Author: Brett Venter

Stuff has previously spent time with Packard Bell’s entry-level Celeron notebooks, so it was a relief to get something speedier. The Packard Bell Carrera F3, or the Carrera Flex 3, depending on where you’re buying it, features an R8,000 price point (it can be had for less) and justifies the uptick in price by being… well, more advanced. Advancements are seen in the touchscreen display, a more diverse port selection, and a swivelling hinge that puts this notebook into the 2-in-1 category. It’s not an Asus RoG Flow Z13, however. A little more capable than its brethren, it’ll perform better…

When you’re Apple, even mediocre and overpriced products will have their copycats. Chinese brand Vivo has announced its Vision Discovery Edition mixed reality for sale in China, with the new wearable headgear taking a shot at Apple’s own Vision Pro. In terms of design, the two devices look remarkably similar. The visored headset and generous padded headband might have come from the same design engineer, but Vivo’s effort is just two-thirds the weight of Apple’s stupendously expensive hardware. Vision of the future? A raft of other features is supposed to tempt users away from Apple’s premium offering. Dual micro-OLED displays…

There might be few things more depressing than getting to put ‘LinkedIn video influencer’ into your digital CV, but that’s just what businesses and creators taking part in Microsoft’s BrandLink program are unleashing on the platform. Most users will have to remain content with publishing workplace-adjacent stories that totally happened, guys, but larger businesses, with bigger advertising budgets, are being added to BrandLink following a smaller-scale trial in 2024. The result is more advertising on the platform, in the shape of short-form video and content branded as “Shows by LinkedIn”. LinkedIn to the money Microsoft’s platform hopes to capitalise (on…

If you’re a Huawei fan who doesn’t mind dropping R25,o00 on a handset, the Huawei Pura 80 Pro has your name written all over it. Not literally, because that would be silly, but the Chinese company has produced another excellent slab of glass and… another kind of glass. Plus various circuits, components, and a camera sensor that should be experienced rather than talked about. What it still struggles with is what has held the brand back ever since the first Trump administration — software. That isn’t to say it’s a poor experience, it’s just not one that will tempt you…

There’s been talk of Meta’s so-called ‘Hypernova’ smart glasses for months, and it looks like the speculation will be put to rest in the next few weeks. CNBC reports that the social media company is lining up two new sets of wearable eyewear for its September Connect conference. One of these will be the specs named for a generic Marvel superhero. Or, you know, a galaxy-busting celestial event. That’s probably just Meta’s marketing department being hugely optimistic. Or is it? Going Hypernova The company’s Hypernova product has yet to appear in action, but the same sources that revealed its launch…

There’s a new Honor X7 in the works, in the shape of the Honor X7d. You’d think that with the company already launching two handsets in the lineup, they’d be ready to go up by a number rather than a consonant, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The phone has two serious claims to fame. The X7d will feature a simply massive (for any standard phone) battery, plus an oversized megapixel count. It’s also, based on previous pricing in its lineage, likely to be affordable. X7d. Or a. Or b. Or c.  The freshly announced handset will lob…

Stanford Medicine researchers have been working on a new brain-computer interface (BCI) chip intended to restore speech to folks who have severe difficulties verbalising anything. The implantable BCI lives in a subject’s motor cortex — the area that controls movement — and collects signals when patients attempt to speak. These are then translated into speech via a computer algorithm. The process works by training a computer to “recognize repeatable patterns of neural activity associated with each “phoneme” — the tiniest units of speech — then stitch[ing] the phonemes into sentences.” The principle works when patients attempt to physically speak, capturing…

Anyone who has ever taken a drone to the beach knows the uncertainty of using the pricy tech. Wind, waves, inquisitive seals… there are many hazards out there. The HoverAir Aqua hopes you’ll let it avoid those problems for you, except for perhaps the seals. There’s not much you can do about wildlife except feed them someone slower than you are. Whether you’re using a drone to capture your surfing or SUP skills, getting it to drop a fishing line in the midst of a school of fish (that’s cheating, by the way), or just capturing footage of people frolicking,…

If you find that you cannot exist unless Google gives you even more AI in your life, the local launch of AI Mode will send you into paroxysms of joy. Launching for both web and mobile Search in 180 different countries, including South Africa, the new function promises to usher in “a new era of AI-powered search that is more intuitive, comprehensive, and helpful.” How? According to Google, “AI Mode helps users tackle complex, multi-part questions with more intuitive responses, multimodal inputs, and deeper ways to explore topics.” The result can’t be much worse than what the company has done…

Few smartphones from named brands will come in at under R1,500, but that’s just what Tecno’s new Spark Go 2S handset supplies. Newly launched in South Africa, the handset is available at TFG (The Foshini Group) stores for only R1,400. What do you get for your cash? A surprising amount, at least on paper. The Spark Go 2S talks a pretty big game, promising AI-supported writing and translation features in addition to its hardware. How that’ll go in practice is something we’ll only be able to judge when we’ve seen one in action. Reigniting the Spark Go 2S Tecno has…