Traeger gave backyard pit masters something more affordable last year with the Woodridge , but now the company is back with an even more budget-friendly option. With the Westwood series , the company offers very basic pellet grill functionality with a simplified controller and a no-frills design. You’ll still get Wi-Fi connectivity that works with the company’s app, and the Westwood grills are compatible with Traeger’s rail-based accessories. As you might expect at the $700 and $800 prices, there are a number of caveats compared to the company’s more expensive options . The new Westwood grills have an even more streamlined controller than the Woodridge models. A button-based interface replaces the knob, with buttons for increasing and decreasing temperatures, both wired and wireless food probes, Wi-Fi and ignition. The side-mounted hopper has an 18-pound pellet capacity and there are shelves on the left side and underneath the cooking chamber. Inside, a two-tier setup offers either 653 or 823 square inches of cooking space, depending on which Westwood model you opt for. The Westwood remains a set-it-and-forget-it device. The Wi-Fi connectivity allows you to keep tabs on cooking sessions from anywhere with the Traeger app. You can do everything from low-and-slow smoking to roasting and grilling with the 180-450 degrees Fahrenheit temperature range. There’s also a front rail for the company’s Pop and Lock accessories, which include a folding front shelf. The Westwood grills have a simplified design with two-tier grates inside Traeger Of course, with the lower price comes a number of sacrifices. There’s no mention of Super Smoke or Keep Warm modes that Traeger offers on some of its more expensive grills. The Westwood only supports one wired food probe, so you’ll have to plan accordingly there. If you’re willing to spend an extra $80, these new grills do connect with Traeger’s wireless meat probe , so you at least have an option for additional food monitoring. Lastly, there’s no mention of a pellet sensor inside the hopper, which is a handy component for keeping track of your fuel supply. While Traeger has consistently focused on midrange and premium pellet grills in recent years, the Westwood and Westwood XL are now the company’s most affordable options. These new grills will replace the popular Pro series in Traeger’s lineup. What’s more, new affordable options come at time when the company faces financial troubles and is currently in the midst of an ongoing restructuring . The Westwood and Westwood XL are now available from grill retailers including Ace Hardware. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/traeger-debuts-westwood-smart-pellet-grills-that-start-at-700-160448450.html?src=rss
A collaboration between Spotify and Bookshop.org that allows readers to purchase physical books in the Spotify app is now live in the US and UK. Rather than positioning audiobooks as the hard copy-killer, Spotify is encouraging you to see them as complimentary to one another. First announced back in February, the new partnership with Bookshop.org appears to be an acknowledgement from Spotify that physical still reigns supreme in the book world. Bookshop is a digital marketplace that enables indie booksellers to take their businesses online, and Spotify says any purchase made through its app will "directly support those bookshops and the authors who brought the story to life." When viewing an audiobook on Spotify, where available you should now see a "Get a copy for your bookshelf" link that redirects you to the Bookshop.org website, which takes over the rest of the purchase and shipping process, reports TechCrunch . The feature is now live on Android, with iOS support arriving next week. Key to this partnership is the new Page Match feature that Spotify launched in February, which allows readers to sync their progress between audiobooks and physical or ebooks so they can jump between formats seamlessly. When reading a paperback, you can use your phone camera to scan the page you reach and continue from that point in the audiobook. It also allows you to scan ereader pages so you can pick up when you left off in the audiobook, and vice versa. Spotify has today expanded Page Match to support more than 30 new languages, including French, German and Swedish, while Audiobook Recaps are now available on Android. Introduced last year , initially for iOS users, these AI-powered audio summaries refresh you on your progress before you start reading, becoming available once you pass the 10-minute threshold in a book. Spotify launched audiobooks in 2022 and now offers 15 hours of free listening time a month to Premium subscribers. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/spotify-is-selling-books-now-144340074.html?src=rss
It hasn't been officially announced, but Walmart's website now has a listing (you may need to set your location to Ventura, California) for an updated version of its budget-friendly Onn 4K Pro streaming box that originally debuted in May 2024. Following technical illustrations that leaked less than a month ago, the listing was discovered after […]
