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Seagate's Backup Plus line expands with Slim, Fast and desktop external drives for appropriately named file storage
We've been familiar with Seagate's Backup Plus line for quite some time now, and the company has just announced three new offerings under that moniker here at CES. The storage outfit has pulled the wraps off of Backup Plus Slim, Fast and desktop external hard drives, living up to each of those names with both automatic and scheduled backups. First, Fast is being touted as the first 4TB portable drive with dual 2TB drives in RAID 0. The unit is bus-powered at the hands of its USB 3.0 connection and claims speeds of 220 MB/s with a metal-topped plastic enclosure. It's set to ship for $300. Join us on the other side of the break for details on the rest of the group.
Lenovo gives 'portable' all-in-ones another shot with the 27-inch Horizon 2 (video)
In addition to announcing a slew of laptops, tablets and convertibles, Lenovo just unveiled a trio of Windows 8 all-in-ones. Of the bunch, the most notable might be the Horizon 2, which marks Lenovo's second attempt at a "portable" 27-inch desktop. In particular, Lenovo added both NFC and a new, graphically-pleasant way to pair the PC with an Android device: you can now shake your smartphone to share its media with the Horizon 2, causing photos and other content to "fall" onto the tabletop screen -- an effect demonstrated in the video after the break. From there, you can use motion controls on the smartphone to do things like navigate the UI and sort through photos, music tracks and the like. The wireless link between the two devices also lets you instantly browse fresh photos on the Horizon 2 once they are taken with the phone, as well as letting you throw PC content onto the phone.
Okidokeys smart locks let you manage your front door remotely
There are goofy product names, and then there's Okidokeys, a moniker that achieves new levels of silliness. All said, however, the company seems to take its line of smart locks pretty seriously. Its parent company, OpenWays Group, already provides smartphone-based door lock solutions to hotels. The company's leveraging the 256-bit AES cryptology security it's used in those products for Okidokeys, home locks you control with an Android or iOS handset via Bluetooth. There seems to be a pretty wide array of options here, letting you enable a hands-free unlock when you're near the door or associating objects like an RFID card, in case your smartphone should run out of juice. Using the company's online portal, you can manage accounts, giving people limited access to the door so, say, your babysitter can only get in during a designated time, and if anyone tries to break in, you'll get an alert on your phone. You can also unlock the door from afar, should someone forget their key. The line of locks starts at $179. Pre-orders open up this month, with the product is set to ship in the spring.
Belkin announces a remote-controllable slow cooker, smart LED light bulbs
Last year, if you recall, Belkin announced a partnership with Jarden (the company behind brands like Mr. Coffee, Sunbeam and Crock-Pot), promising we'd eventually see kitchen appliances with Belkin's WeMo home automation control built in. Now, at CES 2014, Belkin finally has a real product to show for it: The company just announced the Crock-Pot WeMo Slow Cooker (how's that for a name?). Being a smart product and all, you can use the WeMo app for iOS or Android to remotely turn it on or off, adjust the temperature or change the time settings. You can also receive reminders so that you don't let it sit too long. Look for it to ship this spring for $100, with an air purifier, space heater and coffee maker to follow later this year. Additionally, Belkin introduced the WeMo Smart LED Bulb, a dimmable light that can be controlled remotely using the same WeMo app you'd use to control the slow cooker. In particular, you can control the bulbs individually or in groups, and also set them to dim as you sleep and wake up. Once it goes on sale this spring, you'll need to shell out $130 for the starter kit, which includes two bulbs (60W-equivalent) and a bridge that plugs into an outlet. Thereafter, the lights cost $40 apiece and are said to last up to 23 years. Also, the bridge can connect to up to 50 bulbs, so odds are you'll never have to buy another. Last up, there's the WeMo Maker kit, which lets modders manage anything with a simple DC switch -- gates, garage doors, blinds, AC units, you name it. That will also arrive this spring, but no word on price.
Parrot's MiniDrone climbs walls, rolls across the ceiling, is really, really small
Parrot's been offering up relatively small updates to its AR.Drone line each year at CES, and while the quadcopter is, without question, one of the most immediately recognizable in the space, we've been waiting to see a genuinely fresh take on the product. The MiniDrone delivers -- and then some. It's exceptionally small and light, so far as these consumer drones go. It's quick, nimble and fairly user-friendly thanks to on-board autopilot and myriad built-in sensors, controlled via smartphone or tablet via low energy Bluetooth. Size aside, however, the coolest thing about the product may well be the removable wheels, which let you drive the 'copter across the ceiling and up walls. And if the demos we got ahead of tonight's CES Unveiled event are any indication, the little drone is quite a bit more rugged that it looks. The MiniDrone will be available at some point later this year for an undetermined price. Nicole Lee contributed to this report.
Lenovo intros the ThinkPad 8, an 8-inch Windows tablet for business users (hands-on)
You may have noticed by now, but 8-inch Windows tablets are sort of a thing: Toshiba, Dell and Lenovo each have one, and Acer is already on its second. Until now, they've all been aimed at consumers, with low-end specs and equally low prices to match. Now, though, Lenovo is taking a different tack: The company just announced the ThinkPad 8, an 8-inch business tablet with enough premium features that even regular shoppers might be tempted. For starters, the 8.3-inch screen boasts a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 1,920 x 1,200, whereas most of its rivals top out at 1,280 x 800. Additionally, it sports an aluminum chassis, micro-HDMI and optional 4G, all of which are fairly rare on 8-inch tablets (or budget tablets, period). Even the camera setup seems slightly better, with 8-megapixel stills and an accompanying flash, not that we ever have high hopes for imaging performance on tablets. If anything, the only cost-cutting measure seems to be the omission of an active digitizer for pen support, which was included on last year's ThinkPad Tablet 2, and which you can get on Dell's less-expensive Venue 8 Pro. Otherwise, the performance should be on par with other Windows tablets: this packs a quad-core Bay Trail processor (the Intel's Z3770 chip, to be exact), along with 2GB of RAM and up to 128GB of built-in storage. And with a rated battery life of eight hours, its runtime should also be similar to other 8-inch tablets. If that high-res screen does anything for you, the ThinkPad 8 will be available later this month, with prices starting at $399 (that's without the 4G, of course). We've just handled the new ThinkPad, and we've got a few impressions to share just after the break.
Lenovo refreshes its ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook with 'adaptive' keyboard, 2,560 x 1,440 screen option
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon was once our favorite business Ultrabook -- actually, make that one of our favorite Ultrabooks, period. Still, it's been a long time since we've been able to recommend it: A year and a half after it first went on sale, it's still saddled with a 1,600 x 900 screen and a 2012-era Ivy Bridge processor. Thankfully, Lenovo has finally unveiled a refreshed model, and it brings almost everything you'd expect from a modern machine, including a 2,560 x 1,440 screen option, Haswell processors and longer battery life (up to nine hours, according to Lenovo). If nine hours isn't enough, the X1 Carbon makes use of Lenovo's Rapid Charge tech, which promises an 80 percent charge in under an hour. Oddly, Lenovo dared to mess with the keyboard -- the main reason some folks have remained loyal to the ThinkPad brand. Here, there's an "adaptive" panel up top, with context-specific controls that only light up when needed. Thankfully, the layout otherwise hasn't changed much, and the red TrackPoint is still there (so is the large buttonless trackpad, but you should be used to that by now). We also got to spend some time on the new keyboard and aside from that top row of adaptive keys, it feels almost identical to the chiclet layout used on its predecessor. In fact, the redesigned keyboard looks cleaner and more modern than ThinkPads past. The fingerprint scanner now sits flush with the keyboard lines, while the touchpad is now a flat plane, more in line with other Ultrabooks and simply more modern. Elsewhere on the machine, Lenovo added NFC, voice commands (via pre-installed Dragon software) and gesture control, allowing you to swipe through presentation slides and the like by waving your hand.
LaCie Fuel brings 1TB of wireless streaming storage to your Apple devices for $199
We're quite familiar with LaCie's reputation for stellar storage devices, and here at CES 2014, the outfit is expanding its territory. The company has just outed Fuel: a 1TB portable repository for that media library, offering wireless streaming to your Apple arsenal. With no internet connection required, Fuel acts as a WiFi hotspot for on-the-go streaming to iPad, iPhone and Mac (up to five devices or three HD streams at once) while claiming 10 hours of battery life. The peripheral is accessed just like an external drive and -- as you might expect -- allows file transfers sans cords with Dropbox integration in tow. For times when a cable is absolutely necessary, there's a USB 3.0 port for handling those tasks. Streaming stored media on those mobile devices is sorted via the Seagate Media app and the unit plays nice with AirPlay-compatible devices and Apple TV. In a spot with connectivity? Fuel will allow you to share it with that handful of gadgets as well. If all of that sounds too good to pass up, you can snag one when they hit shelves "soon" for 200 bucks.
LaCie partners with Christofle on Sphère: a silver-plated limited-edition hard drive
Last year at CES, LaCie unveiled the Philippe Starck-designed Blade Runner to grab the attention of those who prefer their storage gadgets to be extra dapper. This time around, the outfit has teamed up with French silversmith Christofle on Sphère. The globe-influenced external hard drive is silver-plated and touts a 1TB capacity. File transfers are sorted via a USB 3.0 connection that doubles as the device's power supply. Just like its predecessor, the shiny Sphère is going to be in short supply when it arrives later this quarter with a $490 price tag, ready to upgrade the look of that workstation. We were able to take a closer look at the Sphère just ahead of the proper start of CES 2014. Despite what appears to be a weighty silver shell, the drive is quite light. The shiny exterior may double as a mirror in a pinch, but mucking it up with fingerprints will happen quickly. Aside from the branding inscriptions on the front and the iconic blue light, there aren't any other details aside from a cable slot around back on the unit's black base. Of course, less is more definitely applies here.
Lenovo's refreshed Yoga 2 laptops bring mid-range specs; 11-inch model no longer runs Windows RT
When Lenovo announced the Yoga 2 Pro, we all assumed it was the souped-up successor to the first Yoga 13. Apparently that wasn't the case. Lenovo just refreshed the original Yoga 11 and Yoga 13, both of which are now called the Yoga 2. Of note, the Yoga 2 13 has mid-range specs, and will actually be sold alongside the flagship Yoga 2 Pro. For instance, the processor goes up to Core i5, not i7, and the screen resolution maxes out at 1,920 x 1,080 instead of 3,200 x 1,800. Also, it doesn't appear SSDs are offered here; you can get up to either a 500GB HDD or hybrid hard drive. On the flip side, it steps up to a backlit keyboard and eight-hour battery. We did, however, notice the machine is slightly thicker and heavier this time (3.5 pounds and 0.68 inch thick, versus 3.3 pounds/0.67.inch last year). We bet it's because there's now a spinning hard drive instead of a solid-state one. As for the 11-inch model, it now runs full Windows instead of Windows RT, but that shouldn't be a surprise: Lenovo has long since discontinued the original Yoga 11. This time, it's powered by a quad-core Bay Trail Pentium processor (just like we thought the original should have been), with up to 500GB of storage and a rated six hours of battery life. As before, too, it has a 1,366 x 768 IPS display. What's nice is that despite the heavier-duty components, the machine still weighs about the same as it did when it had a low-power ARM processor: just 2.9 pounds, up from 2.8 in the last model. Look for the 11-inch model to appear first -- it should ship later this month for $529. If it's the beefier 13-inch version you're after, you'll need to wait until early February, at which point it will retail for $999 and up (knowing Lenovo, though, you'll probably enjoy some steep discounts if you buy it online). Richard Lai contributed to this report.
Pure delves deeper into multi-room audio with higher-end Jongo and Evoke systems
Pure first set foot into the multi-room audio space at last year's CES with its frugal Jongo line; in 2014, it's targeting slightly more affluent listeners who would otherwise go for Sonos gear. Its $299 Jongo T4 speaker (above) is reaching the US for the first time, and carries enough oomph at 50W to fill a living room. The $229 Evoke F4 (below), meanwhile, is the company's first internet-savvy radio with Jongo support built-in. There's also a pair of big software upgrades on the way, including SiriusXM streaming (for subscribers) and a developer kit for third-party app support. Both the T4 and F4 reach the US this later this month, while the software should arrive during the first quarter of the year.
Withings' latest health gadget is designed to help you sleep (updated)
If you're anything like us, then getting out of bed on a cold, dark winter's morning is akin to raising the dead. Plenty of gadgets have promised to monitor our circadian rhythms and rouse us at the most biologically convenient time like the Zeo, but none have managed to totally win us over. That hasn't deterred Withings, which is launching the Aura, a two-part device designed to help us with our shut-eye. The $300 Aura combines a movement sensor that sits beneath your mattress and an LED lamp that promises to relax you at night and gently rouse you in the morning. The unit also promises custom light-and-sound patterns that'll help with power napping, getting over jet lag and chilling out with a good book. Naturally, all of this data will be fed into a mobile app, and we're looking forward to comparing this against our Philips Wake-up Light when it arrives in the spring.
Engadget is live at CES, here's who to follow on social media
Here we are, #EngadgetCES. We'll be your home for all things #CES2014, but what if you're hungry for even more tidbits of information? Never fear, the unfiltered world of social media is here. Not only can you keep up with Engadget itself, but stalk our cracker jack team as they mill through events at the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as the iconic Strip. Also, have you heard of Engadget Mini yet? It's our new app available now for iOS, Android and the web. Mini offers you the best of our headlines, photos, videos, picks for the best tech news from around the web and interesting things from the social media universe. Here's who to follow to keep up with us, after the break.
Moneual RYDIS H68 Pro 'bot mops and sweeps at the same time
Why drop the cash for both a Roomba and Scooba when you can get a device that does it all? Of course, it's far too early to say if the RYDIS H68 Pro comes anywhere near the efficiency of either of iRobot's flagship lines, but Moneual certainly talks a big game. The sequel to the RYDIS H67 features a large water tank and is capable of capturing nearly all particles that are 0.3 micron or larger. There are 42 omnidirectional sensors on board and it uses something called Smart Vision Mapping to determine the best routes to cover a room as it mops and vacuums at the same time. The RYDIS H68 Pro is set to drop just in time for your spring cleaning.
Liquid Image brings LTE to the action cam game with its new Ego LS
Snowy mountaintops and sheer dirt tracks are just a couple of locations fitting for an epic action cam segment, but they're not places you're likely to find a good WiFi connection. Without putting extra hardware at significant risk of destruction, livestreaming just hasn't been possible in many desirable situations. At CES, however, Liquid Image is mixing things up with the introduction of its new Ego LS camera, which we believe is the first to feature LTE connectivity. It's capable of transmitting WQVGA (400 x 240; bummer) video at 30 fps for up to two hours, or still images over 4G. Otherwise, the 8-megapixel cam has WiFi, Bluetooth, and can partner with iOS and Android devices via the Liquid Image app like the outfit's other models. A microSD slot supporting up to 64GB cards keeps you recording at 1080p/30 fps or 720p/60 fps while disconnected, and like other members in the Ego line, it'll be accompanied by various mounts. Two variants of the Ego LS, both with new motion detection and continuous-photo modes, but one with LTE and one without, are slated to launch in June this year with an estimated price tag of $200.
Qualcomm shows more of the Snapdragon 805's camera and pen tricks (video)
Can't make it to CES to see the Snapdragon 805 processor flex its muscles? You won't have to. Qualcomm has posted a slew of videos showing what the chip can do for photography, including automatic close-ups through OptiZoom, continuous focusing on a subject through Touch to Track and natural-looking low-light shots through Chroma Flash. The CPU can even begin recording video as soon as a subject crosses a line, such as at a race. As a bonus, the company has also demonstrated Ultra Sound NotePad, a refinement of an earlier technique that uses microphones to translate a pen's ultrasonic vibrations into on-screen handwriting. It could be a while before you're trying any of these features on a shipping device, but the clips should at least prepare you for the real thing.
Tao WellShell offers up isometric resistance, tracks fitness, rhymes (hands-on)
Two days before the official kickoff of CES 2014, and it already seems safe to declare this the year of the fitness device. Tao Wellness's rhyming WellShell wants to be a bit of a one-stop shop for all things portable fitness. The handheld's primary function is isometrics -- offering you resistance as you work out, while helpfully coaching you with built-in audible encouragement. The device is built for 50 different isometric exercises, recording results by way of your Android or iOS device. It can also track your steps, caloric intake, heart rate and sleep patterns -- so pretty much everything, but the cooldown massage. Update: We've just seen it in person and it looks like a flat, symmetrical mouse -- minus the cable. We gave it a squeeze (you're supposed to), as well as testing out a pair of earlier models that avoid the screen (as well as some of the functionality). Instead, these flat tokens are actually more stylish and simple, with a glowing light in the center. However, with these smaller models, all the data and exercise instruction is delivered by the app, meaning that while the new WellShell it might just lose out in the looks, the new model looks to offer a far gentler learning curve. Mat Smith contributed to this report.
Road Warrior Bluetooth speaker plans to amp up your tailgating with 200 watts
If the average portable Bluetooth speaker doesn't pack enough audio punch for your liking, Ion's just revealed a titan that just might meet your needs. Dubbed the Road Warrior, the firm's 200-watt wireless stereo system packs a duo of ten-inch woofers paired with two one-inch tweeters. In addition to Bluetooth streaming capabilities, the box also boasts an AM/FM radio and an 1/8-inch jack. When it comes to power, the package can rely on its built-in battery, a wall plug or the 12 volt outlet in your auto. The kit was designed for occasions like tailgating events and cookouts, so it's fitting that the speakers are contained in a cloth-covered box reminiscent of car audio gear. A price tag and release date are MIA, but expect more information as CES -- and 2014 -- continues.
We're live at CES 2014!
Meet our home -- or, rather, homes -- for the next eight days or so. Above you'll see our stage coming together. For the third straight year, we'll be livestreaming interviews with some of the industry's biggest and most innovative companies -- and doing the odd podcast. Below, you'll find shots of our trailer in the beautiful Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot, ground zero for the week's blogging activities. If things appear a bit empty, it's because, well, not everyone is actually here yet. With Hercules slamming the Eastern seaboard and general flight delays all over the place, making it to Las Vegas has been something of a harrowing experience for team Engadget. But fear not, come Monday, we'll hit the ground running as the Official Online News Source of International CES 2014!
Griffin updates its PowerMate and StudioConnect hardware for 2014
If you think that the best part about making music is twiddling the knobs, then Griffin's CES announcements will be right up your alley. You see, the company is updating both its StudioConnect portable iPad studio and the PowerMate jog dial for movie and music editors. The StudioConnect HD now features a pair of XLR inputs, USB and five-pin MIDI support, dedicated monitor controls and can handle both 30-pin and Lightning-based iPads. The PowerMate Bluetooth, unsurprisingly, breaks free from the tyranny of cables, offering iMovie and GarageBand users the chance to cycle through files without the need of a mouse. Naturally, the clickable wheel is also highly customizable, enabling you to craft a wide variety of utilities that can use the hardware. The StudioConnect HD will, a little annoyingly, not arrive until the fall, where it'll set you back $200, while the PowerMate will be here in the summer, priced up at $60.
