Author: Trent Meikle

When Xiaomi Redmi has a new ‘Active’ smartwatch on the way, you listen. They may not be the most technically gifted bunch of watches in the world, but they’re not trying to be. At R850 for the Redmi Watch 5 Active, it’s earned some consideration. Ditto for the company’s Redmi Watch Active 6, just announced in China. Usually, that would mean a fair amount of uncertainty regarding the watch’s release in South Africa. Not this time. Syntech, Xiaomi’s official distributor for South Africa, is on the ball — a local listing is already live. Pricing is still under wraps at…

Affordable open-back headphones are few and far between. HyperX’s new Cloud Alpha Air is a gamified take on the tech, mimicking the likes of Beyerdynamic but with one big distinction: the price. HyperX’s latest set of cans will sling around your neck for the relatively low price of R2,400 ($150). Slappin’ da bass tube HyperX is certainly placing a bigger focus on audio here. It’s ditched the wireless functionality in what we assume is an attempt to keep the price as low as possible. The Cloud Alpha Air, being purpose-built for gaming, can get away with the omission without much…

There are plenty of Lego sets to go around. Narrow that search down to video game consoles, and you’re still overwhelmed with choice. Unless you’re specifically looking for an original Xbox, that is. Mattel has stepped in to fill that oddly shaped hole in the market, bringing to life a 1:1 scale brick set of the earliest Halo player from 2001. Brick by brick It may not be Lego, but we’re betting that the ‘Microsoft Xbox Building Toy Kit’ (it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, does it?) will scratch all the same itches. 3,509 pieces will need assembling before it becomes the…

Air fryers are old hat. That hasn’t stopped them from invading every kitchen from here to Timbuktu. The in thing now? Dual-zone baskets, for when the bigger baskets just aren’t cutting it. Xiaomi’s gone ahead and obliged, providing 10L capacity split over two compartments to bring the whole meal together at once. You’ll pay handsomely for the privilege, however. Xiaomi’s cornering the Saffas with a little more disposable income than the rest, charging R3,800 for the appliance. Sure, it’s a lil’ bit smarter than all the rest, but compared to something like Milex’s 10L oven… it’s hard to recommend unless…

If you needed any more proof that technology is literally headed in the wrong direction, this is it. Sony, not all that long after releasing the WH-1000XM6, the tentpole of its headphone division, is taking not one, but two steps back. That’s right — the Sony WH-1000XM4 is making a comeback, with a ‘C’ tacked onto the name now. World War C It’s been six years since the original XM4 graced our ears, so when rumours started popping up claiming a revival was on the way, we almost didn’t believe them. Now, the ever-credible WinFuture has gone ahead and shown…

There have been a few members of the ‘Pulse’ family at PlayStation, all of them audio-focused. The latest to join the crew, however, would rather be as far away from your ears as possible. Instead of a pair of in- or over-ear headphones, Sony’s Pulse ‘Elevate’ would sit comfortably on your desk as wireless speakers. If only these were digital, said no one Sony first announced the Pulse Elevate desktop speakers in 2025, with the promise that they’d be out sometime in 2026. The company is cutting it rather fine, with plans to open up pre-orders in September and an…

The only thing stopping you from slurping down as much Reddit as possible is those pesky posts that have the gall to make you read words, rather than simply posting an image or video. There’s no browsing r/wallstreetbets or r/AITA from the shower, for instance. Not yet, anyway. Reddit has worked out a way to make those walls of text a little easier to digest by having artificial intelligence read ’em back to you. Only if you want it, of course. Alexa, play r/tifu The idea isn’t fresh. Short-form “content” “creators” have long since figured out the infinite money glitch…

Is it just us, or has the supposed Apple TV 4K overhaul been “ready to go” for the last two years? The last we heard, the Fruit Company’s little black box was being held back while Apple figured out this whole artificial intelligence thing. It would make Siri a smarter streaming companion than she currently is, if all goes to plan. The current iteration is no slouch, even if it did release all the way back in 2022. It’s got an A15 Bionic chip running the show, which, according to past rumours, will get the boot in favour of something a bit…

Last month, Asus unveiled the ROG Raikiri 2 Pro controller and what a spectacle it was. It’s a PC-only controller that packs in a few key upgrades, like an 8,000Hz polling rate, a bigger battery, and a new colour display. That’s all well and good. The only trouble was that it was a China-only release, with no word on a global release. Sooner than we’d expected, but later than we’d hoped, Asus’ Raikiri 2 Pro has made it out. Pro enough for you? Unfortunately, it hasn’t gone entirely global yet. Listings for the controller have since appeared in Germany, Austria,…

People want wider foldables, if the recent success of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 is any indication. So much so that Samsung has reportedly upped the number of units in production from 2.8 million to a nice round 4 million. If that wasn’t enough, insiders who spoke to ETNews (via Android Central) claim that the South Korean outlet will focus on foldables in a big way next year. As many as five foldables are in the pipeline for 2027, it’s claimed. Samsung’s gettin’ busy next year Those would be the usual suspects: the Galaxy Z Fold9, bearing the new ‘wide’ look, the…