Author: Duncan Pike

Although it definitely isn’t a front-runner for any miniature golden statuettes, Gran Turismo, the new Nissan/Sony advertisement underdog sports drama from Sony Pictures, did make us laugh. Out loud. Well, just once actually, early in act one, when Orlando Bloom’s character says something along the lines of ‘this whole thing is one big marketing stunt’. That pretty much sums up what’s going on here. Light-hearted, high-octane fun In case you haven’t seen any promotional material for this film with ‘based on a true story’ plastered everywhere, the events depicted here actually happened… more or less. Gran Turismo (the film, not…

Tonight, 10 August, Chinese consumer tech maker TCL Electronics announced four new TVs in its C-series that it will be bringing to South Africa – the C645, C745, C755, and C845. If those sound familiar, that’s probably because they’re some the same TVs the company unveiled at its Middle East and Africa regional launch in June. Now, it’s officially launching them on home turf. We’re as excited to try the new sets out now as we were then but other than the location, nothing has changed since. At least as far as the TV’s specs are concerned. Flying the flagship…

A few months ago in April, video-sharing and social media giant YouTube announced a few new features for its Premium subscription in an attempt to garner more subscribers. Among those was a new ‘1080p Premium’ video quality setting. While that was the first official release of the feature, it was only available to Premium subscribers on iOS. Recently, the platform has made the feature more widely available to Premium members on desktop, Chromecast, and video game consoles. But what’s so ‘enhanced’ about it? Why is it only for Premium members? What does this mean for the platform’s future? We’re glad…

With the recent launch of Sony’s highly anticipated flagship WF-1000XM5 true wireless noise cancelling earbuds, the tussle between the usual suspects over who has the better premium set is closer than ever. Sony isn’t being coy about its new buds, even going as far as calling them “The best truly wireless noise cancelling headphones on the market.” We’ll be the judge of that. Thanks. An earbud by any other name If you didn’t know any better you might get the impression that the folks at the Japanese company aren’t very good at coming up with names for their products. But…

If a phishing scam – where you clicked on a dodgy link and signed in or willingly gave someone your username and password over the phone – has ever made you feel like a fool, FNB’s new feature was made for you. The South African bank has announced the addition of a new Secure Call feature to its smartphone banking app to go with the existing Secure Chat feature. All in the name of keeping you safe… if you’re an FNB customer, that is. FNB’s customers are people, not phish Calls made with Secure Call use Voice over Internet Protocol…

Yesterday, at its second Unpacked event of the year, Samsung revealed two new smartwatches – the Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic. Of course, other new devices were announced, but we’re mainly concerned with the company’s new watches here. Specifically, where the Watch 6 Classic slots into Samsung’s lineup and how it compares to last year’s flagship. Should you cough up more dough or stick with the Pro? Lord of the Watch: Return of the Bezel The first thing anyone familiar with Samsung’s smartwatches will notice is the return of the physical bezel. For people not familiar with Samsung’s smartwatches,…

Time is a circle and today, at its second Unpacked event of the year, Samsung announced two new circular timekeepers – the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. The pair of smartwatches arrive alongside a host of other new devices from the South Korean technology giant, including the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and three new Galaxy S9 tablets. Samsung’s best wearable yet? These new smartwatches are new but they should be familiar if you’ve seen a previous Samsung wearable, which isn’t a bad thing. Like previous years, the Watch 6 and 6 Classic are available…

By now you’re probably aware that Samsung held its second annual Unpacked event today, 26 July. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll already know all about the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Watch 6, and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. Joining those are three refreshed Galaxy Tab models. Samsung isn’t known for making drastic changes lately unless absolutely required which is why this year’s range of tablets closely resemble those launched last year. Except for the number on the end getting bigger, obviously. Meet the Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9+, and the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.…

We’ll admit we weren’t particularly excited to learn that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer would be a biopic when it was announced in 2021, despite being long-time fans of the writer-director. After the visually impressive, wildly ambitious, and often-polarising Tenet, we were hungry for another expertly-crafted mind-bending film. How foolish we were to doubt Nolan would deliver. We quickly warmed up to the film ahead of its release with every subsequent casting announcement linking yet another award-winning actor to the project. Then, the pre-release buzz around Nolan’s almost-exclusive use of large-format IMAX cameras, along with a completely new large-format black-and-white film stock…

There’s a pretty good chance you haven’t heard of Meze Audio. The Romanian-based high-end audio company isn’t as widely known as the large multinational audio manufacturers like Sony, Bose, or Bowers & Wilkins. That’s partly because they’re still relatively new to the audio game, being founded in 2011 by industrial designer Antonio Meze, and partly because they only make one kind of product – high-end headphones and earphones. By ‘high-end’ we don’t just mean expensive. Although, compared to what most South Africans are used to, these headphones definitely are. With Meze, we’re talking about the kind of headphones you’d plug…