Author: Brett Venter

In 2025 it’s exceedingly rare that smartphone makers do anything new. That’s not the case with the Minimal Phone, a handset currently up for pre-order. The price of novelty? About R7,600 with free worldwide shipping, provided you purchase before the phone goes on sale. And why would you want this smartphone? Because it integrates functions from Android, the average Kindle, and the old-school BlackBerry designs to give you a smartphone that maybe won’t entirely consume your life. Keep it Minimal A quick look at the Minimal Phone immediately reminds us of the original Kindle devices. The large display and underslung…

Fusion reactors have long been the stuff of myth — a clean energy source with massive output and little risk to users (unless you fall into the reactor) — but Helion Energy, an American company that just secured R8 billion ($425 million) in funding, reckons it’ll have the problem sorted by 2028. Of course, that’s exactly what you’d say if you just convinced investors to give you enough money to pay a minor fraction of Eskom’s current debt. You certainly wouldn’t say “This is our best guess,” or something like that. But since Helion Energy has a bit of a…

Is there anything HR won’t do to ruin your fun when the supervisor is away? If the new Logitech Spot is any indication, the answer is ‘no’. Usually, we’d expect Logitech to launch a peripheral. Technically, this is a peripheral but we don’t reckon you’ll see it pasted to the side of a PC gaming right unless the company adds some RGB. The Logitech Spot is a small sticker-backed sensor designed to be mounted on a wall. Its main purpose is to keep an eye on the goings-on in an office. It’s not as invasive as a surveillance camera but…

Sometimes you just get the urge to create something from one of the planet’s most renewable resources. Wood literally grows on trees, after all. If you’re setting up a home workshop, you’ll need to populate it with the tools and gear most likely to give you results in the shortest possible time. That’s where we come in. If you’re starting from scratch and are dying to build that gazebo you’ve always been dying to gaze at as you sip your coffee in the morning, these are the tools you should have taking up space in your garage. Sorry. Workshop. It’s…

Japanese company Bandai is known for releasing a range of oddball products but its Star Wars-themed Tamagotchi lineup lives on the edge of a galaxy far, far away. There are a couple to choose from — Grogu and R2-D2 — but there’s a new one coming later this year: Darth Vader. The new product is up for pre-order, with expectant Padawans being expected to part with R570 ($30) before shipping over to the Dark Continent. At least, that was the case a few hours ago. The pre-order link, which appeared in several earlier stores, seems to have gone dark. Perhaps the…

Eskom’s having a pretty good run but there are more reasons than just ”State power utility bad” to want to kit your home out with an alternative energy solution. It all boils down to stepping off the grid and the Lumo Powerall 1.5 looks like a decent enough boulder to start your journey. Unlike other power stations we’ve tested before, this hunk of metal and rare-earth elements isn’t entirely intended to be a multi-role device. The Lumo Powerall 1.5 might make it along on a camping trip (if there’s no hiking involved) but none of the South African company’s other…

Last week, China unveiled a new humanoid robot training ground in Pudong District, Shanghai. The facility, previously known as the Humanoid Robot Kylin Training Ground, is currently capable of training more than 100 robots at a time. Plans are afoot to scale training up to 1,000 robots by 2027. The initiative is one driven by the Chinese government, which is funding the training of humanoid robots in a series of 10 different scenarios. The National and Local Co-Built Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center aims to develop a robust platform for training robots, which will later be deployed to newer facilities in…

The Insta360 Flow Pro 2 might sound like you’re trying to refer to a completely different product without saying the name but it’s a product all on its own. Except for its competitors. But this one’s newer, so that’s okay. The sequel to the original Flow Pro is back in 2025 and it’s got every CEO’s favourite buzzword in tow. That’s right, the smartphone gimbal is carrying AI into battle. It’s also compact, solidly built, and ready to turn your smartphone camera into something Spielberg once needed budget meetings to acquire. Flow Pro 2: Flow harder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFi10aONo8Y Okay, it’s perhaps…

Samsung must have taken the news that Honor’s foldable Magic V3 was thinner than its own Fold lineup hard. Long rumoured, images purporting to be of the unannounced Galaxy S25 Slim have finally surfaced online. Unlike the recent leak showing off the rest of Samsung’s Unpacked lineup, these might be actually leaked renders. At least, they don’t follow Samsung’s usual product image format. Regarding validity, the pictures come via @OnLeaks and SmartPrix, a pairing with a long history of accurate Samsung information. Spot the S25 Slim Along with the image set comes a collection of product info about the unannounced device. The…

Load shedding seems to have departed. So what do we need all these batteries for? The Anker 548 Power Bank makes a compelling case for coming along on your next camping trip, which is much the same as load shedding — except that you choose to do it. How often… makes all the difference. The Anker 548 Power Bank has several advantages. The battery is massive, given the unit’s overall size, and there are enough ports to keep your sensitive electronics running. It has multiple recharge options, including a solar panel input. Plus, there’s an LED light. That’s pretty camp…