CES 2026: Pepcom’s Digital Experience

Article by Angie Kibiloski

On the night before CES officially opens each year, Pepcom holds their highly anticipated Digital Experience, a curated showcase of products across a wide range of sectors. I was sorry to miss attending one of my favorite events in person, especially since it took place in the beautiful Paris Hotel this year, but I was still able to virtually attend that night, January 5^th, and explore their online repository of 160+ exhibitor Press Releases. The following is just a small sampling of the products I thought sounded fun or intriguing, and which I hope to be able to more fully review in the future. Let’s start with a couple things for the home office.

The Tri-Screen 3 from Xebec is a modular screen extension to turn your laptop into a triple screen display, expanding your workstation’s multi-tasking capabilities. The two 13.3″, 7mm thick, full HD screens, which are larger than their previous models, are attached to a lightweight aluminum kickstand that rests behind your laptop’s native screen. They can be used in classic landscape screen mode, or rotated on the stand for portrait view. Connect both screens to any laptop via a single USB-C cable, minimizing potential tangles and desktop clutter. Don’t worry about running down your battery if the Tri-Screen 3 is using up your only USB-C port, there’s a port on the back of the stand for pass-through charging.

The entire foldable rig is just 3.6 lbs. and comes with a fabric carrying case, making it great for travel or commuting. Speaking of being foldable, one screen can be folded backwards while connected to the laptop, in case you’d like to show a coworker your screen without having to screen share or move either your laptop or your coworker. The Tri-Screen 3 is compatible with any OS, though Mac users will require an adapter, sold separately on their site. Whether you use your laptop at home or on-the-go, as a business-related workhorse or a gaming hub, there are times in any situation where an extra screen or two would come in very handy. Snag your Tri-Screen 3 for $699 and triple your display with one easy rig.

The new SANDISK Extreme Fit USB-C flash drive is an ultra-compact, high-capacity drive, with an impressive transfer speed, from one of the industry’s most trusted brands. The Extreme Fit is the smallest on the market, at just 0.73″ x 0.54″ x 0.63″, and weighing only 3g, but it doesn’t sacrifice on storage, with a range of capacity options up to 1TB. Performance is stellar, with a transfer speed up to 400MB/s when plugged into a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port, so backing up on the fly is a breeze. You can pop this little drive into your laptop or tablet port and leave it there, as it unobtrusively hugs the side, out of the way but always ready to backup your important files. Use it on its own, or connected to the SANDISK Memory Zone app for custom content management and automatic backup scheduling features. I often forget to backup my files, never thinking about getting out my external drive, so having the petite Extreme Fit that can always live nestled against the side of my laptop would be perfect. At just $127.77 for 1TB of storage, this little flash drive is a bargain too!

Pivoting into home safety for a couple products, we’ve got Pawport‘s Smart Pet Doors, which are app-connected portals to keep your fur friends safe and your home secure. Made from durable steel and aluminum, these doggie doors can be fitted into an existing space or newly installed into a viable wall, door, or even glass panel. Once installed, the doors will open by proximity to a Smart Pet Tag on your pet’s collar, and close again once they’ve passed through. This eliminates the risk of strays or other neighborhood animals entering your home uninvited, and also keeps any pets who aren’t allowed outside from sneaking out. The doors have a tight seal, so pests and weather are kept at bay, as well as keeping heating and air conditioning indoors. The Smart Pet Door is available in 14 different finishes, so it’ll fit right in with the aesthetic of your home, and comes in 3 different sizes to best match your small and large puppers.

Using the Pawport app, you can set curfew times to make sure your pooch isn’t off wandering at all hours of the night, as well as locking the door during inclement weather conditions to keep them safe and dry. The app can send notifications whenever your pet comes and goes, and keep a record of how often and for what duration they were outside, giving you insights into their habits and health. You’ll also get access to a Pet Finder service, which sends you an alert if your dog gets lost and the person who finds them scans the QR code on their Smart Pet Tag. Smart Pet Doors start at $699 and can be purchased along with Smart Pet Tags and door accessories at Pawport.com.

Smart Safe XL is the newest security solution in the Lockly line, with a beefed-up size, robust unlocking options, and smart safety features. The safe itself is made of premium steel alloy, with 1.18 cubic feet of internal capacity, and can be hidden away in an existing compartment, or mounted into the wall with the included hardware. For physical unlocking, it has a 12-pin SCC laser cut key, a PIN Genie or numerical keypad on the 2″ color display screen, and a fingerprint sensor on the handle. For digital unlocking, you can use the Lockly Home app to connect through the built-in Wi-Fi for remote access, and program quite a few more smart home security measures.

In the app you can set up a dual unlocking mode, requiring 2 different PINs, a PIN and fingerprint, or 2 individual fingerprints. You’ll also be able to get notifications when your safe is opened, grant temporary access to another person, and link the safe to other Lockly products to work in tandem, like their smart locks or door cameras. You’ll have to wait until Q3 of this year to grab the Smart Safe XL for $339.99, but you can unlock some other smart ways to secure your valuables at Lockly.com with their smart locks, security sensors, and previous smaller version of the Smart Safe.

Let’s get away from home and talk about a couple wearables. JLab debuted the JBuds Mini ANC earbuds, their smallest active noise canceling earbuds to date, with 30% smaller buds and a 50% smaller case than their earlier ANC model. These little buds may come with an equally little price tag of just $39.99, but they aren’t skimpy on the inside, with 6.5 hours of continuous play time, and 24 hours of stored charge in the case. They’ve got multi-point Bluetooth to seamlessly switch between connected devices, environmental noise cancelation mics, an IP55 dust and sweat resistant rating, and 4 attractive colors to choose from. The JLab app opens up options for customizable ANC, the Be Aware mode for when you need to hear your surroundings as well as what’s in your ears, EQ adjustments, and touch control settings. The JBuds Mini ANC earbuds won’t be available until March, but you can visit JLab.com right now to check out their many other earbud models, headphones, and speakers.

Nirva is your next health monitoring wearable that looks like stylish jewelry instead of a piece of tech. The curvy titanium cylinder attaches to a variety of chains and can be worn as a bracelet or necklace, with a variety of chain styles and finishes to choose from to fit your personal aesthetic. The Nirva won’t replace more comprehensive health trackers that can detect heartrate, blood oxygen, body temperature, etc., but it could be a great supplement to add even more awareness to your daily routines. Nirva‘s sensors can track motion, to monitor how active you were and when, changes in UV light, to calculate how much time you spent in the sun, and purportedly your mood, though the how of this last feature isn’t quite clear, to me. It also has dual microphones to gather information on your environment and interaction throughout the day.

At the heart of the Nirva is a proprietary AI, which takes all of the sensor and audio info and interprets it into a journal-style life report for you each day, with perhaps some advice on how to be a healthier you. I’m a little apprehensive about having a wearable that’s always listening, but you can turn the microphones off with a single tap if needed, and there’s an indicator light to let you and those around you know when Nirva is eavesdropping. Nirva Labs will start taking pre-orders next month, price yet to be revealed, with the first Nirva batch set to ship before the end of Q2. If you don’t want to miss the drop, join the mailing list at Nirva.life to be notified as soon as that launches.

Finally, let’s wrap this up with a product just for fun. Poketomo is an adorable virtual pet from Sharp, who can be interacted with via the mobile app or a sweet hand-sized robotic figure. Talk to Poketomo as you would a companion, about your interests and feelings, or use it as a personal assistant, to set schedule reminders or find information about the weather or activities. The AI will remember your preferences and how you interact, adapting its personality to fit, taking hints about your moods from vocal indicators and responding with encouragement or empathy, becoming more than just an informational AI. Leave your little friend at home to greet you when you return, or take it with you for an on-the-go companion.

Your interactions are shared between the robot and the app, with all the same functionality and personality traits, so however you communicate with Poketomo throughout the day, both versions will remember your experiences together. The meerkat-inspired robot is the main draw above the app, though, providing a physical companion on your desk or in your hand, moving its little arms and head to show emotion, its belly glowing when happy, and generally keeping you company in your space. Unfortunately, this little cutie is only available in Japan right now, but with Sharp‘s presence at CES, it may be expanding to a global market in the future. Keep your eyes on the Sharp Global website if you’d like to know when you can welcome a Poketomo into your home or pocket.

These products were only a handful of what Pepcom’s Digital Experience was showcasing, and honestly it was difficult to narrow down the list of everything I wanted to talk about to a manageable number. I’m eager to put some of these through their paces in full reviews, so come back to our Featured Reviews section over the next few months to catch those. For now, click on over to my CES Unveiled Product Showcase article for more exciting product peeks, and circle back over the next few days for my coverage of the ShowStoppers event and the main Convention Center exhibit halls.