Author: Brett Venter

What, you thought it would stop at WhatsApp? Meta will be putting some of its AI glasses features behind the company’s Meta One subscription fee. Right now, South Africans only have to deal with WhatsApp and the negligible benefits of giving the social media company thirty bucks a month. Later, though…? At present, only users in “[the] US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, India, Mexico, France, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, and Finland on eligible devices” are likely to find themselves deciding whether a One subscription is worth it. Meta’s price The…

Stuff is a little late to the Huawei Mate 80 Pro party. If you missed out on the Chinese brand’s massive sale on this one, where the price dropped from R22,000 to R13,000, so are you. That offer is sold out, so you’re looking at a still-cheaper but nowhere near as impressive R19,000 cash price for the 80 Pro. That’s a terrible shame, but it’s still a stonking good phone for its price. You can also have it for R750/m on contract. For folks with photographic glory on their vision board, this one should be worth the monthly premium. The…

Humanoid robots are likely to become more prevalent, with the South Korean government announcing plans to increase production of the tech. That’s not all the country will focus on, according to a new BBC report. The current semiconductor shortage is something else the country will tackle with government backing. The shift isn’t surprising from the industry-focused South Korea. Companies like Samsung have sunk massive amounts into supply chains and tech expansion, to the point where you can furnish most of your home with Samsung products. It’s just a pity you can’t buy the Samsung-produced K9 Thunder 155mm howitzer under the…

Google, being Google, is now using your Search data to “improve Google generative AI models”. You weren’t really asked about this, though you may have received an email telling you that Search Services History now exists. Part of the new function (it’s not a feature) is the aforementioned generative AI opt-in. Most of Google’s users won’t bother with fiddling with it, but not everyone is okay with training AI without compensation. If that’s you, there’s a simple way to opt out. Search for another way Accessing the new setting is as simple as visiting My Google Activity in a browser…

We’ve been following the development of NASA’s X-59 aircraft, if only because it holds the potential to reintroduce supersonic air travel to the masses. The Concorde was ferociously expensive, but also incredibly quick. One of the problems with it was the sonic boom the airliner generated. This made it unsuitable for flight over most inhabited areas. The X-59 intends to sidestep the latter problem, at least. NASA’s engineers are trying to generate a ‘quiet’ sonic boom, without the effects of a purely ballistic approach. A new video posted on several of NASA’s YouTube channels shows the aircraft in action during…

BMW’s robotic humanoid ambitions aren’t confined to the European continent. The motoring company has announced that it’s launching the next iteration of a humanoid assistant at an American factory. Previously, the Figure 02 robot has been serving time at the company’s Spartanburg facility. Now it’s about to be supplanted by Figure 03. Figure 02 is the creation of Figure AI, a company that specialises in humanoids. The second generation of its humanoid has put in eleven months’ work at the South Carolina facility, which means it’s time for an upgrade. BMW fights in the shade BMW Manufacturing vice president Ulrich…

It’s been long enough since LG’s rollable smartphone was smothered in the crib that Samsung is thinking about taking a shot at it. At least, that’s the word according to Korean news outlet Money Today, which reckons that the South Korean giant is targeting 2028 for its own rollable. It’s not like Samsung hasn’t been trying all sorts of design changes to keep its smartphone empire feeling fresh. It’s not like the company has anywhere to go in terms of hardware, especially now. Something gimmicky… probably sounds pretty good right about now. Samsung on a roll? The Money Today report…

SanDisk’s Extreme Fit USB-C flash drive is proof of just how far portable storage has come. The humble floppy disk averaged about fifteen grams, whether you chose the 5.25in or the 3.5in version. SanDisk’s new storage accessory weighs about a fifth of that. Storage capacity has gone way, way up since the 1970s, too. Which all seems obvious. The Extreme Fit USB-C is available in capacities from 64GB to 1TB, with the 128GB version we were playing with costing around R800. Pricing almost doubles for each step up you take to 1TB, which costs a mighty R4,800. Still, if you’re…

If you’re keen to accelerate your cognitive decline further, YouTube has announced that its users can now watch Shorts at double speed. According to the platform, this is so you can “absorb information more quickly or find your favorite part faster.” Exactly why you’d need anything from an AI-narrated Short stuffed in your brain more quickly isn’t explained.  Presumably, somebody, somewhere, has a reason to make these short clips zip by even faster than they already do. That somebody is probably Google. Eat my Shorts The move, presented as a good thing for YouTube users, would also have the effect…

Believe it or not, playing with smartphones and tablets all the time can get tedious. Our time with the TVS Apache RR310 motorcycle, on the other hand, was anything but. This bike is billed as a track-ready vehicle, for folks who want to go fast somewhere there are paramedics on station. It’s also, as it turns out, a decent option for drivers looking to dodge the current fuel price. And traffic. You’ll have to be willing to dodge traffic. R90,000 brand-new isn’t much for putting rubber on a race track. Given how new the Apache RR310 is in South Africa,…