Here at Stuff Towers we’ve long been fans of Houdt’s wooden smartphone cases and wireless keyboards, so we were pretty excited when the company’s new top-of-the-range over-ear headphones arrived for review. A few weeks and many hours of music later we’ve got mixed feelings about the curiously named “Tsunami” cans – the sound is outstanding, but the design, well, we’re far less enamoured with it. The Good When shopping for headphones audio quality is a key deciding factor, and Houdt’s Tsunamis deliver excellent sound – mids and highs are crisp and there’s not only a good amount of bass, but…
Author: CraigWilson
Pentax camera users have been hoping for a full-frame DSLR since the earliest days of digital photography. At last, the wait for one is over. Pentax parent company Ricoh has announced it will show off a new, 35mm sensor camera body at Japan’s CP+ event that starts on Thursday, alongside two new full-frame-ready lenses. The new camera is expected to hit the shelves before the end of 2015. A full-frame K-mount DSLR was hinted at as far back as 2001 but failed to materialise as Pentax chose instead to focus on its line-up of crop-sensor DA-series lenses. The new -…
Late last year Twitter hinted at new features coming to the service soon. Now the first two of those have arrived: the ability to send private messages to groups of up to 20 people and the ability to shoot 30-second videos directly from the Twitter mobile app. Both features will become available to Twitter users in coming weeks. The group-messaging feature uses Twitter’s existing Direct Message functionality, which to date has let users send private messages to other users who follow them. Users can create groups of up to 20 of their followers and those followers can also use the group…
Each year Ericsson puts out a report from its ConsumerLab looking at trends in consumer technology it expects to take off in coming years. The fourth edition of the report quizzed smartphone owners aged 14 to 69 in in Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, New York, Moscow, San Francisco, Sâo Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. This is what it found: Streaming video will overtake broadcast TV in most regions as consumers move to wars cross-platform, on-demand services and as these services become easier to use. Homes will become increasingly connected, from automated lighting and water systems to access control. “Mind sharing”…
Jaguar Land Rover is using a combination of sound, light and physical stimuli – like a literal tap on the shoulder – to try and reduce accidents involving bicycles and motorcycles. The new technology is the result of research by the company into the best ways to alert drivers to hazards and prevent accidents with those on two wheels. The tech includes door handles that buzz when opening the door could cause an accident with a passing bicycle or motorcycle, an accelerator pedal that vibrates if moving the car would cause an accident and colours and sounds to indicate passing…
Dust off the neon furry boots and ready the glow sticks because Huawei South Africa has announced it will sponsor the second edition of Ultra South Africa, a massive dance party held in Cape Town and Johannesburg in February that’s expected to attract around 40 000 electronic dance music fans. The sponsorship is courtesy of the recently established Huawei Culture Club that, disappointingly, appears to have nothing to do with Boy George trying to make it big in China. Headliners for this second installment of Ultra include Armin van Buuren, Axwell^Ingrosso, Hardwell, Martin Garixx, DVBBS, Gorgon City and Oliver Heldens.…
Photographers with Android phones rejoice, Adobe has finally released the mobile version of its popular image organisation and editing software, Lightroom, for Android-powered handsets. Users can try Lightroom mobile for 30 days for free, after which they’ll need an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to continue using it. Lightroom mobile was first released for Apple’s iPad and iPhone and allows users to edit, organise and share images. The app synchronises edits, metadata and other changes to the desktop version of Lightroom stored on a user’s PC or Mac using Adobe Creative Cloud. Users can also opt to automatically import images from…
Earlier this week Google South Africa announced that it plans to shut down its free website builder service, Woza Online. Cape Town-based service Vigo hopes to pick up where Woza Online leaves off by offering small- and medium-sized businesses the ability to build interactive, responsive and search engine-optimised websites using a laptop or mobile device. More than 2 000 websites were created using the Vigo platform in the year after launch and the company is offering to port existing Woza Online websites to its platform for free. Carl Wallace, founding CEO of Vigo, says the company has a dedicated team…
US-based navigation equipment business Garmin has acquired South African start-up iKubu for an undisclosed sum. iKubu, which has offices in Stellenbosch, first came to prominence early last year when it attempted to crowdfund a product called Backtracker, a radar device intended to alert cyclists to the speed and distance of vehicles behind them and warn them should a vehicle get too close. iKubu sought to raise a little shy of $195 000 to put the Backtracker into production using crowdfunding platform DragonInnovation, but fell short of that, raising $127 400 by the time the campaign closed in September last year.…
Thanks to the dozens of device manufacturers making budget Android-powered handsets, the low-end of the smartphone market is already incredibly competitive, but Microsoft wants to play, too. Cue it’s pair of new, low-cost Lumia devices, the Lumia 435 and the Lumia 532. Microsoft says the Lumia 435 is expected to sell for around €69 (R950) while the Lumia 532 will retail for an estimated €79 (R1100). Both devices are powered by Windows Phone 8.1 and are aimed at those consumers looking to upgrade from a feature phone to a smartphone without breaking the bank. The Lumia 532 is an updated…