Earlier this week Apple announced that their smart home speaker, the Homepod, will go on sale in stores beginning on February 9th. Pre-orders begin this week.

The story of the Homepod has been a strange one given Apple’s history. Recall that Apple created both the modern consumer digital music market in 2003 with iTunes and then, eight years later they launched the voice assistant game with their 2011 introduction of Siri. Given these milestones and a history of building some of the best hardware in modern consumer technology. It’s a shame they’re so late to this voice speaker game.

We talk a lot about tech on The Drill Down – gaming tech and smart home tech are the sort of thing we get into regularly. But what about smart mom tech?

Willow is breaking into the smart mom tech movement with their eponymous pump. Unlike most breast pumps, which attach suction cups to nipples and then extract the milk through tubes, the Willow Pump uses a different approach. Last year they showed off a prototype, but this year at CES 2018 they’re back after a beta, with a lot of knowledge, along with new pricing and availability.

Continue reading for more info and some videos.

It’s early 2018 and the year has already seen a match made literally in the heavens. Two days ago, Intel‘s CEO, Brian Krzanich, became one of the first people to fly in German air taxi company Volocopter‘s latest prototype. He did so as he announced a strategic partnership between the two companies, which was met with all sorts of fanfare and applause.

Knowing that everyone wanted a closer look, we headed over the Central Plaza here at CES 2018 to get next to the device, and to hear what Volocopter leadership had to say. More on that and videos can be found below.

Las Vegas Convention Center – Nevada. People know DJI for their drones, but at CES 2018, DJI debuted the Ronin-S gimbal. Even though it was in the back, behind the flying apparatuses, the gimbal was one of most, if not the most, popular item there.

Rather than holding a phone steady, this gimbal is focused on keeping your SLR’s footage as smooth as can be while you’re on the move. Control of the device is simplified from other gimbal designs – there’s a thumbstick to control panning and framing shots, and a sport mode that helps stability when you’re on the move.

Drones. They’re EVERYWHERE. At CES 2018 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, you can head over to the drone area of South Hall in Tech East and be awash in the whir of electric quadrocopters. These things have 4K cameras with incredible zoom lenses and can be found in varieties from whisper quiet, all the way to crazy loud.

They’re awesome, but at least one company understands that the runaway, or rather flyaway, technology of the past few years presents some potential security risks.