Author: Brett Venter

If you’re one of many users who trust Grammarly to check your online communication, you might be thrilled to note that the grammar-checking app is about to get more comprehensive. The newly announced features use artificial intelligence (of course they do) to handle more of your writing workload than just ensuring you sound like you completed high school in your office emails. The app’s new AI functions are paired with a new tool called Grammarly Docs, which promises to “build on your writing, voice, and ideas” via a combination of AI chat and the service’s new agents. The service reckons…

It’s not often we see something genuinely novel from a smartphone, but HMD’s new Fuse handset promises just that. The company that used to put out Nokia phones calls this “a phone that grows with your kids,” but that’s not what will grab your attention at first. The most eye-catching feature is an AI feature called Harmblock+, which “[s]tops nudity from being shown, shot, or stored.” That’s a major concern for any parent looking to give their kid access to a smartphone, but it’s not where the HMD Fuse begins. Sparking the Fuse HMD’s new handset starts life as a…

When the most serious complaint you have about a set of in-ear headphones is the way the case is oriented, you know something’s gone terribly right. That’s the case with the Beyerdynamic Amiron 100 in-ear phones and their, er… case. That’s about the extent of our problems with these premium-feeling earbuds, unless you feel like quibbling about the R4,000 retail price. As with their on-ear cousins, the Aventho 100s, the Amiron 100 in-ears are an excellent blend of build and audio quality, with a selection of ear-tips to better keep these stem-toting headphones firmly lodged in the holes on either…

If you’re one of OpenAI’s frequent South African ChatGPT users, you may want to cast your eyes further afield in search of better pricing for a subscription. The AI company has launched its cheapest subscription to date, but it’s confined to users in India for the time being. OpenAI goes to India ChatGPT Go will set subscribers back 400 rupees, or just over R80, per month for broader access to the company’s services. The pricing is a concession to that country’s economy. For contrast, South Africa is expected to pay the full American rate of $20/m for ChatGPT Plus –…

On the list of products Samsung could choose to jam artificial intelligence into next, we wouldn’t have expected a water purifier to be right at the top. And yet, the South Korean company has launched its new Bespoke AI Water Purifier Countertop in its native country. The water purifier isn’t set to be cheap, either. It’ll be priced in South Korea at approximately R18,500. Similar tabletop products here at home will run you less than a third of that. They’re lacking 2025’s AI buzzword and, Samsung says, can’t perform as well as its new Bespoke unit can. Samsung’s purity test…

The eventual entry of SpaceX’s Starlink in South Africa has been the subject of much speculation, with the country’s regulatory requirements being the major sticking point. Despite offering free internet access to SA schools and asking the public to motivate for its arrival, the satellite internet service remains fairly absent. But that’s not all Elon Musk’s company has been trying. There’s only really one hurdle SpaceX isn’t willing to leap over — the 30% ownership requirement for companies entering the country. A submission to South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, seen by Stuff, makes this much apparent. The…

Flying taxis are the next market for folks looking to make money out of moving people from here to there. Joby is one of the companies getting in on the future mobility action, having previously conducted lengthy test flights, some with NASA’s assistance. The most recent development for the company is a first — the first public airport to public airport trip for a flying taxi. That’s a bigger deal than it sounds like — taking off from an airport is fraught with all sorts of regulations. Unless you’re doomed hero Richard Russell, who never bothered to ask for permission.…

Any time you get more tech than you’re paying for is a good time. Acer South Africa, ostensibly to help shift users from the outgoing Windows 10 operating system to Windows 11, will offer some new buyers a free Iconia A10-11 tablet. Just to sweeten the deal. The marketing stunt free offer isn’t a shabby one, at least. The Acer Iconia A10-11 currently retails for R3,000 in most locations, offering basic Android performance in a 10.1in display that would prove more than adequate for a comic book library. Acer your deal ‘Free things’ are never that simple, however. There are…

Google won’t stop until it has forced artificial intelligence (AI) into everything under its umbrella. Flight Deals is the latest new AI venture from the search company, following its launch of preferred sources, a Finance overhaul, NotebookLM for kids, “ultrasound proximity detection”, and Web Guide. And that’s just this month. So far. Don’t miss these Flight Deals In case the name isn’t enough of a giveaway, Google hopes to convince users — in the US, Canada, and India initially — to book their next getaway using its AI. Instead of a travel agent or looking at what’s available yourself, “you…

Either someone at HTC has an interest in Roman history, or this is a massive coincidence. The former smartphone maker revealed its new Vive Eagle smart glasses, or, as the company calls them, “wearable AI glasses.” For folks who haven’t read Julius Caesar’s campaign diaries or heard the plaintive cry of “Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!”, Vive in Latin translates roughly to ‘may he live!’, while the eagle was a noted bit of sacred iconography for the Roman legions. None of this explains what HTC intends with its new wearable tech, however. Vive Eagle, vive aquilifer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGBW1ztCAvs&t=1s According to…