Author: Brett Venter

Meta has had very few original ideas across its lifetime. Facebook was a clone of social media precursors. It was just polished so slick and shiny that nobody could see what a turd it was. Instagram came from outside the company. So did WhatsApp. Pretty much every ‘feature’ and addon launched under Mark Zuckerberg’s banner is either a blatant copy job or a purchase that started outside the company. And now there’s another one. The New York Times reports that something ‘new’ is brewing inside the social media giant. It’s called “Arena” internally, and it’s Meta’s own take on Polymarket…

We have to hand it to Fujifilm — the company is getting experimental with its Instax instant camera lineup. The newest to arrive in South Africa is the Mini LiPlay+ hybrid instant camera. You could be forgiven for mistaking it for one of the company’s portable photo printers… from the front, anyway. From the rear, the Mini LiPlay+ is still a bit of a weirdo. The retro-ish controls are present over the film door, but it looks like Fuji has banged one of its digital camera displays onto the same surface. Which they have, of course. There’s a reason for…

Nikon’s Z6 III camera has been around for a while, but there’s a very specific version that you haven’t been able to buy. As it happens, the Japanese company makes a version for governments and industries that yanks out the connectivity options. Because cameras with the ability to send data off-site are looked down upon on military bases, production lines, and other places that deal in sensitive info. Strangely, Nikon has just made this version available to everyday photographers as well — at least in limited quantities. Nikon’s government connection It’s called the Nikon Z6 III (No Wireless Connectivity), at…

Chinese robots with a G1 designation are performing some very interesting tasks. The Galbot G1 isn’t made by Unitree, which loves to promote its ongoing work, but this one is still looking to grab a few headlines. How? By operating a store on its own. Not a massive store, of course. The robot will spend time in a pop-up store (the initial report reckons it’s a ‘capsule’), dispensing items to customers. The other G1 has already performed this sort of task before, so it’s not wholly new. But it’s still unusual that the city has decided to give it, more…

We’ve had eyes on the new Asus ExpertBook Ultra since March this year, when it launched at the eye-watering price of R60,000. That’s still its official price, though you can find this business monster for far lower if you’re willing to look around. If R60k is a bit steep, the lowest we’ve seen this configuration is R43,000. It generally sits at around R53,000, though. Lower is obviously better, but if you’re a business type, the IT department often pays the bill. If that’s the case, the ExpertBook Ultra is a no-brainer. At our lowest discovered price, this new Asus machine…

Big tech companies are desperate to find a use for artificial intelligence in their companies. I’m not talking about those already all-in on AI, like Sam Altman’s company, Google, Microsoft, and others. Nor am I referring to companies like Salesforce, whose artificial intelligence solutions tend to… just not work. Instead, I mean companies that have no business adding artificial intelligence to their offerings. These implementations, like Uber Eats adding prompts to its ordering process, actively harm their existing models. Uber learned that the hard way earlier this year. Next up is DoorDash, an international food delivery service that’s about to…

Microsoft has announced a couple of new products in its Surface lineup. One of these is an updated 13 laptop, while the other is a wholly new Surface Pro two-in-one device. The catch? The thing keeping the company’s pricing down is a simple fix — less RAM. Surface tension Both new slabs of hardware start with just 8GB of RAM. Anyone who has used Windows 11 knows that the company’s own guidance of at least 4GB of RAM is a joke. 8GB also doesn’t meet Microsoft’s updated suggestion of at least 16GB (and up to 32GB if you can swing…

Meta recently revealed that it was using its employees as a source of training data, essentially tracking everything the humans were doing so an AI could learn from (or replicate) it. A new report from Business Insider claims that the social media company has since pulled back from this initiative. Why the change? It turns out that if you’re making a record of everything your company does, then somewhere on your systems is… a record of everything your company does. Nobody wants that sort of information leaking out, whether it’s to competitors or to the human resources department. Meta, mind? …

Another batch of Stuff has landed on shelves, both digital and physical, around South Africa. In this issue of the June-July-August 2026 magazine, we’ve packed an incredible amount of incredible tech into incredibly few pages. Incredulous? Don’t be.  There’s always space for more tech. We’ve stuffed 111 of the best current and upcoming gadgets into less than a third of the magazine. These potential Stuff Awards winners are split into categories for the discerning geek. If you’re turned on by camera tech, there’s a solid chunk just for you. Ditto for food lovers, fitness fans, couch potatoes, and homemakers. If…

Samsung has been doing foldable smartphones rather well for the last few years. It shouldn’t be surprising that the South Korean company has been tapped to make displays for Apple’s upcoming (but still rumoured) version. A new report from The Elec reckons that Apple’s foldable should be on the way rather soon. At least, as soon as its South Korean partner can churn out enough OLED displays. The report reckons that Samsung Display’s Vietnam production facility has started production of the panels for delivery later this year. Samsung folds And not a small number of panels either. The contract calls…