Author: Brett Venter

Oh, you thought 2020 was done messing with you? Or at least turning down the volume? Nah, there are five months left and the worst year can always get just.. that… much worse. If you’re using an Android smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip’s DSP, you’re at risk of having your handset turned into a spying device. And there’s not just one way for it to happen, either. Achilles’ heel The collection of 400 or so vulnerabilities is known as Achilles and it involves more than a billion smartphones around the world. Researchers from Check Point have identified issues with…

Are you a military nut? Here’s a webinar for you — DARPA and the US Air Force are having a showdown, pitting a fighter jet pilot against an artificial intelligence system in a simulated dogfight. Simulated because it’s not a good idea to give an AI its own jet… just yet. World first The AlphaDogFight event, set to kick off from 18 to 20 August, was originally slated to be a live-action outing in Las Vegas but the COVID-19 pandemic has turned it into an online one. And since the event’s being held online anyway… there’s a chance you can…

Tablets come in various shapes and sizes but they all tend to have more or less the same use. Browsing the net, watching Netflix, maybe a spot of light gaming when the lights go off… You know the drill. Crosscall, a French company, decided to be a little different with their Core-T4 rugged tablet. Which, believe us, you’ll be paying for. Just in terms of standard spec, if you wanted the same internals and none of the tough stuff, you could get it for less than half the Core-T4’s asking price of R11,000. Which is… fine. You’re not Crosscall’s target…

It’s quite unusual to see a smartphone with a full-on keyboard as part of its construction these days. Rarer still to find one that takes it seriously. The BlackBerry Priv and the BlackBerry Key2 are the last models we can recall that included this feature (and did it well) but… Well, BlackBerry was already in dire straits when those phones were released. So what if someone took a serious crack at it today? That’s the question Unihertz, the creators of the Titan, asked last year when they crowdfunded this device – a powerful, rugged take on a classic keyboard design.…

It’s quite something to see Samsung’s handset in action, particularly in this day and age. We got to head to Samsung’s offices, suitably masked and sterilised, to check out the company’s new hardware for ourselves. It’s one thing to see it on a live stream, it’s another to hold reality in your hand. And this bit of reality feels pretty good. Samsung’s created another solid set of smartphones here. There are two new Notes — the Note 20 and the Note 20 Ultra and, if you’re a creative sort, then you really, really want the Ultra. The video and creative…

Samsung’s headphone tech has progressed at a fantastic clip, thanks in no small part to the company acquiring Harmon (and, by extension, the great audio tech AKG was putting out) in 2016. We’ve seen the Galaxy Buds and the better buds, the Galaxy Buds+, in action — now it’s time for something a little… different. This is Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Live. A real Live one Which, we’ll admit, are a little strange to look at. They look like little kidney beans and are about the same size as some of those larger options you see in the grocery store and…

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that today’s the day Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event takes place. It’s just a few hours away but if, like us, you really don’t like to wait then you don’t have to. Samsung’s gear has been gloriously leaked by Evan Blass, who has a history of doing this sort of thing. Front of the line https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/1290814720933601282?s=19 The leak takes the form of images of… pretty much everything, as well as a couple of promo videos for Samsung’s Note 20 lineup. Everything’s there — the Note 20 (in various guises) the Galaxy Watch 3, Samsung’s…

Right, so this’ll likely provoke a few arguments. Huawei has, likely for a short while, dethroned Samsung as the world’s top smartphone vendor. That’s based on a report from Canalys which states that the Chinese company has outshipped every other smartphone maker on the planet for the first time. But, perhaps, not for the last. And, lest you think that Canalys is thumb-sucking numbers, we’ve also seen similar information from another market research firm, Omdia, regarding Huawei’s performance in the market. Huawei shipped 55.8 million units worldwide in Q2 2020, compared to Samsung’s 54.3 million units. But, before you get…

Lockdown hasn’t been kind to many — if you’re lucky it’s just your waistline that’s taken the hit. But the likes of Fitbit are out here trying to keep us off the couch and moving and its new Fitbit Charge 4, the successor to (what else?) the Fitbit Charge 3, is here to help. The thing is, this wearable fitness tracker isn’t much of a fashion statement — which might be why we’re so fond of it. If you want something that’ll look good in the gym you’re not allowed to go to, get an Apple Watch. This is a…

Samsung has it, FNB has it, even Apple and Google have their own versions — we’re talking about digital wallets, payment options that work through your smart devices and let you pay for stuff. Now, Huawei’s also getting in on the action. Huawei Pay will be in South Africa a little later this year. More details required Sadly, that’s about all we know. Huawei Consumer VP for MEA Likun Zhao, at a media briefing today, confirmed that a version of Huawei Pay — customised for the South African market — will be rolling out in South Africa in Q3 this…