Author: Duncan Pike

Google’s annual developer-aimed I/O conference kicked off yesterday, 15 May, where the tech giant announced a swathe of new projects and features — with a heavy focus on AI, naturally. The conference is still underway, with the recent crop of announcements focused on Google’s improvements to its Android mobile operating system. The second beta version of Android 15 has just been released and with it, Google has announced a suite of security-related features “[t]o help keep your device and your data safe before, during and after a theft attempt,” it said in a blog post. Don’t even think about it…

Quadrupedal robotic ‘dogs’ have come a long way since Boston Dynamics first unveiled Spot in 2016. The first robo-doggo has since learnt to dance, patrolled factories, received ChatGPT integration, and even made its way to South Africa. On a slightly more harrowing note, Ghost Robotics has seen its Spot-lookalikes outfitted with all kinds of death-dealing equipment like a great big rifle, rocket launcher, and a bloody flamethrower — much to the ire of Boston Dynamics. The latest development, according to a report from The Warzone, is that the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is testing robotic dogs from…

South African indie videogame developer SpaceSalad Studios and famed SA cartoonist Jonathan ‘Zapiro’ Shapiro have joined creative forces for Point of Order (P.O.O) Weekly, a new South African presidential decision-making simulator game. Slated for release ahead of the country’s upcoming general elections, P.O.O Weekly features a “satirical and parody-style format” as a vessel for its educational content. It “aims to educate, engage and empower” SA youths to address the concerning trend of low voter engagement and “educate players about the complexities of governance”. Getting P.O.O in your SpaceSalad As educational as it’s trying to be, we’ve no doubt there will…

Don’t you hate it when you’re looking for that video, song, or article you saw but can’t quite remember what it’s called or where you saw it? Scrolling through your social media feeds only distracts you further. Eventually, you begin to wonder if you ever saw it at all. Did someone send it to you? Is it even real? Are you real? Windrecorder bills itself as your “personal memory search engine”. It records everything you do on your PC and saves it locally as a video to rewind and search through later. If that sounds eerily similar to Black Mirror’s…

With local advertising for the BYD Dolphin spotted in the wild, stating a starting price of R540,000 for the cheapest of the two incoming models, South Africans will soon have a new affordable EV king. Until now, that title was held by the GWM Ora 03 and its starting price of R686,950. The new BYD Dolphin undercuts that by a sizeable amount. When it officially launches, the Dolphin will be the second vehicle from the Chinese automaker available in South Africa following the launch of the BYD Atto 3 last year which currently starts at R768,000. Swimming with the BYD…

Earlier this week, at its regional ‘Innovative Product Launch’ event in Dubai, Huawei unveiled the Watch Fit 3 — its shiny new affordable fitness tracker. There were a plethora of other devices announced, including a special space-themed edition of the Watch 4 Pro, the new Pura 70 series, refreshes to its MateBook range, and a new tablet. We’re still waiting for local pricing and availability details on most of those but the Chinese company wasted no time in getting the Watch Fit 3 up on its local site with the option to pre-order already available. Doing that will set you…

Ster-Kinekor, South Africa’s largest local movie exhibitor, has announced the return of classic movies to its big screens in what it calls ‘Throwback Cinema’. Four titles are scheduled for May and will carry a discounted admission fee of R50. First up, Ster-Kinekor is throwing it back to 2002 with the musical crime drama Chicago, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere. It will begin airing tomorrow, 10 May. Ster-Kinekor throwing it back Next week Friday, 17 May, will see the 1998 romance fantasy Meet Joe Black return to the silver screen. Martin Brest called the…

Halfway through Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ May event, while introducing the company’s new iPad Pro, the company’s VP of platform architecture, Tim Millet, stopped by to drop the news of Apple’s latest in-house silicon chipset — M4. In typical Apple fashion, the new one is much faster than anything else it’s made and certainly faster and betterer than any other chips on the market. The new M4 chip is built on TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process which experienced a few thermal teething problems when it launched last year. Those should’ve been addressed by now, right? It’s about time for Apple M4 gains…

With the local launch of the Magic V2 and Magic 6 Pro, it’s clear that Honor is committed to cementing a strong position for itself as a leading smartphone brand in South Africa. It was never going to be an easy task contending with global powerhouses like Samsung and Apple but Honor has laid a strong foundation over the last few years with decent entry-level and mid-range offerings. Thankfully, its latest flagship devices continue that trend – albeit with varying degrees of success. Better late than never The Honor Magic V2 landed in SA only a few months after it…

After months of teasing and waiting, e-retail giant Amazon has finally announced the launch of Amazon.co.za without much fanfare. While South Africans have long been able to order from Amazon, that often incurred heavy shipping and import tax fees. Not to mention the weeks-long waiting period. With South Africa now an officially supported region, goods ordered from the local storefront are displayed in ZAR with the promise of same-day and next-day delivery. What’s in it for us, Amazon? As part of its Day One launch, Amazon South Africa is offering customers free delivery on their first order. If you move…