Author: Brett Venter

If you’re one of the many folks having fun with OpenAI’s Sora video generation, you may also be willing to pay for it. That’s the thinking over at the AI company’s headquarters, which will soon begin charging users for additional generations. It’s not cheap, either, particularly if you’re South African. According to Sora’s head, Bill Peebles, users looking to generate more videos in a day will have to pay for that option. An additional ten videos will cost R70 ($4) and can be purchased through the service’s iOS app. Sora about that That’s a little steep if you’re South African,…

Just Dance might be the last of the music-based games that flooded the scene back when the Xbox 360 was the king of the consoles (it wasn’t even close, Sony). Ubisoft’s title has launched on plenty of platforms, but we wouldn’t have guessed that the newest place to play it would be an LG smart TV. And yet, here we are. Just Dance Now will soon be playable on LG’s smart TVs, according to an announcement from the South Korean tech maker. There’s only one catch about accessing the dance/exercise game via the LG Gaming Portal when it launches in…

There’s something almost mystical about supersonic aircraft, but since the Concorde’s retirement in 2003, they haven’t spent much time in the public eye. NASA and Lockheed Martin’s new X-59 — the only designation for the Lockheed Skunk Works-made craft so far — could change that. The impressively pointy plane has just completed its first test flight. The aircraft is intended to “pave the way for faster commercial air travel,” meaning it’s something of a spiritual successor to the British Concorde. There’s something unique about this one, assuming it scales up to carrying commercial passengers. It’s supposedly a “quiet supersonic aircraft.”…

That didn’t take long. Nvidia was the first company to pass a $4 trillion valuation, and now, less than six months later, it has sped past the $5 trillion mark. The new milestone was crossed yesterday when the company’s stock value reached a new high of just over $211 (R3,650) per share, reseating the high-water mark that folks like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft now find themselves chasing. Whether it deserves its valuation is an argument for another time. Nvidia: They are trillions Nvidia’s 5% increase in value is driven by, you guessed it, ongoing AI purchases, but there are…

Samsung Internet is the browser you may or may not have encountered in your South Korean smartphone. If you haven’t spotted it, you’ve either opted for Chrome from the outset or you have never signed up for one of the company’s Samsung ID accounts. Never fear, you’ll soon get to ignore the browser on another platform. That’s because the company’s Internet browser is coming to PC, in a limited form at first. The tech maker says this will facilitate “a more fluid and connected experience across the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem.’ Samsung’s thing of Internet The desktop version of the browser…

EVs are fun and all, but where are all the electric buses? Turns out they’re on order, at least for South Africa. MAN, the company that makes those hulking great trucks that clog up traffic on your way to Durban, has revealed that SA is due to receive 100 new electric city buses, thanks to an order by Paruk Group. Whoever they are. Perhaps the coolest bit is that while the vehicles have been ordered, they’re not being shipped here. Instead, the Lion’s Explorer E buses will be made here, with construction split between KZN and Gauteng. The Lion’s Chassis…

ChatGPT Go launched in India first, and now the cut-rate subscription to the AI chat service is going free in that country first. OpenAI announced earlier this week that the package would be free to Indian users for a year. The move is intended to spur adoption among ChatGPT’s second-largest user base, with the likely intent of converting free Go users to paying customers at the end of the twelve months. ChatGPT Go to India Reuters points out that India is considering new regulations governing AI in the country. These changes would require that all AI-created content be clearly labelled…

Almost our first thought upon hearing about the Withings U-Scan was ‘How are advertisers going to use this data against us?’ Since the little toilet gadget — our second this month — is designed to be peed on (or at), it could lead to some very… interesting responses in the old Facebook or Instagram feed. Combine Withings’ newest body measurement device with the Kohler Dekoda, and you’ll have enough bodily emissions data to write scripts for at least two new Austin Powers films. Or you can confine said data to yourself (and anyone willing to purchase the ‘totally anonymised’ version…

At the opposite end of the humanoid robot pricing scale, as far from a smartphone price as you can get, is the new 1X Neo home robot. Currently available for pre-order in the States, it’ll set you back R343,000 ($20,000) to stick this carpet-covered fellow into your residence. Pre-orders require a deposit of roughly R3,500 ($200), with delivery to American homes that can afford the twenty-thousand-dollar price tag starting next year. Unlike Neotix’s Bumi robot, this guy is a lot larger and, supposedly, loads more capable. Why? Because it’ll have a human teleoperator. Start to believe, Neo 1X’s robot is…

In 2025 AD, if you’ve seen one Samsung S handset, you’ve seen them all. The Galaxy S25 FE, the littlest of the litter, is no exception to this aphorism. There are two sides to this tendency. First, everything has looked a bit samey for a while, but, second, it does mean you can buy something that looks like the Galaxy S25 main line at a fraction of the price. South Africa has two versions of the S25 FE, with storage being the only metric setting them apart. The 128GB version costs R15,000 outright, while the 256GB bumps the price up…