Author: Brett Venter

If you’re after an alternative to the hellscape that is Reddit, Meta’s newly-launched Forum might be the fresh hellscape you’re looking for. The social media giant has quietly launched its newest app, first discovered by one Matt Navarra. The app is designed around Facebook Groups, offering similar functionality to Reddit, Quora, and other places that may or may not answer your questions seriously. It’s currently available for iOS users, with an Android version still missing in action. Forum poster Forum describes itself as “a dedicated space built for deeper discussions, real answers, and the communities you care about.” Call us…

Soundcore makes some pretty cool tech, but the upcoming Liberty 5 Pro and 5 Pro Max headphones have outdone any earbuds the company has launched before. Both sets of buds come standard with displays in their cases, an increasingly trendy addition to the product type. We can probably expect more brands to follow suit in the coming months. But if you can’t wait that long, the Liberty 5 Pro family will give you all manner of updates on your earbuds case in the meantime. There are also AI features coming. You can’t launch anything in 2026 without artificial intelligence. Google…

The odds of ever being a successful writer are astronomical. At least with the Zerowriter Fold, you’ll have some fun while making your own attempt. At least, that’s the theory behind this new dedicated writing appliance currently being funded on Kickstarter. It’s far from your only option if a modernised word processor is something you desperately need in your life. The FreeWrite is readily available to South African writers, if a touch expensive. The Auteur is also coming, but we’ve got no idea when. Zerowriter’s Fold, on the other hand, will almost certainly release. Zerowriter’s will succeed That’s because the…

Exoskeleton systems are becoming more popular, with a company called Hypershell launching a refreshed version of its X-series frames for general purchase. But, if you happen to work in search and rescue (SAR), units are available (to the SAR agency, presumably) free of charge. The Hypershell X Pro S, X Max S, and X Ultra S range in price from R16,600 to R33,200, with their features scaled accordingly. The units are designed to drive power to a user’s legs and hips, with terrain adaptation possible over distances of at least 17.5km. Hypershell game The X Pro S is the least…

It’s increasingly likely that a ChatGPT smartphone prototype is on the way, at the very least. Previously, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo listed the device’s development and some of the proposed specs. The same source now details pretty much everything the phone will include, hardware-wise. The only thing missing from the roster is camera and microphone hardware, both of which are likely to be fairly advanced. They’re also probably not going to be standard fare, since an AI-focused phone would hew closer toward giving the device eyes and ears rather than capturing mundane human memories. Calling ChatGPT The proposed hardware includes a…

Insta360’s Go 3S is a decent compact video camera, but the company’s new Retro Bundle version makes it an altogether stranger beast. It’s the latest in a series of unusual choices by the Chinese brand, which have included a magnetic screen and a very, very small storage device. This release harks back to a time when the Polaroid was an actual product and not just a way to develop photos. It uses the same (older) camera from Insta360, so anyone familiar with its performance shouldn’t see much difference. It’s all about the chassis. Okay, and a few extras. Go 3S…

The Aotos Flux X26 isn’t quite a full electric motorcycle, but it’s not an electric scooter either. It’s more like an old cafe racer, if a little slimmer in the middle. And the old 1960s riders probably weren’t ready for this sort of torque. Nor were they ready to have them delivered. But you can exploit the wonders of the modern world if you happen to have a spare R30,000 tucked away somewhere today. And a few hours to spare, because the Flux X26’s Kickstarter campaign concludes a little later today. After that, you’ll have to wait till these arrive…

It’s no secret that Netflix is fond of generative AI, having already used the tech in a few of its presentations. A new report from The Verge suggests that this will continue. But it’ll be shorter, animated, and, probably, vertical. INKubater is a new studio inside the streaming platform that will focus on… well, gen-AI slop. About the best news is that the studio is still hiring, suggesting that INKubator isn’t ready to start mass-producing vertical brainrot for Netflix yet. Less positive is the studio’s ambition to graduate from short- to long-form content. AI-created movie-length products? Who would watch that?…

Last year, Amazon announced a new raft of Kindle devices. Most of these have since been released, but there was a Kindle Scribe — specifically the version without a front light — that just… never arrived. That one finally has a release date. Perhaps it’s the range of competition in the space that finally reminded Amazon that they have a warehouse of these things sitting somewhere, but the Kindle Scribe without Front Light (seriously) is set for a 10 June launch. Overseas, that is. It’ll take a short while to get to us. Apprentice Scribe Pricing isn’t known yet, but…

A new device from Garmin appears to have leaked online. A fitness band from the company, called the CIRQA, turned up on an online store, along with some (but not all) of its details. At best, we have an image of what may be Garmin’s newest fitness band. Of course, anyone with an online store can create a listing using an AI-generated image. We can’t say that what the folks at Stylus Store, where the listing was found, have done, but in the absence of anything official, it’s also a possibility. CIRQA 2026 If the CIRQA is an authentic product,…