Author: Brett Venter

It’s sometimes easy, in the rush of new products and technology updates, to forget that not everyone in South Africa has access to the technology literacy and skills required to make a living using the technology that Stuff readers love so much. It is good to know that there are programs out there in this country that are assisting disadvantaged young people, who may have never held a tablet in their lives, to develop the skills necessary to enter the job market and perhaps have a hand in designing the Next Big Thing. Or another Candy Crush, but we wouldn’t…

Chinese electronics company Lenovo has got an event planned for 5 August this year and there have been rumblings about that they have in store for the world when it takes place. The loudest rumble is that Lenovo will be springing a smartphone on the world, one that may be able to go toe-to-toe with Stuff’s current darling, LG’s G3. An image, posted by a Lenovo marketing manager on the Weibo social network, shows a piece of the phone that will apparently be arriving soon. From the image we can gather that the handset, which is currently known as the…

Does anyone remember the Devel Sixteen, which made an appearance at the Dubai Motor Show some time back? If not, let us refresh your memories (or you can just hit this link). The Devel Sixteen’s prototype was shown off in Dubai and the car’s creators had some very impressive claims for the vehicle. Claims like a 5,000HP V16 engine capable of a top speed of 560km/h. And it’d supposedly breach the 100km/h mark in just 1.8 seconds, which is just about enough time to catapult yourself into the nearest wall at high speed. Well the car seems to be on…

Heard of MTN Pulse? Now might be a good time to look it up, especially if you’re mostly on the phone to other MTN users. MTN announced this morning a new call rate for pre-paid Pulse users which will give them very reduced charges every day but there are a few terms and conditions attached. To start with, MTN’s Pulse is targeted at the youth market. So far, so good. It’s also restricted to pre-paid accounts and it’s only effective if one MTN Pulse users is calling another. There are benefits to getting your friends and family on this call…

Taking a Fitbit fitness tracker for a run is a simple task, just pop it on your wrist and go. But the simplicity does mean that Fitbit’s devices don’t have the features that are rolling out to smartwatches and gear like Garmin’s sports watches and other competitors – like GPS. Fitbit has got a plan for that and they’re taking care of it by issuing a new update for their iPhone Fitbit app that adds a feature called MobileRun. MobileRun confers magical GPS tracking powers on Fitbit devices by making use of an iPhone’s GPS to upgrade the functions of the…

Yikes. Samsung has finally put a price on their monster 105-inch 4K curved OLED TV screen and it’s a big one. The price, we mean. The screen size goes without saying. Laying hands on the UN105S9W from Samsung, which has not yet being priced specifically for South Africa, will set you back to the tune of $120,000. That’d be about R1.27 million in local dosh, which is a whole lot of cash for single piece of your home theatre setup, 4K screen or not. Samsung seems to be aware that the 105-incher isn’t going to see the demand that their less…

Garmin’s HUD has hit South Africa with a bit of a thud. We were aware that the HUD, which is a GPS projection system that displays your route on your windscreen, would be heading in South Africa’s direction after hearing about it earlier this year, we just weren’t sure when it would arrive. Well, now it has. How the HUD, or Heads-Up Display to give it its full name, works is that it will sit on your dashboard. Alone it’s a bit pointless but paired with Garmin’s Navigon Southern Africa Navigation smartphone app, which is available for both Android and…

BlackBerry’s last few smartphones have not met with a massive amount of success, so much so that the company has opted for limited geographical releases of subsequent smartphones. The Z3 is one of the only new handsets that we’ve heard about and was initially known as the Z3 Jakarta, named for where it first launched. Other countries were on the roster and, judging by the Z3 we’re holding right now, South Africa is one of them. Makes sense, South Africa has always been a bit of a BlackBerry stronghold. Hi There Like we said, it’s been a while since we’ve seen…

Self-driving cars are all the rage right now and it seems like everybody wants a piece. Google and major car manufacturers are not the only people after a motor vehicle capable of excluding the driver, the American military is also in the market for something autonomous – for some very obvious reasons. To that end they’re testing out GUSS, which stands for Ground Unmanned Support Surrogate. There is a video of GUSS in action (below), being tested at the US Marine’s Kahuku Training Area at Oahu, Hawaii. The test doesn’t look too complex at the moment but if you’re paying attention during…

Tesla have made the world giddy about the prospect of electric cars and, while the technology in general is only now being introduced to South Africa (in limited areas), we’re hoping to see more of them on the road in future. Because technology. But if there’s one aspect of an electric car that is off-putting it’s the range that they are capable of. Without ‘fuel’ stations at steady intervals, you’re looking at frequent top-ups and that whole laptop-in-search-of-a-power-outlet feeling with your car. But Tesla is working on mitigating that. In fact, they’re already just about capable of improving the range…