Author: Duncan Pike

Four months after a botched security update brought an estimated 8.5 million Windows servers and PCs to their knees, Microsoft has announced the Windows Resiliency Initiative to hopefully avoid such an outage from happening again. The new initiative includes core changes to improve the reliability of Windows systems, new security features for Windows 11, and will require better deployment practices from security vendors. More security, fewer global outages Microsoft’s new initiative includes what it calls a “Quick Machine Recovery” feature, as part of the core Windows changes and as a result of improvements to the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).…

What does the future of the smartphone industry entail? If you guessed AI, then you aren’t the only one. The 27th Africa Tech Festival kicked off earlier this week at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Comprising an estimated 15,000+ attendees, 400 speakers, and 300 exhibitors across three days, the first day saw Honor hold a panel discussion during AfricaCom: Telcos of Tomorrow and as part of its wider showcase at the event. The discussion, chaired by CNBC Africa business anchor Zanele Morrison, included Honor South Africa CEO Fred Zhou, Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes, and Vinod Nenwani, head of…

In search of audio opulence with a touch of automotive excellence? Danish audio company Bang & Olufsen’s latest collaboration with Ferrari for its Beolab 50 speakers and Beosound Theatre soundbar is probably right up your alley. This isn’t the first time B&O and Ferrari have launched co-branded products. The pair’s previous collaborations include the Beosound 2 wireless speaker, Beosound Explore portable speaker, Beoplay H95 headphones, and Beoplay EX wireless earphones. With the Beolab 50 and Beosound Theatre, B&O and Ferrari have turned their attention to the TV room. Here’s what close to R4 million buys you. How much is too…

After yesterday’s update to the Steam client, Steam Game Recording has officially exited beta and rolled out to gamers on PC, macOS, and the Steam Deck globally. This means Steam gamers now have a baked-in method for recording, editing, and sharing gameplay clips and won’t have to rely on third-party software. They still can, of course. Most PC gamers tend to stick with their favourites, even when a new thing drops. But Steam Game Recording is built into the Steam client, one of the most well-put-together gaming clients available, which means recording your clips is now easier than ever. Steam…

It’s been a busy week for Apple. Instead of quietly launching generational updates to its iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro lineups with a video and press release altogether, the Fruit Company has managed to dominate the news cycle for the whole week by giving each of its ‘new’ M4-powered devices a day in the spotlight. The latest to receive the M4 treatment is the MacBook Pro lineup. Both the 14in and 16in MacBook Pro will ship with one of Apple’s M4 chips, of which there are now three — M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max. The new chips are…

Last night, Apple announced the first of its ‘new’ M4-powered devices that isn’t an iPad – an updated iMac. Not only is the all-in-one desktop now powered by the Fruit Company’s new M4 SoC, but it also gets a few ‘new’ coats of pastel paint. Options include green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver. Oh, and Apple Intelligence. But that’s about it. New year, ‘new’ iMac The M4 chip at the heart of the new base model iMac packs in an eight-core CPU and GPU with a sixteen-core neural engine. The company has also bumped unified memory (read: RAM)…

Despite what you’ll see in marketing material, most folks don’t need a PC with huge amounts of grunt. Gamers and graphic designers will be the first to jump at the chance to validate spending R50,000 or more on a laptop or PC that supports ray tracing or will shave two minutes off their rendering time but those are niche cases. If all you need is a tool that will open a web browser, Excel spreadsheet, or Word document, spending more than R10,000 can be a tough sell. That also applies when you need a PC for other things, like a…

You should already be aware that we’re well into October and Halloween is coming up fast. Whether that’s a big deal for you or not is your business. But if it is then you’ve come to the right place, especially if you already own a PlayStation console and love cowering under a blanket as you clutch a controller and try to remain calm. We’ve already covered spooky games to play from Nintendo and Xbox and the scary things to stream on Netflix, Showmax, Prime Video, and Disney+. The only platform left is PlayStation… you can see where this is going.…

Asus South Africa today launched the new ExpertBook P5, the Taiwanese manufacturer’s next Copilot+ laptop to land in SA. As you’d expect, it’s teeming with AI features thanks to the Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) chipset under the hood. It also benefits from prolonged battery life. At least, that’s how Asus tells it. This is the first time Asus has made its ExpertBook range available for retail and the company hopes the ExpertBook P5 will build its reputation in the executive sphere and prove it doesn’t only know how to make great gaming-focused gear. Circling back to business To that…

American retail giant Amazon could be working on a new online retail platform that would allow it to better compete with the low-balling Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein, according to a report by The Information. The outlet reports that it has seen internal Amazon documents originally meant for merchants which mention price caps for Amazon’s proposed new online store. Amazon low-balls the low-ballers Those price caps include a R140 limit for jewellery, R160 for bedding, R230 for guitars, and R350 for couches when said items originate from Amazon’s centre in Guangdong, China. According to The Information’s sources, orders from…