Technologies

Made in the USA: Baseball bats, sticky notes, kitchen mixers and more

Some prominent companies still make their products in the US, and finding them is easy.

This story is part of Road Trip 2021, CNET’s coverage of the Biden administration’s push to grow American manufacturing and make more things in the USA.

Though much of what we wear, carry in our pockets and use at home is made overseas, not everything we buy is imported. Buying USA-made goods is a popular idea, but as my colleague Ian Sherr wrote for CNET’s Made in America series, that belief doesn’t always carry over to behavior.

The federal governments wants to change that by encouraging Americans to buy more things at home. Shortly after taking office in January, President Joe Biden issued an executive order mandating stricter enforcement of «Buy American» standards within federal agencies. Then in July, he proposed a new rule that would hike up the minimum percentage of American-made parts required in products that the federal government purchases.

The goal of both efforts is to boost domestic manufacturing with the government’s purse — the federal government shells out $600 billion every year for goods and services — and encourage consumers to «Buy American.»

From cookware to beauty supplies, here are a few everyday products still being churned out on the home turf.

Post-it Notes

These pioneering sticky notes were invented by two scientists at Minnesota-based 3M: Spencer Silver, who’d discovered an adhesive that could stick surfaces together but yield when you pulled them apart, and Art Fry, a church choir singer who just wanted bookmarks that wouldn’t slip out of his hymnal. Post-it Notes are made at a 3M plant in Cynthiana, Kentucky.

Pyrex kitchenware

My parents have stocked kitchen cabinets with Pyrex baking dishes, storage containers and measuring cups for as long as I can remember. (A few have definitely surpassed my 21 years of age.) The Pyrex brand came to be more than a century ago when the wife of a Corning scientist made a cake on some glass scraps her husband brought home because her casserole dish had broken. Its glassware is manufactured in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

Burt’s Bees lip balm

Launched in Maine during the 1980s by a beekeeper (the eponymous Burt) and an artist, Burt’s Bees offers a lineup of natural care products, including its famous beeswax-based lip balm. Burt’s Bees currently manufactures in North Carolina.

Sub-Zero appliances

Wisconsin knows a thing or two about the cold, as evidenced by Madison-based Sub-Zero’s refrigerators and freezers. The company has come a long way since the 1930s, when its founder, Westye Bakke, set out to find a better method of stockpiling insulin for his son with diabetes. Even now, Sub-Zero manufactures in Wisconsin and Arizona.

Alex and Ani jewelry

If you’re in search of some bling for yourself, Alex and Ani jewelry is reasonably priced, free of skin-irritating nickel and made in America.

Airstream trailers

Airstream’s silver streamlined travel trailers have become immensely popular as the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged Americans to take road trips for travel (there’s now a yearlong backlog for existing orders). The company has built them at its plant in JacksonCenter, Ohio, for decades.

La-Z-Boy chairs

Since creating its first recliner nearly a century ago, La-Z-Boy has supplied plushy, nap-provoking chairs to legions of snoring grandpas. As of 2019, La-Z-Boy manufactures most of its chairs and sofas in Tennessee.

Mustang cars

There are few images more American than that of a sleek Ford Mustang cruising down a US highway. Opened in 1987, Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan assembles the Mustang. The 2021 iteration starts at $27,205. (The new Mustang Mach-E electric cars are made in Mexico and China.)

Not Your Mother’s hair care products

I’m not sure what NYM has against my mother’s hair care products — but this company makes well-regarded shampoos, conditioners and creams right here in the US.

Weber grills

It’s Hot Grill Summer, and whether you prefer gas or charcoal to cook your burgers and ‘dogs, there’s a Weber grill that can take care of it. Weber sources parts both domestically and internationally but manufactures its grills in the US.

Steinway & Sons pianos

A gorgeous Steinway filled my family’s house with music for many decades. A German immigrant to the US founded the company in the mid-19th century. Steinway pianos sold in the US are made in Astoria, New York. For the rest of the world, they’re built in Hamburg, Germany.

KitchenAid stand mixers

These durable (and heavy) appliances last for decades and can be used for much more than just mixing cookie batter. Made in Greenville, Ohio, they come in a selection of vibrant colors. And as CNET found on a factory visit, they have a devoted following.

Gibson guitars

Listened to any music in your life? Then I guarantee you’ve heard someone strumming a Gibson. The company manufactures its acoustic guitars in Montana and its electrics, including the famed Les Paul, in Tennessee.

Louisville Slugger bats

Beloved by MLB stars and backyard ballplayers alike, the Slugger baseball bat is an American classic. And yes, it’s made in Louisville, Kentucky. You can join CNET’s Erin Carson on a trip inside the factory to see how the bats make their way from a forest to the playoffs.

Crayola crayons

Growing up, the coolest thing I owned was undoubtedly my three-tiered display of every Crayola crayon imaginable. (I still miss it sometimes.) Crayola’s annual output of crayons approaches 3 billion, and its major manufacturing facilities are based in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for May 15, #234

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 234, for May 15.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition has a tough blue category, but you might get it easily if you’re a fan of a certain international sport. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Get to that ball.

Green group hint: Think Jack Nicklaus.

Blue group hint: Ted Lasso.

Purple group hint: J.R. Ewing.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Handle a baseball.

Green group: Found in a golf bag.

Blue group: Premier League team nicknames.

Purple group: Dallas ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is handle a baseball. The four answers are catch, field, glove and scoop.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is found in a golf bag. The four answers are balls, clubs, tees and towel.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Premier League team nicknames. The four answers are Bees, Cherries, Saints and Tractor Boys.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Dallas ____. The four answers are Cowboys, Goedert, Mavericks and Stars.

Technologies

Marvel Rivals’ Galacta’s Gift Event Makes Ranking Up Even Easier

Marvel Rivals’ ranked competitive mode has been mired in controversy since the game’s release. Despite this, it’s about to be even easier to climb the ladder.

There has been no shortage of criticism for Marvel Rivals’ ranked competitive system since the game’s launch in December. Players earn far more rank points from a win than they lose from a loss, leading players with sub-50% win rates to climb the ladder to Diamond or Grandmaster — and in some people’s eyes, the rank distribution has lost much of its meaning and prestige.

Now, Marvel Rivals’ latest event risks further muddling the skill divisions of the competitive mode when it launches on May 15. The Galacta’s Gift event pass will include eight consumable Chrono Shield Cards, which will prevent players from losing rank points after a competitive match loss.

Read More: Marvel Rivals Season 2: The 6 Best Heroes to Start Learning Now

The decision to add further safeguards to the Marvel Rivals’ ranked experience is puzzling. But it might be another way to retain high player engagement, especially as support players have gone on strike during Season 2.

Steam player counts are a flawed metric to measure a game’s success, as player count naturally picks up and drops depending on what is going on in-game, and these charts account only for a subset of PC players among the broad console-inclusive playerbase. Even so, Marvel Rivals reportedly had more players at the end of Season 1 than at the beginning of Season 2. This event could be a quick way to scrape back some of those lapsed players, even if it harms the game’s competitive integrity.

Whether the Chrono Shield Cards will be detrimental to the game’s competitive environment, they’re here to stay. Here’s how to get them — among the other rewards included in the new Galacta’s Gift event.

Chrono Shield Cards will protect your rank points

Completing event challenges during the Galacta’s Gift event will level up a free event pass, containing seven tiers with different rewards.

At tiers two and four, players will earn separate bundles of four Chrono Shield Cards. That means you’re able to earn eight total Chrono Shield Cards during the item’s debut.

Once you activate a Chrono Shield Card, it will remain active until you lose a competitive match. Upon that loss, your Chrono Shield Card will be consumed — but you won’t lose any rank points for that defeat.

You can have up to 20 Chrono Shield Cards at a time, and they are cleared from your inventory at the end of the season. This seems to suggest that the consumables will be plentiful enough for you to stack up on, though we don’t yet know how players will be able to earn more outside of this event. Regardless, it’s healthy to be skeptical about the new addition to the game — especially if these items are moved into paid bundles sometime in the future.

Chrono Shield Cards will not remove the existing Chrono Shield system for Bronze, Silver and Gold players, which charges as they lose ranked games. After enough losses, lower-ranked players gain a Chrono Shield — protecting them from a rank demotion for a single game. Since this system protects ranked points in the lowest ranks, I’d recommend saving your Chrono Shield Cards until you reach at least Platinum rank on the competitive ladder.

How to get a free costume during the Galacta’s Gift event

The Chrono Shield Cards are likely going to be the most controversial event rewards in Marvel Rivals to date, but the juiciest prize in the new event is the costume coin on the final tier.

This special currency has only been obtainable during one other event — the paid Hyper Orange Venom Pick Up Bundle. If you have a costume coin, you’re able to trade it in for a premium skin from the costume shop.

Many of these skins cost 1,600 units, the standard premium currency in Marvel Rivals, which is roughly equivalent to $16. Spending $3 to earn the costume coin in the Pick Up Bundle was a very good deal. Being able to earn a costume coin for free during the new event is even better.

There are a number of caveats to the costume coin exchange, however. Only costumes for Season 0 heroes are available — that means you can get a costume for a hero that was available at launch. That means costumes for the members of the Fantastic Four and Emma Frost will not be available in the costume coin exchange.

Once you have your costume coin, you can trade it in by navigating to the Exchange tab located under the Store menu. I highly recommend you nab the Incognito Dolphin skin for Jeff the Shark, so you can look cute and cuddly while you harass the enemy backline.

Want to get your hands on more free costumes? We have a guide for every current (and previous) free skin in Marvel Rivals.

Technologies

Act Fast to Get This Limited-Time Deal on the Best Portable iPhone Charger I’ve Found

For just $32, you can get my favorite ultra-compact iPhone charger, the Anker 622 MagGo, which snaps neatly onto the back of my iPhone and goes everywhere I do.

Like most people living in the modern world, I use my phone for just about every aspect of life — from staying in touch with work, family and friends to getting driving directions, news and weather updates. And like most people, I also live in fear that my iPhone’s battery will die on me right when I need it most. Fortunately, I bought a handy magnetic charger that is so portable and practical that I can take it everywhere I go and now my dead-battery fears are a thing of the past.

The Anker 622 MagGo is a small slab of battery with a few features that make it an ideal on-the-go accessory. Right now, Amazon has a limited-time deal going on that means you can get one for as much as 33% off, bringing the price down to $32. The charger comes in a variety of colors, with Interstellar Gray being the cheapest at the moment and all other colors running $34. For me, it’s more about power than color, but if you want to snap up a battery pack that complements your phone, you can choose from Buds Green, Dolomite White, Lilac Purple and Misty Blue.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

Here’s why I’ve stuck with this little charger for so long

Have you seen people walk around with a loop of cable hanging from their pocket to their phone? I’ve been there and hooked that loop on too many chairs and table corners. Never again. The ring of magnets in the Anker 622 MagGo aligns with the MagSafe magnets in every iPhone since the iPhone 12, latching securely and charging without wires. (The notable exception is the iPhone 16E, which does not offer MagSafe but does charge wirelessly using Qi technology. The Anker 622 MagGo will charge the iPhone 16E but won’t latch to it magnetically.)

It’s also compact — a little backpack feeding power to the phone while you’re holding it or have it stashed in a pocket, even a jeans pocket if your fit isn’t too tight.

Those features alone would have convinced me but the Anker 622 also includes a fold-out back flap that props up my iPhone and can also hold the phone in its wide orientation for StandBy mode. With a power adapter such as the Anker Nano Pro (not included) and a charging cable, I’ve taught long classes with the phone angled to help me keep track of the time without checking my watch.

Essential Anker 622 MagGo specs

Here’s what you need to know.

Battery capacity: 5,000 milliamp hours
Voltage: 1.55 volts
Output: 7.5-watt Magnetic (compatible with MagSafe-equipped devices, iPhone 12 and later) or 20-watt USB-C port. Can charge only one device at a time.
Input: The same single USB-C is also how you recharge the device.
Size: 4.13-inch by 2.61 inches by 0.5 inch
Weight: 5 ounces
Included: Magnetic battery, 60cm (23.6 inches) USB-C to USB-C cable
Warranty: 24 months

MagSafe-compatible charging

I’ve owned several battery chargers and each one has some sort of compromise. They’re bulky. They require a cable. They charge wirelessly but don’t include a magnet to keep the phone in place so it’s hard to maintain that connection. There’s always something.

The Anker 622 is half an inch thick and snaps onto the back of my iPhone using the MagSafe-aligned magnets. I don’t have to turn it on to start charging — power flows as soon as the connection is made.

Now, this isn’t the highest-capacity (5,000 mAh) or fastest portable charger. That’s fine. What I usually need is a way to eke out a few more hours of battery life on my iPhone. I can typically get a full top-off of my iPhone 15 Pro.

Making a stand

The other appealing feature of the Anker 622 MagGo for me is its built-in stand. Honestly, it doesn’t look like it should work well: It’s a fabric-covered set of plastic pieces that lie flush against the case, folds in two places and attaches to the back of the unit with a magnetic strip when extended. Yet I’ve had no problems with the stability of my iPhone 15 Pro or even the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max size.

This also lets me use standby mode by turning the iPhone to landscape orientation (the magnets are strong enough to hold the phone in place) when it’s on a table or desk.

Smart port placement matters

The charger gets its juice from a single USB-C port, which is positioned on the edge of the case, not the bottom. That means you can replenish it while the stand is open — many chargers’ ports are stuck on the bottom.

That USB-C port also acts as a charger for other devices when you plug in a cable, such as when your Apple Watch needs a boost.

How the Anker 622 MagGo compares to similar power banks

Before getting the Anker 622 MagGo, I carried an Anker PowerCore III 10K Wireless, which doubles the battery capacity, includes a USB-A port and charges wirelessly but without magnets to hold the phone in place. That meant if I didn’t use a cable, the phone and charger needed to be stable and level; too often I’d find the iPhone slid off its wireless perch and not charged. It’s also larger and heavier. I still use it, but it’s the power bank that goes into my carry-on suitcase as a backup charger.

Since I’ve owned this Anker 622 MagGo, the company has released a few updated models. The $55 Anker 633 (currently on sale for $45) packs 10,000 mAh into a slightly thicker brick, includes a USB-A port in addition to USB-C and has a metal kickstand for resting the phone upright.

You can also consider getting the chunkier Anker MagGo Power Bank that delivers 10,000 mAh and follows the same idea of compact magnetic charging and a convenient kickstand. Its main appeals are faster 15-watt magnetic charging and Qi2 compatibility, plus a small display on the side that reports the battery capacity and an estimate of the remaining battery in hours.

For more smart buys, check out this amazing multitool and a portable TV that can go anywhere. And if you happen to be gift shopping, check out our roundup of the best gifts for grads and the best tech gifts for anyone, anytime of year.