Author: Brett Venter

Samsung is the global front-runner when it comes to folding smartphones. That much is hardly in doubt, and is a testament to how much R&D the brand is putting in. But a new report out of South Korea suggests that the company’s folding phone ambitions are about to get a little more… democratic. Don’t get too excited, though. We might already know more or less what 2022’s folding Samsung devices look like, but the cheaper versions may take a while. Like, 2024, at the soonest. But, if they’re actually released, they could mainstream the still-niche smartphone segment. Samsung knows when…

Unless you were very fortunate, you’re probably aware that South Africa has hit Stage 6 load shedding. Again. If you’re a typical South African, you’re currently looking for options. Emmigration seems popular. So are generators. And then there’s solar power, which offers the ability to stay at your home and continue while the rest of the neighbourhood complains. But the problem with solar power is that it’s expensive. In the region of nearly two hundred thousand rands for a standard home in South Africa. That’s a tremendous amount of money to slap down to keep the lights on. Some companies…

At times like this, it might pay to rock a phone with a little extra battery life. The extremely budget Nokia 105 Africa Edition (dual SIM — and this is the last time we’re writing it all out) may just be that phone. And that’s because… it’s a phone. You can make calls, you can send messages, you can even play a few pre-installed games if you want to. But it’s mostly a phone. A phone with two SIM card slots, so it’s for entrepreneurs on a serious budget. Mostly, though, it’s cheap. Really, really cheap. Deja vu It’s not…

Samsung in South Korea really seems out to impress specific blocks of fans. Specifically, coffee fans. Following its Pokémon partnership, with custom versions of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Buds 2, there’s a Starbucks collab on the boil. First spotted, outside of South Korea, by 9to5Google, this is a slightly less intense cross-branding session. It’s for Samsung’s latest and greatest hardware, yes, but the hardware isn’t custom. Mostly, it’s just a collection of cases, for the Galaxy S22 series of phones, and the Galaxy Buds 2. Gotta get those Starbucks A few of these cases are straight-up branding.…

Looking back over the last few weeks on Stuff, we certainly seem to be ploughing through Asus’ notebooks. That’s probably because the company insists on lobbing them our way. And that’s fine because we got to spend time with the Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED. Which, if you’ll notice, has a ‘Pro’ designation. That’s got to mean something, right? It’s probably marketing-related, though. It doesn’t really mean anything. Otherwise, Apple will eventually release the iPhone Pro Max: Maximum Pro Edition one of these days. But it does indicate that the Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 is designed for something… quite specific.…

UPDATE: Eskom is sending South Africa to Stage 6 from 16:00 this evening, until 22:00. Thereafter, the country will be on Stage 4 until 00:00. It moves to Stage 2 from 0:00 to 05:00, and then back again. In other words, expect Stage 6 load shedding in the evenings from 16:00 to 22:00. This will continue on Wednesday. We expect the utility will update on progress by tomorrow evening. #PowerAlert1 Due to unlawful industrial action, Stage 6 loadshedding will regretfully be implemented at 16:00 until 22:00 this evening. Stage 4 will then continue to be implemented until midnight. pic.twitter.com/BEJZLMcjr3 —…

South Africa continues its contribution to the research of outer space. But BOOTES 6, the new robotic optical telescope set to go active sometime next month, isn’t hosted in the Karoo. Instead, the observation hardware lives just outside Bloemfontein. BOOTES 6 will go active at the University of Bloemfontein’s Boyen Observatory in mid-July. It forms part of a larger Burst Observer and Optical Transient Exploring System. There are five other locations around the world taking part in the project. Two are in Spain, with one facility each in China, Mexico, and New Zealand. South Africa is the next to go…

If you’re not aware that Sonos makes some pretty good audio gear, what possessed you to start reading this review? If, on the other hand, you’re a little curious about how the new Sonos Ray compact soundbar performs, you’ve come to the right place. The Sonos Ray is the Sonos Beam’s little brother. By which we mean, it’s literally younger. And it’s smaller. And also, it’s somewhat underdeveloped. But that’s more or less fine because it’s also not as expensive as the full-on Beam or Beam 2. But is it worth your money? Ray of sunshine Sonos’ newest soundbar arrives…

Suzuki and Toyota have a new hybrid vehicle destined for Africa shortly, as well as other locations around the world. The two Japanese automakers have confirmed that production will soon start on a new hybrid SUV. The vehicle will be made at one of Toyota’s plants in India, based on a design by Suzuki. Production will start in August this year. The vehicle will go on sale in India, as well as other export locations. Africa is one of those locations, but whether South Africa is part of that list isn’t known yet. Suzuki-Toyota? Toyuki? Suzota? For now, the focus…

UPDATE: Well, that was quick. Load shedding Stage 4 kicks in from 11 AM this morning. It’ll continue until midnight this evening. Saturday and Sunday will see Stage 4 continue from 5 AM to midnight. Officially, Eskom is attempting to save fuel reserves in case of emergencies. But the strike is also having an effect, prompting the utility to warn that constrained electricity availability could continue for the next few weeks. Sounds like winter has finally arrived. #POWERALERT1 To conserve emergency generation reserves, loadshedding will be implemented to Stage 4 from 11:00 am until midnight tonight. pic.twitter.com/IHv6sLVuqt — Eskom Hld…