TheBolt

This afternoon, a large crowd of guests was treated to a special cooking demonstration put on by BlueStar, featuring MasterChef Junior winner Addison Osta-Smith. Addison, who was champ in the program’s 2014 season, came to demonstrate a pair of her favorite back-to-school recipes. After meeting her fans for some autographs and photo opportunities, Addison got to work whipping up batch of Compost Cookies. The treats, made famous by Chef Christina Tosi from NYC’s renowned Milk Bar bakery, are packed with all sorts of random ingredients, including chocolate chips, pretzels, and even crumbled potato chips. As Addison explained, the great thing about Compost Cookies is that you can put almost anything in them, salty or sweet.  After the cookies came the hand-made Greek-style pizza. And when the cookies were done, Addison had time to answer questions from kids and adults alike, and then—of course—it was time to enjoy the delicious cookies. Big thanks to Addison, BlueStar Appliances, and everyone who attended. If you missed it, stay on the lookout for a video recap that we’ll have ready in the next few days.

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Each passing day in August brings us one day closer to that most bittersweet of late-summer events: the first day of school. For Chicago students, one of  the surest signs that the school year is around the corner is the WGN-TV Back-to-School Kids Fair. Every summer, WGN’s Fair gives Chicago families a little extra help in getting ready to go back to school. Local business are on hand to give out free treats and school supplies, medical professionals offer free health screenings, and Chicago entertainers like The Jesse White Tumblers are on hand for one last hurrah before the homework and early mornings start again. It’s one of our favorite community events of the summer, and we were more than happy to return for the BTS Fair’s 16th year, and hope it helped everybody get a little excited for class to start.

To see more photos and videos, visit WGN’s Back-to-School Kids Fair.

Mark your calendars! Later this month, the Cruisin’ for Awareness charity car show and R/C racing event returns to Abt for its fourth year in a row—and it’s bigger than ever.

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

Cruisin' For Awareness 2016

We say it every summer, and every summer it still sneaks up on us. It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to start prepping to go back to school. If you’re going away to college, whether for the first time or as a returning student,  the start of the school year is usually a mixed bag of feelings. The start of a new year holds infinite potential, but adapting to early-morning classes while dealing with noisy roommates and hot, cramped dorm rooms is no fun. So we put together some survival kits to make your transition back to campus a little easier.

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We’re no strangers to green thinking or renewable energy, and this week, the latest addition to our array of eco-friendly infrastructure was installed: a cluster of Telsa Powerpacks. A sort of souped-up version of the Powerwall residential batteries announced in 2015, the Powerpacks are purpose-built to commercial and utility-grade specifications. They’re meant to endure harsh conditions—Chicago winters, for instance—while providing a reliable source of backup power for high-demand consumers.

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1. Yeti Rambler

Whether it’s a 10 oz, 20 oz, or 30 oz, the Yeti Rambler is the perfect way to keep your beverage hot or cold while walking around campus. The rambler is Yeti’s first line of drinkware that you can hold while being very durable. With its composition of 1/18 stainless steel, they can keep your beverage as hot or as cold as you need it to be. Depending on your activity you can change your lid from the new standard magnetic slide to a straw lid, or the classic.

2. UE Boom 2 Speaker

Enjoy the best sound while having the convenience of being able to listen to your favorite music anywhere. The UE Boom portable Bluetooth speakers are waterproof and provide you with up to 15 hours of battery life. Unlike a lot of Bluetooth speakers UE Boom allows you to connect up to 50 speakers at once, so get all of your friends together and sync your speakers to get the highest volume with the brightest colors. Read the rest of this entry »

ASUS is coming to Abt and giving you the chance to go head-to-head with one of the pros of the eSports world. Frank Tibbs, aka FranKo, of team Echo Fox, will be on hand next Saturday, taking on challengers in competitive games of Gears of War.

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Looking to liven up your mealtime routine for the coming school year? Stop by Abt on Wednesday, August 16th, for a cooking demonstration with MasterChef Junior winner Addison Osta-Smith. Addison will be in the BlueStar kitchen—located in the Abt atrium—preparing some of her favorite Back to School meals. There will be plenty of delicious dishes to go around, and you may just find a favorite of your own! All kids in attendance will receive a free gift. Click the image below to RSVP. Hope to see you there!

In just a few short years, Virtual Reality has grown from an expensive, high-tech toy into an approachable, accessible technology that you can enjoy in the comfort of your home for just a few hundred bucks. The Samsung Gear VR headset leverages the processing power and gorgeous display of the smartphones that millions of us have—Samsung Galaxy S6, S7 or S8 and their variants—to create an affordable option for immersive enjoyment of games and videos. Using the Gear VR is simple: pop in your Samsung Galaxy smartphone, follow a few voice and on-screen prompts, download compatible software, and get ready to have your mind blown. You’ll quickly be transported into a three-dimensional world, where every movement of your head translates to motion in the game, giving you the freedom to fully explore a virtual world.

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The refrigerator is the single-most important appliance in any home, but it’s also one we don’t expect any kind of revolutionary features from. As long as it has enough space to hold all of our food, and can keep that food cold, most of us are pretty happy. After all, what kind of crazy high-tech options can a giant icebox really have anyway? A surprising amount, it seems. In recent years, manufacturers have been adding all sorts of innovative options, most find right in the refrigerator door. Sure, the door is there to keep the cold in, but that blank real estate is capable of much more.

The first major innovation to the fridge door was the inclusion of the in-door water and ice dispenser, which was both convenient and energy efficient. GE pioneered those concepts, and recently returned to revamp the in-door dispenser. Select models of GE Cafe French-door fridges are available with not just dispensers for water and ice, but also hot water spouts and even an integrated Keurig coffee maker. So instead of getting cold fresh water from the fridge, then moving it to a kettle or coffeemaker to brew your beverages, you can conveniently do it all right in your fridge’s door.

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