Author: Brett Venter

Garmin is best known for its fitness watches, the likes of which are extremely difficult to beat. The Garmin Vivosmart 5, from the company’s fitness band lineup, must work harder to outdistance the pack. Part of this is that its Fenix lineup, as well as Forerunner devices, more or less demolish the competition. If you’re a fitness nut, that is. But the more casual market, which the Vivosmart 5 is aimed at, is a tougher nut to crack. Garmin does advanced tech extremely well, but it can get bogged down in details. Competitors, like Fitbit’s Charge 5, manage to outdo…

When console generations change, there’s a period where the old guard and new blood both receive similar support. Sony’s PlayStation 4 currently occupies this zone, but while still doing well, the console has an expiration date. Sony has marked this date, at least as far as software goes, as around 2025. That’s a pretty long lifespan, by any metric. It’s also Sony’s “longest ever tail” for hardware. But all good things must come to an end, and it looks like 2025 is the year. PlayStation 4 remains powerful In a recent presentation, Sony points out just how well the last-generation…

Ask someone what they want their funeral to be like and they’ll probably say, “Why, what do you know?!” Once they’ve calmed down, though, they’ll probably express some sort of preference. Most people would want something memorable. That’s (apparently) why the pyramids were built, after all. But the Egyptian pharaohs didn’t have space as an option. At least, not as far as we know. A company called Celestis offers a variety of ways to send the recently departed into space, with the least expensive option actually involving getting them back again. So you can scatter granddad’s ashes knowing that the…

Sooner or later, all tech roads lead to Skynet, Judgement Day, and the Terminator. James Cameron’s film series outlines the very worst-case scenario for technology. Plus, you know, organic time-travelling robots are really cool. So any time anyone does something even vaguely related, all signs point to the doom of humanity. South Africa has its own Skynet (it delivers packages). It’s also an AI. But there’s something even creepier. Scientists have managed to grow human cells on a robotic frame. You can’t tell us that’s not the first step towards the ArnieBot 3000. Robot in disguise Yes, scientists from the…

The smartphone world is no stranger to special edition smartphones. Some of the better versions leverage beloved TV shows, others tend to lean in the direction of motoring. Realme’s GT Neo 3 is one of the former versions — the hard-to-locate brand has a Naruto-themed device inbound. You might be familiar with Realme, but only in passing. The Chinese smartphone brand has yet to make inroads into South Africa, but we can hold out hope. Especially since the Realme GT Neo 3 Naruto Edition is a thing. And what a thing it is. Naruto’s newest jutsu The GT Neo 3…

The world can be a very stressful place. Sometimes you just need to escape from it all. Have you considered the power of rock? Not rock music, though that is useful as well. No, we’re talking about literal stones. More or less. A developer called Neal Agarwal has a collection of small browser-based experiences on his website. One of these is called Rocks. It should bring your heart-rate and blood pressure down a notch or two. Rock on The premise is simple enough. There’s a calming soundtrack, which sounds just like the ocean, and four rocks. All you have to…

When you hear the term ‘smart city’, you usually think of a technologically-advanced place where the electricity stays on 24 hours a day. Be that as it may, the City of Joburg, in its most recent budget, has allocated a bunch of cash to planned smart features for the city. Among them are plans for automated substation fire suppression, an eHealth system, and a bunch of WiFi hotspots. The total budget for these features, according to a speech made by the city’s finance MMC Julie Suddaby, is R316.5 million. The lion’s share of this goes to an automated fare payment…

The Toyota Starlet might be a little weirdly named, but it makes up for it with features. The Japanese automaker has detailed the versions and prices of the country’s newest semi-affordable hatchback. The Starlet launched in South Africa on 23 May, so the current specs and prices are immediately available. There are some exterior changes to look out for. Both the front and rear ends have seen a tweak or two, there’s a boot spoiler and a new two-light cluster at the back. Chrome detail has also been added to Toyota’s new Starlet. Which is still a really weird name…

We don’t need to tell you that load shedding sucks. Everybody knows. But a pair of solar projects, recently approved by South Africa’s energy regulator, could make it suck a little less. Two new 100MW solar plants have been approved by NERSA. The projects will be constructed in the North West Province, because that’s where we keep all the sunlight, apparently. They’ll be handled by a company called Sola Group, on behalf of a group called Tronox Mineral Sands. Apparently. Something solar NERSA has granted the license for these two new 100MW solar plants under SA’s new rules that allow…

From our very first moment with Dolmen, this space-based action RPG in the vein of Dark Souls, we knew what sort of game we were dealing with. The game’s menu gave pretty much the whole thing away. On loading up this game on the Xbox One, the menu can only be navigated with the D-pad. The Xbox One’s thumbsticks don’t do anything. The same goes for the menu in-game. It seems like a small thing, but it’s a pretty big deal. Dolmen has ambitions of being the space version of Dark Souls. Or The Surge, a game it resembles a…