Author: Brett Venter

Former Amazon CEO and occasionally the richest man in the world Jeff Bezos is about to add another accolade to his list of achievements. Bezos is heading to space, giving us the perfect opportunity to resurface this deepfake video of Bezos and Elon Musk facing off as members of a Star Trek episode. Jeff Bezos to blast off View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) Okay, so he’s not going quite deep enough into space to be abducted by aliens and have his cranium expanded, but he will make it into space –…

Telkom Pay has launched what it calls the first virtual Mastercard in Africa created for performing transactions through messaging app WhatsApp. The digital wallet service’s card is the result of a collaboration between Nedbank (who have some history with WhatsApp payments), Mastercard (who just love harvesting interest) and Ukheshe Technologies (who seem like… pretty decent fellows, so far). You’re going to Telkom Pay for that Basically, users of Telkom’s digital wallet service will create a virtual Mastercard in the Telkom Pay app, which is then linked to the wallet itself. They’ll have to load cash onto the card and that…

It feels like it’s barely been a few days since the last new issue of Stuff Magazine was released and here were are again. It’s Stuff’s June-July 2021 issue, on shelves both physical and digital, and what an issue it is. Though it’s awfully cold outside, there are two ways to handle it. Either you can stay inside, wrapped in blankets and not moving much (pity Eskom’s made sure your heater is largely useless), or you can head outdoors and trade frost for sweat. We’ve got an issue packed with ways you can burn calories while staying distant from other…

You know that feeling of dread any time an unknown number calls your smartphone? WhatsApp intends to make you feel that when you’re attempting to get your account verified on a device. Which, to start, isn’t as bad as it seems, and to continue, might not stick around as a feature. The messaging app, according to WABetaInfo, is currently testing so-called flash calls for account verification on a limited number of Android accounts. Basically, what happens is that instead of sending you an SMS, the app dials your number and rings a couple of times. You don’t have to answer…

Apple’s recently announced (and priced) AirTags, the company’s version of the device-finding Tile, were long expected but, while it’s a slick little piece of technology, it’s not perfect. There’s the little matter of the AirTag relying on what is basically a massive surveillance network, which works so well that the tiny tracker can potentially be used as a stalking tool. Well, Apple reckons it’s got a way to address that. Avoiding AirTag animosity See, the easiest way to track someone is to slip an AirTag into their bag or car and then use Apple’s Find My app to see where…

Apple may have started something here. Google has revealed that it’s about to make it harder to apps to track Android users who have opted out of personalised ads, by removing access to so-called Advertising IDs after a user opts out of tracking. Instead, developers will be shown a string of nothing but zeroes. Now, if you make your money by tracking users wherever they go on the internet, that’s not great news. Facebook has already found that out thanks to Apple’s move in this direction. Google’s take on it might just upset Zuckerberg and co. a little more than…

Instant messaging service WhatsApp, when it wasn’t getting up its own users’ noses or adding features nobody was really asking for, was reported to be up to something actually useful — adding multi-device support for a single account. Because nobody has just one mobile device anymore, apparently. Well, last month’s rumours have just become this month’s confirmed feature. What’s up, WhatsApp? According to the folks over at WABetaInfo, who always seem to have all the WhatsApp beta info for some reason, the messaging service will soon work on up to four devices using a single account. That’s according to both…

So Twitter Blue, the app’s subscription service, is actually a thing and it’s going live as of this week. But that’s only if you live in one of two countries: Australia or Canada. Pricing was confirmed recently but the current pricing… isn’t the same. If you’re an Aussie, you’ll be paying $4.49 AUD (R47) and if you’re a Canuk you’ll be on the hook for $3.49 CAD (R40) per month. But is it worth dropping a little less than the price of a Spotify subscription every month for whatever Twitter’s new stuff consists of? Well, that’s up to you. Twitter…

Huawei has been threatening this for some time but now it’s official — the Chinese company announced that a whole slew of older and new devices are incoming running its Harmony OS 2 software. These devices include some that you may have skipped (or which skipped us) over the past year, like the Huawei P40, Mate 30, Mate 40 and the MatePad Pro. Living in perfect Harmony OS 2 The list of familiar names will be some of the first to get Huawei’s Android-alternative operating system, but the company doesn’t intend to stop there. Handsets as far back as the…

NASA has serious exploration plans afoot. It’s Mars this year, it’s the Moon soon with the upcoming Artemis missions, and now it’s also Venus, according to an announcement from the space agency this week. In fact, before the end of the decade NASA intends to send two missions to Earth’s closest non-satellite neighbour. Venus rising Sometimes we think that NASA does what it does so that it can use clever acronyms as often as it does. The two missions confirmed for the planet that destroys spacecraft are called DAVINCI+ and VERITAS — respectively known as the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation…