It's the fourth of July, a day for fireworks, barbecue, and all things American. So here at VentureBeat we've decided to get in the mood by spotlighting some great homegrown American gadgets and products.
Despite so much of our technology being manufactured in other parts of the world, many gadgets and appliances are still made in the United States. Tech companies like Apple and Google have even done some recent flag-waving and promised to bring some manufacturing back to the good ol' USA.
Check out five of our favorite American gadgets (and one bonus) below.
But one American carmaker really stands out for pushing innovation above all else, and that's Tesla Motors. The Elon Musk-founded startup makes Model S electric cars, and while these vehicles are quite expensive at more than $80,000, the prices are getting better over time. Musk has even teased that a $30,000 vehicle is potentially in the cards.
Tesla is also making gains when it comes to electric car tech in general. The company recently showed off battery swapping technology. During the demo, the company showed it only takes 90 seconds to swap a Tesla battery, which is faster than getting a full tank of gas.
One exceptionally cool thing about MakerBot (besides the cash it is swimming in now) is that all of its 3D printers, including its flagship Replicator (above), are "assembled and tested by skilled labor" in a factory in Brooklyn.
The new Mac Pro has a sleek cylinder shape and features a lot of power under the hood, including Intel’s new up-to-12-core Xeon chips, faster Flash memory, Thunderbolt 2 connectors for 20 Gbps throughput, and dual AMD FirePro graphics cards.
“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass!” Apple VP of marketing Phil Schiller said in June's WWDC conference after showing off the new Mac Pro.
But the Orem, Utah company makes fancy (and expensive) blenders and does so in the United States. Blendtec has also made recent efforts to manufacture parts for its blenders in the U.S.
We don't believe the Moto X will be revolutionary on the design front, but it appears Motorola will at least let consumers customize the smartphone’s colors (both the rear color and side trim) on its website. We also believe it might offer an engraving option for further customization.