Author: Brett Venter

We’re already in the fourth month of 2019 and you’d be a fool not to get your hands on the freshest issue of Stuff Magazine. In our April 2019 edition, we’ve packed our pages with all of the most essential technology this side of a stargate. We’ve got gadgets great and small, as well as a few flexible options, and even a car or two for you to pore over this month. As always, though, it’s a lot more detailed than it looks on the surface.  When it comes to smartphones, we’ve had a pretty good look at the menu…

This week on Light Start, we have a small games console, a self-driving car, a Swamp Thing, and Valve’s own version of virtual reality.

The fate of Apple’s AirPower charging mat, that was supposed to wirelessly charge an iPhone, AirPods, and an Apple Watch, is uncertain no longer. We’ve been expecting some kind of cancellation for a while and that’s unfortunately a correct expectation. Apple’s AirPower mat, rather than going into production, has been canned.

Who needs a GPS in this day and age? Not many folks, really. Just about everyone has a smartphone and smartphones have Google Maps. And other options. A standalone GPS doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, except in very specific cases. TomTom disagrees, though, and to that end it’s come up with something a little different: The TomTom Go Premium. 

If you’re a fan of running and gunning, of shooting and looting, then you’re probably super-keen on the next instalment of the Borderlands series. Especially as Borderlands 3 has finally be confirmed by developers Gearbox. A short trailer dropped a mass of information about the upcoming sequel and it looks… almost like a massive expansion pack. There are familiar enemies and locations, more guns than you could possibly eat in a single lifetime, and an all-new cast of characters to look forward to. 

Blink and you’ll miss it. We’ve got another look at Xiaomi’s folding smartphone and it’s very, very quick. Just ten seconds, in fact, but that’s long enough for us to decide that we’re very impressed with whatever the Chinese company is up to. 

If we didn’t know any better, we’d say that this video of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold smartphones being tested was part of a much longer video. A video involving some early-2000s band, possibly transformed into monkeys and singing about… well, you decide what they’re singing about. It’s got the same sort of vibe.

It’s the sequel we never ever expected to see. Streets of Rage is returning after almost 25 years with Streets of Rage 4. We were mighty excited the hear that Dotemu is sending us back in time with Streets 4 and the newest teaser hasn’t changed things at all. In fact, we’ve gone from the old Sega consoles all the way back to the arcade. The kind that used to run on silver 20c pieces. You know the type. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsCVmrfrjI The sound effects and chiptune er… tunes have a fair amount to do with our flashback to a time when…

Super. Charge. Turbo. All words that bring to mind a motorised vehicle flying by quick enough to demolish a building on impact (note: Do not try that at home). Combine them and you’ve got Xiaomi’s new Super Charge Turbo fast-charging system for smartphones, a setup the company reckons will get you from 0 to 100(%) with a 4,000mAh battery in just 17 minutes. Which sounds like just the thing needed when you forget to charge your device the previous evening. The 100W Super Charge Turbo fast-charger seems to be able to crank through a full battery charge cycle in less…

Honor, the standalone brand that sprung forth from the fertile smartphone valley that is Huawei, launched its newest smartphone for the South African market this evening. The event took place at Vodacom World in Midrand, appropriate because the device, the Honor 10 Lite, is going to be exclusive to Vodacom.