Author: Brett Venter

In September this year ride-sharing app Uber launched a pilot program in South Africa. Users in Pretoria and Johannesburg got the ability to record their trips via the app itself. In the event that something went wrong (or just unpleasantly), that recording could be uploaded to Uber for review and action. Now, South Africans in general have access to the feature. Audio Recording has rolled out to the country as a whole, letting anyone using the service record their trips in the best paranoid fashion. That includes drivers as well as passengers. Drivers have to pick up some sketchy customers…

It’s hard to explain just how important the 1989 Batman movie was to the current crop of superhero films. It took a comic book character, treated him (mostly) seriously, and paved the way for Marvel and DC’s prevalence in movie theatres. It also introduces non-nerds to the sheer awesome of the Batmobile. And now you can own one. Just like the now-unavailable Lego version of the same vehicle, laying hands on this particular Batmobile will be a mission. Not because they’re not in stores anymore. It’s because there’s just one available and it’s priced at a mighty R26 million ($1.5…

Last week the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) was looking to push through a new draft policy for the agency. In it, the SFPD sought permission to legally use robots to kill suspects. This week, the department attained that permission. That doesn’t mean assassination-by-robot will become the SFPD’s preferred method of interacting with criminals. And suspected criminals. We hope. But it does open the door to robots being used to blow up particularly pesky perps. You know, just in case that’s a thing that’s needed. Slow down, San Francisco Last night, San Francisco’s board of supervisors approved the draft policy…

Netflix, in case you haven’t noticed, isn’t just about streaming video anymore. It’s also a budding mobile games publisher with designs on getting into the PC games space as well. Since it’s not really part of Ye Olde Video Game club, though, it more or less releases games whenever it wants. There are nine new titles launching on the company’s service. Some of them are familiar looking, even if they are original properties. There’s a Stranger Things-themed match-three game, a Farmville clone (of sorts) called Country Friends, and a cutesy bullet-hell shooter called Skies of Chaos. But they’re just the…

If you’re one of the select few able to afford Apple’s newest high-end smartwatch, then the launch of Oceanic+ should be on your radar. Apple’s Watch Ultra might cost a hefty R20,000 but that’s because it’s got a raft of interesting features — like a day-and-a-half battery and a larger display. Okay, and a few other features. And with the launch of Oceanic+, a new subscription service for the device, there’s one more. Specifically, the ability to use the company’s ‘premium’ wearable as a dive computer. Oceanic+ what? The Watch Ultra isn’t quite ready to pull a James Cameron but…

Video games have become expensive of late. It’ll still cost you in excess of R10,000 for the latest consoles. Game prices are nudging the R1,500 mark. And first-party game controllers will set you back about the same. Turtle Beach has something for the Player Two in the equation that won’t be quite as murderous to your bank balance — the React-R controller. It’s far from the only option from the peripheral maker. Recently, Stuff went hands-on with Turtle Beach’s Recon controller. That one’s a little more expensive than this edition for some reason but they’re both wired and they’re both…

The South African government is planning on spending the country’s money again. This time, though, it actually sounds like a good idea. SA’s government is investigating installing solar power at various State hospitals around the country. Since hospitals deal with residents who need electricity to live, this sounds like a fantastic plan. A plan that is being hammered out by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Health, but still just a plan. Solar-powered medicine The announcement was made during a different announcement revealing that another five hospitals in the country have been exempted from…

South African shopping giant Shoprite is pushing hard into sustainability. Most recently, it lobbed a fat wad of (other people’s) cash at improving its reliance on renewable energy. The most recent fruit from the company is a new battery-powered truck. It’s not an electric panel van like Woolworths is experimenting with. Nor is it a fleet of electric Mr. Bean cars, like the hippies over at Faithful to Nature are testing. Shoprite’s new prototype delivery vehicle is a full-sized Scania Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV). Shoprite, meet BEV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_XZh2oMd4 Shoprite’s newest fleet addition is powered by a combination of nine batteries…

Back when it first launched, the Fitbit Sense didn’t make a lot of sense. It had a massive price and its keynote feature, dermal sensors for stress testing, was quickly available on the Fitbit Charge 5 (which launched at half the price). The Fitbit Sense 2 manages to improve on its predecessor in a few ways. One of these, oddly enough, includes yanking out a few software features. Specifically, third-party app support isn’t a thing here. If you simply must have Spotify controls on your wrist (a frequent Fitbit favourite), this isn’t the wearable for you. But as a fitness-focused…

Eskom has a plan for the country’s power situation. Not so much how to fix it, but how severe it will be for the near future. Stage 1 and 2 load shedding are on the cards until Tuesday morning. After that, the state power utility plans to keep South Africa on Stage 2 load shedding during the evenings until further notice. So at least (some of) the traffic lights will be working as you head to work this week. Take to the Stage 2 #PowerAlert1 Loadshedding will be suspended at midnight, then resume with Stage 1 at 05:00 – 16:00…