Author: Brett Venter

Ulefone handsets are now commonly available in South Africa, so hopefully the brand will launch its new Armor 27T Plus and Pro Plus handsets here in the near future. The lineup adds camera options we’ve seen in phones before — night vision, infrared, and thermal cameras — but it’s always cool to see the options appear in other venues. As you might expect from the name and feature set, these are rugged phones from Ulefone. They join the existing Armor range (you can buy a Ulefone Armor X32 today for R3,800 if you can’t live without a 20MP night vision…

Canon’s PowerShot range has turned 30, which means it’s time for some nostalgia. The Japanese company has reissued its PowerShot G7 X Mark III as a limited anniversary edition. It makes some cosmetic changes, but remains largely the same camera that you can still buy… basically everywhere. The anniversary edition of the compact point-and-shoot is a little scarcer. Even though it’s only supposed to become available from 28 April this year, pre-orders on Canon’s American site have topped out. Maybe South Africa’s outlets will have to deal with less rabid fans (besides you, obviously) and the PowerShot G7 X Mark…

It’s been some time since Stuff saw one of MSI’s Raider notebooks in the office. The newest version, the Raider 18 HX AI (A2XW), sticks to what makes the series an excellent one. Expect beefy hardware, enough weight to curve your spine if you attempt to use it as a portable device, and truly abysmal battery life. At least it’s not as heavy as the company’s Titan range. You also needn’t expect much in the way of imaginative design. MSI’s gaming notebooks haven’t evolved much over the years, with the largest change being more aggressive accents while keeping the same…

Packard Bell doesn’t make phones, do they? Based on the handset we’ve got sitting on our desks, that would be an incorrect assumption. In reality, the Packard Bell Daytona G16 Pro is most likely a rebadged unit from… elsewhere. Exactly where is something we’ll get to, but since you can buy one for around R2,000, why not give it a chance? From the outside, it looks just like a… well, a phone made by a company like Packard Bell. The badge and branding are authentic enough. Provided you’re not as pedantic about phones as we are, you would probably never…

TCL seems to be making every other bit of tech these days, so why not a few extra smartphones? The company has quietly launched its K70 budget phone lineup. How quietly? There appear to be three of them in the series, but details are available for only two. The details appeared on a Thai website, confirming the existence of TCL’s K70 and K70 Power Android handsets. The starting price, converted from bahts to rands? About R6,700 for the Power variant, which gets its suffix from its larger battery capacity. K70: The Budgetmaker Both smartphones use MediaTek’s Helio G100 Turbo chipset, which…

The thing about avoiding Robot Overlords™ taking over is that you have to build them as slightly less capable than the average human. The Mirror Me Bolt humanoid robot’s creators didn’t get that memo. The ‘bot, which remains confined to the lab (for now), will blast past any human who isn’t a dedicated — possibly professional — runner. The Chinese company behind the robot, Mirror Me, took to X to show off its new creation, putting it on a treadmill in a match between the company’s CEO and the unstoppable humanoid. It’s called Bolt for a reason — it’s very…

Tyme Bank has implemented all sorts of tech-related features since its launch. Now? It’s GoTyme. Literally. The online, branchless bank has rebranded itself to GoTyme Bank, though its initial identity will hang on for a while, sharing dual billing with the new branding. You know, until folks get the idea. Part of the change will include an updated (and suitably branded) app experience for users, but, in corporate speak, the rebrand more “clearly expresses the bank’s global alignment and focus on delivering a modern, digital-first banking experience that is simple, transparent, and affordable.” It’s… GoTyme Some of the bank’s existing…

Online retailer Takealot began testing its new TakealotNow service in South Africa towards the end of last year, and it must be going well. The brand has announced that it’s spreading its quick-fire delivery tendrils into KwaZulu-Natal, specifically in and around the Durban area. As with the initial test, it’s rolling out the feature in areas with large population (and therefore logistics) density. Durban just happens to be next on the list. Takealot of shopping According to TakealotNOW head Marnus Engelbrecht, the feature “started as a pilot project in 2023, and has grown rapidly ever since. We have expanded to…

Artificial intelligence, if you aren’t sick of hearing the term yet, has serious potential behind the concept. A computer system that solves the world’s problems? Who wouldn’t want that? Most philosophers, for one. When humans have nothing to strive for, they create discord and discontent. Those things, that friction is a requirement for developing agency and self-governance. It’s like Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath says, “You won’t know your worth now, son, until you take a hit.” Anything that solves all of your problems will probably kill you as a human being. Happily, unless you’re in charge of ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok,…

Once up a time, it was fun to hit up Wikipedia, choose a random page, and go link-hopping. Now, with shorter attention spans, there’s no time for that sort of thing. The answer? Xikipedia, a reworking of the popular online encyclopedia that renders the pages into a sort of social media feed. Xikipedia replicates the sort of thing you’d find on X, Threads, or even (if you have the correct tastes) BlueSky… but without any of the trolling, memes, and general negativity you’ll find on those platforms. Our first look at the reworking gave us immediate access to Joe Pesci,…