Author: Brett Venter

It’s been a little more than a week since we started driving the Peugeot Landtrek 2.2D 4Action double cab bakkie. Initially, the vehicle came across as just a little too big for comfort. It rides high, the wheelbase is long, and putting it into a crowded parking lot could be terrifying. But much can change in just a few days. Peugeot’s bakkie isn’t perfect, but it’s got plenty going for it. There’s loads of tech inside, but you don’t have to use any of it. The bits that aren’t optional are more or less automatic. The Landtrek sends more than…

Meta is making a fresh push towards home-based hardware, according to a report from The Information. Rather than the Portal or one of its many other failed products, the latest from the social media company could be distressingly humanoid. Max is supposedly a prototype humanoid robot from Mark Zuckerberg’s company. Its existence was revealed by The Information’s sources, which claim the home assistant prototype was developed for Meta by a Chinese manufacturer. The development took about three months, but there’s already supposed to be a second-gen version in the works at the same Chinese company. Meta humanoid The initial version…

Few things are more South African than a mug of Rooibos. Preferably brewed so strong that the liquid remains bright orange no matter how much milk is added. But what if your cup of orange tea had also been to space? That’s what the Rooibos in Space project has in mind, as part of an International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission in the next three months. 17,346 local seeds are set to travel to Voyager Technologies in Texas as part of the project. It’s surprisingly simple — the experiment will “expose the seeds to microgravity and space radiation before they…

Huawei is expected to announce a brand-new sub-brand called either Starlight (in the West) or Xingmang (on its home turf). Among the first releases of these, according to rumours out of China, could be the Starlight O1 Pro. If true, the phone will be an alternative version of Huawei’s wide-bodied Pura X View smartphone. That one has yet to launch here. When it does, it would be nice to also have an alternative version to fiddle with at the same time. According to leaks on China’s Weibo, one of which comes from Digital Chat Station, the new sub-brand won’t pull…

Internet platform Reddit is about to experience a significant change. It will, according to co-founder Steve Huffman, “evolve…to being a primarily logged-in experience.” Previously, users could lurk on the platform and read comments and arguments (mostly the latter) without logging in to the mobile app or via a web browser. That’s going away. But at least the platform isn’t being entirely sneaky about why it’s doing this. The change will supposedly improve personalisation, which will give users the “best version of Reddit.” But there are also a few benefits for the company. Login? Reddit.  “We’re making the change because it’s…

Google has launched an all-new feature for Chrome users in the United States. Enhanced autofill, a function that trawls your Gmail for additional information it can type out for you, won’t stay in the US. It’ll eventually get here, and everywhere else, but it’s worth examining why the search giant is doing this. Google has built its empire on making products that help it make more products. Gmail, Maps, Search — all those (and others) promised convenience while obscuring what the company was actually doing. Mostly, it was gathering data, eventually leading to the AdWords and Ads platforms. The business…

Exactly where the Citrus L05 came from is somewhat of a mystery for Stuff. It just magically turned up at our offices, in a box with no contact details, one day. At first glance, it’s a very cheap (less than R300 counts as ‘cheap’, right?) dumbphone. Look again, and there are a few surprises inside. The first of these is the presence of three slots behind the phone’s removable battery. Space for two SIM cards and a microSD card are options we’re not used to seeing in any phone. But it’s not the most surprising thing about this mysterious, cheap…

Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 8 has barely finished being unloaded from the truck, and Fold 9 rumours have already started. Details from a blogger in South Korea offer suggestions about what might be coming, but there’s nothing concrete yet. According to writer Lanzuk on the Naver blog, Samsung is attempting two model combinations for a wide foldable follow-up. The report suggests there will be two wide foldables in 2027, but it doesn’t offer any insight as to whether there will be another Fold Ultra model. Choose a Fold 9 The rumour involves model names and little else. The South Korean company…

One of the main disappointments in our time with the Pura 90s Pro was the loss of the 1in camera sensor. Huawei’s newly announced Pura 90 Plus corrects that oversight, though it only does so for China… so far. The Pura 90 Pro was just a rumour a week or so ago, but it’s now official and on sale. There’s travel (or import fees) involved if you must have one this month. If you wait a bit, it’ll eventually come to you. In the meantime, you can pore over the official specs and the graduated purple colour option for this…

The Rolleiflex is an iconic twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera from German outfit Franke & Heidecke that dates back about a hundred years. If you’ve seen one — and specimens are still floating about today — you’ll know about it. If you happen to be a vintage camera fan and a horologist, you’re about to be especially well treated. The Rolleiflex × Artra Camera Dual Watch is inbound, supposedly launching soon. The wristwatch based on the century-old German design is limited to just 100 numbered units, and it’ll cost buyers around R33,500 (HK$15,800). As wristwatches go, it’s positively affordable. Weird Rolleiflex,…