The aux cable is getting a 21st century update, with Belkin revealing its newest cord to hook your headphone-jackless iPhone up to your car's dashboard or just about anything else. Apple's decision to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack on its more recent iPhone models prompted no shortage of teeth-gnashing, but little more so than in the car.
The Trump administration may have blocked the purchase of Qualcomm by Broadcom, but another transaction seems to have flown under its radar. Taiwan-based Foxconn is probably best known for assembling iPhones but it has recently been expanding its reach to become a force to reckon with in the hardware business. Now it has just announced that it will be acquiring Belkin International, which means that it might soon own Belkin, Linksys, and Wemo to create a “global consumer electronics leader”.
Wemo is adding Apple HomeKit support, with the new Wemo Bridge joining the gap between the iOS smart home system and its remotely-controlled plugs and light switches. Announced last year, Wemo has confirmed today at CES 2018 that the Wemo Bridge is now on sale. It promises easy setup by plugging via ethernet cable into your existing router.
With CES 2018 kicking off next week, accessories maker Belkin has unveiled its latest lineup of wireless charging products. With Apple's new iPhone X and iPhone finally adopting wireless and fast-charging features, it seems Belkin's new solutions are aimed at these smartphones in particular. The products include four different charging pads, each available in several colors, and all support Qi-enabled devices.
For over a decade, Apple has been using its own proprietary charging connector for its MacBooks. While it offered safety features no other connector did or does to date, it was also non-standard and incompatible with the not so small number of competing standards already in the market. When Apple finally gave in, it didn’t come without a price. The 2015 MacBook only had one USB-C port for both data and charging and last year’s MacBook Pros threw all ports out, replacing them with two or four Thunderbolt 3 ports. That, however, consequently gave birth to a new market of docks and dongles that aimed to bring back what was lost. One of them is the new Belkin USB-C Express Dock 3.1 HD, which we have taken for a spin to see how it fares against the competition.
There's a dongle/adapter out there made by Belkin, a piece of equipment that's ready to engage with all the iPhones. This device is called the "3.5 mm Audio + Charge RockStar", and it comes with its own way to correct and/or fix the feature many headphone-wearing fans of Apple struggled to wrap their mind around since this time last year. This Belkin accessory plugs into the iPhone and allows the user to plug in both a charging USB and a standard pair of headphones.
Thunderbolt 3 may be the wunderport of the future, but sometimes it feels like nobody told the peripheral-makers that. While notebooks like the most recent MacBook Pro may have switched entirely to Thunderbolt 3 and the USB Type-C connector, actually finding things to plug into them can be hard going. Enter Belkin's Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock, one of the first to market to take advantage of the connection's 40 Gbps throughput and power/display/data flexibility.
Smart home products these days speak different languages, which sometimes defeats the purpose of having an automated home. But rather than trying to force existing and future products to speak a single language, device and platform makers are solving the language barrier like we do in the real world: with translators. The Belkin Wemo Bridge is one such translator and it is quite adept at one language. This tiny square that you connect to your Wi-Fi router allows Wemo's switches and plugs to speak Apple's HomeKit language.
Belkin has announced that it is now shipping its new Wemo WiFi Smart Dimmer Light Switch to customers, giving consumers yet another connected accessory with which to make their home a bit smarter. This Dimmer model builds upon the previously launched Smart Light Switch, bringing with it additional features requested by users such as a new Night Mode and more. The Dimmer switch made an appearance back during CES 2017, and it is now available to buy from retailers like Best Buy and Amazon.
Belkin has announced its new Wemo Mini Smart Plug and Dimmer Light Switch, two new smart products that complement existing Internet of Things devices for better home automation and hassle-free control of one’s home. Both items were unveiled at CES 2017, where Belkin detailed its new hardware. The two new models work with a variety of existing devices, including Amazon Echo, Google Home, IFTTT, and the Nest Learning Thermostat.
Linksys has joined the mesh networking club, launching Velop, a multi-unit WiFi router system at CES 2017 this week. Aiming to blanket your home in wireless coverage, each of the Velop units - a white, 7-inch tall monolith - interconnects with each other, forming a mesh of connectivity. Meanwhile, there's the promise of automatic firmware updates should security loopholes be spotted down the line.
Apple device announcements always means new accessory announcements as well, and for the new MacBook Pro, that practically boils down to one thing: Thunderbolt 3 accessories. Well, and USB-C accessories too, by extension. Joining the fray, accessory maker Belkin has unveiled its Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD, taking advantage of the four Thunderbolt 3 ports on the new MacBook Pro, offering a “true” single-cable solution and answering the biggest problem in laptops: not having enough ports to connect everything.