Author: Brett Venter

You know that it’s okay to skip an instalment of FIFA, right? EA’s FIFA 2021 caught it in the neck at launch — specifically its Nintendo Switch version — because of how few changes had actually been made to the game in the course of a year. And being upset about that is fine. But FIFA is all about football and the game has been around since the second or third century BC — or around the 12th century if you’re an England supporter. And in video game form, the sport has been digitally represented since the 1970s. The FIFA…

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll remember that last year a new smartphone factory opened in South Africa, for a brand called Mara. Well, it’s just added another facility to its list here in SA, with the opening of a Mara Experience Store, owned by South African personality Chante Jantjies, at Maponya Mall in Soweto. This is Mara why And the store isn’t going to be the only one. There are another fifty of these things, owned either independently or by the company itself, planned for South Africa before the end of 2022. We reckon they’d like to go faster…

Who would have seen the Tecno Spark 5 coming? Us, for one. Part of working at Stuff means keeping an eye on devices that aren’t necessarily available in South Africa. We’ve been aware of Tecno as a brand for several years now and while the Chinese smartphone maker has its fingers in the African market, it just hasn’t managed to get to the South African market. Until now, that is, with the Tecno Spark 5. Which, on first glance, is one heck of a deal. And that’s because the Tecno Spark 5 will set you back just R3,000. That’s the…

It’s hasn’t been all that long since South Africa got its hands on Apple’s cellular Watch versions but it seems we got them just in time. Streaming service Spotify has launched the ability to stream audio direct from your wrist with the Apple Watch, without needing an iPhone in between to handle the work. Spotify the difference The feature isn’t exactly unexpected. Spotify was testing it out in September this year, but the feature has now begun rolling out to greater numbers of users. When the feature is active, users are greeted with text that says ‘Want to stream on…

Harley Davidson is an iconic name when it comes to motorcycles, conjuring up images of… well, people with far too much money these days, but once upon a time it was an outlaw image — a bit like Trevor from GTA V. Harley’s gone from fossil fuels to electric motors, a process that took a good few years. But with the launch of the Serial 1 Cycle Company, switching to man-power (or woman-power, it’s all the same thing) shouldn’t take nearly as long. We’re totally Serial (1 Cycle Company) Only they’re not really making bicycles. Not the traditional conveyance that…

This year Apple, like Samsung, is pushing its luck a little. It wasn’t enough we got more than the usual number of Unpacked events or that Apple’s year-end reveal was split in two. Oh no, Apple decided to split up its event into three, with the final outing titled — appropriately — One More Thing. One More Thing Which, if you’ve been paying attention over the last decade and a bit, is usually what Apple head Steve Jobs (and, later, Tim Cook) would say at the close of a keynote to blow the minds of everyone watching. It generally worked…

Oppo, a new smartphone brand that launched in SA last month, has been clamouring for your attention — though they’ve only launched one smartphone here so far. That’s about to change, as the company’s A15 and A53s smartphones are set to launch this coming weekend. 7 November, to be precise, which is a bit of an odd launch date. Who launches a smartphone on a Saturday?  Oppo in sight We’ve already seen the Oppo A72 in action, now it’s time for the other handsets to get a look in. The Oppo A53s is a 6.5in smartphone that sports a 90Hz…

Skyworth is one of the bigger TV brands in the world but you wouldn’t guess it if you were just checking out the brand’s TVs on the shelf. They don’t have the visibility afforded to the Korean giants but the Chinese tech-maker is hoping to change that. There are three new TV models headed to South Africa, with the first turning up next month. Also headed to market is the brand’s first soundbar, the Skyworth SS330. The Skyworth is the limit There are three TV variants on the cards — the Skyworth SUC9300, the SUC9300 Pro and then the SXC9800…

It’s been quite some time since we got our hand on a literal TV from Skyworth. We’ve seen them recently but haven’t really had all that much time to play with them, beyond a couple of hours at events with all sorts of other people pawing at the controls — ah, good times. Those days are done. To get back to the point, we recently got some extended face-time with the Skyworth UB7500, a 55in 4K LED (also available in a 65in size) from the same brand that makes some of the cheapest sets in the country. That’d be Sinotec,…

Porsche Design is all over the tech world — usually in the smartphone arena but it’s made the odd foray into computer tech. This time it’s a full-on expedition, as the Acer Book RS is the child of a new partnership between Acer and Porsche Design. If you guessed that the Acer Book RS is a notebook, congratulations — you pay attention to header images. Acer Book RS, dissected Acer’s new notebook has a few things going for it. As is usual with collaborations like this, it looks more streamlined than usual and, also typically, sports high-end materials. The cover…