Author: Marcé

The world’s electric vehicle future is fast approaching – and luckily that seems to include South Africa. At the higher end, for now. Volvo is bringing its XC60 T8 Recharge plug-in hybrid to South Africa with prices starting from R1,218,900.  This one’s powered by both a petrol engine and an electric powertrain. And unlike the Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid, for example, this one’s electric motor can be charged. That’s where the ‘plug-in’ bit fits in.  Volvo’s offering the best of both fuels Volvo’s all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid is available in the distinctive R-Design guise as well as in luxury Inscription variation.…

Stuff says –  4/5 It’s far more common to see the Asus name emblazoned on notebooks and PC internals. The Republic of Gamers and TUF Gaming sub-brands prefer to show off wonderful gaming tech. And now the brand’s increasingly dabbling in things like PC peripherals, like the ROG Strix Go BT headphones we had on our ears recently. While the Go range of headphones has made its way to users around the world, the BT variation is the first to make its way to South Africa. The Strix Go BT is aimed at mobile gamers or just gamers who like…

You’ve probably seen the word Wordle being thrown around, alongside an array of grey, yellow and green blocks. That just means some of your friends are into word-based puzzle games. The New York Times-owned web-based word game has produced a spin-off (probably one of many). Meet Worldle, the puzzle game that tests your geography knowledge.  Worldle functions in a similar way to Wordle, in that you have six guesses to produce the correct country name. That’s just going on an image of the shape of the country. Each wrong guess will give you a few hints, inching you closer to…

It’s become increasingly evident that Nintendo’s beloved handheld, the Switch, has seen massive success. Following the questionable (and fairly unsuccessful) launch of the Wii U console, many fans started questioning the Japanese firm’s capabilities. Just in terms of delivering useful, fun, capable hardware.  Many were sceptical when the company decided to launch the OG Switch console. But four and a half years and nearly 90 million shifted units later, Nintendo’s masterstroke of a hybrid console has returned its maker to the top. Of course, there’s no denying that the Switch is starting to show its age a bit. I mean,…

There’s widespread debate about the term ‘vintage’ and how things of value make it into that category. For cars, it’s being built somewhere between 1919 and 1930. For furniture, it needs at least 20 years on the clock. iPhones, however, can be vintage at the tender young age of 8 years old, according to Apple.  iPhone 6 Plus showing its age? Apple has now added the iPhone 6 Plus device to the list of its vintage devices. Interestingly, the iPhone 6 that launched alongside the 6 Plus hasn’t been added to the list yet. That’s simply because the production of…

Yesterday, Samsung revealed the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Tab S8 ranges. Expect to see a few new smartphones, one with a stylus, as well as a few tablets – all packed with the latest in mobile tech. And they’re all landing in South Africa on 11 March 2022.  While the brand’s glass sandwiches look similar to the previous generation of flagships, they offer significant hardware upgrades, as well as a few software tweaks. The most interesting of the bunch, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, brings back the Note-worthy S-Pen in the body. It will, however, set you back a massive R29,000. …

This week, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) announced that it is going ahead with plans to file for a TV licence moratorium or amnesty period. This means South Africans with outstanding TV licence fees and penalties will see them scrapped. TV licences will likely be replaced by a more general ‘public media levy’ or tax.  An auditor-general report confirms that the national broadcaster believes an amnesty period is needed to deal with some outfits cashflow issues. And with cash flow issues, we mean irregular expenditure and inability to successfully collect licence fees from South Africans.  The report even predicts…

Remember the Samsung Galaxy Note? Yeah, the one that we predicted was completely dead? Yeah, well, it’s back. At least in spirit. This evening, Samsung lifted the veil on its latest flagship mobile devices that form part of its Galaxy range.  It includes three devices. There’s the base S22, the slightly bulkier S22+ and the largest S22 Ultra. That last one’s design is heavily influenced by one of the brand’s previous ranges: the much-loved Note. All of them are equipped with the latest in mobile components, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Samsung’s Exynos 2200 SoC. Which one…

While beaming the internet from space may sound like a really good idea, there are a few drawbacks. Like when space decides to do… space things. Like solar flares. Or geomagnetic storms. The latter apparently took out around 40 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites recently.  SpaceX’s very own shooting stars The satellites will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and essentially disintegrate into nothing, even before we can get a glimpse of the catastrophic failure. Of course, this is will only affect a fraction of the company’s 2,000+ Starlink satellites sitting in low-Earth orbit.  SpaceX sent 49 satellites up via a routine Falcon 9…

Notebooks currently on the market cover just about any need you could have. Powerful batteries, processors, brilliant displays – all in tiny, portable packages. Those packages come at exorbitant prices most of the time though. So if you’re keen on getting into content creation, editing or design, you may struggle to find a machine that suits your budget.  Lucky for you, though, Asus is always bringing particularly useful tech to its more affordable lineup. We’ll be honest, we prefer seeing flagship notebooks delivered to our offices, but this mid-ranger surprised us on more than a few aspects.  Meet the VivoBook…