Author: Brett Venter

Some ideas make perfect sense. One of those ideas is, weirdly, putting samurai in a space setting. Sol Shogunate is an excellent (and brand new) example of just this, though we’d also have accepted a game revolving around Frank Herbet’s Ginaz Swordmasters. Still, this one — the creation of a new developer called Chaos Manufacturing — looks to have potential. The aesthetics are something we’ve seen before, a weird hybrid of PlatinumGames’ Vanquish (notably the powered armour) and the frenetic combat (and female protagonist) from Shift Up’s Stellar Blade. It works. If you’re up for a more vertical version of…

It’s difficult to think of a way to change the average laptop in any novel manner. Asus has given it a shot, adding special control peripherals to the keyboard area of some of its ProArt laptops. Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable, a still-rumoured gaming notebook, is targeting the other flat surface. It’s not the first time Lenovo has launched a rollable display, having already put its ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable out in the world. While that one extends upward to ensure that you can always scroll a little further in Excel, its Legion Pro will expand sideways. Great for flight…

Uber Intelligence, a new function in the ride-sharing apps for its advertising partners, has just recruited you (and everyone else who uses the service) as Intelligence operatives. The company just announced the ‘feature’, a “data and insights platform that gives brands a clearer view of how people move through the world, from the trips they take to the meals they order.” If you need it spelled out, that means the data Uber has gathered from its users, encompassing travel and meal orders, is up for grabs. It’ll be suitably anonymised (“pseudonymized”, according to Uber), resulting in “a privacy-enhancing way to…

If you’ve been on the lookout for a new high-spec Toyota to drool over, the new GT GR and GT GR3 models will be happy to set your saliva production into overdrive. The two new vehicles are prototypes of the Japanese company’s motorsport and performance ambitions, intended to “showcase technologies never before used in a Toyota production car.” Toyota is all about futuristic vehicles, when it’s not releasing the more reliable and boring sort you see on the road every day. The GT GR and GR3 are more forward-looking than the latter, eventually functioning as “future flagships for Toyota’s performance…

Kohler, the company behind the Dekoda toilet camera and several other smart toilet gadgets, appears to have fallen short of its claimed “end-to-end encryption”. Unless it meant that it can see your rear end from its end, in which case, they were being largely honest. Okay, so you might not wind up with pictures of your butthole on the internet as a result of the smart device maker’s security issues, but since the company “can access the data stored on its servers” from its toilet cameras, somebody could well get a gander at… something. And then use it to train…

It’s been just a few short months since Meta unveiled its latest crop of AI-featuring wearable devices, and while the company has received positive feedback from these, Zuckerberg and friends obviously feel there’s more they can do. Enter Limitless, a wearable AI device maker newly acquired by the social media/internet giant. The company could well use its tech to release a new type of wearable — one that goes around your neck rather than sitting on your skull. Meta learns new limits It can be argued that AI is hanging around humanity’s neck already like an exceedingly well-cooled albatross, but…

Casio’s wristwear has always been up for a good partnership or two, meaning that the brand’s upcoming Stranger Things crossover isn’t much of a surprise. Branded versions of the company’s  G-Shock DW-5600STT-1 and Vintage AQ-800EST-1A wristwatches are bound for countries outside of Japan. Is South Africa on the list? Perhaps, as both the brand DW-5600STT and AQ-800EST models are listed on Casio’s South African website. Whether you’ll be able to buy them is another matter, but since the availability date is given as December 2025, it may take a while to confirm. Casio turn it up to Eleven As is…

Crocs, the shoes made famous by Idiocracy before the trend of wearing them really took off, has a brand new partnership incoming. Microsoft has paired up with the world’s most hideous (but inexplicably comfortable) shoe in the past, releasing a Windows XP edition of the plastic footwear. Next up? An Xbox-branded set. There is a catch if you’re a South African gamer looking to adorn your feet with plastic game controller replicas. The shoes are only available (for now) on the official Crocs website. You’ll have to join a waitlist to order them, too. What a lot of Crocs The…

Want the most advanced motorcycle helmet in the world? Then cast your eyes towards the Shoei GT-Air 3 Smart, a brain bucket made in conjunction with a company called EyeLights. It’ll cost you a cool R24,000 (€1,200) to protect your cranium with one, but you should be checking out Shoei’s headgear even if it’s not packed with tech. And what tech it is. EyeLights reckons the GT-Air 3 Smart is the world’s first helmet with fully supported augmented reality built into the visor — something we’ve been expecting for some time. BMW has already offered bikers similar tech, in glasses…

One thing you’ll notice with every ‘free’ AI service is that it eventually transitions to paid features. Samsung’s Galaxy AI appears to be no different, with the South Korean company dropping the first hints that you’ll eventually have to give it more money (probably on a monthly basis) to get upcoming functions to work. That doesn’t mean you can discard your Galaxy AI-featuring smartphone in disgust right now — the existing set of ‘free’ functions appears to be staying free. For a while at least. Anything new, though? That could be another matter entirely. Paying Samsung’s price The folks over…