Author: Brett Venter

It increasingly seems that Amazon’s major use for its generative AI development has been put towards convincing folks to buy things from its main website. We’ve seen generative images, a shopping assistant, another shopping assistant, a function that buys things for you, and a digital salesman. Up next? Generative AI product ads. Amazon Ads has made its Video Generator technology broadly available to American sellers, following a beta that lasted nine months. It does little for buyers, except perhaps dazzle them for long enough to prod that Buy Now button. Something new in the Amazon For sellers on the platform,…

The Le Mans endurance race is an annual showcase of high-performance car technology, but Porsche is fielding something new alongside its 963 Hypercar race contender — a road-legal version called the 963 RSP. The Porsche 963 RSP owes much of its design to its race-spec sibling. However, the inspiration for making it owes more to the existence of the Count Rossi 917, a 1970s-era road-legal racecar made for the Count Rossi di Montelera. You’ll never drive the 963 RSP The older vehicle prompted the Martini Silver paint job on Porsche’s newest road racer, also influencing the leather and Alcantara trim…

Samsung has recently revealed the names of its newest foldable smartphones. Not that anyone needed help guessing that the Galaxy Fold 7 and Galaxy Flip 7 are on the way. But in a rare display of official hype-building, the company has also just teased what it calls the “Ultra-experience” coming to its folding lineup. Which, in official Samsung parlance, will probably translate to the Galaxy Z Ultra when it’s officially announced. The teaser is little more than a laudatory post on the official website, but it also includes a few seconds of a silhouette designed to show off how skinny…

Any parent will tell you that a late-night, barefoot encounter with a Lego brick is one of the most painful things you can experience. You’ll run significantly less risk of nocturnal screaming (and a possible trip to Casualty) if you’re wearing shoes. Nikes, for preference. That’s if you take the news of the yellow brick company and the footwear manufacturer partnering up a little too seriously. Nike and Lego have signed a multi-year deal that will see each company releasing products that reference the other, from brick-themed shoes to shoe-themed bricks. Lego my shoes The first of the buildable products…

Apple tends to be a predictable beast, but this evening’s WWDC 2025 keynote promises to keep us guessing at least a little. Traditionally, the World Wide Developers Conference is all about the company’s software (the clue’s in the name), but Apple occasionally pulls a hardware surprise out of the hat. If there’s a processor-toting rabbit inside an unsuspected bit of headgear, it’s exceedingly well-hidden. On the cards for this evening is an extensive revamp of the company’s various operating systems, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Waiting on WWDC 2025 If you’re excited by the look and feel of Apple’s software…

If you somehow missed the main notification, the June-July 2025 issue of Stuff is out. Out on shelves, out online, out of stock… wait, not that last one. Especially if you were smart and clicked the Subscribe button on the main Stuff website. (The ‘Like’ portion of that transaction is when you give us money.) We’re packing a fully stacked issue, as always, with smartphones, game consoles, and more smartphones. Plus a few extras, as usual.  First up is the smartphone feature. Features, really. If you’re interested in the best mobile hardware on the planet (this year), we’ve covered all…

Vivo has launched a new trio of its Y-series smartphones in South Africa, springing the Y29, Y19s Pro, and Y04 (256GB edition) onto the local market for not much money at all. Pricing ranges from R8,000 at the top end to just R3,000 at the bottom. Finding a smartphone between those two markers isn’t hard in South Africa. Finding something decent, on the other hand, is a tougher ask. Vivo’s pending launch could well be partly behind Samsung’s recent financial demotion of its lower-end Galaxy A lineup, since the Chinese outfit is packing at least a few interesting perks. Oh,…

Everyone knows the comic stereotype of the older person mystified by technology. Uber’s new Ride Easy update takes the trope seriously and attempts to simplify the ride-sharing experience for those of… somewhat advanced years. The feature also has a less catchy name — senior accounts, designed for users over the age of 60. Changes to the user interface include larger text and simpler-to-follow directions, just in case those pesky digital screens attempt to trip up granny and grandpa. Take the Ride Easy Ride Easy’s senior accounts are part of an Uber user’s Family profiles feature, meaning that a younger person…

South African Android users looking to upgrade their wearables without resorting to Samsung or (shudder) Apple could cast their eyes in the direction of the Oppo Watch X2. Officially launching in South Africa from 20 June, the upgraded version of Oppo’s last wearable will set you back R7,000. Worth switching up? That’s something we can only definitely answer once it arrives, but Oppo certainly thinks its new hardware is worthy of investing in. Well, they would. It’s in the job description. Watch X2 (not the movie) Buyers can expect a 1.5in 466 x 466 sapphire crystal LPTO AMOLED display (that’s…

Volvo, the company that gave the world the three-point seat belt (Literally. Look it up), has reinvented the technology for the modern age. Whether the company will give the technology to all and sundry again remains to be seen, but it’ll appear first in the company’s upcoming EX60, due in 2026. The “multi-adaptive safety belt” has plenty in common with the less intelligent versions most of us use. It’ll buckle across the chest, clip in around your hip, and probably start an annoying chime if you forget to buckle it in and attempt to drive. But that’s not all Volvo’s…