Author: Brett Venter

Remember when the apps that harvested user data for advertising purposes were free? Yeah, Instagram Plus is hoping to change all that by convincing users to pay to have their data harvested for advertising purposes. Okay, fine, you’ll get a few other features non-paying users won’t have. But, as far as we can make out, handing over a monthly subscription won’t stop Meta from turning your clicks, views, preferences, and other things into ad sales. Good thing the new paid tier of Instagram is only in the testing phase in the Philippines. Instagram Plus… what? At least, that’s according to…

Google has been working on live translation via headphones — and the company’s apps, of course — for a while. Now, access to the ‘I never need to learn another language’ service is expanding its reach. It’s also jumping from being Android-only to supporting iOS. South African users who don’t spoof their global location will still have to wait a while longer, though. Live Translate has expanded beyond its initial Mexico, India, and United States rollout, but it hasn’t arrived in SA yet. Google lives to translate Instead, intrepid tourists in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Thailand, and the UK…

Apple turns 50 this year. The company and its partners are doing all sorts of things, but Caviar’s new Jobs Edition version of the Apple iPhone 17 Pro is taking it a little far. There’s a very limited number of these customised phones available, and they come with something special: a bit of Steve himself. Allegedly, anyway. And not actual human DNA, either. Apparently, the limited-run iPhone will include “a titanium Apple logo encasing a fragment of Steve Jobs’ original black turtleneck.” Said fragment will have its “authenticity confirmed by certificate.” iPhone: Jobs Edition Which means purchasers won’t be able…

If you don’t already have enough earbud choices in your life, Lenovo’s new Erazer XP6 AI translation buds are here to give you more analysis paralysis. They’ve been listed on the official Erazer website for some time, but you can’t actually hand over R1,400 for a pair. It’s “not set up” for that. But if you’re willing to take a chance, you can nab Lenovo’s new buds in their screen-fronted case from Banggood for about R850. That includes shipping to South Africa. It probably doesn’t include whatever Customs will demand of your little shipment. Erazer XP6 Gun As for why…

When you think of Apple, you don’t often think of enterprise services. Apple Business, recently launched by the premium(ish, these days) hardware maker, promises just that. The new platform launches on 16 April this year. When it does, it should let users “manage [their] organisation’s devices, apps, and accounts. After that, it gets drearily technical. That’s why your company pays someone else to deal with this sort of thing. You don’t think network and IT administrators are paid for fiddling with the easy stuff, do you? The Apple Business End Much like Microsoft’s raft of corporate services, Apple’s new platform…

If you’ve been eying the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite — like we have — you’ll know the phone became available via Kickstarter earlier this week. That means pricing is available and it’s… acceptable. So acceptable that Unihertz has (at the time of writing) managed to raise $2.75 million on a meagre $100,000 goal. The phone is coming out. Generally, Kickstarter backers assume at least some risk, but most of the Chinese company’s recent phone launches have used the platform to secure pre-orders. So there’s no worry on that score. But there is a slight problem for South African fans. Shipping.…

Samsung has just launched its newest smartphones in South Africa. It’s time to look to the future, then, and that future may include the Galaxy Fold 8 Wide. If the title isn’t enough of a clue, it’s supposed to be a wider version of the Galaxy Fold 8. That one’s supposed to launch later this year, and the Wide incarnation could appear alongside. As is typical for Samsung, nobody in that hemisphere can keep a secret. Visuals created from the apparently official CAD files for both handsets have appeared on Android Headlines, helped by leaker OnLeaks (it’s in the name).…

It’s been a little under a year since the last time Netflix raised prices in South Africa. The newest price increase from the streamer is officially only for the United States, but it’s probably not going to stay that way. Based on last year, the American price increase isn’t going to stay localised. Last year, the US saw prices go up in January. South Africa followed suit a few months later. The current cost increase will probably follow a similar path here at home. Ahoy there, Netflix Everything on the platform will get $1 (R20) and $2 (R35) more expensive.…

A company called Ganance has developed a way to turn almost any wristwatch, from a Citizen to a Rolex, into a smartwatch. Called The Heir, it’s a little disc that fits to the base of your treasured timepiece and adds new functions. Unlike the Ollie Watch One, there’s no full rebuild needed. You won’t have to open the casing or stick anything in. And, if you want it gone, it’ll just… come off. Heir we go again The Heir (the ‘The’ is part of its name) adds a selection of sensors to a conventional wristwatch, upskilling it into something smarter.…

Apple likes to move its technological advances along, but its smartphone camera upgrades move slower than most. Maybe. A new report claims that Apple will eventually make the jump to 200MP camera sensors in its iPhones, with the likely starting point being the iPhone 19 Pro. Which, if you’re paying attention, isn’t this year. 2026 will see the launch of the iPhone 18 lineup. But a leaker out of China reckons that Apple is eying the massive sensor for the following year, in 2027. 200MP/how? The rumour comes from a generally reliable Chinese supply chain leaker, Digital Chat Station (via…