Skip to main content

Halos’ smart hard drive lets your digital life live outside the cloud

Even the best hard drives aren’t particularly sexy, which makes it difficult for a company like Halos to make a splash at CES. They say beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder, though, and when you have a features like those unique to the company’s forthcoming CatDrive, you can be sure someone is going to pay attention.

The device, one of many Indiegogo success stories on display at CES, is designed to simplify your digital life. It’s essentially a storage device that plugs directly into your home router, and allows you to easily upload all your content — photos, videos, etc. — to a centralized location. The shockproof, 1TB drive is then accessible from anywhere using an accompanying mobile app, assuming you have a valid internet connection, giving you a quick means for syncing and sharing content across a network of devices. Best of all, unlike Google Drive and many other cloud-storage alternatives, there’s no additional fee associated with Halos’ offering.

Halos
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Centralized storage is nothing newer, however, which is why Halos decided to outfit the CatDrive with a wealth of additional features. You can quickly set up the drive to automatically back up content from your iOS or Android device, for instance, or create a private account for each member of your family, ensuring their content is kept from prying eyes. Other features, namely the device’s robust search capabilities, come standard.

Recommended Videos

The CatDrive is currently available for pre-order and will retail for $99 when it officially launches at the end of January.

Brandon Widder
Former Senior Editor, Living Articles
Brandon Widder is a multimedia journalist and a staff writer for Digital Trends where he covers technology news, how-to…
I hated the Macbook notch, but this app has made me love it
FocusNotch on a MacBook Air.

When Apple put a notch on the MacBook, I was immensely excited about the functional possibilities, the same kind you see built around the Dynamic Island on iPhones. Expanding live updates, current activities, and navigation guidance are just a few of the examples. 

Unfortunately, that is yet to happen on the MacBook. With the massive redesign across macOS Tahoe, I was again hopeful that the notch would finally find a purpose. Again, I was disappointed. Thankfully, the developer and open-source community have built some fantastic utilities that extract the best out of the boat-shaped notch. 

Read more
Eyes on the Apple Mac mini M4? It’s 15% off today from Amazon
The M4 Mac mini on a desk.

If you're a fan of Apple's Mac mini desktop computers and you've been thinking about getting the latest series, you won't want to miss this chance at a discount on the Apple Mac mini M4. The configuration with 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is on sale from Amazon at 15% off, bringing its price down from $999 to $849. As with all Apple deals, you should take advantage of the savings as soon as you can because the offer may disappear at any moment -- hurry if you want to get it for $150 lower than usual.

Why you should buy the Apple Mac mini M4

Read more
The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor is 55% off, but there’s a catch
Samsung's Odyssey Neo G7 on a desk.

The 43-inch Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor is an excellent display for gamers, but it's not always available with a discount from monitor deals, and it's pretty expensive at its original price of $1,000. However, we've found a way for you to get it with a 55% discount, and that's to take advantage of Samsung's open box pricing so that you'll only have to pay $450. That's a massive $550 in savings, and you don't have to worry about the quality of the gaming monitor -- open box products still look brand new and are tested to be working properly. You need to hurry though, as stocks are limited!

Why you should buy the 43-inch Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor

Read more