My Summer Gadget Picks: 2023 Edition
From Solo Stoves to light-up grill tongs.
My summer of outdoor and grilling gadgets
For the past few years, I’ve put together an annual collection of summertime gadgets and tools, mostly to use on various talking head TV spots tied into Memorial Day weekend or July 4th.
Here are some highlights from my 2023 Summer Gadget Collection, plus a few local TV segments where I did my usual show-and-tell.
Solo Stove: Great idea, a mostly smokeless metal fire pit that can use wood or wood pellets. I played around with a couple of the very small Mesa models ($80-$110), meant for tabletop use, but you can get giant backyard-size ones as well.
Magellan Outdoor Pro Cooler: Cheaper than a Yeti. Not quite as nice design-wise, but about half the price, at $130 for a 25-quart cooler, vs $250 for a 25qt Yeti. I also loved the dual hinges which mean you can open the lid from either side.
JBL Charge 5: Great outdoor bluetooth speaker, which is both water resistant and can double as a portable power bank to recharge your other devices. $140.
And left over from last year’s picks, I still love the GrillLight light-up grilling tools (usually around $30 on Amazon) and the iGrill Mini from Webber (around $45 on Amazon), which is a grill thermometer that connects your phone via bluetooth — although it doesn’t offer any vegetarian-friendly presets like Impossible Burgers or even any vegetables.
Here are some of the places you might have seen me demo these gadgets recently:
News 12 NYC: https://brooklyn.news12.com/the-real-deal-great-grilling-must-haves-that-make-cooking-easier
Fox 26 Houston: https://www.fox26houston.com/video/1221116
Good Day Chicago: https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/1226355
And from my colleagues at CNET, check out these curated lists of the Best Fire Pits, Best Bluetooth Speakers and Best Coolers.
Logic Pro for iPad for Making Music on the Go
Apple’s WWDC is coming up next week, but in the weeks before that I got to try out the new iPad version of Logic Pro, which has been Mac-only until now (although it was also available on PCs before Apple bought the company in 2002).
I thought the touch controls were great, especially for pinch-zooming on your wave files or MIDI data, but as a never-ending $5/month subscription, it’s going to be expensive in the long run.
There’s a quick video below, including a demo song I made using Logic Pro on iPad. You can get the track on SoundCloud as well.
Hands-On With Apple's Logic Pro for iPad
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/hands-on-with-apples-logic-pro-for-ipad/
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