Author: Brett Venter

Batteries are an integral part of our lives, for good or for ill, finding a home in anything from smartphones and watches to the latest motor vehicles. So any new developments in battery tech is a good thing and the latest update, from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, claims to have improved lithium-ion batteries to the point where they can achieve a 70% charge in about two minutes. These batteries aren’t destined for your cellphone though, they’re likely to find use in electric vehicles and look set to make EVs a lot more efficient than they are now…

When playing games on your Xbox One, there is the occasional spot of load time. What are you supposed to do while the twenty-second load-screen is taking up valuable time? There’s now an app for just that, if you’re so inclined. A Vine app, the first to be made for TV-based viewing, has just launched on the Xbox One in several markets around the world and yes, South Africa is one of them. Users will be able to view popular playlists and Vine channels from their consoles, giving you six-second bursts of distraction while you’re waiting to load into the…

LG’s G3 has left some really big shoes to fill for the less well-specced members of LG’s 2014 lineup as well as the competition from other companies. From LG’s stable, at least, the other phones available don’t even try to match up to the 2K screen, all-day battery and laser autofocus-toting camera that the G3 dropped on us a few months back but there’s at least one phone that’s taking a few pages from the G3’s playbook. We’re referring, of course, to the LG G3 Beat, a stripped-down version of its speedy ancestor that makes some sacrifices to drop the…

We’re suckers for portable battery packs at the Stuff offices, which makes sense because of how much mobile tech we tote around on a daily basis. But the problem with little batteries is that you need to remember to keep them charged. There is a new Kickstarter on the go which intends to take the hassle out of remembering to keep your backup power charged, provided you don’t mind expending a bit of muscular energy in aid of surfing Facebook from anywhere you choose. Called the Ampy, the device is worn by users whose movement, whether it’s day-to-day or more strenuous…

Generally we treat our phones with a whole lot of care, polishing the screen whenever it gets smudged and doing our darndest to make sure that they don’t get dropped, dunked (unless they’re into that – looking at you, Sony) or destroyed in one way or another. That’s not always possible, as life has a way of taking your good intentions and making a mockery out of them by launching a smartphone out of the window in an unlikely accident involving a bowl of strawberry jelly and a small ferret. That’s just an example, of course, but there’s often no…

Facebook has the Oculus Rift in hand, Samsung will soon be launching their Gear VR virtual reality headset (which supports the Galaxy Note 4) so it makes sense that other options will be available on the market. One of those options is coming from Carl Zeiss, the company that arranges the camera lenses for Nokia/Microsoft’s Lumia cameras and it’s called the VR One. Like the Gear VR, the VR One will support a smartphone that will act as its visual monitor. Unlike the Gear VR, there will be wider support than just the Note 4. At the moment, on the…

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gGLE3USB2U” fs=”1″] Perhaps you’ve heard of Star Citizen, a very ambitious crowdfunded game that has made more than $50 million in fundraising for development. Perhaps you haven’t, but it is designed to be a frankly massive online space title that will combine elements of space ship simulator (combat and otherwise), a first-person shooter and will have an in-game economy that sustains the game world. So just what does a game that has been developed using a variety of financial sources outside of the typical developer/publisher arrangement look like? The 10-or-so minute walkthrough above will give you some idea of…

So it’s come to this? The latest camera to enter the halls of Stuff has also provided one of the most excited reactions to the technology we’ve seen here in a while. But, horror of horrors, all that love has gone to a piece of equipment that is, technically, old technology. We’re referring to the Fujifilm instax mini 90 Neo Classic, a retro-styled shooter that has only the barest concession towards having an LCD display and which pops out instant images – Polaroid style. Have we gotten so used to digital camera technology that an instant-access hardcopy camera seems exciting by…

It’s that time of the week again, where you can catch up on the StuffCentral podcast, via CliffCentral. As usual, you can stream or download this week’s show for later use. Once again Toby is out of town (that’s part one of the passport reference) so in his place is Liron Segev, also known as TheTechieGuy. In studio this week? Blackberry’s Senior Product Manager Martin Fick, talking about the Blackberry Passport (you can catch our review here) as well as Geoffrey, the Senior Product Manager for Sony Audio’s Home Entertainment section. Last but not least is Roy Peretz, the head…

Tesla’s ‘D-something’ has officially been unveiled and it’s a new range of cars based around the Model S. The new vehicles will be adding a D to the Model S labeling and each of the three cars revealed is something special. But there’s one that a bit more special than the others and that is the Tesla S P85D. The other two vehicles are the Model S 60D and the Model S 85D and all three of the electric cars are different from the standard Model S in that they feature dual electric motors – one in front and one…