofers or cord nests polluting your otherwise clean (okay, sometimes clean) space, here's a beautiful, simp…

With the holidays coming up and tech on so many people's lists, I love seeing the number of high-end designers who have really taken the plunge into tech accessories over the last few years. When you carry your phone around more than eve…

Even just a few years ago, sound systems and speakers were not only gigantic but they were all in basic black--maybe silver if you were really fancy. Thankfully, audio systems have gotten smaller, sleeker, and now they're available in pr…

Between my penchant for dropping things and four kids at my heels, there's no way I'd walk around without a case protecting my iPhone 5 . But the back is just so pretty it sort of pains me not to be able to show it off. So I looked for a…

A recent trip to Copenhagen renewed my love for all things Marimekko. And now that I see they've got iPhone cases on pre-order...yep. More love. There are six Marimekko iPhone cases for the 4/4S to choose from, each made out of a tough p…

I'm already a huge fan of Aerial7's Tank headphones : the perfect sound, the comfy fit, and the fun bright colors. The only thing that could make my set of Tanks even more perfect is if I could custom design a pair. And guess what? Now I…

If you're anything like me, then you actually use your laptop on your lap, which isn't really the best for your legs or your computer. And as the manual will warn you, flat on a table can still cause overheating. Since I haven't actually…

While it's been around for a little bit, I finally got to check out Microsoft's Arc Touch mouse in person and uh...is it strange to be coveting a mouse? The Arc Touch Mouse now makes pretty much any mouse you've ever used in your life lo…

Since I work off a five-year-old laptop that looks like a Commodore 64 next to some of the newer laptops on the market, I'm always looking for ways to spruce it up. I frequently update my desktop wallpaper with kids' photos and change th…

It's amazing which designers have jumped into the laptop bag market these days. A few weeks ago, I was searching for this gorgeous spring/summer Marc by Marc Jacobs tote online for a good price, when I stumbled on a laptop bag of his tha…

I'm already thinking ahead to spring cleaning and redecorating, with plans to paint a few rooms. And luckily, I just discovered an awesome site by Sherwin Williams that I've anointed as my own Next Big Thing for you home decor fans--afte…

I love Ora Kiely prints so much, we even included the new diaper bag in the Cool Mom Picks Baby Shower Gift Guide this year. But even if you've outgrown the diaper bag stage--or never went through one at all, oh cool aunties of the world…

While we've been looking at a lot of red tech around here lately, I was so excited to get a preview of the new spring/summer collection from Urbanears , makers of those affordable and stylish headphones for those who like their techcesso…

If there's someone in your life who's got her own distinctive style, instead of another gift card, why not give her a go at making her own totally customizable earbuds. At Custom Buds you can customize every single color for the four dif…

While I didn't discover a whole lot of tech goodies at the New York International Gift Show, one booth that was totally buzzing belonged to Native Union, makers of those awesome Pop Phone headsets we died over last year. Not only are the…

I love that buying tech these days doesn't mean you're relegated to a plain silver or black gadget that looks exactly like every other. (Or wow--remember when they were all beige?) Now that there are so many ways to express our personali…

When Alma Loveland, well-known and uber-talented illustrator from Ollibird Designs created an education app for preschoolers the results were nothing short of amazing. This new learning app features 5 games that help your littles with th…

We love it when we're scouring the web for cool tech products and up pops the name of a cool indie artisan who we've featured before. That's just what happened when I discovered Atlanta-based designer Jessica Swift's new line of smart ph…

With Fashion Week hitting New York this week, I'm seeing lots of women in teetering heels stumbling through puddles. Fun! An easier way to get stylish this week, is with these sweet designer iPad 2 cases from none other than Project Runw…

I've always figured it was only a matter of time until Petunia Pickle Bottom takes over the world. And now it's true, as the company known for some of the most gorgeous baby carriers and diaper bags known to mom makes the leap into other…

I love necklaces and bags like the next girl, but if you also treat iPhone cases as accessories like I do, then your mind will also be blown when you see this amazing site I just discovered. Welcome to Society6 , an artist community that…

It's no secret that we're huge fans of designer Jonathan Adler, from his cool baby gifts that we featured at Cool Mom Picks to his swanky charging dock organizer . So I'm not surprised at how much I'm loving his new iPad cases too. The J…

If you're a regular reader of Cool Mom Tech, you know that we love when form mixes with function in our gadgetry. Yes, cool tech has officially become the new black--there are designer laptops, designer laptop bags, designer iPad cases, …

I get a little geeky when it comes to jazzing up my browser with themes--it's such an easy way to give your PC a makeover. I find I've been spending more and more time with Google Chrome lately, and poking around the themes page, there a…

If you've got a thing for retro audio motifs like I do, I think you'll get a kick out of this Etsy shop that also has a heart for boom boxes, turntables, and other relics of the pre-MP3 era. Brooklyn's Abreaka Studios offers a line of ha…

I used to love sending out handwritten notes on my pretty Jeana stationery when I was a kid. I always thought I was so special to have my own crisp white monogrammed paper with a pink polka-dot border. I was special. While handwritten no…

Every mom is a master at multi-tasking. I've been known to make lunch, check emails and help with homework all at the same time. So why should I expect my gadget accessories to do any less? I love this incredibly cool line of Brenthaven …

You have to be pretty hard core about your Easter Eggs to invest $195 in a machine that makes them look awesome. But that's just what the creators of the Egg-Bot were thinking when they invented this open-source robot that applies comput…

We recently re-painted our living room and designated one wall for our arrangement of black-framed photos. In my haste to get the project done, I eyeballed placement--never a good idea. It looked nothing like the spread I saw in Restorat…

Now that it's getting to where can crack our window to let in some fresh air without freezing us all out, I am in full scale spring cleaning/redecorating mode. Even my old MacBook is feeling a little dowdy these days--which only has a li…

For the third post in our Holiday Tech Gifts series...well, we think you're going to like this. Now that our tech is part of our every day, we think it should be as fashionable as your favorite everyday handbag. Fortunately, there are to…