Author: Duncan Pike

Very few companies are as ubiquitous as Shure when it comes to microphones. If you’ve ever been to a live music event there’s a 98% chance you’ve seen a Shure microphone, like the SM58, and if you enjoy watching podcasts you’ll probably recognise the SM7B. Recently, the company followed those up with the Shure MV6, a dynamic microphone aimed squarely at gamers and streamers looking for something that’s easy to use without sacrificing audio quality and a kidney. We’ve spent some time yelling into the MV6 to see if Shure could successfully translate its years of professional recording experience into…

We get a lot of stuff to review throughout the year but LG’s UltraWide 49WQ95C-W stands out as the one we were most upset to see collected. This behemoth of a monitor impressed us whether we had it set up for gaming or productivity, seamlessly flicking between several open programs or two separate laptops. Its price and size might put it out of reach for most folks – it’s no good owning a fantastic monitor if it can’t fit on your desk. But if you can spare the room and the money, there are very few monitors out there that…

Any creative knows that trying to edit 4K video on a run-of-the-mill laptop is not going to be a fun time. Maybe you don’t mind waiting five to seven business days for a project to render. If that’s the case you might as well read on while you wait. But if your creative time is worth anything then the Asus ProArt P16 (H7606) was built to help you increase those billable hours. If you’re just starting your professional creative journey then the almost-R70,000 price tag might be out of your reach until you’ve published a few more ‘works’ to your…

Calling something ‘portable’ elicits a few expectations. Simply sticking on a handle or being able to carry it around isn’t always enough to justify the descriptor. Asus’s ZenScreen MB166CR might not have a handle but it’s still one of the best budget portable monitors we’ve come across. Its greatest strengths are its straightforward design, ease of use, and relatively affordable price tag. That last point means it can’t cover everyone’s portable monitor needs. But most people will be more than happy with one of these in their bags. Less is more There isn’t much to say about the ZenScreen MB166CR’s…

Dell’s XPS 13 is a stalwart of the ultrabook laptop category. Its portable size and the ability to spec it with decent hardware make it a good pairing for on-the-go professionals or well-off students. Its internals have received a boost from Intel’s Meteor Lake (Core Ultra Series 1) chipsets in the XPS 13 9340 that we had in for review. Although Meteor Lake chips have already been superseded by Lunar Lake (Core Ultra Series 2), Dell XPS laptops sporting the new silicon haven’t reached SA shores yet and the slightly older Core Ultra 7 155H inside the 9340 still offers…

Japan’s second and third-largest car manufacturers, Honda and Nissan, are reportedly considering a merger, according to Japanese publication Nikkei. The move would enable the two companies to pool resources to better compete with the world’s largest automaker Toyota and the rising threat of Tesla and China’s BYD, among others. This isn’t the first time Honda and Nissan have collaborated. The two companies teamed up in March this year in a ‘strategic partnership’ to cooperate in electric vehicle development. Nissan and Honda sitting in a tree Should the companies come together, whether with shared equity under a new holding company or…

At Huawei’s latest ‘flagship product launch’ held in Dubai last night, the tech company unveiled a host of new products, including the new folio-style foldable Mate X6, new additions to the mid-range Nova smartphone series and MatePad tablet range, and a new pair of wireless earbuds. We’ll get to those shortly but another announcement caught our eye. Stuff wasn’t able to attend the event this time around but we’ve learnt that Huawei’s tri-folding Mate XT was confirmed to arrive in South Africa next year via our friends at Hypertext. Have you met my new Mates? There was no local launch…

What if cows could herd themselves? They’re probably not there just yet (Ed: if you know of any self-herding cows please reach out to us) but researchers at the University of Sydney will tell you their ‘SwagBot’ is the next best thing. Border Collies will soon be out of a job. SwagBot started its humble beginnings in 2016 as a herding robot but researchers have since upgraded it with sensors and access to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems. The augments mean SwagBot can now monitor the health of livestock and determine the type, density and health of…

Uber South Africa today announced a new offering for people looking to move their big packages. Courier Bakkie, as you might have guessed, allows you to make use of a spare bakkie to transport large items like furniture or big appliances that won’t fit in your family sedan. With the update, Uber also said it is rebranding its ‘Uber Package’ product to ‘Courier’ to “better align with the growing range of transportation services made available to Users by independent contractors, via the Uber App.” Uber’s Courier Bakkie rolls out It isn’t often that South Africa is the first to try…

If you missed Google’s announcement earlier this year in July, the company said it was making changes to the way incidents were reported for Google Maps across all platforms – including Android Auto and CarPlay. Examples of the new updates have begun to surface online, indicating a wider rollout isn’t too far off. The update includes a redesigned user interface, which is supposed to make incident reporting easier, and the use of crowd-sourced incident reports from Maps users as well as surfacing reports from sister app Waze. Google said at the time, “To help keep your fellow drivers informed on…