MEGATech Showcase: Celebrating the 4th of July The Geek Way

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, otherwise known in America as Independence Day. Remember that movie where Will Smith welcomed aliens to “Erf” and then Jeff Goldblum gave them a cold, but not before Bill Pullman made an awesome speech? It’s that day.

There’s also something about celebrating our breaking off from British rule, but I think defeating an alien menace is much more impressive.

The best way to celebrate these momentous occasions is to enjoy the freedoms that we earned in the process. These celebrations usually involve taking advantage of the scorching hot weather by having barbecues, lighting off some fireworks, and just enjoying the outdoors with a group of friends.

What if you’re a geek, though? What if your friends are geeks? Well then, you better get your geek on.

Anti Mosquito – Sonic Repeller App

Mosquitoes are just the worst, stealing your blood without even asking permission. There are a variety of mosquito repelling-products on the market, all with different rates of success, but the Sonic Repeller app is definitely the geekiest of them all.

By emitting a high frequency sound that mosquitoes don’t like, Sonic Repeller keeps the bugs at bay. Of course, the app doesn’t guarantee a 100% success rate, and suggests using the pitch controls to find the perfect sound for the particular species of mosquito bothering you, but it’s still a very cool way to keep yourself from getting bitten up. It’s a free download from the App Store.

iGrill Grilling/Cooking Thermometer

Numerous cooking shows that I’ve watched over the years have taught me to check a cooking steak by pressing on it with my finger and gauging the toughness. Once you get it down, the method works – for your own meat. If you’re cooking for other people, I highly doubt they want you sticking your filthy finger into their meal. That’s where meat thermometers come in handy. Instead of using a standard thermometer like a barbarian, get the iGrill Grilling/Cooking Thermometer ($79.95), which features a digital readout that will tell you the exact temperature of your meat, as well as a lot of cool features like a cooking timer, temperature alarms, and even some recipes.

Lotus Grill Portable BBQ

Barbecued food is awesome, but barbecuing itself isn’t exactly a blast. The Lotus Grill Portable BBQ ($249.99-$299.99)lets you cook wherever you want with minimal resources. The built-in fan system gets the coals extremely hot, which means you don’t have to use very many. That’s great news for two reasons: charcoal is gross, so the less the better, plus it’s not exactly cheap. The lack of propane will ensure that you don’t blow your face off like I’m always worried is going to happen to me every time I barbecue. The Lotus Grill produces little smoke, heats up in minutes, and has won a handful of rewards.

Grillbot

Barbecue grills can get extremely messy with all manner of caked on foods. And if you’re like me, that means you’re extremely lazy, and you also love robots. Hey, I’ve got good news for you! The Grillbot ($99.95) is like a Roomba, only instead of vacuuming your house, it’s cleaning the grill of your barbecue! There’s not much too it, but that’s the beauty of the thing. Just throw it on the grill, click the button and let it do all the work for you. The best part is you never have to feel bad because robots live to serve humans.

For now.

EcoExtreme Speaker Case

It’s a known fact that all good parties have music involved. I’ve never experienced this first hand because I never get invited to parties, but I’ve seen enough movies to know how things go down. There are an overwhelming amount of options to choose from when looking for portable audio solutions, and if you’re looking for the best quality you’re going to end up dropping hundreds of dollars, but the EcoExtreme Rugged All Terrain Speaker Case is very reasonable at $49 and the “rugged” part ensures that your music device stays safe from the elements.

There are countless other gadgets that would help shape the perfect Independence Day party, but this list should get you started. Even if you had nothing but food, good tunes, and a relatively mosquito-free environment, your party can’t be that bad.