Author: Brett Venter

The 1980s were a wild time. Music videos were directed by cocaine, fashion was… fluffy, and Roland’s drum machines were everywhere. It’s been a long time since the TR-808 and the TR-909 dominated studios (and the charts), but the new TR-1000 isn’t just a whack at some nostalgia sales. The music brand’s new drum machine is a thoroughly modern take on a very retro physical design. Its full title is the Roland TR-1000 Rhythm Creator, and it’s designed with producers, performers, and sound designers in mind. Roland, the last drumslinger The company says that this latest (re)incarnation “blends analog warmth,…

Any time you see Energizer’s logo emblazoned on a piece of tech that isn’t a battery, you know it’s because that device has a stonking big battery inside. It’s been true of smartphones, and now it’s also true of laptops. Avenir Telecom, a European company, has partnered with the battery specialist to launch a line of laptops. Tabletop Energizer The claim to fame is, of course, massive battery life. So large, in fact, that you’re not allowed to take one of the new Energizer EnergyBook Pro laptops on a plane. The FCC (and presumably other countries’ flight regulators) aren’t thrilled…

Xiaomi’s headline phones don’t typically make it to South Africa via official channels, but the newest release, which includes the Xiaomi 17 Pro and Pro Max, will make you wish that wasn’t the case. The Chinese brand has always turned out excellent hardware at the top of the price bracket, but it’s throwing more extras than ever at users. One of these is the inclusion of a secondary screen at the back of the device. This combination only applies to the Xiaomi 17 Pro and its beefier brother; the standard Xiaomi 17 doesn’t go quite as far to get your…

Logitech has been on a roll this month, first announcing a bunch of gaming hardware and following up with a batch of office headphones. The company’s Signature Slim Solar+ K980 keyboard is the next new product to enter the lineup and, as you might guess from the name, it’s solar powered. Sorta. See, the keyboard uses light to charge its internal battery, but, much like Casio calculators from the days before we asked computers to think for us, the light needn’t come from the sun. The Signature Slim Solar+ is “powered by solar and artificial light sources for zero-hassle wireless…

Casio wristwatches sport an iconic design that has resulted in some, like the Japanese company’s FR-F91W, sticking around for decades. But the problem with a product that has been around since the late twentieth century is that it has failed to keep up with everything else around it. If you’re still clinging to your retro classic, there’s a way to bring it forward to the modern age. A company called Ollie Watch has debuted an upgrade for one of six models of Casio wristwatch from days gone by that adds smartwatch functionality. The best part? Anyone who can operate a…

It’s no secret that AI companies like OpenAI are struggling to make their models do the most important thing they should. No, not giving accurate answers or performing autonomously. Those may be forever out of reach. But turning what they do into revenue —that’s a goal worthy of pursuit. OpenAI’s recent addition to the executive roster, Fidji Simo, the company’s CEO of Applications, is seeking a new head of advertising. The move isn’t a surprising one. The company has been exploring ways to generate revenue that don’t rely on subscriptions, including possibly taking a cut of sales made through the…

Unitree’s G1 humanoid robot has learned a few things since it stepped into the ring to do battle with itself. The Chinese robotics company has released a new video showing some of its new capabilities, all of which revolve around some kind of unarmed combat. Specifically, around martial arts. Though some of its creators spend the opening minutes of the video kicking it around, the G1 manages to quickly right itself and continue with its routine. That may well be the most technically impressive bit, but there’s a little more at the end to worry about, too. That flipping G1…

Samsung, like seemingly everyone else in the tech world, is readying up an augmented reality headset. A new report out of South Korea has put a firm date on the hardware’s reveal, as well as an on-sale date. Those are the same day, according to ET News (Korean), and that day is 21 October. The pending launch of the South Korean company’s headset shouldn’t be a surprise. Samsung said in 2022 that it was aiming for a 2025 release of its Android XR headset, a timeline rumour suggests the company is keeping to. Given that it has worked on whackier…

Japanese company Kubota, a specialist in electrical motors, has unveiled a new autonomous tractor at Expo 2025 Kansai, being held in Osaka until 13 October. Autonomous tractors aren’t new, with John Deere and CNH Industrial fielding their own models, but this one is unique in that it’s powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The company has previously shown off a manned version of its hydrogen fuel cell tractor, but this new version doesn’t need a driver. Kubota also reckons it’s better suited for farm work than its standard electrical counterparts, for a few reasons. Kubota puts in the work Perhaps the…

Facebook Dating’s drive to use the social media platform for forging new romantic connections has a new engine in the backend. Parent company Meta believes that adding artificial intelligence into the mix will reduce “swipe fatigue,” or the effort it takes to find someone on the internet you might actually want to spend extended time with. Facebook’s amorous AI This is paired with another feature for the social media company’s dating app called Meet Cute. This “takes the indecision out of online dating by automatically matching you with a surprise match based on our personalized matching algorithm.” From one point…