Author: Brett Venter

What are you going to do about it,” Eskom cried. “Make your own damn power?!” “Yes,” the country replied. “We’ll install generators!” Here’s how you can join the revolution while keeping the home fires er… burning Deja vu Remember, in 2008 when load shedding first turned up and we thought it was done and dusted? Remember, in 2015, when it came back and we were all surprised? Remember how, in 2019, load shedding rocked up again? If it does go away (again), suspiciously close to a national election (or a pandemic, as it happens), you can be assured that load…

We’ve seen Lego tackle all sorts of themes of late — because that’s where the money is. The company’s previously given Mario a little space in the (blocky) sun but there’s something even better on the horizon: An NES Lego set. A huge NES Lego set. Such a tease https://twitter.com/LEGO_Group/status/1282646017616367616? Lego Group’s official Twitter account teased the new set earlier today, with a short clip showing the upcoming box of block in silhouette. But if you’re the sort who hates waiting, you’re in luck. The full box has been leaked already, by Hong Kong-based site VJGamer, who have spoiled the…

It seems a little strange to us that Samsung appears to be treating its flagship smartphones as test-beds for features that later roll out to… shall we say, less-capable handsets in the Galaxy range. Camera features were sent back in time last year, from Note 10 to the S10 range, and that’s becoming a pattern. One that Samsung fans might be keen on since the latest raft of improvements have come from Samsung’s Galaxy S20 handsets and are being given to the company’s midrange headliners: the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71. On camera The bulk of the new features concern…

Ask yourself, honestly, how many cellphone chargers you have at home. Unless you’re prone to losing them, odds are you’ve got a box of older cablers and charging blocks hiding somewhere in your house. Well, good news everyone! Samsung won’t be adding to that number in 2021, according to a report from Korean website ETNews. Sarcasm included In case it wasn’t obvious, we’re not entirely enthusiastic about the report. Samsung will apparently be leaving chargers out of the box for some smartphone models in 2021, the rationale being that it’ll make the handsets cheaper (and we desperately need that) and…

Samsung, confirming what we already know, has made the date official. Its next Unpacked event, which’ll be a 2020-mandated online-only affair, is taking place on 5 August this year. At the event will be… the Samsung Galaxy Note 20. That’s not speculation, because the South Korean tech giant has become predictable. Also, the official invitation hints at the Note 20’s stylus. Samsung only has one flagship with a stylus so unless there’s something very weird going on, it’s Note time. Everyone’s invited https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvFjP2ivZFw&feature=emb_logo Typically a Samsung launch is visible online, while there’s also a  physical event for the folks in…

LG’s Velvet 5G smartphone was supposed to turn up in SA a fair while ago but… well, you know how things are. Countries shut down, tech launches get pushed back, life happens. But things are resuming, slowly, which means we’re about to get a decent look at the likes of LG’s newest smartphone. Like, officially official. Just not live and in person, because that’s cancelled for 2020. Deja vu Only, since you’re reading Stuff, you already know a whole lot about what that phone entails. We’ve known since the mid-April that the LG Velvet 5G would feature an all-new design…

It’s a good time to stay indoors.  It feels good to be back. That’s right, Stuff Magazine is back after being knocked off course (along with the rest of the planet) by the global pandemic. It’s taken a lot of getting used to, making a magazine without being in the same room as the rest of the team. Putting together these pages tends to be more personal than you’d expect. Still, if remote working is good enough for much of the rest of the planet, who are we to argue? And it’s the pandemic that’s foremost on our minds with…

There was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago when it seemed like the next big thing in tech would be Google’s Glass. If you’re a little young for that, Glass was a set of smart glasses that would have granted augmented reality features to users’ lives. Alas, the tech was intrusive — giving rise to the term ‘Glassholes’ — and ultimately unfeasible. The project wound down in 2015. But it could well be on its way back. Google announced last week that it was acquiring a company called North, “…a pioneer in human-computer interfaces and smart glasses.” By…

It’s a universal truth that if you didn’t enter a competition or a lottery, and you win, then someone’s trying to scam you. And, obviously, the scam works otherwise it would have gone away. So if you didn’t enter this giveaway, which sees two Cubot smartphones — the Cubot P30 and the Cubot King Kong Mini — being given to new homes this Friday, you are right to be suspicious. But you won’t have to be, because we’ve got all the receipts. In a manner of speaking. We know when you entered, right down to the second, and we also…

You should be aware by now that one of the dirtiest pieces of tech you own is your smartphone. That shouldn’t be surprising — you take it pretty much everywhere with you, including the bathroom (don’t lie) so it’s bound to pick up germs. And everyone’s very concerned about very small things that can cause large amounts of human harm right now. The COVID pandemic is probably not the main reason Samsung built its ITFIT UV Sterilizer With Wireless Charging peripheral but that’s what it’s going to be used for. Clean getaway Samsung’s device isn’t much to look at. While…