Author: Brett Venter

We may never see it in South Africa, but the Chinese launch of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has us hoping that will change. The Chinese company’s 14T smartphone was decent enough, but it hardly compares to the camera hardware Xiaomi has chucked at its premium headliner this year. The big change for 2025 is the addition of a new 200MP periscope telephoto zoom, which uses Samsung’s HP9 1¼in image sensor. Xiaomi reckons it captures 136% more light than the Xiaomi 14 Pro’s 120mm 200MP lens, possible via its increased sensor size. A complicated arrangement allows the 100mm lens to live…

If you’re serious about your drone usage—say you’re a farmer or a military specialist—you’ll want to consider adding the new DJI Dock 3 to your tech arsenal. The product isn’t new, as the ‘3’ appended to its title suggests, but it does include one all-new feature. That’s the ability to launch a docked drone (or two) into the air while your vehicle (where the Dock 3 lives) is in motion. That’s undeniably cool, even if you’re only performing tasks like expecting electrical wires or checking up on this year’s wheat crop. Proceed to Dock 3 Feeling like an American armed services…

We’re used to seeing incredibly long camera zoom lenses from Canon and Nikon but Sony’s come out swinging with something that would do serious damage if you swung it. Both to the impacted point and to your wallet, because the FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS isn’t going to be cheap. Local pricing wasn’t immediately available for South Africa but it should turn up before the lens launches locally in May this year. Based on American pricing, expect to pay more than R55,000 to stick one of these in your ca–… this won’t fit in your camera bag, will it? Sony’s…

It’s a little weird that we’ve got two Chinese-made X200 products in South Africa before the first quarter of 2025 has closed but there you go. JAC Motors has put its new X200 forward-cab EV on sale in the country, supporting its more traditional 2.8-litre 1.5-tonne side-gated flatbeds. But unless you need the extra 400 kilos of carry weight, you might want to stick to burning liquid dinosaurs for a while longer. The internal combustion version of the X200 starts closer to the R350,000 mark but upgrading to the new EV will punch you in the wallet for about double…

Samsung learned half a decade ago that devices sell more if the word ‘Lite’ is removed from its name. That’s why we’ve got the Galaxy Tab S10 FE and its similarly named brethren heading to a retail store near you. As is usual with the South Korean company, there’s seemingly nothing like infosec taking place around its existence. That’s my Quandt A Bluesky account that shuttles between leaking tech details and complaining about the current state of America (so… just a regular Bluesky account, then) has posted details of the Tab S10 FE and Tab S10 FE+, two devices that…

So you’ve got your workshop all set up (just kidding, you’ll never be finished) and you’re about to start performing timber surgery. But before you start sticking irreplaceable appendages close to rapidly spinning steel, there are a few items you should stock in addition to an excellent selection of power tools. After all, even the most seasoned carpenters are prone to losing fingers at short notice. It’s best to remain paranoid, prepared, and preventative when there’s any sort of blade involved. The same goes for drills, grinders, screwdrivers, hammers… you get the idea. Even a basic workshop is a potential…

Each new year means space for thinking about improvements. For Stuff, it means gathering candidates for its Stuff App Awards 2025. As was the case last year, we’re looking for apps made by local (that is, South African) developers. We’re expanding the qualifications a little for 2025. If you’ve previously launched an app, it’s eligible for consideration as long as it’s still in use and hasn’t previously won an award. If you’re a previous winner, the same app may be submitted provided an extensive update has occurred. In those cases, we’ll ask for an update log before judging takes place.…

It’s been a couple of years since Sony’s remarkable C700N earbuds appeared on the scene which means it’s time for an upgrade. The Japanese tech maker’s new WF-C710N earbuds have yet to be made official but a new image leak, supporting other leaks, shows the upcoming audio device(s) in all their see-through glory. The last version opted for an interesting green shade for its standout earbuds but this time around, Sony seems to be plotting a wholly transparent set so you can see all the gooey innards. Well, maybe not gooey but you get the idea. Looking through the WF-C710N…

The ill-fated Humane AI Pin is dead. Well, very nearly. The artificial intelligence hardware you could wear will stop functioning in the next few days as the servers that support it shut down. Why? Because the company itself is going away. Humane has immediately ceased sales of its hardware and those who did pay for it only have a few days’ grace before their access is cut off. The final date for operations is 28 February this year. No more AI Pin Humane’s “business priorities have shifted”, a softer way of saying that it is killing off everything it did…

There’s a lot of noise around farmers in South Africa at the moment but Telkom has news of a different sort. It has launched a new smart agritech initiative in South Africa in association with Stellenbosch University, a company called Aizatron, and South Africa Wines. The event, held today at the Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch, featured several industry heads, including government ministers and provincial government representatives, but the interesting part, from Stuff’s point of view, took place before the official event kicked off.  The cool stuff was on display at a nearby farm managed by Stellenbosch University. That’s some Smart…