Author: Brett Venter

Microsoft makes some excellent hardware but we couldn’t really get excited about any of it until the hardware launched here at home. So we’re really pleased to see that Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 has been announced and it’s looking even better than the company’s previous outing. On the inside, at least. The announcement is more of a refresh, with the same stylish chassis remaining in use. But you probably won’t mind much when you’re using Microsoft’s most powerful machine to date. Under the Surface Laptop 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbImHy6X8eM&feature=emb_logo The major change is the processor lineup for both the Surface Laptop 4’s…

There’s an Apple event just around the corner, which must mean there’s a Samsung event just around the corner. A new Samsung Unpacked has just been announced, and it’s awfully well-timed, as always. Hey, we don’t make the coincidences, we just see them. At the 28 April 2021 event, Samsung’s expected to announce its “most powerful Galaxy” to date. Those are Samsung’s words, but the company tends to back up any bragging it might do. What isn’t mentioned is how every Samsung Galaxy announcement for the past… oh… four or five years has featured their most powerful device to date.…

Apple’s Q2 event may have been spilled a little early but it was only a matter of time before it was announced. It’s called Spring Loaded and it kicks off on 20 April at 10:00 PDT. Here at home, Apple’s newest announcement takes place on the same day at 19:00 SAST. Spring Loaded.  Apple’s tagline is always a point of speculation, so that’s just what we’re going to do. Obviously, it references the time the event takes place this year, and Apple’s event is likely to be ‘loaded’ with content for us to marvel over. But there’s also the possibility…

Microsoft has purchased speech-recognition firm Nuance for the princely sum of $16 billion — basically, at $56 (R820) a share. You might think that this is no big deal (besides the money that’s changed hands) but it rather is. You see, Nuance created the technology that Apple’s digital assistant Siri is built around. But somehow we don’t think Microsoft is after a better digital assistant with this purchase. Nuance is also responsible for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a speech recognition software used by people with disabilities and those too lazy to type things out by hand. Mostly, though, it’s used in medical…

Samsung — you guys know who Samsung are, we don’t have to explain them — and Standard Bank are teaming up in SA to get more of the South Korean company’s tech into hands across the country. The newly-announced partnership will see Standard Bank credit card owners able to finance Samsung tech at 0% interest — for a limited time. Shopping Samsung How it works is that you’ll have to purchase a device of some sort from the local Samsung online store, to the value of R5,000 or more. When you’re paying (with your Standard Bank plastic, remember?), you select…

We can kinda see why Samsung didn’t announce its new Galaxy Quantum 2 closer to 1 April this year — the handset is the company’s second to include quantum cryptography, in the form of a quantum random number generator (QRNG) made by a company called ID Quantique. But, as with most really cool things, you can’t have one. Not right now, at any rate. The Galaxy Quantum 2 is being launched in South Korea only for the moment, through the country’s SK Telecom service provider. Which is a little bit of a pity. Galaxy Quantum 2: Quantumania ID Quantique’s QRNG…

Samsung first released its stepped-down-from-flagship-specs S20 Fan Edition (FE) handset last year, so we’ve been expecting the Galaxy S21 FE to turn up sometime this year. That time is nigh, as the handset appears to have broken cover in the form of a leaked image or two. The images come by way of OnLeaks, known for very early and very accurate smartphone information, so we’ve got little reason to suspect anything amiss. Here’s what the leaked images tell us. FE-eling it out The obvious? The Galaxy S21 FE will look an awful lot like the vanilla Galaxy S21. The front…

Last week we saw streaming app Spotify roll out the ability to control the service using a series of voice commands and the key phrase ‘Hey Spotify’. Because what else were they going to use? But every new feature includes more data collection, which is just what’s happening with the music app. And since we’re becoming more data-conscious, the service decided it might be a plan to detail exactly what it’s collecting from you, and how it’s using it. This might be the most transparent document we’ve seen from a large tech company explaining what it’s doing and why. So……

Popular fiction promised us homes that respond to our every command. In this issue of Stuff Magazine, we help you to move closer than ever to that futuristic ideal, without the need for a contractor to rewire your entire house. Be sure to check out our cover feature to see all the gear and gadgets you can install today to make your living space more responsive to your needs.  It’s not quite Tony Stark’s JARVIS-powered pad but it’ll do until resident AI and automated… everything comes along.  If there’s one piece of tech you need to own (not counting a…

Your webcam, if you have one, probably looks like a webcam. There’s a flat, shiny sensor and it only sees you when it’s on. Right? Not so the Eyecam, a project involving a webcam that looks and reacts like a living chunk of human head perched on top of your computer monitor. The effect is… intriguing… and absolutely terrifying at the same time. We’re not sure about you but having a roving eye constantly following you around is something that only works in turn-based fantasy RPGs, or Dragon’s Dogma. It’s not for day-to-day, is what we’re saying. And yet… this…