Author: Brett Venter

It’s not unusual for new tech to fail onstage. Russia’s first humanoid robot, Aidol, joins the ranks of Tesla, Honda, Apple, Microsoft, and others in crashing and burning during its unveiling. Pretty much every robotics company has experienced a failure like this, particularly in the earlier stages of development, but Idol, the Russian company behind the ‘bot, may have rushed its on-stage reveal. Aidol worship? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8hABHmA_NE To be fair, competition in the robotics sector is becoming increasingly fierce. China’s Unitree, in particular, has shown off excellent work getting artificial humanoid skeletons to perform remarkable feats, while Boston Dynamics has been…

DJI’s teeny tiny Neo 2 bounced around the internet for a while before its official Chinese launch. Now, an international launch has arrived, and South Africa is on the guest list. The ultra-portable camera drone starts in SA at between R4,200 and R4,700, with a slightly higher premium for the inevitable Fly More Combo. The full details for DJI’s newest and second-smallest (the original Neo is lighter) drone emerged at the Chinese launch, but we left that one alone because… well, we were waiting for local availability. Neo 2: *Whoa intensifies* The DJI Neo 2 weighs just 151 grams, rising…

Amazon’s Project Kuiper, the satellite internet competitor to Starlink, now has an official title — Amazon Leo. The name comes from where Amazon’s satellite constellations hang around, in low-Earth orbit. The rebranding marks the start of ‘proper’ operations, now that the company has some 150 satellites in orbit around the planet. Amazon has some way to go to catch up to Starlink’s 8,937 (as of October 2025) orbiting units, but the hardest part of starting any venture is figuring out a name. Why yes, I’m a Leo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPN4ik8_t0g According to Amazon’s Rajeev Badyal, “[Amazon Leo’s] long-term mission remains the same,…

Another day, another new Chinese-made vehicle on sale in South Africa. BAIC has introduced its new B30 SUV, giving its previously-launched B40 Plus a little company on the roads. The best part of it is undoubtedly the price tag, which starts at just R520,000. That’s the base model B30 Elite Adventure, a 1.5-litre petrol-driven Front Wheel Drive. There are three others to choose from: the R550,000 Premium Adventure, which features the same engine, the R640,000 Elite Adventure HEV hybrid, and the top-end R690,000 Premium Adventure HEV All Wheel Drive. UB40? No, I B30 The 1.5l engine in BAIC’s assembled-in-South-Africa B30…

PC juggernaut Valve announced a bunch of new stuff last night, none of which (as far as we know) included the number ‘3’. The new Steam Frame and Steam Machine might well give the company an excuse to finally bless the world with Half-Life 3. Probably not, but we’re never going to stop dreaming. If we’re doing that dreaming with a new lightweight VR headset on our noggins, so much the better. The Frame, announced alongside the console-like Steam Machine PC, promises to let games hop in and out of VR titles with remarkable ease. Steam Frame-up The main drawcard…

Anyone who has played Hideo Kojima’s weird walking simulator Death Stranding will be familiar with the protagonist, Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus), and his equally weird suit that lets him carry massive loads around. What if you could purchase that? Meet the Z1. A new partnership between Kojima Productions and a company called Dnsys asks whether you’d like to own Porter’s suit — or one very much like it. The gadget in question? Dnsys’ Z1 Exoskeleton Pro, which can also be purchased without the Death Stranding branding, if you’d rather not wait until December orders start. A strand-type Z1 DNSYS…

If you’ve been looking for an affordable 5G smartphone, TCL’s newly-launched 60R 5G handset could be the end of your minutes-long search. The Chinese brand announced that its handset, priced at R2,000 here in South Africa, is now available from Cellucity, Takealot, “and other participating retailers.” Whoever they are. Announced earlier this year, the TCL 60R offers a fair amount of smartphone for not terribly much money. The 5G aspect is the highlight, with other features mostly making the grade at this price point. Going 60R so The TCL 60R manages to be more affordable than the company’s last handset…

Vodacom and Starlink have signed a deal that will bring the satellite internet company’s “high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to millions of businesses across Africa and to expand rural network coverage,” according to an announcement from Vodacom today. Before you get too excited, though, the language of the announcement is murky enough that we can’t tell if South Africa, which has had problems getting the satellite internet service licensed in the country, is on the guest list. We’ve asked for clarification, but at this time, it’s unknown whether South Africans get to participate. Starlink for me? Vodacom operates in 47 different…

China has probably abandoned the idea of military conquest and empire building, instead settling on what Civilization players know as an ‘economic victory’. Its sudden surge of motor vehicles entering the South African market, a pattern that closely mirrors the country’s rise in smartphone dominance from 2012 onwards, indicates that it is well on its way. The country’s motoring brands and sub-brands have increased their presence on South African roads in recent years, helped along by highly competitive pricing and improved quality in the models that turn up on our shores. The expansion of China’s motoring industry isn’t confined to…

The wackiest Apple accessory since its R470 polishing cloth is here. The American tech maker has announced the iPhone Pocket, an interesting way to notify every pickpocket in the area that you’re carrying an iPhone on your person. Apple says the wearable fashion statement was “[b]orn from the idea of creating an additional pocket,” something that could easily be solved with a backpack, handbag, or the much-maligned cargo pants instead of handing large sums of money to Apple for a fancy rugby sock. Still, folk’ll pay for this one. iPhone Pocket sand The oddball accessory is the product of a…