Author: Brett Venter

Stress is something that happens to everyone and it’s a wonder that we haven’t got more tools to measure just how annoyed the world at large is making us. Samsung’s S-Health app for the Galaxy S 5 is adding that functionality in a new update though, in addition to the fitness tracking that the smartphone does. The new update will let users turn the embedded heart-rate monitor into a stress monitor that will give users tracking data based on a per hour, per day or per month basis. That’ll be a handy addition for proving that your entire day can…

It’s been a fair amount of time since we saw anything really new from HP in terms of hardware. There have always been the printers but tablets are where the company has been lagging. They’ve got something else hitting the market, the HP 7 Plus tablet that is priced low enough to make the budget-minded sit up and take notice. Though we’re not sure when or even if HP will be bringing their new hardware this side of the ocean, the HP 7 Plus has gone on sale overseas and has promptly sold out. On HP’s own online store, at…

When was the last time that you saw a Motorola mobile phone in a store in South Africa? Once a staple of the local market, back when cellular towers were rare and dinosaurs roamed the earth, Motorola has dropped out of sight in favour of the bigger players in SA but that is due to change, more or less soon. Lenovo’s recent acquisition of the Motorola smartphone brand has made it possible for the company to head back to South African shores, an event that is going to happen sooner rather than later. Lenovo already has a significant presence in…

Samsung has plans for yet another smartwatch, if reports on the device are accurate. What is supposed to set this bit of wristwear apart from the rest of the product line is that it is being designed with a lack of smartphones in mind – the unnamed smartwatch will be able to make calls without resorting to a connection to a phone. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Tizen-powered smartwatch will feature space for its own SIM card, adding calling functionality to your arm. Just how people will make and receive calls hasn’t been elaborated on but the watch…

Earlier this year Nokia took the wraps off a series of Android-based smartphones that are being purveyed under the ‘X’ moniker, now there is talk of a sequel. Benchmarking informations from AnTuTu’s website has been found detailing a smartphone from the company, designated the Nokia X2DS (RM-1013), and some specifications have also been located along with the performance data.  The phone is thought to be Nokia’s second try at the X-series Android(ish) device lineup but they haven’t done much to bump up the specs if it is indeed the phone we think it is. The leaked info shows a smartphone…

Google’s Project Tango is designed to allow users to use a smartphone (or a rumoured tablet) to map the dimensions of an area so, of course, someone is almost bound to stick that sort of technology on a robot or drone or something. Actually, the drone thing has already happened. University of Pennsylvania researchers have taken one of the Project Tango prototypes and used it to essentially give sight to a quadrocopter. It basically confers 3D depth perception to a drone or another piece of robotic tech, provided you do the legwork of fitting it before hand, allowing the drone…

Samsung really does want to be everywhere that the technology is. A report from tech website Engadget claims that the South Korean company will be taking a crack at the latest popular front as well as attempting to take over the world with mobile devices. That’s right, Samsung apparently has a virtual reality headset in the works. Engadget’s report cites “sources close to Samsung” who say that the company is planning on announcing a VR headset, along the lines of the Oculus Rift or Sony’s gaming-oriented Project Morpheus (sort of), and also claims that Samsung intends to have it on…

Determining the most valuable brand on the planet is a tough task but it can be done. Apple was put into that position by several research companies last year but Google has displaced the big fruit for 2014. Market research firm Millward Brown, which ranks brands based on a calculation of their value, has dropped Apple from the number one spot, a position that the company has held for three years running. Google’s brand value has increased, according to the firm, by 40% to just shy of $159 billion. Apple, which has fallen to second place, saw their own brand value…

GPS and (these days) wearable tech company Garmin has turned 25. Yup, the company has been making sat navs for a quarter of a century so far. In celebration, they’re offering a trade-in offer to South African buyers who are looking to buy or upgraded their GPS units at retailers – no, they’re not giving away anything. Instead, Garmin is offering customers a R300 trade-in value on a nüvi 55LM. The idea is that you can bring an old GPS – any old GPS, whether it’s working or not – to a participating retailer (the list of which includes Makro, Game,…

Stuff hasn’t made a secret of the fact that we were highly impressed with Evolve, the upcoming shooter from Left 4 Dead makers Turtle Rock Studios, when we got to go hands-on with it at a recent preview event. Now we’ve got yet another reason to be excited, Evolve now has an official release date of 21 October, which puts it slap-bang in the middle of all the other high-end gaming launches this year. Evolve is set to launch for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and the PC. With the release date announcement came some information concerning pre-order bonuses for…