Author: Brett Venter

Smartphones modelled on e-readers aren’t new. We’ve seen a few in recent months, but Hisense’s rumoured A10 could well add to their number. The Chinese company launched the Hisense A9 several years ago. It was exactly what you might expect — a smartphone with an e-reader screen. Now there’s supposedly a successor coming to play. The Hisense A10 is only a rumour for now, but a teaser (and some leaks) point towards it having an E-Ink display in addition to its other smartphone functions. The biggest change here is an improved display, since the tech has moved on since 2022.…

The Xbox is turning 25 soon, in case you weren’t aware. The console brand has been around longer than many of its players. For those who were there at launch, Microsoft has announced a new X25 Xbox Series X console, along with a similarly styled controller. It’s a much bigger deal if you recall playing games on the original translucent green Xbox, back before it started picking up suffixes like PhDs. The limited-edition hardware will be presented in what Microsoft calls OG Green. Back in 2001, that was just called… green. X25 to life South Africa will hopefully have a…

NASA astronauts will soon be wearing Prada underwear NASA’s Artemis program is an extensive collaboration, with folks like SpaceX and Blue Origin standing alongside… well, Prada. Technically, the luxury brand isn’t working on its own, having partnered with Axiom Space to help create the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit. Both have now unveiled the underwear that astronauts will wear while out in the vast coldness of space. It’s called the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment, because humans need life support while on the lunar surface. The ‘Prada’ part of the partnership is mostly so regular people will pay attention to…

Acer has had gaming handhelds before, but its upcoming Predator Atlas 8 is the first to fall under the company’s ‘serious’ gaming banner. The previous outings were filed under ‘Nitro’, the more affordable range from Acer. So what’s the big deal about this upcoming gaming hardware? Well, it’s supposedly the first hardware to use Intel’s dedicated handheld gaming chipset, the Arc G3 Extreme. Acer does point out (sort of) that this is an “up to” situation and not the default. Expect to pay more for Intel’s newest hardware and the performance it supplies. Predator Atlas 8 *shrug*?  Acer’s Predator Atlas…

Stuff has long been fascinated with the products Vertu comes out with, and the company’s new AlphaFold is no different. The luxury brand tends to include premium features that have nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with the size of your bank account. And its foldable really lives up to that pattern. The thing is, unlike the Louis Vuitton earbuds (and much like the Xor Titanium), this is a completely customised device. It’s not simply a repainted phone, like the Steve Jobs Edition iPhone. If you want one of Vertu’s foldables, the starting price is R112,000. It…

There’s a reason why anything complicated is compared to rocket science. One of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets — the same type used for manned launches — exploded on the launchpad last night. Nobody was hurt, as far as is known, since it wasn’t actually supposed to lift off. Instead, the New Glenn rocket was undergoing a hot-fire test on the pad. The test was being recorded and streamed, with the subsequent spectacular explosion being caught on camera. We’re not using ‘spectacular’ lightly, either. Blue Origin blew up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O90WZJALYc Blue Origin’s rocket was supposed to launch at a later stage.…

The existence of WhatsApp Plus hasn’t really been a secret, but it’s officially here. Worse, it’ll be going global. Even worse than that? The subscription offering will also encompass Facebook and Instagram. But at least it can’t get any worse, right? Actually… the company says that it’s also developing other subscriptions, for Meta creators, businesses, and folks who use Meta AI. That’s a problem for the future, though. In the meantime, you’ll wind up paying at least R65/m for Facebook Plus or Instagram Plus. WhatsApp Plus is set to be cheaper, at around R50 a month. WhatsApp with all these…

The current robotics drive seems like it’s confined to companies with budgets, but it doesn’t have to be. All you need to get involved is a little programming know-how, a 3D printer… and about R41,000 for additional parts. A new project released on Hugging Face will handle most of the work, eventually leaving you with your very own pair of robotic legs to play with. It’s not really for having lying around the home, though. The project’s creators have designed the LeRobot Humanoid for more scientific endeavours. Still, if you have the cash and hardware, you can just… make a…

Programming your own smartwatch might be a little too far, but what about building your own smartphone? The Makerphone 2 from CircuitMess — the folks who also sell self-assembled NASA wristwear — could be just what you need to feel more in control of your tech. It’s supposed to be more-or-less idiot-proof, too. CircuitMess reckons that its product doesn’t require anything like soldering. It just clips together, a bit like a model aeroplane but without the glue. We suppose you could use glue if you’re very confident. Makerphone for me But you’ll have to wait for a while to get…

And now for something completely different. Oppo has a reputation in South Africa for affordable smartphones, but the Bubble is something entirely unexpected from the company. For starters, it’s difficult to guess what it is just from the title. Even the images shown here aren’t an immediate giveaway. Oppo’s Bubble might look like an AirTag knockoff, but it’s actually a small magnetic AMOLED display that you can plonk onto the back of your smartphone. An iPhone, for preference, since its MagSafe magnetic ring is built into the hardware. But it should work with more models, including Oppo’s own. Not the…