Author: Brett Venter

Last night, Apple revealed a new feature for its iPhone lineup. Satellite connections are on the menu. But if you were watching Huawei’s conveniently-timed Chinese Mate 50 series announcement, technically the Chinese company got there first. Technically. Huawei’s Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro were revealed earlier this week. Along with the standard set of upgrades, the ability to send text messages using China’s global BeiDou satellite network has been included. What this means is that users can communicate even when they’re outside of cellular coverage areas. More than a Mate 50 Aside from the suspicious claiming of one of…

Early last year, Twitter launched an initiative called Birdwatch. It’s a bit like Wikipedia but for combating misinformation. Driven by the community, the program has gone from being a pilot program to something larger. Now, it’s about to grow even more. Twitter announced via a blog post that the program is looking to onboard even more contributors keen to make their slice of the platform a better place. For them, obviously. Birdwatch: The Gathering The way Birdwatch works is that participants identify tweets that they believe contain misinformation. These identifications and notes are visible to other ‘Watchers. If enough of…

Regular broadcast TV faces an uphill battle for viewers. That much isn’t up for debate. Traditional avenues of entertainment here at home, like the SABC and DStv, are bleeding eyeballs. Ew. No. Not like that. They’ve got fewer viewers. If former Disney head Bob Iger knows anything about it — and he should — those platforms are in for an even rougher time. At least they’re not alone. Streaming killed the TV star Iger said at Vox’s Code conference that traditional TV in all of its forms (including satellite) “…is marching to a distinct precipice, and it’s going to be…

Apple was never going to just announce an iPhone 14. There’s a new iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max coming to market and it’s Apple’s best smartphone ever. Again. We’re almost tired of the company being this right about itself. The phone’s design is familiar enough — it’s got a stainless steel chassis, a toughened display that uses the company’s Ceramic Shield tech, and arrived in a few shades. There’s a new Space Black (which is just… black), Silver, Gold, and then something called Deep Purple. Because Uncle Tim’s been revisiting Smoke on the Water, apparently. Island living The iPhone…

It wouldn’t be an Apple event without a new set of earbuds. The new AirPods Pro sport Apple’s new H2 chip, which offers improved performance with Apple Silicon. That’s typical of the company, making sure it works especially well with other Apple hardware. It should work just fine on other devices, thanks to a new low-distortion audio driver and custom amp, but M1 or M2 processors will offer it a greater edge. Apple makes quite a few interesting claims that we can’t wait to test out. AirPods Pro: Round 2 Some of these are familiar, but better. Apparently. Spatial Audio…

It seemed, in recent months, that Meta was hellbent on turning Instagram into an online store where users do their own product photography. A new report suggests that Meta has told staff that this drive is being scaled back. But it won’t be entirely gone, of course. Commerce on Insta is very much on Meta’s mind. It’s just that short-form video — otherwise known as ‘competing with TikTok’ — is more pressing. As such, expect a few changes to the app in the next few months. A bit of that Instagram The Information reports that Instagram staffers were told earlier…

If you absolutely must be the very best influencer in your niche, you probably want to cast your eyes over the Sony FR7. The Japanese company bills it as a world first and it’s actually aimed at the cinema industry. But, given its feature set, it could work well with a small team of content creators. That’s because it offers users “…remote pan/tilt/zoom control, high flexibility in zoom capability and wide-angle shooting” in a single unit. You’ll have to pay for this, of course. About R170,000 is the barrier to entry. That’s an awful lot of sponsored videos, and you…

Danish brick company Lego has yet to release a computer keyboard. In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with the MelGeek Pixel, a Lego-compatible mechanical keyboard. If you don’t immediately see the attraction, you’re probably not the target market. If you are the target market, you’re probably a fair bit like Stuff’s own Duncan Pike: Obsessed with switches and travel distances, a little too evangelical about Dutch company Wooting, and convinced you’ll custom-build a mechanical keyboard one day. It’s like vinyl, but for tech nerds. In that case, the Pixel is for you. One way to push a Pixel…

Just when you thought it was safe to leave your lights on, Eskom has returned with an all-new round of load shedding. Stage 2 is back from this evening at 16:00 until 22:00. It’ll resume on Wednesday morning and continue through until Saturday. Load shedding, take 57 #PowerAlert1 Loadshedding will be implemented at 16:00 until 22:00 tonight; thereafter loadshedding will be implemented daily at 05:00 – 22:00 until Saturday pic.twitter.com/YmgcoI3roP — Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 6, 2022 The good news is that we’re all getting a break from load shedding from 22:00 to 05:00 every day until Saturday.…

South African entertainment is frequently underrated. The creative minds behind the upcoming Netflix series The Brave Ones hope to prove this statement is true, come 16 September. That’s when the supernatural series launches on the international streaming platform. But first, a new trailer. If you’ve already seen the teaser, you’ll retread some familiar ground. The difference this time around is that there’s a little more of it. Who are the Brave Ones? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxc5hiWx6sA The series, helmed by Nigeria-born director Akin Omotoso, takes viewers through the tale of the Brave Ones. Six episodes will journey through three different worlds — the…