Author: Brett Venter

Surfboards are a little like car tyres, if you think about it. Most folks who use them don’t worry too much about how they work, they just want to go out and have a good time. But there’s always some intrepid scientist making them better in ways that aren’t immediately (and visually) apparent, and there are always avid fans keeping up with these developments. I, sadly, have not been one of these. But over the festive season, that changed. The last time that I did any extensive surfing was a little over a decade ago. Boards then were about 6’…

It’s almost that time again, though it’s happening a little early this year. Samsung has set the date for Unpacked 2019, their annual event where we get our first proper look at the year’s flagship phones, officially. 20 February marks the reveal of the Galaxy S10 and, perhaps, Samsung’s first folding smartphone. The event takes place at 11:00 Pacific Time (PT) in the States, which works out to 21:00 South African Standard Time (SAST) — also on 20 February, in case time zones make you do mental cartwheels. The venue? The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. What’s strange about…

Okay, okay, we’re really trying to get through this without too much toilet humour. We promise, it’s the Number Two thing on our mind besides telling you about one of the odder trends for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year. Smart toilets are apparently going to be a thing, either for the critters that occupy our homes (pets, not kids or creepy crawlies) or for the larger bipeds that look after said critters. The $7,000 (R97,000) smart toilet Say hi to a throne that Elvis would probably be happy to expire on — though the addition of Alexa to…

If you thought that Apple was the only major tech company with some unexpected losses for the end of 2018, first of all: That’s an awfully specific thing to be thinking. Secondly, Samsung is now also reporting that it’s expecting a decline in revenue and profits for the quarter ending 31 December 2018. The tech giant released new guidance to investors, saying that it was going to miss expectations for revenue and profits for Q4 2018. Samsung said that reduced demand for product from its memory/RAM division and increased competition across the smartphone sector are to blame for the decline.…

If you haven’t jumped onto the 4K bandwagon, your time might be running short. LG and Sony have taken some time at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to show off their spiffiest 8K TV sets. But, in contrast to the fact that that many pixels on a smaller screen is kinda pointless, all of these super-high res TVs are also pretty super-sized. As will be, we expect, their prices when they eventually land. LG goes big with LCD, OLED LG’s two new 8K TV screens are the 88in Z9 OLED television and then a smaller (but still big) 77in…

Gentlemen, start your engines. Wait, are those engines actually on? It’s not normally difficult to tell with a Harley Davidson, but the LiveWire isn’t your typical Harley. We heard back in November that the company’s first electric motorcycle would be getting priced and dated in January 2019 and well, would you look at the time? If you have your heart set on a Harley that won’t wake the neighbours, you can expect to see them on the road from August this year. Assuming you live in the States or Europe, as South Africa’s not on the invite list yet. Even…

In addition to trotting out a couple of monster 8K TVs, LG has also revealed their Signature OLED R at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This is the company’s rollable TV and one of Stuff’s highlights of CES 2018, where the prototype was first shown off. Now, LG Display is bringing the finished product to market. And they’ve given it a few improvements to boot. LG’s Signature OLED R (R for rollable, yes?) is a 65in 4K screen when it is extended out of the box that hosts the screen. When not in use, it’s a long rectangular box…

Xiaomi possibly working on a triple-screened folding phone Here's quite a claim for you to start the year with -- Chinese tech-maker Xiaomi is reportedly working on a folding device of their very own. A device that uses three screens instead of just two, but its existence does kinda hinge on a poorly-lit video being

If you’re still in holiday mode, eschewing all forms of tech (and thus reading this late), you may not realise that Apple’s value took a bit of a knock in the last week. The result of the first decline in revenues for the company in sixteen years, the news that Apple was not going to reach its estimated target of $89 to $93 billion for the past quarter wiped $55 billion off the value of the company in short order. All because Apple is expecting to reach profits of just $84 billion for the recently-concluded quarter. Let that sink in.…

If you grew up during the 80s, you’re probably aware that it was a weird time. It seems to have been an even weirder time for the adults, with all sorts of oddities making it to market. And now, with the current nostalgia binge that’s ongoing, one of those oddities is coming back. Puma is re-releasing its RS-Computer running shoes. Confused about what the Puma RS-Computer shoes are all about? Here’s a spot of time-travel around Puma’s Running System footwear for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd9BR4fvguM Yeah, that was a real thing — one of the earliest examples of wearable tech. A sensor…