When you visit a store to look for a barbecue grill,you would be surprised by the sheer variety of grills available. Soon enough, you will realize that you just don’t walk into a store and buy a grill. Before you can do that, you have to acquaint yourself with certain key features pertaining to grills. Here are a few of them:

1. Type of grill – There are primarily three types of grills – gas, charcoal and electric grills. Each of these grills has their fair share of advantages. A gas grill gets heated very quickly and the temperature can be controlled with precision. This grill uses either a propane tank or natural gas from an accessible pipeline as its fuel. On the other hand, a charcoal grill takes a while to grill food but the rich, smoky flavor is unique and unparalleled. Finally, an electric grill is ideal for indoor use, it heats up quickly and it uses less oil for grilling. So, there is good news for weight watchers.

At the same time, also consider the heat output of a grill, often measured in terms of BTU or British Thermal Units. For best performance, you should look for a grill that has a high BTU along with an efficient heat distribution and retention system.

2. Size – The ideal size of grill will depend on the dimensions of your backyard or your patio where you plan to keep the grill. Additionally, you must also factor in the number of people you would be normally cooing for. For a regular gathering of 6-10 people, a 360 square inch grill would suffice. However, if you have huge parties regularly, you should look for bigger grills.

3. Material – The material of a grill is important for two reasons – first, it decides how quickly the grill heats up and second, the strength and durability of the grill also depends on it. One can find grills made of aluminium and cast iron but nothing compares to stainless steel.

4. Features – Gone are the days when a barbecue could grill only a handful of chicken pieces at once. Thanks to features like multi level cooking surfaces, side burner and rotisserie, you can achieve a lot more with a single grill. Additionally, grills also come with an overhead lamp for better visibility during the evening. Obviously, additional features come at a price. So, look out for the price as well!

Based on these considerations, we have put together a list of some of the best barbecues and grills available as of now. These are – Weber Kettle Charcoal BBC with 3 piece tool set, Spirit E-301 3-Burner Propane Gas Grill and Summit E-470 Freestanding Natural Gas Grill. More about these in the next post. Stay tuned!

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With the mobile version of alaTest.com, you can search and browse products just as you can on the full site. You also get access to all of the expert and user reviews, and of course, our exclusive alaScore™ ranking. On top of that, you get real time pricing, so you can price match anywhere.

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Go ahead and give our mobile browsing options a try. Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments!

What is DLNA?

DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance and is non-profit organization comprised of some 250+ consumer electronic companies.

DLNA compliant devices and software allow you to stream video through your home network from one device (a DLNA server) to another (a DLNA client).

The DLNA server transcodes whichever media you’re streaming, be it audio or video, into a universal and network efficient format, understood by all DLNA clients. This means that any media your DLNA server is capable of playing, your DLNA client devices will be able to play as well.

Some DLNA Devices

Finding DLNA devices is easier than you might expect. An absolutely necessary component to any DLNA setup is a DLNA server, but fortunately, your PC or Mac is actually already capable of being both a client and server through software means (more on this later).

There are also a handful of DLNA certified Blu-Ray Players which are capable of functioning as DLNA clients, our most popular of which being the Philips BDP8000. There is also a handful of DLNA certified HDTVs, like Philips’ PFL9705H series, another consumer favorite on alaTest (Philips seems to make popular DLNA products). If you plan to rely on your wireless home network, make sure to be careful when purchasing DLNA devices though. Not all will include built in wireless, and others only support the Wireless-N standard.

The most popular (and arguably the best) DLNA device currently available has actually been around for about 5 years: the PlayStation 3. The PS3 is a Blu-Ray player, gaming device, and George Foreman Grill (ok, not that last one), and it also makes an excellent network connected media hub with DLNA certification. If you’re in the market for a Blu-Ray player, the PS3 is an great place to start. And if you happen to prefer the Xbox 360, it is a DLNA capable device as well (though it doesn’t play Blu-Rays).

Setting up a DLNA Network

Creating a DLNA home network is really as simple as connecting all of the devices to your home network. Ideally, you’ll want to use wired connections for all of your streaming devices, due to the high network speed requirements of HD video. Of course, this isn’t always practical. You’ll likely want to use a wireless connection for your laptop and other mobile equipment, for which a Wireless-N router is recommended, though older Wireless-G units will still work. If upgrading your router, Netgear’s WNDR3700 offers a quality, feature rich solution, and Linksys’ WRT320N is a cheaper router with similar performance.

Next you’ll need to setup your DLNA server software. PS3 Media Server gives you just about every feature you could need, and it’s hard to beat the low price of $Free. Don’t be fooled by the name; PS3 Media Server works with many DLNA devices, not just the PS3. It also supports a very wide array of media formats, so you don’t have to fiddle around in the confusing world of codecs. Being free, it’s not the most polished piece of software, lacking technical support, and doesn’t always support all DLNA devices 100%.


If you prefer a paid solution, TwonkyServer is hard to beat. It offers all of the features found in PS3 Media Server, but with a greatly improved interface, as well as tech support and support for a wider range of DLNA devices

Setting up Cloud Print

The setup process for Google Cloud Print is extremely simple. You will need to install the Google Chrome Web Browser on a Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 computer (Mac and Linux support coming soon). Inside of the Chrome browser, click the small wrench icon in the top right corner and select Options. In the options menu, click on the “Under the Hood” tab and scroll to the bottom of the page to enable Google Cloud Print.

Now you’re ready to start adding printers. Simply click on “Manage Print Settings” and click on the Printers tab. This will allow you to add, remove, or search for printers connected to your computer. Google Cloud Print will work with any printer connected to your computer, whether it’s a USB connection, Wi-Fi, or even Bluetooth. If your computer can print from it, so can Google Cloud Print.

Using Cloud Print

To use Google Cloud Print, such as while viewing an e-mail in Gmail for mobile, click on the dropdown menu in the top right and select Print. This will take you to a list of Cloud Print printers you’ve associated with your account. Choose which one you’d like and select Print.

Google Cloud Print does require that your computer be turned on and logged in, and the printer must be on for the service to work. If your computer or printer is off while trying to print a document, it will be entered into a queue that will execute when the computer/printer is turned on. This may seem like a nuisance, but the purpose of Google Cloud Print is to allow you to print documents while out and about. You’ll still need to pick up the document once it has been printed. In some situations, such as sending a document to your office printer while at home, the queuing system would be beneficial, so that the document isn’t lost or misplaced before you get there.

Cloud Printers also cannot currently be shared with other Google accounts, though this feature will be implemented in the future. Once implemented, you could potentially use Cloud Print as a sort of pseudo fax service amongst your friends, family, and coworker’s shared printers. There’s no word on when this feature might be added, but until then, Google Cloud Print is still extremely useful for printing from mobile devices (devices that very rarely have any sort of printer support).