Known best in the Apple accessory world for its highly affordable cases and simple electronic accessories, Macally always has a couple of rabbits to pull out of its hat at CES. This year, the company is showing a value-priced $80 Wi-Fi hard drive enclosure, a $60 Wi-Fi SD card/USB transmitter, and a stylish curved Lightning Desktop Charging Dock ($50) for iPads, iPhones, and iPods, amongst other new products. Macally will also sell 6-foot ($30) and 10-foot ($35) Lightning cables soon.
Macally’s Wi-Fi HDD ($80) is a clean-looking wireless hard drive enclosure, supporting a self-supplied 2.5″ drive by adding a battery and 802.11n/g/b. It also features a USB 3.0 port and an Ethernet port, and can also turn a cable modem into a wireless access point. It’s possible the company could release versions of the accessory with built-in storage. It will be released in February.
The Wi-Fi HDD includes an app that allows for copying files, streaming music and movies, and creating photo slideshows with music. It enables you to wirelessly transfer files to and from the iOS devices you’re connected with — five at a time — while supporting Macs and PCs for wired connections.
The Wi-Fi SD ($60) replaces the hard drive enclosure concept with an SD card slot, basically turning any SD card into an 802.11n/g/b wireless flash drive. It also includes a USB port, so you can do the same with any USB storage device. It will be released in February.
The C Dock ($50) is a 10W powered Lightning dock with a wall adapter and a Micro USB to USB cable. You can use it purely as a standalone charging dock for current iPads, iPhones, and iPods, or connect it to your computer as desired; there isn’t any audio output port. Removable rubber nubs can be raised or lowered for the device and case being used. It will be released in February.