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   CES 2018: The Main Show, LVCC, and Sands

   Jeff Porten

   Friday's hot tip for aspiring tech marketers: if you're going to loan
   your motorized ride-on luggage to CES attendees, make sure your booth
   name is in big honking letters on both sides of the case, so
   journalists who see them zipping by can find you. I saw such a product
   but had to go to Google to figure out that it might have been from a
   company named [1]Modobag.

   One of the more eye-catching technologies I saw today wasn't on the
   show floor; it was a Willy Wonka slot machine immediately outside.

   [2][tn_Willy-Wonka-slot-machine.jpg]

   This slot machine features four screens, a tablet for game control in
   addition to the usual buttons, and a sensor that detects 3D motion
   gestures in mid-air above the tablet. All of it is in service to
   capture your dollar-a-spin. It's fascinating to see how much tech the
   gambling industry uses to make sure their games remain captivating for
   people used to video game consoles and big-screen TVs.

   Meanwhile back at CES, this article will cover the main floor and a few
   things I saw elsewhere in separate meetings. In the next piece, I'll
   wrap up the show with coverage of Eureka Park, a breakout space
   reserved for startups that often has the most interesting products.

   Other World Computing -- [3]Other World Computing, AKA macsales.com,
   has long been a reliable source for interesting Mac products. The
   company is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, which means
   they've been around long enough to remember when a [4]Macintosh IIx was
   the hot new thing. (And the IIx cost over $16,000 in today's dollars,
   making an iMac Pro look like a bargain.)

   Last year (see '[5]CES 2017: Gadget Finds on the CES Show Floor, Days 1
   and 2,' 10 January 2017), I was most excited by OWC's announcement of
   the DEC portable dock for the 2016 and later 15-inch MacBook Pro. It
   snapped onto the bottom of the laptop and restored a bunch of ports
   Apple had removed, while adding a few that had never been included. OWC
   missed their release date last year, but they promise they're coming
   out with it 'as soon as possible.' OWC is also exploring adding a
   secondary battery to the DEC and might release a model for the 13-inch
   MacBook Pro.

   [6][tn_OWC-DEC.jpg]

   This year, OWC CEO Larry O'Connor was most excited by the release of
   two high-performance SSD drives: the Viper ThunderBlade and Envoy Pro
   EX. (One thing I like about OWC: when O'Connor gets excited, he starts
   reeling off drive statistics at very high speed. That's my kind of tech
   vendor.) The [7]ThunderBlade is a four-SSD enclosure meshed into a
   single volume with SoftRAID, with dual Thunderbolt 3 for daisy
   chaining. It sports a maximum read speed of 2800 MB/second and write
   speeds of 2450 MB/second. Of course, that performance comes at a price,
   ranging from $1200 for the 1 TB version to $4999 for 8 TB ' it's
   available now.

   [8][tn_OWC-Thunderblade.jpg]

   The [9]Envoy Pro EX is a bus-powered single-SSD version of the
   ThunderBlade, with read speeds of 2600 MB/second and write speeds of
   1600 MB/second. The 2 TB model is available now for $1700; 250 GB, 500
   GB, and 1 TB models are coming soon.

   [10][tn_Envoy-Pro-EX.jpg]

   If you're more interested in tons of raw storage, OWC has an upgrade to
   their [11]ThunderBay 4 RAID enclosure, now with Thunderbolt 3. It also
   sports dual Thunderbolt ports and even DisplayPort to connect a
   monitor. They made no mention of read/write speeds, likely because you
   stock it with your own drives. It starts at $600 for the bare enclosure
   and $850 for the enclosure with a 4 TB hard drive, available in 4 TB
   increments up to 48 TB at $3400.

   [12][tn_ThunderBay-4.jpg]

   Also available from OWC is the [13]Thunderbolt 3 Dock in silver or
   space gray for $299, and dual-display Thunderbolt 3 adapters in
   [14]DisplayPort ($78) or [15]HDMI ($98) flavors. The dock purports to
   be the first one with the same sensing technology that Apple uses ' it
   will connect to monitors that other docks have trouble seeing.
   Meanwhile, the dual adapters sport internal hardware to drive your
   screens without impacting laptop speed. All can handle dual 4K
   displays; the dual DisplayPort adapter and dock can also drive a single
   5K display.

   Finally, I'll mention the [16]NuGuard KX case for iPhones, not because
   it's new, but because during our talk, Larry O'Connor nonchalantly
   threw his iPhone X at a hardback chair to make a point about the
   company's commitment to build quality.

   Orbit Bluetooth Trackers for Glasses -- For years, you've been able to
   stick Bluetooth-based object trackers like [17]Tile to your keys or
   wallet, but [18]Orbit has finally delivered what I always wanted:
   [19]one that fits on the frame of your glasses! Otherwise, they seem to
   be standard trackers, if a bit pricier than the competition. They come
   in keyring, credit card, or stick-on formats, which you can track with
   an app. Some models will reverse-locate your phone by making it ring.
   They're available now: $40 for the glasses version, $40 for the card,
   $30 for the keyring, and $25 for the stick-on model; discounts apply if
   you buy several.

   [20][tn_Orbit-Trackers.jpg]

   Sgnl Makes Your Hand into a Headset -- The [21]Sgnl is a whizbang idea:
   replace your current watchband with a $249 Sgnl, and when you take a
   call, the Sgnl transmits two-way audio through bone conduction in your
   finger, which you have to put in your ear. But three things occur to
   me: 1) for $249, you can buy an awfully nice Bluetooth headset; 2) the
   most natural gesture you make to your face is the international
   dude-bro symbol for 'call me;' and 3) how would you react to someone
   talking to their hand making the international dude-bro symbol for
   'call me?' It would get me laughed out of Starbucks. If you can get
   past all that, the Sgnl will be 'available in a couple of months.' It
   will come with a connector for the Apple Watch.

   ReliefBand Nausea Prevention Wristband -- If the thought of talking to
   your hand makes you queasy, good thing you have two wrists.
   [22]ReliefBand claims to eliminate or reduce the symptoms of motion
   sickness by sending electromagnetic pulses through your nervous system.
   When presented with a claim like this, since I can't evaluate the
   evidence myself, I note the answer to my question about proof: 'we have
   years of clinical studies' passes, 'we have dozens of anecdotal
   testimonials' fails. ReliefBand cleared that bar, at least. ReliefBand
   is available the end of the month for $175; a tube of conductive gel
   you use with it costs $15.

   [23][tn_ReliefBand.jpg]

   Oska Pulse Pain Relief -- [24]Oska Pulse makes another claim I can't
   verify, but I didn't even need to ask the question about proof: they
   had a four-inch thick binder sitting on their table labeled 'Clinical