KitchenAid Artisan Mixers

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 (from 2037+ reviewers)

Since 1919, KitchenAid classic mixer have been assembled by hand in Greenville, Ohio. The KitchenAid mixer is one of a few consumer appliances trademarked specifically for its unique shape!

Buy on Amazon for about $267.

Lodge Logic Skillet

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (from 901+ reviewers)

Lodge Cast Iron remains a family owned, family operated business in Tennessee. Lodge’s cast iron pans are known for their extreme durability. There are 100-year-old Lodge pans still in use in kitchens today!

Buy on Amazon for about $21.

Groom Mate Noise Hair Trimmer

Average Rating: 3.9 out of 5 (from 578+ reviewers)

The Groom Mate Nose Hair Trimmer is made with brushed stainless steel. The trimmer doesn’t require any batteries — instead you twist the bottom with a gentle motion, and the rotary blades cut ear or nose hair without the risk of injury. It comes with a lifetime “no questioned asked” guarantee.

Priced at $18.88 from Amazon.

Wahl Clipper

Average Rating: 4.1 out of 5 (from 335+ reviewers)

Wahl has been making hair clippers since 1919, and they are still making their clippers in Sterling, Illinois.

Buy on Amazon for about $30.

Weber Kettle Grill

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 (from 178+ reviewers)

Weber, founded in 1893, still manufactures their classic grills in Palatine, Illinois.

Buy on Amazon for about $100.

Kahtoola Microspike Ice Cleats

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 (from 126+ reviewers)

Made by Kahtoola, a small company in Arizona, these Microspikes are ice cleats that attach firmly to your shoes, and require no special buckles or straps. The spikes constructed of hardened stainless steel. The Kahtoola company founders say:

Nearly every one of our products is designed and developed in-house, but we take it one step further – a large portion of our production is also kept in-house as well.

The Kahtoola MICROspikes are available from Amazon for $55.

1888 Mills 100% Organic Cotton Towel Set

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 (from 80+ reviewers)

Made by the last operating terry producing mill in the United States, these bath towels are made with 100% organic cotton.

Buy on Amazon for about $60.

Correlle Dinnerware

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 (from 75+ reviewers)

Corelle dinnerware is made with Vitrelle, a laminated tempered glass product, which is very durable and stain-resistant. A Corelle plate is created like a sandwich — a glass core is thermally bonded to two layers of glass glaze. The bonded layers give Corelle its strength, allowing it to be much thinner than other dinnerware. Introduced by Corning Glass Works in 1970, it is now manufactured and sold by World Kitchen.

Correlle Dinnerware is available from Amazon for about $46 per set.

Fischer Space Pen

Average Rating: 4.3 out of 5 (from 77+ reviewers)

A classic American product, the Space Pen can write at any angle, in outer space, and in temperatures ranging from -30F to 250F.  Each Fisher Space Pen is precision assembled, hand tested, and carries an lifetime guarantee.

Buy on Amazon for about $16.

Pyrex Bowls

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 (from 50+ reviewers)

Pyrex is another brand of tempered glass products that are renowned for their durability. Their glass bakeware products are to be found in an estimated 80% of American homes. The Pyrex brand was introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915. Today, Pyrex is owned by World Kitchen, and Pyrex glass products are manufactured in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. Recently, there has been lot of rumors circulating about Pyrex products. The rumors suggest the following: Pyrex products made with inferior materials and are prone to breakage, and the Pyrex products now manufactured in China. However, this long article on the myth-busting website Snopes.Com, concludes that the rumors are false.

Pyrex Bowls are available from Amazon. $15 for a set of 3.

Granite Ware Oven Roaster

Average Rating: 4.2 out of 5 (from 44+ reviewers)

Granite Ware roasters are rated a “Best Buy” by Cooks Illustrated. Granite Ware has been made in Illinois since the 1870s. The company was created by Frederick G. and William Niedringhaus — they discovered an enamelware process whereby metal utensils could be coated with enamel to make them lighter and more resistant to oxidation.

Buy on Amazon for about $18.

Microplane Professional Grater

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (from 36+ reviewers)

The Microplane rasp was invented in 1990 by brothers Richard and Jeff Grace in Russellville, Arkansas. They originally produced the rasp as a woodworking tool, and it took four years before people started using it in the kitchen as a grater (you can read the whole story in this New York Times article).

The Microplane Grate is made with surgical grade stainless steel. The microplane teeth are particularly sharp because the edges are created with ferric chloride instead of stamping.

The Microplane Professional Grater is available at Amazon for about $14.

American Kitchen Stainless Steel Cookware Set

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 (from 35+ reviewers)

This cookware set from American Kitchen is made in Regal Ware’s West Bend, Wisconsin facility. The dinnerware features a biodegradable “eco-satin” nonstick surface (PFOA-free). The dinnerware is guarantee for life.

Buy on Amazon for about $170.

Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 (from 29+ reviewers)

The Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop was invented by Sherman Kelly in Florida in 1935, and the design has remained virtually unchanged since then. Kelly’s innovation was simple but effective — the scoop contains liquid freon inside, which is warmed by the user’s hand, allowing the scoop to slice through ice cream like butter. The one-piece, die-cast aluminum scoop is still made in Fort Pierce, Florida, and it is known for lasting decades. Just don’t wash it in a dishwasher — the high heat causes the freon to leak out.

The Zeroll Ice Cream Dipper is available from Amazon for about $17.

The Complete First Aid Kit

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 (from 29+ reviewers)

It’s a complete first aid kit made in the U.S. in a FDA approved facility.

Buy on Amazon for about $25.

Rada Cutlery Set

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 (from 25+ reviewers)

Rada Cutlery is a small company in Iowa that has been making knives since 1948. Their knives are constructed with a high carbon surgical stainless steel, and they feature dual serrations and hollow-ground blades. This construction is aimed to ensure a sharp cutting edge for years. Rada offers a lifetime warranty on all their cutlery.

Buy on Amazon for about $37.

Le Creuset Spatula Set

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 (from 22+ reviewers)

Despite the French name, these spatulas are made in the U.S. They are made with silicone, and are pthalate-free.

Buy on Amazon for about $25.

Estwing Hammer

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 (from 16+ reviewers)

Estwing is a company in Rockford, Illinois that has been forging tools since 1923. It was the first company to make an all-steel hammer that is forged in one piece, according to the manufacturing manager Dan Eisman. Before this time, hammer heads were forged separately, and attached to a handle. The hammer’s leather grip was added in 1930, and has remain popular due to its classical good looks and durability.

The Estwing Hammer is available from Amazon for around $28.

New Balance Classic Heritage Running Shoes

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 (from 25+ reviewers)

New Balance is one of the few companies still manufacturing running shoes in the U.S.

The company says:

One out of every four pair of shoes sold in the U.S. is made or assembled in the U.S. by our U.S. workforce using U.S. and imported materials. When possible, we obtain materials from domestic suppliers. At times, due to availability, economic or quality reasons, there is a need to import components from foreign sources.

Where the domestic value is at least 70%, we have labeled the shoe “Made in the USA.” Where it falls below 70%, we have qualified the label referencing domestic and imported materials

You can see their full “American-Made” line here.

Buy the New Balance Classic Heritage Running Shoes on Amazon for $25 – $84.

Other good sources of American-Made products: Need Supply, REI (Made In USA products), Filson, Carhartt, Orvis.

The post 20 Highly Rated Home Goods Made In The U.S.A. appeared first on Reactual.

Estwing is a company in Rockford, Illinois that has been forging tools since 1923. It was the first company to make an all-steel hammer that is forged in one piece, according to the manufacturing manager Dan Eisman. Before this time, hammer heads were forged separately, and attached to a handle. The hammer’s leather grip was added in 1930, and has remain popular due to its classical good looks and durability.

Estwing warranties their tools against “failures in normal use” for the lifetime of the product.

The Estwing Hammer is available from Amazon for around $25.

The post Buy It For Life: The Estwing Hammer appeared first on Reactual.

Basically, internet privacy should be of interest to everyone. Even if you feel you have “nothing to hide” you probably still value having curtains on your windows, or not having your credit card statements available for anyone to read. Likewise, most people are not comfortable with having every email they write and every web site they visit being broadcasted to the public.

Overview

In this series of articles I’ll be covering the following topics:

• Making your web browsing private
• Installing a VPN or “Virtual Private Network”
• Securing your computers and wireless network
• Encrypting your email and instant messages

These are basic secure measures — something everyone should have in place before they go online.

Install The “HTTPs Everywhere” Browser Extension

Why you’d want to do this:

• To stop eavesdroppers tracking the sites you visit
• To stop eavesdroppers monitoring the information your send via HTTP

The HTTPs Everywhere is an extension for the Firefox and Chrome browsers, made by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation. It encrypts your communications with many major websites, giving you a basic level of web browsing privacy. For example, if you are reading email in Gmail or Hotmail, your email messages will be encrypted before they are sent to your web browser. Similarly, an eavesdropper won’t be able to detect what Wikipedia articles you are reading, or what items you are purchasing at an online store. However, this is true only for the websites that HTTPs Everywhere supports, and only for the parts of those websites that support HTTPs connections. Here’s a raw list of the sites they support.

Note that HTTPS Everywhere does not conceal the identities of the sites you access, or the amount of time you spend using them. For example, an eavesdropper can tell you accessed Wikipedia for an hour, but they won’t be able to see which particular articles you read on Wikipedia.

Install The “Ghostery” Browser Extension

Ghostery is a browser extension that blocks the “invisible” web. It detects trackers, web bugs, pixels, and beacons placed on web pages by Facebook, Google Analytics, and over 1,000 other ad networks, behavioral data providers and web publishers.

I like Ghostery because it’s a “set and forget” add-on  — Ghostery will continue to work silently in the background as you browse, removing all those undesirable tracking elements in web pages. I prefer to turn off the notification the blocked elements (you can find this option in the Ghostery preferences).

Use A Search Engine That Doesn’t Log Your Searches

Why you’d want to do this:

• To stop search engines logging and storing your searches
• To stop web sites and other corporations from collecting and selling your personal information

Many popular search engines like Google and Bing, save your search history. Typically, your searches are saved along with some information about your computer (e.g. your IP address, User agent and often a unique identifier stored in a browser cookie), and if you are logged in, your account information (e.g. name and email address).

With this information, your searches can be tied together. This means someone can see everything you’ve been searching, not just one isolated search. You can usually find out a lot about a person from their search history.

They also put cookies on your browser to uniquely identify you. For example, when you search for something private, you are sharing that private search not only with your search engine, but also with all the sites that you clicked on (for that search). See this page for more info.

If you want to avoid this tracking, you can make use of search engine that take privacy seriously, like StartPage or DuckDuckGo.

I like StartPage by Ixquick because they incorporate search results from Google. Startpage removes all identifying information from your query and submits it anonymously to Google. They get the results and return them to you privately. StartPage also includes a free web proxy, which can open sites anonymously for you.

Ixquick’s Privacy Policy is routinely being confirmed by two independent organizations — Europrise and Certified Secure.

DuckDuckGo is another good search engine with a focus on privacy. Like StartPage, DuckDuckGo and does not record user information — see their privacy policy for the details.

Configure Your Web Browser For Privacy

You can easily adjust your web browser to enhance your privacy. You can turn off third-party cookies — these are cookies that are sent to advertising firms. Turning off these cookies just means you’ll be tracked less — it won’t affect your browsing ability. I prefer to turn off cookies completely, and use the Cookie Whitelist add-on to only accept cookies from specific sites that I log into.

You can install a extension like Adblock Plus (Firefox, Chrome) to block ads, thereby reducing the amount of information collected by advertisers.

You can turn off Java and Flash in your browser (both can be a security risk — see an explanation here).

You can install an extension like No Script (Firefox only), which stops web pages loading and running Javascript, Java and Flash. Using No Script can be tedious but it protects against attacks like Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and Clickjacking (a trick that causes you to click and run a malicious program).

Use A Password Manager

It makes sense to use password manager like LastPass, KeePass or 1Password. Password managers allow you create strong, unique passwords for each website you log into. Also, Password Managers can automatically log into websites for you, which prevents key-logging (attempts to capture your keystrokes and hence your passwords). LastPass and KeePass are free and are both good programs. 1Password is the most polished and is frequently updated, but costs $50.

Continued… Read Part 2 of this article series.

The post An Introduction To Online Privacy Tools: Part 1 appeared first on Reactual.