Author: Duncan Pike

Today, at its seventh annual State of the Motor Industry event, Toyota South Africa Motors announced its strategy for the next few years. But not before enthusiastically patting itself on the back for the progress it made last year, despite the challenges it faced – load shedding, fuel price increases, and 2022 flood recovery being chief among them. These challenges saw Toyota fall short of its predicted 2023 figures by 7%. Yet, as much as that might suck for Toyota execs and their annual bonuses, the brand remains the most popular in the country by number of units sold -…

https://youtu.be/cfyEv2Okl_8 If you’re interested in audio gear, you will have heard of Klipsch. Born in 1946, in a tin shed in Arkansas, it was one of the first US loudspeaker companies to bring live music to people’s homes. Today, the company produces a wide range of audio products that all bear some of the brand’s rich history. That’s especially true of The Sevens, which fall under the aptly-named Heritage-inspired speaker range. The Sevens are the middle child of the ‘Heritage’ family, along with the smaller ‘The Fives’ and larger ‘The Nines’. They are high-end active loudspeakers which means you won’t…

Sticking with last year’s theme of putting AI into everything, Android Auto is the latest to receive the AI treatment. The improvements were shown off during last night’s Samsung Unpacked event but that doesn’t mean they will be S24-exclusive. It’s more likely that Google gave Samsung the announcement honours due to the pair’s deepened partnership. While the extent of the improvements doesn’t seem to run very deep, they could end up saving users valuable time – whole seconds, in some cases. Android Auto still can’t drive for you First up is the now-familiar text summary feature. Taking your eyes off…

Samsung has just unveiled its next crop of flagship Galaxy S devices. Meet the Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra. Most will already be familiar with the trio thanks, in part, to numerous leaks in the preceding months, but also because Samsung tends not to make sweeping changes to its devices. The new Galaxy S24 handsets do feature familiar bits but Samsung has made improvements all over, not least of which are centred around Galaxy AI. Despite initial expectations, Galaxy AI isn’t the Bixby-replacement next-generation AI assistant that will remind you to buy milk before you head home. It’s…

CES 2024 officially ended last week Friday. We’ve already picked the best and weirdest gadgets we came across from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, now it’s time to pick out the duds. This takes longer than you might think. This is the sort of tech that makes you scratch your head and wonder what the creators were thinking. They were probably thinking “Can it be done?” without the all-important follow-up, “Should it be done?” The answer to that last one is usually ‘No’, yet here they are. “I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid you can’t buy that.” US-based “grocery technology company”…

There is no shortage of cool tech devices on offer in South Africa. If you’ve recently shopped for a smartphone or laptop, you’ll know the number of options can be dizzying. But it’s no secret that we often tend to miss out on a lot of good stuff. For some things, there’s the option of importing it yourself but that process is a lot more involved than buying something that’s locally supported and it’s a surefire way of driving the price up. It can also mean dealing with South African Customs which is great for headache speedruns but not much…

Huawei has gone with the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach for its 2023 Matebook X Pro. It’s a spitting image of the 2022 model, only receiving changes internally and we’re fans of the choice. The 13th-gen Intel internals provide a decent performance boost and the silky smooth enclosure feels suitably premium for the asking price. That’s true for almost every aspect of the 2023 Matebook X Pro. It has its flaws, some of which could prove difficult to overlook. Yet its premium design, lightweight construction, and impressive feature set make it a compelling choice for folks seeking…

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the usual crowd has gathered to tell everyone about their new and exciting gadgets. That crowd includes Asus, Samsung, LG, Nvidia, Intel… you get it. As usual, there has been a mix of weird and wacky stuff along with the usual assortment of familiar rectangles — laptops, TVs, etc. Asus announced more than a few of their own rectangles but those aren’t as exciting as the Asus AirVision M1 for the simple fact that you don’t see as many wearable displays as you do rectangles. Asus clears the Air(Vision) It might look like…

CES 2024 officially opens its doors today and among the newly unveiled products is a surprise from Sony. The company announced its development of a new mixed-reality headset that it hasn’t gotten around to naming yet. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that Apple suddenly has a release date for its Vision Pro headset. The “spatial content creation system”, as Sony calls it, looks similar to other wearable VR/XR/MR systems in that it’s got a bit you strap to your face and two controller-looking things that are “optimized for intuitive interaction with 3D objects and precise pointing”. Unlike the Meta Quest…

Bose announced its QuietComfort Ultra headphones towards the end bit of last year along with two other newcomers; the QuietComfort Ultra earbuds and a pair of non-Ultra QuietComfort headphones. The trio marks a new chapter for the company’s headphone and earbud ranges as they replace the discontinued flagship Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, the QuietComfort 45, and the QuietComfort Earbuds II which were only launched around twelve months prior. We’re kicking off with the QuietComfort Ultra headphones, the new flagship wireless over-ear active noise cancelling headphones from Bose that replace the four-year-old NCH 700. Thankfully, Bose hasn’t spent the last four…