So what did I see that peaked my technological interests?

The new line of lithium ion powered yard tools looked really promising. There are 5 pieces, 1. grass trimmer, 2. pole saw, 3. chain saw, 4. leaf blower, 5. hedge trimmer. As expected the battery packs are interchangeable between the devices. According to the documents I was provided, only the grass trimmer comes with a charger and battery. I would also point out that the most expensive part of the system is the battery at $109.99. Of course we have had lithium-ion powered tools for a while now and there is no reason to think that these would not perform as well as your cordless drill.

There are also some new lawn maintenance tools in the form of an electric (battery powered) mower which for a small lawn (ie. a lawn that can be mowed in under an hour) would be ideal. Not having to maintain a supply of gas is a big plus.

As well the new 4-in-1 electric (corded) mower, sweeper, de-thatcher, aerator. I am not a fan of cords nor am I a fan of interchangeable parts, my experience has been that these types of machines don’t do any of their jobs well. That being said for a small lawn that gets mowed once a week and aerated/de-thatched twice a year it may work just fine.

The new focus on the urban gardener also has some innovative products, coconut based mulch and peat moss that come compressed into a small brick that you add water to expand. If you have ever tried to load a half dozen of the bags of either of these into the trunk of your car you will appreciate the smaller package (you could easily fit 6 of each in your trunk along with some new garden tools) it makes ecological sense because you only need to make one trip to the store.

I also liked this premixed over-seeding spread for your lawn. Over-seeding is a great way to help thicken up you grass. This new mix has everything in it you need including some crystals that sparkle when you need to water it.

They also have a whole group of new ergonomically designed garden tools. Shovels with foot pads and more comfortable rubberized grips.

I saved my very favorite for last… Barbecue! We love to barbecue, we use it year round and probably more often than the oven. So it was a great surprise to find world-renowned chef and BBQ expert Ted Reader there cooking up some fabulous BBQ treats and chatting about grilling. Of course Ted was there to promote his signature line of barbecues form Napoleon as well as his cookbook (which I have yet to get) and line of sauces. I am a big fan of the Napoleon line of products, they build quality right here in Canada. We have three Napoleon products in our home, although none of them are a BBQ. So what’s new in the world of barbecue?… Infrared… ok it’s not totally new the barbecue market started including infrared cooking technology a couple of years ago but it has really taken hold this past year. In fact the rotisserie part of my barbecue is infrared but it wasn’t called that when it was purchased 5 years ago. What does infrared do? Very simply it provides a very high heat to sear food so that it doesn’t dry out from the normal convection cooking process. There are many styles of infrared, some are built into the grill others are on the side burner. What I learned is that it makes more sense to have the infrared grilling surface separate from the grill. There may be some who disagree with me on that. My feeling is that I don’t want my barbecue grill compromised by having it be dual purpose. By putting the infrared searing grill where the side burner might be allows you to have a the best of both worlds. Sear your meat then move it to the grill to finish cooking it. This allows for other things like vegetables to be grilled at the same time. Enter the new Centro 4900IR with the sear zone side burner. The side burner is infrared and it has a grilling plate or standared side burner plate. Once you are done searing just turn down the heat and it can be used as a normal side burner with one major advantage, the wind won’t blow it out.

I have used a number of MP3/PMP players and the only one I ever really liked was the iPod, for form and functionality there was nothing better, and there still isn’t. That being said I really do like the Zune and it has some really great features it’s the desktop software that fails miserably.

What do I like about the Zune?

1. Battery Life (seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 hrs of music playback)
2. Video support (Apparently you can connect it to a TV with a A/V kit)
3. Wireless sync (I like that you can drop stuff onto it without having to connect it to the computer)
4. Wireless sharing (It’s kinda cool to be able to wirelessly trade stuff between Zunes)
5. Built-in FM radio

What I don’t like about the Zune?

1. The proprietary cable to connect the Zune to the computer. (What?..wait didn’t you say it could sync wirelessly? yes but it charges through USB port on your computer or travel adapter that you plug the cable into) Which means when you travel you have to bring yet another cable along. Yes I am aware that iPods also require a special cable and that is a flaw in the Apple design as well.
2. The headphone port is on the bottom. I know this isn’t major, more of an ease of use thing.
3. The Zune software is not good. My major problem is the view of what is on the device. The options for viewing what is already on the device are confusing and do not display all the information I need to make decisions about what I am removing. For example I am a big Alice Cooper fan and I have several Alice Cooper albums on my Zune, but Alice Cooper does not show up as an Artist on the Zune, only the albums titles do. Alternatively I also enjoy The Sisters Of Mercy of which I have 5 albums on my Zune but the only thing that shows in the device list is The Sisters of Mercy artist but not which albums are there. As I said earlier this is the single biggest downfall of the Zune, I know that I will be labeled a “fanboy” but iTunes is leaps and bounds ahead of the Zune software and if Microsoft could fix that they would have an amazing PMP.

Over all the user experience with the Zune is really good. I had some trouble setting up the Zune software initially, I think that it was a result of the Zune being connected while the software was installing. After removing and reinstalling everything went just fine. I had the opportunity to play with the wireless sharing while I was at the cottage with some friends last week and I was really impressed at the speed of the transfers but somewhat disappointed in the 3 days or 3 plays limitation but I understand the reasoning behind it so I am not calling it a fail (and I am not sure if that applies to pictures and podcasts as well or not).

Here is the link for my ChatThreads conversations, if you took the time to read this I would appreciate you letting them know. It will only take 5 minutes and you could win 500$.