LATEST ADDITIONS

ConnectSense's Smart In-Wall Outlet adds a multitude of features not found on other "smart" outlets.

The smart speaker revolution is raging. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is either showing smart speakers or else waving their hands and saying how soon theirs will be available. But there is already a mutant version rapidly emerging - the smart display.

I met Robbie Cabral, the Inventor/CEO/Founder of BenjiLock, at the end of the final day of CES 2017 while we were both eating along at our respective tables in the middle of the Johnny Rockets at the Excalibur Hotel. (The finest of lodging and dining facilities if there ever was one.) Still unbelievably energetic after spending a week at CES, Robbie stopped by my table and we spoke at some length about tech journalism, what it's like being a startup company, and—of course—why the hybrid padlock, the BenjiLock, he (and his wife, Brach) had invented was so cool. I gave him my card and expected never to hear from him again. I didn't. Well, I did—sort of.

Lots of products shown at CES work with either Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or Apple HomeKit, but it is a rarefied few that work with all of them. Let alone come in the form factor of an in-wall light switch and include an on-board microphone and speaker for full-on Amazon Alexa control and feedback. This distinct privilege resides with iDevices Instinct Wi-Fi enabled lighting dimmer.