CES 2018 brought loads of interesting products to Las Vegas for us to check out. These are our top picks from everything we got to look at.
Kuri Home Robot
The idea of a friendly robot rolling around your home is about to become reality thanks to Kuri from Mayfield Robotics. The robot has cameras and audio and mapping sensors, speakers, and even a touch sensitive head so she (or he) can respond when you pet it. Kuri can patrol your home when you’re away, snap photos and video, stream music and podcasts, and interact with you, too. Kuri is shipping this spring for US799 if you pre-order before March 1st.
OWC ThunderBlade V4 Blade Drive
Fast is the name of the game with OWC’s new ThunderBlade V4 external drive. It supports up to 8 GB storage and Thunderbolt 3 for 2800MB/s read, and 2450MB/s write speeds. The company says it’s the fastest external drive ever built. It’ll be available some time this year at $1,199.99 for 1 TB storage and up to $4,999.99 with 8 TB.
Kano DIY Electronics Kits
Kano’s lineup of built-it-yourself electronics kits are great educational tools because they teach how to make cool devices, and how to code for them on your Mac, too. They offer a smart webcam, motion sensor, and programmable LED light board, along with a kit for building your own Raspberry Pi-based portable computer. Each kit is designed for kids age six and up, and are equally great for adults. Pricing starts at $29, and the portable computer kit costs $200.
Apollo Cloud 2 Duo
Promise beefed up its Apollo Cloud 2 Duo private cloud appliance at CES with 4 TB storage and bi-directional sync support with Dropbox and Google Drive. You choose what data syncs with the services and what is served only through the Cloud 2 Duo. It’s an easy way to set up your own private cloud storage system. The 4 TB Apollo Cloud 2 Duo costs $369 and is available now.
Polk Command Bar
Amazon Alexa was everywhere at CES 2018, and the voice assistant sounded great in Polk’s new Command Bar sound bar. Along with built-in Alexa voice control, the Command Bar includes two 4K HDMI 2.0b HDMI inputs, HMDI (ARC) out, optical input for TV audio, a USB port designed to fit an Amazon Fire TV, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It’s available for pre-order in the United States and Canada on April 1, 2018 for $299.95.
