Author: Duncan Pike

Sony’s latest innovation could be a boon for metaverse pundits and VTubers (virtual YouTubers). Whether that’s a good thing for the rest of us remains to be seen. The company’s new Mocopi system features six lightweight motion-tracking pucks worn around a user’s head, arms, waist, and ankles. They’ll presumably act like those little white spheres you might’ve seen on a traditional motion capture suit. Mocopi translates a user’s motion in the real world to virtual movement inside Sony’s companion app. The recorded motion can then be used to animate virtual 3D avatars for VTubers or those wanting to explore virtual…

In the past two months, it seems like online retailer Raru has had a rather rough time and the situation doesn’t seem to be improving. The latest development, according to a News24 report, is that the company has been forced into liquidation – not a good thing. One of Raru’s cofounders, Waine Smith, pointed fingers at the company’s creditors for the regrettable decision. Attorney Vaughan Ulyate said the application to liquidate has yet to be filled. To those wanting to cling to the small sliver of hope, we say: don’t. Fancy a cool drink of liquid Raru? The retailer’s impending liquidation…

Black Friday has arrived. If you work in retail you’ve probably been dreading it all whole month. But if you don’t, you might have a few purchases lined up, looking to capitalise on the deals every brand is shoving in your face. Well, if you’re looking for a new laptop, here’s another one from Asus. What makes this Friday so black anyway? Asus launched its own eCommerce store earlier this year. There, you’ll find a plethora of products across the brand’s commercial, consumer and gaming ranges, as well as accessories, peripherals, chargers, and apparel. This year, discounts reach as high…

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…