Author: Brett Venter

If a private citizen climbing outside of a space capsule in orbit sounds like the worst idea since Stockon Rush decided to build his own submarine, maybe you shouldn’t learn more about the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission. Helmed by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who previously funded the SpaceX Inspriation4 flight, it’ll see regular folks (more or less) climb outside of a SpaceX capsule before getting back in. Exactly why you’d want to get outside of a Crew Dragon isn’t explained in excruciating detail (more on that in a second) but it should still take place this year. A little later than expected,…

Whatever your thoughts are on the idea of exoskeleton assistants, they’re coming. The Mo/Go by Arc’teryx, developed with the assistance of Skip, is proof of that. Skip originated at Google’s X Labs and specialises in the sort of mobility tech that might turn ordinary humans into something more. This isn’t the first we’ve seen of tech like the Mo/Go. Back in 2019, there was an academic version focused on runners. This commercial effort is more interested in making it easier to walk up mountains. Slow? Try Mo/Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKdbyWbbxkc So where can you buy one of these knee-supporting gadgets that clip…

Before diving into the Anker Nano it’s worth remembering that there is more than one version of this little battery pack. The first version, which included a Lightning port, only supports 15W output. That’s fair, since it only works with the iPhone and older iPads. There’s a larger 30W version which looks nothing like our friend here and then there’s this one: the 22.5W USB-C version that anyone with a modern Android phone could stand to have upon their person. Block head Anker knows batteries. Or, if they don’t, they’ve made a career out of faking it extremely well. Stacking…

Did you purchase one of Sony’s PSVR 2 headsets back when it launched for the PlayStation 5? Didn’t think so, but if you’re a PC gamer it might be time to investigate Sony’s headset. We’ve known for some time that it’ll get Steam support in August this year but now there’s an official date — 6 August. That’s according to the official Steam page for the PSVR 2 app, which has gone live. The app gives out a fair amount of information for famously detailed PC gamers who might want to activate Sony hardware on their gaming rigs. PSVR 2:…

Oppo’s Reno handsets, now widely available in South Africa, tend to be decent performers for the price and the new Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G is no different. Right now you have a couple of choices when picking one up — a R750/m contract or you can buy it outright for R17,300 (down from the R18,500 launch price). That’s uncomfortably close to the current price of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and far above the Galaxy S23 FE. Is it worth paying close to twenty grand for Oppo’s mid-range handset when flagship and flagship adjacent phones are easily within reach? Let’s find…

Apple’s high-end iPhones are the obvious winners when it comes to included tech but there’s something to be said for the iPhone SE. For starters, people might be able to afford one without donating an internal organ to that sketchy trenchcoat-wearing chap with the unusual accent standing in a back alley holding a styrofoam cooler with a scalpel stuck in the lid. No, we don’t want to talk about it. Rumours about the fourth generation of the iPhone SE have been around for some time now but this newest lot — coming via leaker Ice Universe on the Chinese social…

Some camera hardware is aimed at professionals. There’s an easy way to spot which gear it is — count the zeros at the end of the price. The new Canon EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II are very stunningly obviously aimed at pros. Regular folks don’t need cameras that cost in the upper five-to-six-figure range. Not unless they’ve got a crippling social media obsession, at any rate. If you’d like to stick one of the Canon EOS R1 units on a tripod to capture your daily social snaps, you’d best be prepared to drop R140,000 here at home for…

It’s been a few months since the last time an EV claimed to be the most affordable of its type in South Africa. The newly launched Dayun Yuehu S5 has turned up to claim the crown of “most affordable EV on SA roads”. At R400,000 for the base model S5 and R450,000 for the co-called VIP model, the Chinese brand may be right. If you haven’t heard of Dayun, you’re not alone. We were similarly mystified by the name when information about the S5 landed on Stuff’s collective desk. It’s being brought into the country by Enviro Automotive, a local…

Escape rooms have their adherents. They’re usually folks looking for a way to unwind from the stresses of competitive pub quiz play. Some of them probably drive a Porsche. At least, that’s what the folks at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart are banking on. That’s right. The location showcasing much of the German car brand’s history has launched what it calls an “escape game”- presumably because it can’t call a challenge that spreads out across the museum a ‘room’. But what, exactly, does it involve? Porsche-ing their luck For starters, it involves an online booking and up to five visitors…

Is load shedding properly gone, then? Given how far South Africa has progressed through winter, it’s tempting to believe that is the case. But there will always be another power outage or, failing that, a camping trip. Taking something relatively compact, like the Bluetti EB3A, is a handy way to keep your devices topped up for most of a long weekend without hanging around the campsite’s only plug point. There is, after all, more than one use for a portable power station. They were invented for folks who like to travel away from electricity (but who still need it) rather…