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CES 2018: The Best of Pepcom With LaCie, Zagg, August, Ring and More

Tuesday January 9, 2018 11:14 am PST by Juli Clover
At CES, there are several major media events like Unveiled, Pepcom, and ShowStoppers, which often serve as a way to see the highlights of the best products on display at the show without having to brave the show floor.

Pepcom took place last night, and MacRumors videographer Dan was on hand to seek out some of the most interesting products and accessories that were being demoed.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Unsurprisingly, Pepcom, like Unveiled, was filled with smart home products featuring Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit support, but the focus was definitely on the former two integrations rather than Apple's smart home system.

Ring was showing off its newly announced recent devices, including the Stick Up Cam and the Ring Beams, outdoor lights with motion sensing that integrate with existing Ring security cameras and doorbells. Though many would like Ring to introduce HomeKit support, the company has not done so.

Noon had a neat smart lighting system with light switches that feature integrated OLED displays. Noon's system is designed to work with traditional bulbs because it replaces standard light switches, but it's pricey and doesn't include HomeKit support.

There were multiple smart locks on display, including the August Smart Lock and a smart lock from Yale, both of which do, in fact, have HomeKit support and work with your HomeKit setup.

Other products on display at Pepcom that were of interest included Zagg's new iPad Pro cases that combine keyboards with rugged protection, the Alexa-enabled Voice One from KitSound, and the Lightning-equipped LaCie hard drive created in partnership with DJI. LaCie and parent company Seagate have several other new storage solutions debuting at CES, which are listed on the Seagate website.

LaCie's hard drive is designed to allow you to automatically back up drone footage, and it can be controlled and accessed using the DJI app, but it also works with other non-DJI cameras and products.

Make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors for additional CES coverage, because there's a lot more to come with the show floor officially opening up this morning. We're highlighting all of the new products and accessories relevant to Apple users. To check out what we've shared so far, take a look at our CES 2018 hub.

Tag: CES 2018
[ 23 comments ]


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Avatar
otternonsense
18 months ago
I feel old enough to remember Steve Jobs' media event stealing the spotlight from the drab CES carousel of TVs and appliances. Good times. Look at CES 2018 ('https://twitter.com/hashtag/CES2018?src=hash') now, all jam packed with goodies while Apple has turned into a bored rich recluse that endlessly rehashes its 5 year old heyday designs. :(
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
otternonsense
18 months ago

Cnet shows that Apple’s heydays are over. What, who is Siri?


We kinda knew that before CNET turned it into a clickbait article.

Just look at each one of Apple's media events of the past years. It's like watching a TV show that's been bad for three seasons hoping this is the episode where it all turns around.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
otternonsense
18 months ago

With CNET I meant CES (autocorrection is like SIRI, most of the time it doesn’t understand)


Ah ok. Well, Apple used to trounce CES in its absence. Now it's both absent and irrelevant.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Chupa Chupa
18 months ago

I feel old enough to remember Steve Jobs' media event stealing the spotlight from the drab CES carousel of TVs and appliances. Good times. Look at CES 2018 ('https://twitter.com/hashtag/CES2018?src=hash') now, all jam packed with goodies while Apple has turned into a bored rich recluse that endlessly rehashes its 5 year old heyday designs. :(


You think these are "goodies"? Yes, Apple's Jan event usually offer a lot more exciting stuff than CES, but different times. Now Apple is equally boring, not flipped with CES not being exciting... unless getting notifications from your dishwasher excites you. Everything I've seen as "best of" CES so far has been a rehash of another company's product or a marginal upgrade to their existing product. For me I have stuff like it or it really doesn't interest me. Another Wi-Fi security cam or Apple Watch band. Flip a coin to which one is more cutting edge.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
otternonsense
18 months ago

You thing these are "goodies"? Yes, Apple's Jan event usually offer a lot more exciting stuff than CES, but different times. Now Apple is equally boring, not flipped with CES not being exciting... unless getting notifications from your dishwasher excites you. Everything I've seen as "best of" CES so far has been a rehash of another company's product or a marginal upgrade to their existing product. For me I have stuff like it or it really doesn't interest me. Another Wi-Fi security cam or Apple Watch band. Flip a coin to which one is more cutting edge.


I wouldn't dismiss them that easily. There's always the iterative part, sure, some kitsch robots, and the home appliance-notification center fodder. Then there's also hand-calling, voxels, rollable TVs, sub-screen fingerprint scanners and so forth. It's not that they'll become mainstream or even catch on. But it sure is refreshing to see other players trying to push the envelope while Apple is milking its same-ol' SKU collection that has become so incoherent it reminds of Sculley's days.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
HJM.NL
18 months ago

I spoke with Ring Tech Support yesterday and they said that the Apple Watch is only partly compatible with Ring right now but that they expect to have it fully compatible (Where you can watch video on the apple watch of what the ring camera recorded) by mid 2018.

I also asked about HomeKit support for the Ring Doorbell Pro and they told me they were excited to finally be allowed to officially announce that support would be added for Homekit this year (no specific date of course) but good to know that they are still onboard with doing that.

Just thought I would pass along the information!

EDIT: They also told me they had a mailing list for people to be notified when Homekit support would be made available so I asked to be added to that list as well. In the event some of you also would like to do this I would suggest contacting them. Otherwise I'm sure it will be pretty big news and you will hear about it pretty soon afterwards anyway.

For me I’ve got the feeling history repeats. There was a time Apple support was a no brainer. Today it’s like the mid nineties where all novelties happens on Android, Alexa first and maybe a future support for über priced Apple products where the possibilities will be crippled and minimal compared to the competition.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
HJM.NL
18 months ago

I feel old enough to remember Steve Jobs' media event stealing the spotlight from the drab CES carousel of TVs and appliances. Good times. Look at CES 2018 ('https://twitter.com/hashtag/CES2018?src=hash') now, all jam packed with goodies while Apple has turned into a bored rich recluse that endlessly rehashes its 5 year old heyday designs. :(

Cnet shows that Apple’s heydays are over. What, who is Siri?
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
riverfreak
18 months ago
There is literally nothing mentioned in the article that I have any interest in purchasing let alone having in my home. Getting old has its advantages.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
Alan Wynn
18 months ago


I also asked about HomeKit support for the Ring Doorbell Pro and they told me they were excited to finally be allowed to officially announce that support would be added for Homekit this year (no specific date of course) but good to know that they are still onboard with doing that.


I spoke to their VP of special projects (the person in charge of the HomeKit deal) here at CES and he gave a very different answer. He said the HomeKit software was done, but it was a business decision not to release it. They want Apple to make it so they “own” the customer, so that their app gets the notification, not the home app. If Apple does not allow that, they will not release it. He said that it had been ready for quite some time.

I am not holding my breath, although I am curious about a class action suit. :)
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
BruceEBonus
18 months ago

I feel old enough to remember Steve Jobs' media event stealing the spotlight from the drab CES carousel of TVs and appliances. Good times. Look at CES 2018 ('https://twitter.com/hashtag/CES2018?src=hash') now, all jam packed with goodies while Apple has turned into a bored rich recluse that endlessly rehashes its 5 year old heyday designs. :(


Succinctly put. Sad but horribly true. Yet they still sell old tech at new tech prices very well. Familiarity hasn't bred contempt from their followers. Yet.
Rating: 1 Votes

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