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Sacramento Kings guests can use 'smart' bottles to pour their own drinks
The Sacramento Kings are fond of using technology as a hook to fill seats, but their latest may be particularly alluring if you're in the position to score premium tickets. The basketball team is using connected bottle tops from NINA that let you pour your own alcohol in a suite or loft. You only have to open a tab, choose what you want to drink and pour until you get the quantity you paid for. This might let you focus more on the game than asking a bartender for more libations.
IKEA’s new vegetarian meatballs will taste more like meat
A trip to IKEA isn't complete without a plate of Swedish meatballs. While the company offers a vegetarian version of its iconic meal, the veggie meatballs don't taste much like meat. Joining the trend set by fast food chains like Burger King and KFC, the furniture giant plans to offer an updated vegetarian option of its meatballs that taste closer to traditional meat. According to the company's 2019 climate report, the new version of the food will be available starting this August.
Starbucks embraces fake meat, starting in Canada
Next week, when Starbucks rolls out its spring menu in stores across Canada, it will include one notable addition: a breakfast sandwich with Beyond Meat sausage. Starbucks joins a growing list of brands that have added Beyond Meat's plant-based offerings to their menus. To date, those companies include McDonald's (also a Canadian pilot), KFC, Subway, Carl's Jr., Hardee's and more.
Amazon cuts the price of the 7-in-1 Ninja Foodi cooker to $125
Amazon's deal of the day is the 7-in-1 Ninja Foodi, capable of pressure cooking, slow cooking, air-frying and more. This five-quart powerhouse is on sale for $125. That's $55 off the current list price, but to lock in the deal, you'll have to snag this multi-function cooker before the day is over.
Amazon's first big 'Go' grocery store opens in Seattle with 5,000 products
Amazon's checkout-free Go concept has officially morphed into a supermarket. Amazon Go Grocery opens in Seattle today, with 5,000 items for sale across the 10,400-square-foot premises. Using a range of cameras, shelf sensors and software, shoppers can pick up the items they want and simply walk out the door -- their accounts are charged via a smartphone app as they leave.
KidKraft's Alexa-powered toy kitchen sizzles and tells dad jokes
Kids love to cook — or at least to pretend to. They enjoy emulating their parents, especially when it comes to making delicious things to eat. However, our kitchen routines have changed a lot thanks to voice control technology, which isn't easily replicated in a basic wood or plastic playset. So KidKraft's new toy kitchen doesn't even try to emulate it. Instead, it integrates the real Alexa to create an incredibly realistic but also whimsical play cooking experience.
Blue Apron considers selling itself as it bleeds customers
Blue Apron has been struggling in recent years, and that's leading the company to consider some extreme options. The online meal kit service has revealed that it's looking at "strategic alternatives" that include a merger, raising funds, offloading assets or selling the company outright. It warned that there was no guarantee anything would happen, but this is the kind of language companies frequently use when they're running out of options.
Traeger's Ironwood smart grills now ship with a handy pellet supply sensor
If Traeger's Ironwood series caught your eye, the company is now including a handy feature in the box, rather than making it a separate purchase. Traeger is now shipping its WiFi-equipped Ironwood 650 ($1,200) and Ironwood 885 ($1,500) pellet grills with the pellet sensor add-on that it announced in November. Until now, you had to pay $80 to get one of these for your backyard barbecue machine. And, sadly, if you own one of the 2019 Pro Series grills, you still do.
The Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid works as promised, but only for small batches
The Instant Pot has garnered a huge fan base in recent years, and for good reason. Yes, it replaces your slow cooker and you can make yogurt in it (in some models anyway) but its real claim to fame is as an electric pressure cooker that can significantly shorten cooking time. Imagine braised short ribs in under an hour, or homemade pho in 30 minutes. The best part is that you can just set the timer and walk away, without having to tend to it like you would a stovetop version. It's been over two years since I purchased my Instant Pot Ultra, and it remains one of my favorite kitchen appliances. That said, I found myself lusting after yet another trendy kitchen appliance: the air fryer. The idea behind it is that it can "fry" foods with just hot air and without the oily mess that deep-frying entails. However, as publications like Wirecutter and Cook's Illustrated point out, air fryers are nothing more than re-packaged convection ovens. If you do want crispy "air-fried" foods, Wirecutter recommends getting a countertop convection oven instead, which obviously has a lot more features than just air frying.
Ford thinks the Mustang Mach-E's frunk is a good tailgate cooler
Super Bowl LIV is still fresh in many people's memories, but that isn't stopping Ford from trying to capitalize on next year's game. The company is drumming up hype for the Mustang Mach-E by suggesting that would-be buyers use the electric crossover's frunk as a cooler for tailgate parties -- no, it's not kidding. It claims the front trunk is equivalent to a 36-gallon cooler, while the drain cap lets you fit ridiculous quantities of football-friendly food that otherwise wouldn't be an option. Ever wanted to carry mounds of shrimp, beer or wings you could serve just by popping the hood of your SUV? Probably not, but that isn't stopping Ford's imagination from running wild.
Instacart employees in Chicago are the first to unionize in the US
Gig economy workers may have won an important, if conditional, battle in their push for better conditions. Instacart employees in the Chicago suburb of Skokie have voted to unionize through their local branch of United Food and Commercial Workers, giving them more collective bargaining power than they had before. The move only covers 15 staffers who operate at the Mariano's grocery store, but it's the first time Instacart employees have unionized in the US and could affect issues like turnover rates, work pacing and mysterious employee rating algorithms.
KFC expands its Beyond Meat test to Charlotte and Nashville
You knew KFC would expand its test of plant-based "chicken" when the Atlanta pilot sold out in five hours, and that expansion is close at hand. The fast food chain has announced that it'll widen the Beyond Fried Chicken test to restaurants in the Charlotte and Nashville areas between February 3rd and February 23rd "while supplies last." Charlotte-area residents can expect the meat substitutes at 19 locations in both Charlotte proper and surrounding towns like Denver and Salisbury, while people in the Nashville region can visit no less than 47 restaurants, most of them in surrounding cities.
Dehydrated food goes from hiking to haute cuisine
Ever since fifth grade, when I made beef jerky with Mrs. Swanagan in a trailer behind my elementary school, I've been fascinated by the process of creating inedible food out of perfectly good ingredients by removing all of their moisture. Dried fish, fruit leather -- the list is endless. However, in the past few years, chefs at high-end restaurants have been rescuing the technique of dehydration from River and Dawn's camping supplies and elevating it to haute cuisine. Take Il Fiorista, a new boutique and Mediterranean-inspired eatery in Manhattan that specializes in edible flowers (il fiorista means "the florist" in Italian). Everything on the menu incorporates flowers, whether it's geranium aioli or duck cappellacci with rose petal pasta.
Ben & Jerry’s made a binge-worthy Netflix and Chill’d ice cream flavor
With official support from Netflix, Ben & Jerry's has announced a new flavor called Netflix and Chill'd. The ice cream is about as about decadent as you expect. It's made with peanut butter, salty pretzel swirls and fudge brownie chunks. The lid displays the company's logo and declares that you're about to eat "A Netflix Original Flavor." The front of the tub, meanwhile, features three cows huddled together on a couch, presumably about to watch the latest Netflix Original.
Nestlé adds sausages to its range of plant-based meats
Nestlé has revealed that it's adding another plant-based meat product to its selection after the "huge success" of its alternative burgers and grounds. It's launching plant-based sausages in the US and in Europe, and they're supposed to "taste and cook like a sausage should." The version coming out in the US is a pea protein-based sausage under Nestlé's Sweet Earth brand, which was also behind the veggie mix Awesome Burger. It will come in three variants -- Habanero Cheddar, Asian Ginger Scallion and Chik'n Apple -- and will be available for purchase in April.
Instacart pickups now include alcohol and let stores know you're nearby
Online grocery company Instacart has added a bunch of new features to its Pickup service, designed to make it even easier to click-and-collect your stuff. Customers can now shop via smart storefronts -- a single digital storefront for each of your favorite grocers on the platform -- and enable location-based notifications to let the store know when you're nearby, so handover is quick and seamless.
Vote for the Best of CES 2020 People's Choice Awards!
We've announced our Best of CES finalists, so now it's time for you to cast your vote for your favorite gadget at CES 2020! Just head over here (or below) to pick your three favorite items from our pool of finalists. You have until 6 PM ET tomorrow, January 9th, to get your votes in.
Julia is a smart kitchen gadget destined for the shopping channel
If there's one thing that CookingPal's Julia is going to have to deal with, it's the implication that it's destined for a life as a shopping-channel mainstay. You can imagine the smooth-voiced announcer listing all of the things it can do: It weighs! It chops! It mixes! It kneads! It cooks, but that's not all, because it can even cook your food! It's a stand mixer that you could conceivably use to make an entire meal, and it'll even wash itself up... all for three easy payments.
Cuzen uses magnets to brew you a fresh matcha in seconds
Brewing matcha the traditional way can be a bit of a pain. Not only must you get the water temperature just right, you also have to spend some time whisking the matcha powder to get everything blended properly. Even then, it's all dependent on the quality of the matcha, as lesser quality brands can have an off or bitter taste. Cuzen Matcha, however, has come up with an alternative solution. It's a matcha machine that doesn't just "whisk" the matcha for you with a magnetic spinner, but it also has a built-in mill that grinds whole tea leaves directly into the cup. The result is a surprisingly clean and refreshing matcha, with none of the bitterness.
Crock-Pot's latest slow cooker comes with Alexa voice control
Belkin has quietly unveiled a 6 quart Crock-Pot slow cooker with a new twist: you can control it with Amazon Alexa. Using the voice assistant, you can not only set cooking times and heat settings, but ask it to check the status of your meal, as well. Otherwise, it very much resembles Belkin's WeMo-enabled Crock-Pot cooker with a stainless steel finish and six-quart capacity that can fit a six-pound roast and serve up to seven people.