Author: Brett Venter

This week in ‘cool tech you didn’t realise you wanted’, the recently announced Navee Wavefly 5X is now available for pre-order. It’ll take R162,000 ($10,000) to secure a booking, but it’ll run you R3.2 million to purchase the whole thing. Why? Because it flies. Sort of. The craft’s full title is the Navee Wavefly 5X flying speedboat. The main feature, ground-effect flight, means it actually flies 30cm to 80cm above the surface of the water it’s on. It runs at a top speed of around 80km/h, but it’ll cruise at around 60km/h. Best of all, you’re not going to need…

DJI has been out and about with its handheld camera tech lately, but it’s back on its usual track with the Agras T55. If the name isn’t enough of a clue, the new drone is designed with farming in mind. It’s a bit of a weightlifter, though, so it should handle more than just lugging farm equipment. The drone isn’t small, folding up in a neat enough package to fit in the back of a bakkie. That’s a far cry from something that’ll lift off and land in the palm of your hand. It’s still intended to be used by…

Most humanoid robots look… well, humanoid. China’s UBTech has debuted the UWorld U1, a humanoid robot that looks more human than most bipedal machine men. Or women, as it were. The company calls the U1 series the “world’s first full-size mass-produced ultra-bionic humanoid robots.” As you can tell from the header image here, the focus seems to be on semi-human attractiveness. If that doesn’t manage to attract buyers, Square Enix could buy a bunch and dress them up like Final Fantasy characters, perhaps? Hello, UWorld UBTech showed off its UWorld U1 range at its own Shenzhen event earlier this week.…

Meta is casting around for something to do with artificial intelligence. One of those things is Pocket, a newly launched app that’ll give users basic game design skills. ‘Skills’ is a relative term, of course, since you’ll give the app a prompt and it’ll (hopefully) do the work. It’s vibe coding but without ever seeing any of the code. It’s not like most of the app’s users would understand it (or want to) anyway. Exactly how useful it’ll be as an experience remains to be seen. Exactly what Meta will eventually charge users for broader access, even more so. Gizmo…

Audio brand Edifier has just launched its Hecate G5 Max gaming headphones. Though they’re confined to the American market for now, we’d be especially keen for them to launch closer to home. It’s not so much the audio quality, though there’s bound to be plenty of that. No, it’s the battery life that appeals most. The company reckons its new gaming over-ears will last up to 305 hours on a single charge. Since you’d have to play non-stop for a week to hit 168 hours, that’s impressive. It’s even more impressive from the 2,000mAh battery the G5 Max uses to…

There’s yet another portable computer format out for your money. The RootBoard follows what several others have already done by sticking a Raspberry Pi board into a custom shell. This cyberdeck format is cool as hell and, if you happen to agree, there’s a Kickstarter campaign for you to check out. If nothing else, it’s more convenient than performing the build yourself (though the Typeframe PS-85 is an option if you’d prefer something more DIY). The base price for a RootBoard via the ongoing crowdfunding campaign is just R1,900. Plus, it’ll ship anywhere, so it should make it here. RootBoard…

When Microsoft Xbox tried to kill the second-hand games market with the launch of the Xbox One, Sony’s PlayStation 4 more or less claimed that console generation. The Japanese brand didn’t have to do a thing — though it did, rather humourously. Those days are over. Sony has announced, through official channels, that “physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028.” The company has said that “shifting trends in consumer preference” are the reason for this. Of course, it’ll also save the company a ton of money on disc production…

What, you thought it would stop at WhatsApp? Meta will be putting some of its AI glasses features behind the company’s Meta One subscription fee. Right now, South Africans only have to deal with WhatsApp and the negligible benefits of giving the social media company thirty bucks a month. Later, though…? At present, only users in “[the] US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, India, Mexico, France, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, and Finland on eligible devices” are likely to find themselves deciding whether a One subscription is worth it. Meta’s price The…

Stuff is a little late to the Huawei Mate 80 Pro party. If you missed out on the Chinese brand’s massive sale on this one, where the price dropped from R22,000 to R13,000, so are you. That offer is sold out, so you’re looking at a still-cheaper but nowhere near as impressive R19,000 cash price for the 80 Pro. That’s a terrible shame, but it’s still a stonking good phone for its price. You can also have it for R750/m on contract. For folks with photographic glory on their vision board, this one should be worth the monthly premium. The…

Humanoid robots are likely to become more prevalent, with the South Korean government announcing plans to increase production of the tech. That’s not all the country will focus on, according to a new BBC report. The current semiconductor shortage is something else the country will tackle with government backing. The shift isn’t surprising from the industry-focused South Korea. Companies like Samsung have sunk massive amounts into supply chains and tech expansion, to the point where you can furnish most of your home with Samsung products. It’s just a pity you can’t buy the Samsung-produced K9 Thunder 155mm howitzer under the…