Author: Duncan Pike

DOOM, the 1993 first-person shooter that can run on pretty much anything from a lawnmower to a Windows terminal, has reached the logical next step in its evolution — generated by AI. Thanks to Google’s AI GameNGen, it is now possible to play the game in real-time as it’s being generated by AI. What a time to be alive. And you thought AI was DOOMed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3616ZFGpqw&list=PL3ZfMho22LwDvJSEKVBiwxNsVEqUTUmhJ GameNGen is the first video game engine “powered entirely by a neural model that enables real-time interaction with a complex environment over long trajectories at high quality,” according to the abstract on its GitHub…

At Apple’s September ‘It’s Glowtime’ event, the Cupertino-based company announced updates to its entire AirPods range including two new models of its entry-level AirPods, unsurprisingly called ‘AirPods 4’ and ‘AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation’, a slightly refreshed AirPods Max model, and a few new features for the AirPods Pro 2. AirPods 4 enters the chat Apple was very proud of the fact that it mapped over 50 million ears to fine-tune the fit of its new ‘buds. If you’re already within the Walled Garden then you probably won’t mind because the AirPods 4 keep the open-air design and are…

After some light teasing, Honor officially rolled out three new devices to the global market during a keynote event at IFA Berlin 2024 – the incredibly thin and light Magic V3 foldable smartphone along with the MagicPad 2 and MagicBook Art 14. Of the three, the Magic V3 was the star of the show. Honor CEO George Zhao took every chance he could to point out how much better (on paper, at least) the Magic V3 is compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and iPhone 15 Pro Max. This wasn’t the first cheeky jab Honor has sent Samsung’s way…

If you care as much about what your audio gear looks like as you do about how it sounds, then Bang & Olufsen’s new Beoplay H100 headphones are probably for you… provided you have a big bag of money to spend on headphones. The B&O Beoplay H100 headphones are the latest cans from the luxury Danish audio company and are set to improve on the company’s previous high-end models, the Beoplay H95. Made of gold? The Beoplay H100 aren’t quite made of gold but they aren’t too far away from it either. Though the lambskin leather earpads are undoubtedly soft,…

The Asus Vivobook S 15 is the first Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered Copilot+ laptop to launch in South Africa. Although first-generation products almost always suffer from teething issues (this one is no exception), the Vivobook S 15 managed to impress us in ways we were hoping for and in a few we didn’t expect – highlights include decent performance, great battery life, and a surprisingly good webcam. Still, it isn’t perfect and Windows on Arm has a ways to go before it achieves the same level of adoption as its much older, industry-standard x86 brother. But that might not take…

Do you love the smell of burnt rubber and recently ignited hydrocarbons? What about the roar of a naturally aspirated V8? If you answered ‘yes’ to either of those then you’ll probably want to head to the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit over the next three days to experience what the Festival of Motoring has to offer. The new stuff on show If your interests include swanky new cars then you’re in luck. Ford, Suzuki, VW, Baic, Chery, and Jaecoo all unveiled new vehicles at yesterday’s media showcase that are on display at their respective stands to look at, touch, and…

Guangzhou Automobile Group, better known as GAC Motor, has officially launched in South Africa. The relatively new Chinese automotive manufacturer held its local launch and unveiling of its second SUV crossover model to arrive in South Africa, the GAC Emkoo, in Melrose Arch on Tuesday, 27 August. The company’s first model, the GAC Emzoom, launched in South Africa earlier this August while a third, fully-electric model called the Aion Y has been tipped to show up later this year or early next year. Get your GAC on The GAC Emkoo arrives in SA in Executive and Executive Plus derivitives. Both…

If you had told us at the height of stage-6 load shedding last year that Eskom would not only suspend its rolling blackout program (for 150 days, 7 hours and 48 minutes, but who’s counting?) but also roll out its own electric vehicle (EV) car chargers in 2024, we would have laughed in your face. Yet both have now happened with the state-owned power utility partnering with Gridcars to launch several new EV car chargers across the country. Eskom joins the EV industry The power utility has rolled out a mix of direct current (DC) fast charging chargers that’ll supply…

If you’re a fan of PC games, the decline of the American frontier, or both, you’ll probably be pleased to know that there’s been some movement regarding Red Dead Redemption’s long-awaited PC port. The game’s PlayStation Store page was briefly updated to read “Experience the epic western adventures that defined a generation – now on PC for the first time ever.” It isn’t properly clear if it was an honest mistake, a purposeful tease, or a genuine oopsie but the edit didn’t stick around for too long before it was removed. That leads us to believe PC gamers will finally…

What Disney’s cooking Disney held its annual D23 expo over the weekend where it showed off trailers for soon-to-launch titles, released morsels of info for recently announced projects, and took the wraps off a few new things that most people probably saw coming anyway. That doesn’t only include strictly Disney titles either, films and series from Pixar, Marvel, and the Star Wars franchise also showed up. Among the most exciting headlines, at least from where we’re sitting, was the new trailer for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. This Disney Plus series will feature Jude Law as Jod Na Nawood and will…