5 tech applications to get you through Thanksgiving

Many sights, smells, and experiences come to mind when thinking about Thanksgiving, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the smells of turkey and cornbread stuffing wafting through the house, enjoying a cold brew while an NFL game plays in the living room, and that feeling of being a little too full after the pumpkin pie has been devoured. In this day and age, new and exciting uses for technology have also become a part of Turkey Day, and we’ve “plucked” (pun intended) the top five below for your reading pleasure.

The DVR
Good news, ma! You no longer have to worry about roasting the bird in accordance with football halftime scheduling. In the event that a game is running longer than usual, the DVR is a great way to record the game now and watch the remainder later. And, since so many classic holiday movies generally start playing on the night of Thanksgiving, your tryptophan-induced coma won’t interfere with your ability to watch them the next day (right after you wake from your Black Friday coma).

The digital cooking thermometer

How did we live without these things? When you’ve got three or four different parts of the Thanksgiving feast relying on your oven for consistent temperatures, opening and closing the door a million times to check on the bird is, well… “for the birds.” Digital thermometers allow you to place one part of the thermometer in the turkey while watching the temperature gauge on the outside of the oven! It’s Thanksgiving’s perfect accessory (and also makes a nice hostess gift)!

The smartphone
The smartphone is a great technological tool on Thanksgiving for several reasons. First, when 30 of your closest friends and family members are talking a mile a minute and you just need to get away from it for a while, you can escape to a quiet room or outdoors to check your e-mail, social media pages, or even the news (What? The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man float went haywire at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Is Al Roker okay? RETWEET!) Also, no Thanksgiving is a real Thanksgiving if you don’t take a picture of the table before everyone digs in and share that image on Instagram. It didn’t happen if it wasn’t posted on social media with #thankful.

Skype
Inevitably, several of your loved ones are not going to be able to come to your Thanksgiving feast. (Thankfully, they’ll be able to see it on Instagram.) But with modern technology, you can Skype (or FaceTime) with them and it will feel like they’re right there with you. Plus, you don’t technically have to wear pants to video-chat, so you can eat like a pig all day and still look just the same to the folks on the other side of the screen.

The electric carving knife
Next to the digital thermometer, this might be the second best Thanksgiving Day gadget. Unless you’re digging into some delicious Tofurkey this year, chances are what you’re cutting into has a lot of bones and you need to get the meat off them. Unfortunately, chainsaws were a little off-putting to the grandparents last year, so electric carving knives have saved the day! This nifty gadget allows you to slice all that great white and dark meat in record time and serve it to those sitting around your table while it’s still piping hot. You know, this may also double as a great pumpkin-carving tool come Halloween, but we’ll need to wait another 11 months to test out that theory.

We’re curious to hear what some of your favorite Thanksgiving gadgets or technology applications are. Comment below and we’ll consider putting your suggestion into next year’s article.

Image via Google Images