Author: Duncan Pike

As the country heads into what could be the hottest summer on record, it seems like a perfect time to explore more of Solenco’s new Life products. Was that planned? Is it all a conspiracy? Is Solenco behind global warming and somehow caused the so-called ‘Super El Niño’ weather pattern to sell more of its new cooling devices? We doubt it, but the timing does seem awfully convenient. Don’t mistake our suspicion for a complaint. We were happy to cool our drinks with the sphere ice maker. We were just as happy to receive Solenco’s two new wine coolers for…

You know what goes really well with hot days? Ice-cold drinks. But if you’re still cracking your ice out of a tray, we’re here to tell you it doesn’t have to be like that. You could save yourself tens of valuable seconds by throwing money at the problem and getting one of these sphere ice makers in Solenco’s Life range. Before you do that, it’s worth knowing what you’re getting for your R6,500. It’s not the most affordable ice maker available, so whether it’s the right choice for you depends on how much you value cold balls over cold blocks.…

As expected for late October, Apple is rolling out refreshed models of its existing devices. We’ve already seen the OLED-toting iPad Mini and the 14in MacBook Pro with M6. Next on the list from the world’s most successful fruit company is the iMac, now also with M6. Apple doesn’t say it out loud with this one, but it’s also “the most powerful (insert device category) it’s ever made” thanks to the new M6 chip. The nerds in Cupertino reckon it will provide “[u]p to 2.5x faster performance in apps like Microsoft Excel, compared to iMac with M1.” iMac it go…

Apple unveiled its ‘new’ iPad Mini yesterday. It’s the most capable mini tablet from the Fruit Company since, well… the last one two years ago. It also doesn’t come as a surprise; Apple tends to follow the same launch schedule. That, and Mark Gurman spilt the beans earlier this month. He tends not to miss. There was no grand pre-recorded stream or on-stage announcement. Just a press release on Apple’s Newsroom calling this the “biggest update ever”. Of course it would say that. It also helps that it’s somewhat true. New innards, still Mini The attention-grabbing bits of the update…

While robot vacuums have seen a lot of progress in the last few years, robot pool cleaners are taking a little longer to catch up. Maybe that’s because pools aren’t that popular in other parts of the world, or maybe it’s that the folks with enough disposable income to afford a robot pool cleaner already pay someone to clean their pool. Or maybe it just takes us longer to get the cooler stuff in South Africa. If it’s that last one, it seems like Wybot is looking to enact change. It released a plethora of pool cleaning equipment in South Africa…

The TCL C7L is the Chinese company’s latest mid-range TV for 2026. It replaces the C7K and sits below the C8L in TCL’s locally available Mini LED TV range – no C6L in South Africa this year, it seems. The C7L also serves as the entry to TCL’s new SQD-MiniLED technology – essentially the same as the QD-Mini LED tech it’s used before, except now it’s got ‘super’ in front of it. That’s not just for show; the ‘super’ does actually mean something, but we’ll get to that. Although TCL offers the C7L in six sizes elsewhere in the world,…

If you missed Comic Con Africa 2026 last week, you would’ve also missed Logitech’s grand unveiling of five new gaming peripherals. The innovative Pro X2 Superstrike has already been updated; there’s a new version of Logi’s popular wireless gaming headset, a new TKL keyboard with fancy switches aimed at aspiring professionals, a new Yeti microphone for creators, podcasters and streamers, and the cheapest McLaren you’ll ever touch. Second verse same as the first? From the outside, Logitech don’t seem to have changed much with its new Pro X3 Superstrike, other than the new colours. To set them apart from the…

While the Sonos Play borrows its name from the American audio company’s previous Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 range, that’s about all they have in common. The Play is the portable middle child, fitting between the Toblerone-esque Roam 2 and the Move 2 in Sonos’ portable speaker range. That’s true on paper and in its execution. If you’re looking for a well-made, decent-sounding speaker that has the versatility and feature set to survive trips outdoors, the Sonos Play fits that role well. If you already have a few Sonos speakers around your house, the Play will slot right into your existing…

At its annual iPhone event last night, Apple introduced two new AirPods 5 models. The first bit of good news is that the cheaper model should cost the same as the AirPods 4 did when it launched in 2024. The bigger bit of good news is that the more expensive of the two will be slightly cheaper than its AirPods 4 counterpart. ANC for the masses With a starting price of $130 (R2,800 locally), we wouldn’t call the ‘entry-level’ AirPods 4 cheap. The more expensive model ($180, or R3,900 locally) only added active noise cancellation (ANC), which was a first…

We got our first in-person look at the new ZenBook Duo back in February, after it was shown off at CES this year. It impressed us immediately. We expected another boring, slightly updated iteration on the last one, with nothing but slightly faster silicon inside. We were happy to be proved wrong. Asus has not only paid generous attention to the dual 14in displays and how they fit together, but it has also managed to provide significant improvements to performance and battery life over the last one thanks to the new Intel Panther Lake chip inside. You can’t have the…