Flipping through The Manual: Urban grilling, classy camping, tuxedo wetsuits

By Digital Trends Staff June 27, 2015

Burned out on apps, keys and screens? Improve your analog life this weekend! Digital Trends’ brother site The Manual exists to give men straight-up advice, from unspoken suit rules you need to know, to the latest in fashion, food, drink, travel, grooming and culture. Here are a few of our favorite stories to appear on The Manual lately.

The Black Tux: Overhauling the tux rental market (with surfers)

The Black Tux: Overhauling the tux rental market (with surfers) — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Black Tux teamed up with pro surfers Nick Rosza, Luke Davis, Chase Wilson, and Matt McCabe.

Read the full story on The Manual

Urban BBQ: Embrace indoor grilling with Kenyon’s City Grill

Urban BBQ: Embrace indoor grilling with Kenyon’s City Grill — Image used with permission by copyright holder

For help putting together an indoor grilling guide, we reached out to Mike Williams, Grill Specialist for Kenyon and purveyor of the almighty City Grill.

Read the full story on The Manual

Classy camping 101

Classy camping 101 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

There’s no reason a trip into the great outdoors can’t come with a few of the finer things.

Read the full story on The Manual

Master Class: 5 cocktails to make to impress anyone

Master Class: 5 cocktails to make to impress anyone — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Learn to make amazing 5 cocktails that will impress everyone from the boss to the future father-in-law.

Read the full story on The Manual

Micro Guide: Tobago

Micro Guide: Tobago — Image used with permission by copyright holder

World-class diving, remarkable nature preserves, and a unique blend of culinary influences make Tobago a vacation-worthy destination in its own right.

Read the full story on The Manual

Fire it up: 10 barbecue grilling essentials

Fire it up: 10 barbecue grilling essentials — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s finally grill season! Check out our slideshow for everything you need to become a master griller.

Read the full story on The Manual

Topics

Digital Trends Staff

Digital Trends has a simple mission: to help readers easily understand how tech affects the way they live. We are your…

Audio / Video

The best bone conduction headphones for 2024

A person wearing Shokz OpenRun bone conduction headphones.

Bone conduction headphones have taken the world by storm, and we’re all about this relatively new and exciting audiio technology. If you’ve never seen one of these headsets in the wild, the idea is relatively simple: A series of sound waves are generated by a set of conductors that rest along your jawbone. These waves create vibrations throughout the skull and jaw that our inner ears register as sound.

With traditional headphones and earbuds, sound waves need to pass by our eardrums first, before arriving at the inner ear. This is why bone conduction headphones are ideal for commuters, gym-goers, and loud workplaces. The sounds of your immediate listening environment will still be audible (because your ears are technically headphone-free), but you’ll still be able to enjoy music and podcasts via the vibrations in your cranium. Similarly, open-ear earbuds and headphones are also a good choice for letting in outside sound, but they're not to be confused with bone conduction.

Smart Home

The 4 best smart thermostats in 2024

A person operating the Google Nest thermostat.

A lot of folks may feel that a smart thermostat device is just a gimmick for the lazy that lets you control it remotely, but there are actually quite a lot of good things when it comes to smart thermostats. Depending on which model you buy and how much money you spend, there can be some significant savings, especially if you spring for the kind that learns your patterns and adjusts the temperature to eat up less electricity. Some thermostats even know what time of day electricity is expensive and adjust to use less of it to help bring your costs down.

As such, if you rely heavily on your HVAC, then having a smart thermostat can save you money and add a ton of convenience, even if you don't go for one of the smarter ones. Just knowing your energy usage over time can help you adjust and spend less money while also being a bit more eco-friendly. While there are a ton of options, we've collected four of our favorites below across various budgets and features, so be sure to check things out thoroughly and be sure a smart thermostat supports your HVAC system before taking the plunge.
The Best Smart Thermostats in 2024

Gaming

The best open-world games

The Witcher 3-Wild Hunt

Just like you probably enjoy getting to choose your own path in real life, you want to have the same freedom in your favorite video game. Open-world games like The Division 2 have only continued to grow in popularity since their release.

While this genre of gaming can be a little intimidating for anyone without tons of experience in gaming, there are plenty of great open-world games to chose from. Ranging from first-person shooter games to RPGs and action-adventure titles, our list will have something for everyone.