Author: Brett Venter

Apple has confirmed an in-person event taking place a little later this month. The company’s ‘Pro and Tell’ showcase will take place in Los Angeles on 28 October, according to the company’s invitations. Less clear is whether the rest of the world will be invited via live stream. If there is a simultaneous broadcast, it’ll happen at 19h00 South African Standard Time (SAST) on 28 October. That’s when the event is scheduled to kick off. As usual, Apple is being coy about details. The tagline is pretty clear — there’s a MacBook Pro refresh coming. Go Pro This wouldn’t be…

Samsung has two distinct Fold models available this year. Despite the ‘Ultra’ appended to its sibling, the Galaxy Fold 8 is the one you should be paying for. You’ll pay R41,000 (give or take some trade-in value) to stick one in your pocket, but the cash will be well worth it… until next year. It’s not because Samsung has done anything truly impressive with the hardware this year. Instead, the broader screen is the drawcard. You wouldn’t think it would matter much, but that changes when you open the Fold 8 for the first time. Immediately, we wondered why nobody…

Over the weekend, Mercedes-AMG took the wraps off its upcoming electric GT SUV range. You might have guessed, based on the brand, that it’ll be as expensive as it is quick. Unfortunately, while we know how fast it is, we don’t know what it’ll cost. Yet. We also know that it’s due for launch in the United States early next year. Local launch details are still murky, but since the local website also carried Merc’s live stream, odds are good that it’ll turn up here eventually. Pricing for Mercedes-AMG vehicles in this country starts at R1.25 million or so for…

South Africa has older versions of the HP OmniBook 3 16, but the company’s latest — packing a Snapdragon main processor — promises twenty hours of battery life on a charge. It’ll also give you enhanced artificial intelligence functions, if you’re into that. The laptop refresh, currently available from the company’s American storefront, starts in that country at just R10,000 ($600). It’s unlikely, given how much the Ryzen and Intel models cost here, to stay at that price should it make landfall in South Africa. We’d expect the price to double here. OmniBook 3 16: Because HP said so Even…

Camera company Yashica may be leaning on nostalgia to make us pay attention. In the case of the company’s new Y16 Pocket Camera (and its recent Tank), it seems to be working. Is it working well enough to make us part with HK$900 (R1,900), though? That’ll be up to each buyer to decide, but Yashica is hoping you’ll be caught by the extremely retro aesthetic. The Y16 is based on the company’s 1959 model of the same name, but with decidedly more modern innards. It’s an attractive piece of work, if you’re into that. In which case, it’s available for…

Over the past week, details of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A range have emerged. That’s not very unusual. However, the details suggest the pending Galaxy A38 and A58 handsets are entirely missable. Again, that’s not too unusual. This year’s A57 bore a striking resemblance to the A56, a bit of a trend from the South Korean company. The lack of change is understandable, given the current situation (that Samsung benefits from in other ways). It does mean that you can safely ignore 2027’s mid-range releases from the company. Galaxy A-gain? The folks from GalaxyClub have picked up camera details for the…

It took a long time for e-readers to get colour-capable displays. The new E Ink Kaleido 4 screen, announced by its maker, promises that improvement won’t take quite so long. Don’t go expecting OLED-like perfection from the incoming screen tech, though. The Kaleido 4 panel offers a wider colour gamut and better contrast, but it still won’t match the vibrancy of even a mediocre LCD. But if your primary screen is one that replicates paper, this will be a marked improvement. Kaleido’s scope You can even have access to the screen tech early, if you’re willing to search. The first…

Tesla debuted a new Roadster EV yesterday. Elon Musk being Elon Musk, there was plenty of wackiness involved. To experience said wackiness, you’ll have to hand over a bunch of money. In the most extreme example, you’ll also have to know the right people. Three versions of the Roadster exist — the Performance, Thrust, and Rocket versions. The latter is the most bonkers option, capable of 0-100km/h in a mere 0.59 seconds. It also includes SpaceX-facilitated thrust vectoring and actual flight. That means it’s not allowed on public roads, which is fine. It’s also only available by invitation. Tesla has…

If you’ve always dreamed of working on an actual anime series, the folks at local animation company Triggerfish might have something for you. A free online Second Key Animation course is currently open for registration. It’s looking for 100 African animators to learn something about the animation role. The video course was designed by Chiharu Akakura, Megumi Okawa, Yuki Yoshida, and Rikako Nakano. It seeks to teach animators  how to “turn rough key drawings into finished keyframes, completing details and secondary elements before the drawings go to in-betweeners.” Anime-niacs The program is a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme…

It was only a matter of time before electric motorcycles started surging in popularity. American company Zero had something to prove in the segment, and it did so by setting an official world record. The company sent one of its DS (dual sport) motorcycles on an endurance ride. The result? A distance of 436 kilometres on a single charge. That’s not hard to do if your battery is big enough. This Guinness World Record-holding trip pulled it off on a standard version of the Zero DS, with a standard 15.6kWh battery plus the company’s 3.6kWh range-extending add-on. Zero range anxiety?…