Author: Brett Venter

It’s hard enough living in the modern world. The stress of constant notifications, while not as immediately threatening as, say, a bear, wears down a person’s soul. And when one of those notifications could, at any moment, be a thunderbolt that heralds load shedding (again), the urge to throw your vibrating phone can sometimes prove powerful. But if you’re packing a bit of load shedding avoidance kit, like the Energizer Max Power Station, then you might not be quite so twitchy. Then it’s just bosses and spouses and kids and the bank and Google’s notifications to worry about. Even so,…

Asus has been vying for your (and our) attention for some time. The company’s latest move just clinches it. Instead of asking you to head to retail like some regular person, the Taiwanese brand has launched its own online store in South Africa. Much like Samsung and Huawei, which sell their own products natively as well as on/in everyone else’s stores, you can now pick up Asus hardware via the company’s website. Feel the same Asus The company’s major focus with the online store, at least at the moment, seems to be its notebooks range. This includes more consumer-facing lineups…

Mining is a tough job anywhere. South Africa has a considerable mining industry, which makes mining safety an important topic in the country. Vodacom has designs on improving mining safety, through the use of wearable technology. And the Internet of Things (IoT), because that’s still a buzzword, apparently. As with other products released by the mobile service provider, like the Curve tracker and the newly-unveiled Linea watch, Vodacom’s mining tech is heavily based on location tracking. And a few other things as well. Miners require more than just a panic button, after all. Vodacom says: ‘Mine’ Vodacom’s Connected Worker solution…

If you want something to seem edgy and futuristic, add an X to it. That’s the modern-day equivalent of using a well-timed ‘Extreme!’ to get your thing to stand out. So it makes a kind of sense that Vivo’s first folding smartphone is the X Fold. As opposed to the Mate X lineup from Huawei, which is the same thing, only backward. It’s the very first folding handset from the Chinese brand, but don’t expect to see it in South Africa yet. The X Fold is only confirmed for a launch in China so far. Still, it’s worth checking out…

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is exploring yet another avenue to secure funding for the State-owned broadcaster. The TV license might be on the way out (taking a raft of debt with it) but there’s still advertising revenue. The only thing about that? The SABC isn’t getting enough of it, in the SABC’s opinion. What’s the answer to that? Better programming? Investing in improving services to end-users? Clawing back some of the money wasted on clueless executives? Of course not. The State-owned broadcaster is asking ICASA to put a cap on how much advertising paid-for broadcasters can accept. Salvation…

Did you know that Meta has a division called Meta Financial Technologies?  Well, it does. And that division is working on a digital currency, known internally as ‘Zuck Bucks’. Because it’s a catchy name, we’re assuming, and because they get to poke a little fun at the boss. Unlike its previous foray into the world of money that only exists on the internet, this project isn’t a cryptocurrency. Instead, people involved in the project explain it as a centralised virtual currency that will only have utility in Meta services. We’ve seen its’ like before, mostly in games. Everybody from Microsoft…

So you’re looking for a phone that’s reasonably feature-packed but isn’t going to cost Death Star money? Well, you’re in luck. Xiaomi’s budget brand (Redmi) has a budget brand of its own. From that heritage comes the Poco M4 Pro, a budget-priced handset that doesn’t feel like it has cut too many corners. Poco phones, in general, are not a bad lot. Okay, sometimes they can be a little iffy, but that’s no reason to discount them. They’re also attractively priced if your definition of ‘attractive’ is ‘I can afford one’. This applies to most people — especially South Africans.…

The price of petrol in South Africa went up again this week, to a record high of R21.96 for 95 octane. And that’s after SA’s government dropped the price by R1.50 with a little tax holiday. The price of gas isn’t exactly sustainable. Something has to change. While we wait for South Africa’s government (or the current Eastern European situation) to sort something out, that something might be us. Let’s introduce you to the concept of hypermiling, a hobby for some that might become an everyday essential if this keeps up. What is hypermiling? Hypermiling is mostly practiced overseas. Folks…

Agritech is becoming bigger business. If it’s not using AI to improve output, it’s using an app to monitor and manage an entire farm. That’s the promise Farmers Friend, a new app from South African company IQ Logistica, offers its users. The app is, specifically, a “Farming Operations Mobile Application”. It’s designed to help out in a wide variety of tasks, from improving yields to managing operational data. Mobile Farmers Friend It does this by offering field and farm mapping, represented on the app. This can be accessed either off or online. Sometimes it’s difficult to get a mobile signal…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published a new draft amendment. Big deal. That happens often. But this one, amending the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter Amendment Regulations of 2018, actually is a big deal. See, it deals with a few very specific things. But the one that is most notable is how long your mobile data must last. Specifically, mobile data purchased from mobile operators must last at least six months. That means no more having leftover data disappearing after eight weeks or so. ICASA’s data mine ICASA’s draft proposes amending Regulation 8B of the 2018…