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Ki t c h e n wa re N e ws & H o u s e wa re s Re vi e w S h o w D a i l y 9 3 S u n d a y, M a rc h 1 6 , 2 0 1 4 NEATO ROBOTICS OFFERS INTELLIGENT HOME ROBOT VACUUMING By Allen Hollingshead, Vice President of Sales, Neato Robotics I'm often asked by people in the indus- try to explain what's different about Neato Robotics home vacuums com- pared to other robot vacuums on the market. The answer is simple: intelli- gence. Neato Robot home vacuums uses a laser mapping technology – similar to the technology used in the Google self- driving car – to methodically scan and map a room before it begins. It takes note of obstacles, doorways and stairs, and then figures out the best, most effi- cient cleaning pattern. Other home robot vacuums bump around the room by "sensing" items, leaving a random cleaning pattern and wearing down its battery power. Because Neato's intel- ligence results in an organized clean- ing pattern, it cleans an area three times faster than the competition – and leaves those nice straight carpet lines that people love to see in their homes. Neato's intelligence also gives it another advantage: it's smart enough to not only go back to its base when it needs to recharge, but it returns to the place it left off to finish the job. It cleans, returns, recharges and resumes its work until it has cleaned multiple rooms, vacuuming up to a 2,000 square foot home. The competi- tion cleans until it runs out of battery, but once back on the docking station, that's where it stays. That means it can only clean about 500-600 square feet. In other words, the compe- tition runs once and then it's done. But we're not stopping there. We're introducing a new family of Neato robot vacuums at the Housewares show that gives us yet another major advantage over the com- petition. With the new Neato Botvac™ Robot Vacuums, we have the largest brush and filter on the market. That means Neato can cover more floor space and vacuum more dust, dirt, pet hair and allergens with every pass it makes. Our design is also intended to clean more area. If you turn over our vacuum and compare it to our competition, you'll see that our brush is positioned on the edge of the vacuum, let- ting it clean within 10 mil- limeters of the wall. The com- petition's brush is smaller and centered on their circular vacuum, leaving a substantial gap between the brush and the wall and resulting in less area that can be cleaned. All of this helps explain why Neato comes out ahead in so many head-to- head comparisons of cleaning power, especially when it comes to picking up pet hair and allergens. It's a highly sophisticated, intelligent robot vacuum, tapping advanced technology to pro- vide a product that frees people from the mundane task of vacuuming so they can do other things with their time. Visit Neato Robotics at booth L11161. For more information, visit www.neato robotics.com or call 510-795-1351. ELECTROLUX GLOBAL BRAND LICENSING LAUNCHES NEW PRODUCTS SUITE Electrolux has always been known as an innovative manufacturer. It is also extremely innovative in how it extends its brands into adjacent categories through a Brand Licensing Model. The Electrolux Group has over 50 famous brands in its portfolio, includ- ing household names such as Frigidaire, Eureka, Tappan, Kelvinator, AEG and Zanussi. The Electrolux Global Brand Licensing Team has had outstanding success in working with best-in-class manufac- turer and distributor partners to offer wide-ranging lifestyle products for consumers to enjoy across its portfolio of brands. Here are some highlights of prod- ucts launching this year in North America and internationally! Electrolux partner Dura-Kleen will be launching its range of Frigidaire Plastic Food Storage Containers at the International Home and Housewares Show. This event fol- lows launches for Frigidaire fireplaces in North America and LED and Plasma TVs in South America. Later this year, Energywise will be launching Eureka Portable Infrared Quartz Space Heaters. All of these new products will allow consumers to engage more with the brands they love in meaningful ways. Internationally, Electrolux-brand- ed water softeners have just hit the market and water and food purifiers are on the way! The Zanussi brand has been very active with licensing part- ners and E-bikes, cookware and solar thermal panels are all coming to mar- ket in 2014. A famous brand in Europe and beyond, AEG will be introducing smart electric heaters to the marketplace this year – all able to be controlled remote- ly from your smart phone or tablet! These are just some of the highlights of the product launches across some of Electrolux's brands, but all its partners share the commitment to green sustainability and improving the environment. The products reflect that commitment. If you would like to talk to the brand licensing team, then please visit the Electrolux booth or email dean- dra.alfero@electrolux.com. For more information, visit Electrolux at booth S4945, call 704- 604-0252 or check out www .electrolux.com/licensing. no exception to any of these qualities. The first of its kind, a brilliant LED readout is the highlight of this thermometer. LED lights are being used in all areas in the home, from TVs to scales to holiday lights. The consumer knows and understands that an LED readout will be clear, bright and easy to read. An LED readout in a thermometer is especially beneficial. The display can be read from any viewing angle quickly and easily. While the brilliant red readout is quite convenient in normal lighting, it shines in lower light areas, like the quick reading when checking doneness inside the oven, or when grilling at dusk or when it is dark. The readout also is clearly read in the sunlight, making this thermometer easy to read 24 hours a day. Taylor included all the high tech features one would expect. The ther- mometer features a step down stainless steel probe that makes a minimal punc- ture to help retain juices and keep meat and poultry moist. The wide tempera- ture range of -40 degrees Fahrenheit to Taylor ( Cont'd. from p. 1) 450 degrees Fahrenheit covers most consumer's needs, and measures to the 0.1 degree Fahrenheit. The hold fea- ture is especially useful. Pressing the hold button will display the last tem- perature reading, even when removing from the food. No more reading the temperature of the meat inside the hot oven! The thermometer has a built in auto power save to help conserve bat- tery power, but if any button is pressed within five minutes, the last tempera- ture reading will display on the screen. This thermometer is NSF listed and complies with their standards for qual- ity, durability and cleanability. The Taylor 9835 thermometer can- not be left in the oven or grill while cooking, but the response time to sta- ble is quick and fast. The design is comfortable in the hand, and comes with a protective cover for the stainless steel stem. This thermometer operates on two lithium batteries, which are included. Taylor 9835 LED Instant Read Thermometer has a suggested retail price of $19.99. For more information, visit booth S2000. Sonoma, Wired, Popular Science and more. Its beautifully packaged technolo- gy claims to eliminate grit in the cup, broken carafes and cold over-extracted coffee and tea at the table. ESPRO's Co-Founder and President, Bruce Constantine, com- mented on why the year-old product is getting such attention. "That's easy: it's all about how good beverages taste - the flavors of the coffee, the tea! The French Press method leaves the aro- matic oils in your cup, not in the filter, for the fullest flavor. ESPRO has creat- ed a precision brewer with two micro- filters, rather than a single very coarse screen. It solves a 50-year-old problem of dirty, over-extracted coffee in your cup – and nearly eliminates the pool of sludge from the end of our cup. For tea, it takes the floating particles out, clari- fying the taste. It turns out that when the cup is cleaner, nuanced coffee and tea flavors pop out that were previous- ly missed. Combined into the conven- ient French press form factor, the ESPRO Press is taking the tasting out of the kitchen, coffee or tea shop, and back to the tabletop." Indeed in a short period, the ESPRO Press has gotten easier to find. It is show- ing up on the menus of the trendiest cof- fee shops, tea houses, and restaurants from Portland to New York, London to Espro ( Cont'd. from p. 1) Seoul, Sydney to Johannesburg. Even the French are taking notice, with hotelier Sofitel selecting ESPRO for their new flagship hotel in Singapore. Does it require learning new skills for a consumer to use it? "Not at all! That is the beauty of the product," explained Constantine. "You use it exactly like old French Presses. Put all the coffee and all the water in the vessel, wait and press." ESPRO seems focused on improving hot drinks with the help of the house- wares community. "We love our growing family of excellent home and kitchen stores, and coffee and tea specialists," said Constantine. "They know their cus- tomers, and can help them start conversa- tions about the coffee or tea they are drinking. That's very different – coffee and tea is quickly changing from some- thing that is consumed, to something dis- cussed and appreciated. We're excited to be finding partners that want to be a part of changing the conversation." Independent testers seem excited. The New York Times food critic called the ESPRO Press "sludge free." Williams-Sonoma's Test Kitchen said "it is a French Press like nothing you've seen before, but that's not because it is more complicated to use." TIME maga- zine called ESPRO "a legitimate suc- cess story." Sample some truly distinctive coffees and teas and visit Espro at booth S4280.