Author: Brett Venter

When something is called the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, it has to be faster than everything else that came before. A report claiming knowledge of Qualcomm’s upcoming chipset upgrade reckons it will be. Okay, it always was, but it might be considerably faster than the previous generation of mobile chips. It’s got some distance to go before it’ll beat the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 that is expected to power the likes of Samsung’s new Galaxy S26 phones. Those should feature a clock speed of 4.74GHz, a Samsung-specific upgrade on the stock hardware that will run at 4.61GHz.…

Raspberry Pi seems to be taking the idea of ‘enhanced verticals’ very seriously, announcing that its customers can now buy flash drives from the company. These are, according to the company, “high-quality USB 3.0 flash memory drive[s] optimised for Raspberry Pi computers.” It’s not like portable storage is hard to get, so the introduction has caused some head-scratching. The modular PC maker obviously sees some revenue there, however. Hey, it’s cheaper than adding generative AI to your Pi 5. A flash of Raspberry Pi  The aluminium-encased flash drives are available in two sizes — 128GB and 256GB — and retail…

We’ve seen Meaco’s fan skills (the company likes to call them ‘air circulators’) in the past, with the best value for your cash being the Meaco 1056. If you’ve got a burning need to use your high-end fan absolutely anywhere, though, the Meaco Sefte 8″ would like a word with your wallet. It’s distinct from the 10in version of the fan with the same name in that it’s highly portable. Both operate via mains, with an internal battery that’ll let it operate when the power’s off. And in South Africa, the power’s off an awful lot of the time. Delightfully…

If it wasn’t overheard in a podcast, it never happened. That’s Adobe’s thinking, apparently, after it announced that its Acrobat, Acrobat Studio, and Adobe Express products would get a new AI-powered feature, plus a few others. If you have a PDF, the software company’s artificial intelligence will turn it into a podcast. If the concept sounds familiar, that’s because Google rolled out the same thing for NotebookLM back in 2024. That implementation was popular enough to prompt the release of a standalone app for the folks who used it. Adobe is obviously hoping for similar success as it rolls out…

One of the largest pains from Amazon’s Kindle store is that every book you download has some form of digital rights management (DRM). Well, that’s going way. In some cases. If the publisher wants it to. The change was officially announced by the online retailer back in December last year, but now conversions of books to DRM-free ePub and PDF formats are out in the real world. These versions are easily transferred to another device — even if it’s outside of the Kindle ecosystem. Protecting the Amazon Amazon’s switchover was set to come into effect on 20 January, so the first…

Artificial intelligence may be everywhere you can bring a smartphone or a web browser, but it has yet to saturate people. Products like the Notta Memo and the Plaud Note hope to change that. Small, flat gadgets that incorporate microphones and other innards, these are built to link what you do every day (like… talking to other humans) to AI services (that don’t involve talking to other humans). These are just among the opening salvos from various companies, looking to exploit AI before the entire bubble pops. Humane’s effort famously died (it didn’t work the way they said it did),…

Exactly how versatile do you need your smartphone to be? If your requirements include a full 1080p projector, the 8849 Tank X might be just what you’ve always been dreaming of. The brand, which has several Tank and Shark models in its rugged roster, includes just that feature in its latest handset. Plus, a massive battery so you can actually use the thing away from a wall socket. Tank X projector The rest of the Tank X lives up to the name. The phone weighs in at 750 grams, so it’s not intended for casual carrying around. Inside its hefty,…

Volvo has been teasing its newest EV since late last year and, last night, finally unveiled its new EX60. The surprise at the event was the inclusion of a second model of its electric vehicle, the EX60 Cross Country. Guess what that one does? If your guess was ‘Pretty much what the base model does, but on different wheels,’ you’re… actually most of the way there. Wheels “that are exclusive to Cross Country models,” an extra 20mm of ride height with a further 20mm available via adjustment, and Cross Country branding are the main factors. That, and two different all-wheel-drive…

Huawei already sells a couple of generations of smart glasses, but the Chinese company could have something new on the way. A report out of China (via Weibo) suggests that the company’s newest eyewear (or Eyewear, if you’re big on branding) will have more advanced features. This tracks, since there’s little point in walking back your hardware, no matter who you are. The new glasses will reportedly feature AI, because of course they will, and should be capable of simultaneous translations. Huawei wearing these? There are no visuals of the apparent next-generation smart glasses yet. Instead, we’re taking the word…

Sony’s Bravia lineup is a routinely excellent one, but they’re notoriously difficult to buy in South Africa. TCL’s TVs, on the other hand, are exceedingly simple to purchase. The newest business development involving both companies has us hopeful that one day Bravias will be on shelves everywhere in SA. Sony and TCL have announced, via a joint statement, that the Japanese company is turning the reins of its TV business over to the Chinese company. This doesn’t mean the PlayStation maker is stepping back from its television business altogether, however. Sony, and yet so far Under the terms of the…