Author: Brett Venter

The evening of 7 September will see a blood moon rising over South Africa as a total lunar eclipse takes place. The spectacle should be entirely visible around the country, depending on your cloud cover, but there is more than one way to watch the celestial phenomenon. The best way to watch the blood moon is the same as it’s ever been — using whatever is at your disposal is preferred. But there are still a few days to head out and grab some kit for a better look at this rare lunar event. 1 – Just look up The…

It’s the start of Spring, which can only mean that Samsung’s Galaxy A07 is here to tempt you into buying the same budget smartphone the company launched last year. With just enough changes to allow the South Korean company to stick it in a different box, of course. Samsung has even kept the Galaxy A06’s original price point. You’ll pay R2,500 for the company’s newest budget handset, while last year’s model has dropped to R2,000. If you’re not too fussed about internal storage space, the Galaxy A06 might be the choice to make. Exploring the Galaxy A07 That’s because the…

Apple’s MacBook Air models are consistently good value for money, and we had no reason to expect the MacBook Air M4 to be any different. At R22,500 for the base 13in model, which we had in for review, if you’re choosing between macOS and Windows, and are looking to avoid drama (and overbearing AI), Apple’s hardware is the way to go. Just… don’t expect too many surprises for your money. If you splurged on an M3 MacBook Air, you probably don’t need to buy this one (unless you’ve done something horrible to last year’s model). M1 and M2 owners, or…

Ever wanted to train an LLM for someone else, free of charge? If so, great. Users of Anthropic’s Claude large language model are being asked to consent to their chat data, including coding work, being folded into the model, to “help us deliver even more capable, useful AI models.” Claude Free, Pro, and Max users, as well as those who use Claude Code from the previously-mentioned accounts, are being asked to confirm the usage (or non-usage) of their chat data to train up the AI. In return for a supposedly bolstered artificial intelligence, users will have their data retained for…

No modern product lineup is complete without a ‘Pro’ edition product, and the new Plaud Note Pro is that product for the AI note-taking company. A successor to the Plaud Note, the only physical AI-powered gadget we’ve ever encountered that seems actually useful, the new version brings a couple of new functions to the table. The major change is more advanced human interactions, letting users dictate to the various AI systems which parts of the meeting or phone call being recorded are particularly important. The interaction is simple — touch a button on the Plaud Note Pro and it’ll remember…

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 7 is absolutely the best example of a folding handset in this particular range. Of Samsung’s two devices this year (so far), we’d actually give the Flip 7 the lead in the looks department. That doesn’t make the Fold 7 unattractive, but the clamshell design offers a more unusual look when folded away. You can tell it’s a foldable right off, which is what you want from a R28,000 smartphone. That counts for something, but the new outer screen is definitely the star of the hardware show in 2025. It’s increased in size over the Flip…

Apple (and Samsung) cannot get a break. First, the South Korean company tries to suck some oxygen from the iPhone presentation, and now Huawei wants to unveil its new MatePad Mini on the same day as… whatever Samsung is cooking up. That means 4 September will be a busy day for everyone. Huawei will reveal a new tablet, while Samsung will attempt to avoid having its toes stepped on too hard. We’re keen on anything that gives the world more lovely tech to play with, and the Mini version of Huawei’s MatePad sounds — according to rumour, at least –…

DJI has long been about letting its users create recordings in the most portable manner possible, but the new Mic 3 is about to make your gear bag lighter (and more versatile) than ever. The successor to the obviously-named Mic 2 puts up to four of its wireless microphones on as many subjects at once. It’ll take some extra financial outlay to adequately mic up your impromptu panel discussion, though, as the Mic 3 ships with two of DJI’s revamped microphones. Additional bits are needed (and must be paid for) to wring the full potential from the company’s new tech.…

Google’s headfirst drive to ram artificial intelligence capabilities into every product under its umbrella continues. The newest casualty recipient of an AI upgrade is the company’s Translate platform, which has always been handy for misinterpreting what Hideo Kojima is saying on Twitter. Now it’ll be handy for teaching you a new language, provided that language is Spanish, French, or (if you’re already Spanish or French) English. Those are the initial supported languages, but with Translate capable of understanding almost 250 different tongues, others will be added later. Translating for Google The second wave of languages coming to Google Translate’s customised…

WhatsApp’s AI writing assistant didn’t spend very long in beta at all, rolling out to American users and other unspecified countries, with the remainder of the English-speaking planet likely also in Meta’s sights. Called Writing Help, it promises that users can “review the suggestions from AI in various styles such as professional, funny, or supportive that you can select or continue editing to deliver that perfect message.” The reason for creating the feature is obvious: So Zuckerberg’s Meta can claim ever-increasing numbers of AI users without having to build something useful. As it stands, Writing Help could lead to some…