Author: Brett Venter

January is already shaping up to be a good month for new tech. Samsung’s first Unpacked is, not surprisingly, scheduled for 22 Jan. Microsoft is also expected to add to its Surface portfolio before the first month of 2025 concludes. That’s according to a LinkedIn post discovered by the folks at Windows Central. It’s not your traditional event — Microsoft is actually punting its AI Tour in New York City, but there’s supposed to be a “major announcement from Surface for Business”. It’s not out of the question that the two are related. Beyond the Surface of AI Snapdragon-powered versions…

If you thought 2025 was starting with a somewhat different flavour to recent years, you’re right. It’s no less wild, though. How wild? Dana White, the CEO of the UFC, has just been appointed to Meta’s board of directors. Yes, that Dana White. And yes, that Meta. The one that’s dropping fact-checking in favour of X-style community notes. That isn’t the only change to the social media giant’s board. John Elkann and Charlie Songhurst, respectively the head of Exor (a European investment firm) and an experienced venture capitalist, also add their experience to Meta’s board. All of the new appointments make…

Anker has introduced a range of products at CES 2025 in Las Vegas that seems a little off-centre — if you’re not a South African. A solar beach umbrella and a portable fridge (that is also solar-powered) are just the things to shore up the mistrust we all have for Eskom. It’s been a while but everyone’s still very aware that the lights can just… turn off. That’s not all the electronics brand (and its sub-brand Soundcore) has to offer. While you’re using your beach umbrella to keep the brewskis cold, Anker also wants you to ramp up the party…

Stuff has long been fans of MSI’s Titan range of gaming notebooks. The brand’s gear can look samey in the lower order but the bonkers approach to its ultimate portable gaming machine/Bitcoin-mining rigs resonates with us. There is a new headliner from the Taiwanese company, revealed at CES 2025. Meet the MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Norse Myth. Wait, aren’t the Titans all Greek? Yes, that’s entirely correct. There isn’t a parallel to the Titans in Norse mythology. The closest you’ll get are the jötunn or jötnar but they’re a different sort of being. Rather than primordial proto-gods, they’re…

Samsung’s Unpacked events are as regular as someone who consumes a small wicker swing set each morning and 2025 is no exception. The first of the South Korean company’s international showcases finally has an official date and, as expected, it’s in late January. 22 January, to be wholly specific. That’s also as expected (thanks, Evan). There’s an obvious candidate for what Samsung will show off at the event: the Galaxy S25. The only way the company could really throw a curveball would be to debut its folding phones first and launch the headliners midway through 2025 but that’s never going…

A startup called Eli Health has unveiled something it calls a Hormometer (a term that’s just begging for a ™) at this year’s CES. It’s a dipstick-like device that inserts itself into the human body — no, not like that — to measure specific data. It’s like an oral thermometer except that it analyses two hormone levels via the saliva in your mouth. A 60-second bout behind your teeth lets the device total up the cortisol and progesterone levels in your system. Cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone, is the one your dogs can detect and match. If your…

You might remember towards the end of last year, Stuff was giving away a brand new iPhone 16 to one lucky (magazine) reader. The entry details were found in the October-November 2024 issue of Stuff Magazine but the entry mechanism was hosted here on the website. And, we must say, some of you folks know how to take chances. See, there was a single requirement for a valid entry. Entrants had to track down and list which pages the iPhone 16 appeared on in the Oct/Nov issue of the magazine. It wasn’t too hard, since we gave you a few…

Samsung hasn’t made a secret of its interest in every aspect of your technological life. From the Galaxy S lineup to the Galaxy Ring, no processor-powered stone has been left unturned. Even the future of robotics has been an avenue for exploration for the company with the reveal of Ballie (yes, really). But Samsung has bigger ambitions in mind—Tesla Optimus-sized ambitions, even. A recent deal in South Korea has seen the technology giant become the largest stakeholder in Rainbow Robotics, with the explicit aim of developing humanoid robots. Samsung reaches for the Sky(net) The company previously acquired a 14.7% stake in Rainbow…

There’s one more element missing from your newly minted fitness journey — app support. No, not like that. You can try and hold strong to the idea in your head (“I will run for five kilometres without stopping”) but with a proper plan, it may take longer than you expected. Any delay could mean a lack of motivation at a critical moment and then boom — your fitness goals are over before they really begin. So, add a new app to your exercise arsenal alongside some headphones that won’t melt when you sweat on them and a fitness tracker that…

It’s the second day of 2025. If you’re remaining disciplined, you’ve probably gone for a run by now. If not, you may need some new headphones. No, no, hear us out. There’s logic behind this beyond ‘I’d like a shiny new thing to play with’, though that’s also a factor. Investing in your fitness journey, in the form of new headphones (and also some other gear), is one way to keep you on track. It’s a slight inverse of the sunk cost fallacy — if you’ve contributed monetarily, you may choose to keep going for longer than you might have…