Author: Brett Venter

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…

It seems our ambivalence about the probable launch of the Galaxy Ring 2 at this year’s first Unpacked was misplaced. Samsung has announced that its finger-based wearable — the first edition, at any rate — is expanding to several new territories. South Africa happens to be on the list. Not just the Galaxy Ring There are a total of fifteen new countries getting the wearable tech. In addition to SA, the new markets include Cyprus, Czech, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Zambia Three colours—black, silver, and gold—and eleven sizes from five to…

In yet another bid to preserve the fiction that its product leaks are unofficial, website Android Headlines has gone and published all of Samsung’s product imagery for the pending Galaxy S25 lineup. Officially it’s a leak. Unofficially, these are the exact images Samsung will share with the world when its Unpacked event rolls around next week. Someone at Samsung handed over 75 images to the publication which shared them roughly nine days before the official announcement. If this was a problem, we reckon the leak might have been plugged by now. It’s almost like it’s officially sanctioned… Unpacking the S25…

The thing about marketing is it lets you say… pretty much whatever you want. Keep that in mind when you read about BYD’s Yangwang U9, a new supercar from the Chinese automaker with some very special abilities. Like Tej and Roman’s space-bound Pontiac Fiero, BYD’s U9 is supposed to be something special. No, the Chinese car won’t drift in space but it’s supposed to hop over obstacles in the road. Obstacles like potholes and spike strips and… rainbow dust? Grab your Yangwang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW6lFowulFw It’s supposed to do all of this autonomously, at speeds of about 120km/h. There’s a video of…

It’s taken about six(ish) years but VLC, the popular open-source video player, has doubled its downloads from three to six billion. This total is across all of the software’s available platforms, from Mac to Windows to Android and Linux (plus a few others you’ve never used before). To celebrate, the developers of the free software are adding another feature you won’t have to pay for: automatic subtitles. Of course, they’re powered by artificial intelligence, but the company says the AI needed will run offline and natively on your device. VLC gets smart VLC automatic subtitles generation and translation based on…

Meta and eBay announced this week that it would test adding eBay listings to its Facebook Marketplace, sending the value of the online auction house skyrocketing in the process. The choice to add its competitor wasn’t entirely a result of Meta’s good graces, however. The company currently faces headwinds from the European Commission as a result of Facebook Marketplace. Incorporating its direct competition will hopefully assist Meta’s appeal against a recent decision that found the social media giant guilty of abusive practices. eBay goes Meta The test takes place in the US, France, and Germany. The first location is an…