Author: Brett Venter

We get it, you’re a Super Mario (or just a Nintendo) super-fan. But just how far does that go? There are all sorts of limited edition gear starring the little red-clad plumber and while Tag Heuer’s new limited Connected Android Wear device isn’t even the most expensive wristwear we’ve seen featuring Ninty’s mascot, it could well be one of the coolest. Smartwatching out for Super Mario There’s not much difference between the standard Tag Heuer Connected and the Mario-sporting version in terms of actual performance. It’s a 45mm device, with a 430mAh battery that Tag reckons will last you a…

‘Galactic Musk’ sounds like an Axe body spray variant but instead it’s what you get when SpaceX’s Elon Musk has booked a ticket to space on Virgin Galactic. ‘Virgin Galactic Musk’, however, describes the sort of person who thinks the Axe body spray idea is a good one. Seriously, though, SpaceX’s Elon Musk has, according to Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson, booked a seat on one of his company’s SpaceShip craft to travel to the edge of space. Which is fine, after all. The Muskinator (literally nobody calls him that) can afford it. Elon Musk knows a bargain when he…

Richard Branson has become the first billionaire to ride his own rocket into space, successfully heading to the edge of the great beyond and back over the weekend. Unlike Bezos and Musk’s efforts, Virgin Galactic is intended to function primarily as a tourism company but, as with Jurassic Park (assuming it were real), travelling off this planet isn’t going to be cheap. We just need our space right now By which we mean, the odds of the average person affording a trip on one of Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered SpaceShip craft are low. Unless you have R3.6 million lying around doing…

Harley Davidson’s first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, led to the brand being spun off into its own company, and the LiveWire One is the first bike to issue forth from that place. Detailed by the company in a recent release, the One launches in the States a little later this month with one important improvement over its predecessor — it’s a little bit cheaper. A real LiveWire One Which is the ideal situation for any EV, even those of the two-wheeled variety. The original LiveWire launched with a price tag over the R400,000 ($30,000) mark, so it’s kinda nice to…

Finance and payments company Square is working on creating a hardware version of a bitcoin wallet — because who wouldn’t want to lose a physical item containing several hundred thousand rands worth of currency? In all seriousness, it’s a very interesting idea and quite a technical challenge as well. The idea was first floated by company CEO Jack Dorsey (he of Twitter fame) in June this year, but it looks like it’s actually going to happen. Square off in the ring https://twitter.com/JesseDorogusker/status/1413222597207134214 Square’s hardware lead Jesse Dorogusker explained that the company wants to use the innovation to “…make bitcoin custody…

Qualcomm is inside many smartphones but it doesn’t make any smartphones. That’s still true, but it does have one that it can call it’s very own — a new handset made in partnership with Asus called the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders. Kinda just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? The catch? You’ve got to belong to the company’s new Snapdragon Insider community in order to purchase one. Oh, and it’ll cost you at least R22,000 ($1,500). Quality control from Qualcomm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_BF3KMUZWs&feature=emb_logo But is Qualcomm’s new, awkwardly-named device worth shelling out more than twenty grand for? On the face of it,…

It’s basically the never-ending franchise, like Call of Duty but without the guns — now Ubisoft’s got something a little different in mind for the Assassin’s Creed series. And we’re not sure how to feel about it. First revealed by Bloomberg, the French game developer has since confirmed that Assassin’s Creed Infinity is actually a thing. Ubisoft hasn’t detailed too much but the original report claims that it’s set to be an “evolving online platform”, along the lines of Fortnite, or perhaps Call of Duty Warzone would be a more apt comparison. Ubisoft’s going hard online Ubisoft officially confirmed that…

We might not trust them but it’s hard to deny that Facebook’s trying to make a serious go of its Portal range of video communication devices. The newest feature to grace the range of face-watching, information-collecting communication devices from Facebook is the inclusion of Harry Potter-themed augmented reality (AR) functions. The only downside, besides only being available on a Facebook-owned data-collection device? The feature’s limited to users in the States and the UK. Portal to another reality Facebook revealed the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tie-in in a blog post on its website, explaining that Portal users can use…

Noted leaker Evan Blass is at it again, sharing yet another pre-announcement look at Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S21 FE smartphone. We’ve seen it turn up a couple of times this year, most recently in June (where it was pointed out that the global chip shortage may hit supplies of the phone in the nards), but this is the best look at the phone yet. Round and round the Galaxy S21 FE goes https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/1412804524679569412? Rather than just a static image this time around, Blass has posted a complete 360° video of Samsung’s upcoming handset. If you’re bored with just the one…

Everyone, even the people who make fun of their drivers, wants a BMW. Why? If you have to ask that question, you’ve never been inside one. They practically drive themselves, they nip through traffic at a flex of the ankle, and they’re awfully comfortable. But they can also cost more than a decent-sized South African property. If you’re a BMW fan but don’t quite have a BMW bank account, it might be time to show your love in a different way. Like, say, a sports watch from the iconic German motoring brand? A few new ones are about to drop…