Author: Brett Venter

If you have more money than you know how to spend, why not stick a sliver of T-Rex tooth onto the rear panel of your iPhone 17 Pro Max? That’s something that luxury brand Caviar wants you to do. It also reckons that some folks will spend R74,000 ($4,500) to do it. Unlike the company’s iPhone 17 Pro Jobs Edition, this one isn’t a complete phone conversion. Instead, the Relict add-on is… well, an add-on. It’s a titanium-backed panel that attaches to the rear of the 17 Pro Max using Apple’s MagSafe system. On days when you don’t want to…

It’s a fact of life that some things get harder as you get older. One of those is the use of technology, something that local outfit SimpliFone has set out to address. Or at least mitigate. Unlike Alcatel’s (and others’) versions of accessible phones, SimpliFone takes a standard Android smartphone and adds a custom overlay that should, in theory, be simpler for folks who struggle with the regular Android OS. Performance doesn’t matter We were sent a pre-set-up Samsung Galaxy A06 with the company’s software for this review. We’re not going to bother with the hardware spec for this one…

We’ve seen C Seed’s N1 series of TVs before, but they weren’t partnered with Bugatti at the time. The TV set that folds and unfolds itself was monstrously expensive at the time. This one promises to be even more so. You can’t really say this TV’s full title — the C Seed Bugatti N1 — without expecting your wallet to commit harakiri due to its inadequacy. Not that you are allowed to know the price up front (which is how you know you can’t afford it). Still, if you can stuff a French supercar into your garage, you can probably…

Portable monitors are a thing now, given how powerful other mobile devices have become. The  Asus ZenScreen Color ePaper is an interesting candidate for your next best 13.3in option. Of course, if you’re a serious gamer, you should probably select something else. Heavy readers, though? They’re in for a good time. The company officially debuted its Color ePaper monitor at this year’s Computex, but they’re being coy about when (and where) it’ll launch. We suspect it’ll be soon, though. Asus’ latest communication says folks keen on the ZenScreen MP13UC and the attendant Stand ATS01D should “please contact your local ASUS…

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway. If you’re watching anyway and are keen to contribute to science at the same time, researchers at Bielefeld University are looking for you. Well, they’re looking for you if you own a specific wearable tracker. The researchers are “investigating how fans of different national teams physically respond to match events during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.” It’s not the first study of its type. Previous attempts found links between football fans’ heart rates and stress levels. So Bielefeld University is running the play again. World Cup scientist Initially, the research study was confined…

Japanese company Sharp is a tough brand to buy in South Africa. The new Karada Mate Watch wearable could be worth going out of your way for, though. The device makes one particularly impressive claim — that it can track your calories without needing its user to input details. That’s a big deal. Calorie tracking isn’t unusual for wearables, but it typically involves user input. The Karada Mate Watch reckons it does away with much of that by natively registering how much you’ve eaten. That’s… pretty ambitious for Sharp’s first-ever smartwatch. Karada, Mate. Watch. This is due to a new…

The Apple lineup is already considered premium almost across the board. Just like medical aid and insurance, that premium is about to go up. Company head Tim Cook, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, confirmed what we’re expecting from… every tech brand this year. It’s not like companies need a reason to raise prices, but the stated reason for this particular one is artificial intelligence. Specifically, the global semiconductor shortage that the tech has prompted. It’s not like the Fruit Company isn’t alone on this — Huawei recently took a similar step. Poisoned Apple? According to Cook, “price increases are…

Google has released a new feature, possibly for the explicit purpose of reminding folks that Google Earth is a thing that exists. The satellite-mapped representation of our planet now includes a (very) basic flight simulator. If you’ve always wanted to zip over your home but are too cheap to buy something mapped by GeoEye, this is a free alternative. Google Earth has crashed Very free, as it turns out. The web browser interface is extremely simple, sticking a horizon marker and some floaty controls into the Google Earth window. It’s easy enough to access — just load up your chosen…

Motorola isn’t a name we see often in relation to South Africa in 2026, so the Moto Edge 70 was… somewhat of a surprise. The brand has changed hands a few times over the years, from its dumbphone origins (when it was everywhere in SA) to, eventually, Lenovo. Its absence, based on our time with the Edge 70, really should be corrected. Hard. This is because, for the price, you’re getting a surprisingly capable smartphone. There are some concessions, which are to be expected from a sub-R10,000 handset, but fewer than anybody might reasonably expect. Plus, Motorola has managed to…

We tend to file oddball portable computers under the cyberdeck category. The CG Deck, from a company called Mogozen, is just the latest addition. That’s our placement, though, as the small team behind the project isn’t explicit that this little Linux machine should join their ranks. Still, the hardware looks the part. Hit the CG Deck  The hardware isn’t as faceted as we’d like, but few portable computers will function as a gaming console or a Linux server. The CG Deck features a swappable interface, so you can yank out the small QWERTY keyboard and drop in a set of…