Author: Duncan Pike

Imagine spending R1 to 3 million on a shiny new electric vehicle (EV) and then having to pay an extra R20,590 ($1,200) annually to ‘unlock’ extra performance that is already there. And that’s before tax. That’s what Mercedes-EQ customers are facing as the German automaker offers “acceleration increase” downloadable content (DLC) for its EQE and EQS vehicles. What gives, Mercedes? Charging extra for additional features is every automaker’s favourite pastime. But, as with BMW’s heated seat fiasco, the ‘upgrade’ doesn’t actually add anything new to your vehicle. It simply provides access to what your already-paid-for vehicle is already capable of.…

Ford recently launched the third generation of its title contender in the adventure SUV segment, the Everest. We had the opportunity to gather some initial intel on whether Ford has done enough to bring the Everest – which last received an upgrade this large in 2015 – into the digital age. Locally, it’s available in two derivatives. Ford’s 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel engine returns in the Everest Sport while the Everest Platinum is sporting a shiny new 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine, borrowed from the F-series bakkie range. The engines aren’t the only things that have changed. Both the interior and exterior…

Xiaomi recently launched the 12T series in South Africa to much applause and fanfare. These devices – of which there are two this time around – were first announced globally at the beginning of October. Back then, a South African launch seemed likely given the 11T Pro appeared around the same time last year, although we couldn’t say when. Well, we can now (it’s now). Pushing smartphone camera boundaries Upstaging everything else about the devices is perhaps the 200MP camera sensor in the 12T Pro. While it might not be the first smartphone to do it – that would be…

The LG C2 OLED evo is the successor to the hugely popular C1 OLED that launched in January last year. The C1 impressed both critics and consumers with a gorgeous OLED display producing an immersive image and black levels so deep you might fall in while displaying impressive gaming chops. All for a rather competitive price. Unsurprisingly, the South Korean conglomerate has managed to build on the success of the C1 with its OLED offerings this year. It might not be the company’s flagship set – that would be the G2 – but we’d still argue the C2 sits in…

There’s a good chance you’ll be familiar with Evernote. It was once hailed as the go-to note-taking app for anyone looking to up their productivity, regardless of their chosen platform. Recently, the company announced it has been purchased by Bending Spoons. We won’t blame you if you’ve never heard of that one. It’s an Italian-based company best known for Splice, its video editor, and Remini an AI-powered image editor. Now, those are joined by Evernote. The death of an elephant It seems Evernote, once valued at $1 billion, hasn’t performed as well as everyone hoped it would in the last…

Two of the world’s biggest System on Chip (SoC) makers, Qualcomm and MediaTek, have announced the next iterations of their flagship mobile chipsets – the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the Dimensity 9200 respectively. Naturally, they’ll be competing with each other. Round 1, fight In Qualcomm’s camp, the CPU part of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – Qualcomm calls this the Kryo CPU – uses the 1+4+3 core design. It will feature one prime Arm Cortex-X3 core clocked at 3.2GHz. That’s joined by four performance cores at 2.8GHz, and three efficiency cores at 2.0GHz. An improvement of around 200-300MHz across…

Simply put, the Asus ROG Phone 6 is the fastest locally available gaming smartphone money can buy. If the only thing you want from your phone is many frames per second – and you can afford the R23,000 price tag – then stop reading and order one. We’ll wait. For those who also care about other smartphone features like camera performance, battery life, or user experience, you’ll have to keep reading. A gaming PC in your pocket We’re not saying that the ROG Phone 6 is only for gamers. We’re sure hardcore users will appreciate the top-tier specs. Inside, you’ll…

McLaren South Africa unveiled its first series-production plug-in hybrid supercar, the McLaren Artura, on Saturday, 12 November, at an intimate launch event in the Daytona showroom at Melrose Arch. This isn’t the first hybrid from the British car maker. The P1 and Speedtail preceded it. But those were specialist vehicles with a limited production run. The Artura marks McLaren’s first proper step towards the brand’s electrified future. The start of a new beginning This first step starts with a completely new platform, dubbed McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA). The twin-turbo V8 engine of old is replaced by a smaller 3.0-litre…

After an extended in-person hiatus, the rAge Expo will make its return to a physical Johannesburg event this year from 9-11 December. Unfortunately, it won’t be returning to the Coca-Cola Dome, that’s full of cars now. Instead, the festivities will take place at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. Putting Africa on the map Part of the festivities this year include the live finals for the Intel Africa Masters Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. This will be the largest esports tournament on the African continent… so far. Teams from Egypt, Nigeria, North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco), and South Africa are…

Local wireless internet service provider Rain and GPU maker Nvidia are teaming up to finally bring South Africans access to Geforce Now. The partnership and subsequent agreement were announced today, Thursday 3 November but the service will only kick off in Q1 2023 with a limited beta program. Gaming on cloud Nvidia If you’ve had your head in the sand, Geforce Now is Nvidia’s cloud gaming service. Much like how Netflix allows you to watch movies you don’t have, Geforce Now lets you play games you don’t have on a PC you don’t own. It doesn’t even have to be…