Author: Trent Meikle

It wasn’t all that long ago that BYD Auto launched ‘the most affordable EV’ in South Africa, and the company is ready to do it all over again. Except this time, it’s given up on all that goodwill and launching the BYD Seal, the company’s latest EV. That’ll set you back R1 million when all is said and done. R1.2 million if performance is a must. That’s… not bad. Sure, a whole million isn’t something everybody can easily rustle up. Compared to other EVs that have come our way, BYD’s kept things, not exactly reasonable but it’s kept things relatively tame…

Get out of the way, Jim. It’s finally time for Avatar: The Last Airbender to shine. The world of Nickelodeon’s Avatar is finally getting an honest-to-God AAA title. An RPG title, no less. And that’s not even the best bit. The development will be headed by Paramount Game Studios and, more importantly, Saber Interactive. You know, the guys who recently pumped out Warhammer: Space Marine 2? Oh my God, okay it’s happening That’s according to IGN, which got the scoop from the developers – who are, incidentally, in “close collaboration” with Avatar Studios, the division run up by the show’s original creators Michael DiMartino and…

Living in South Africa means putting up with some drawbacks: the occasional loss of signal – or worse, Wi-Fi – being two of them. We can’t promise to make it any better, but we can promise that Spotify is working on a way to make those moments a little less torturous. It’s doing so with Offline Backup, a new feature that’ll keep the hits rollin’, no matter what. Did we mention that no data is required? You want some backup? Offline Backup will automatically generate a playlist when the internet disappears. It isn’t doing so by sneakily downloading a playlist…

Meta believes smart glasses are the future of augmented reality (AR). It might have a point. Sticking in a camera in a pair of stylish glasses without anyone being any wiser is an impressive feat – one that was bound to be exploited in Terminator-level scenarios eventually. A pair of Harvard students have done that by turning Meta’s smart glasses into a privacy nightmare with some simple code and facial recognition software. AnhPhu Nguyen, one of those Harvard students, posted a video showcasing the Orwellian world we currently face, centring around Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses doxxing unsuspecting folks. All it takes…

Dread it. Run from it. Nintendo arrives all the same. And arrive it has, with a single agenda: terminate the Switch emulator Ryujinx, which it has now done. The site’s download page now leads to a dead-end, the GitHub page has been disappeared, and the lead developer took some sort of deal from Nintendo to ensure it remains that way. No, really. According to a post from Ryujinx’s X account, ‘GDKCchan’, the lead developer behind the massive emulator was “contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he’s…

Another day, another budget-beater smartphone hits the market. Only this time, it isn’t coming from Realme, Honor or Vivo – all three have already blown the lids off their budget-centric smartphones for 2024, leaving the path clear for the last piece of the puzzle – Oppo. The Chinese manufacturer has officially released its R6,000 Oppo A60 in South Africa, hoping to nab your attention away from the rest. Let’s get down to business Whether it’ll manage the feat is another matter altogether. Oppo’s wading into a sea of far-too-similar (and frequently cheaper) smartphones that we could easily see eating up…

While Apple is still muddling around with Apple Intelligence in a lab somewhere, Samsung’s sticking Galaxy AI into anything and everything. It made that quite clear with the debut of the S24 at the beginning of the year and doubled down on the strategy with the recent release of the S24 FE. And now, Galaxy AI is targeting your tablets, too. At least, Samsung is hoping you’ll buy its tablets once it puts the new Galaxy Tab S10 range on shelves. If you weren’t aware, that covers the Galaxy Tab S10+ and the Tab S10 Ultra. Keen-eyed readers might notice…

Now this is how you do budget. Honor has quietly unveiled its latest crack at a budget-beater, filling out the brand’s more affordable X-series, taking on the form of the X6b. Starting today, 1 October, Honor’s X6b is available at “selected retailers and network providers nationwide,” for the fairly reasonable price of R3,500. Strick to the budget Don’t expect anything more than entry-level specs, however. If the R3,500 retail price isn’t enough to convince you, Honor’s hoping a partnership with Showmax might be enough to do the trick. Honor, mimicking QVWi, has hooked up with the local streamer to offer…

If you’re more of a Helldivers II, Fortnite type of person rather than an Elden Ring, God of War person, you’ve likely noticed some issues currently plaguing the PlayStation Network. Or… not. See, the PlayStation Network (PSN) so kindly went offline at 03h00 SAST, leading to many South Africans being unaware of the outage. The perfect opportunity for some Vitamin D And we’re hoping it stays that way. For many – whether it be work, or school (the holidays are over, bub) – the outage will likely be resolved before they can open up Rocket League or something similar later this evening. Those who can access…

When Suzuki debuted the 2024 Swift series – sporting a fresh design, a new engine and a CVT option – at the Festival of Motoring back in August, it left out one very important detail: the price. Suzuki has, after much deliberation, finally landed on a starting price of R220,000 for the entry-level Swift 1.2 GL, with a further four models to choose from, topping out at R285,000 for the new 1.2 GLX CVT Swift. Whether you’re opting for the cheapest Swift possible, or taking a chance on that new CVT gearbox, you’ll be putting the same engine through its…