Author: Brett Venter

More changes are afoot at Twitter. The most recent of these is the folding of a previously-available feature into the service’s Blue subscription service. Amazingly, there might actually be a good reason for that beyond ‘Elon makes money from it’. According to the company’s Support account, regular users have until 20 March to enjoy getting their two-factor authentication (2FA) updates via SMS. After that, they’ll become the sole domain of folks who have subscribed to Blue. The Twitter (two-)factor Effective March 20, 2023, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method. Other…

Petrol cars are going away, they tell us. Most brands have plans to phase out fossil fuel guzzlers by 2030 (or somewhere in the vicinity). The new Jaguar F-Pace SVR, a supercharged 5.0l V8, makes it clear just how much of a pity that will be. Not because of the environment (though lithium mining is having its own effects on the planet). Instead, it’s the sheer joy of stomping on an accelerator and having a petrol engine leap forward like it’s about to consume the car in front of it. Whether, as in the F-Pace SVR’s case, it’s worth paying…

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra is the company’s headliner for 2023. There’s a tiny chance that Samsung will release a better device but you might as well expect Eskom to sort itself out without any further complications. It’s… super unlikely to happen. In Samsung’s case, that’s okay. We’re going to stop talking about Eskom now, however. The S23 Ultra is the newest ‘Note’, for fans with memories that long. It’s a massive and massively-powerful smartphone. It ships with an S Pen stylus built into the body. It’s got Samsung’s most high-performance camera in any device, ever. But if you’ve got it…

Chinese company Tencent, the company behind PUBG Mobile and various other games and services, has pulled back on plans to enter the VR market. The report comes via Reuters, which cites three different sources “familiar with the matter”. The company is looking to trim costs at its metaverse unit including the halting projects unlikely to make money. Smart move. Your Tencents worth The company announced its intention last year to develop both virtual reality hardware and software. It went so far as to hire 300 people to execute its plans for an “extended reality” future. The development unit had made…

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the most important event in the mobile device calendar. The clue is in the name. But while the event showcases the very best (and occasionally some of the strangest) tech that’ll slip into your pocket, there’s also the potential for launches to underwhelm. Statistics dictate that they’re going to turn up eventually. And they do. Here are some of the biggest disappointments to come out of MWC. Nokia X and XL (2014) A little while before Microsoft and Nokia officially merged and started the Windows Phone era in earnest, Nokia decided to release a couple…

Is it a coincidence that the United States Air Force has allowed an AI to take control of one of its training jets right about the same time that ChatGPT has hit the mainstream? Is it concerning that the chatbot has started acting a little… spotty right about now? In order, the answers are: yes and (probably) no. Still, we’re pretty sure James Cameron made a documentary about this scenario. A training aircraft, the Lockheed Martin VISTA X-62A, has hosted an AI for the first time. Its flight time? Seventeen hours, which is seventeen more hours than most of us…

Netflix Games is on a serious roll. The latest title to be added to the streamer’s mobile games list is Tomb Raider Reloaded. Lara Croft’s latest outing is a little… unexpected if you’re used to the more traditional genre but it’s still worth checking out. Reloaded bears more resemblance to the isometric games in the series, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Temple of Osiris. Only, you know, on a phone. And the game seems to be keen on a younger demographic, based on the stylistic changes. Tomb Raider for kids https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7AVpz6r-to Tomb Raider Reloaded is a more…

Medical aid is a big deal in South Africa. But, not everyone can afford it. Discovery, in a partnership with Clicks and Auto & General Insurance, has launched a (kinda) new health insurance product. Flexicare is the name and keeping you healthy is its game. Flexicare isn’t actually all that new. It’s been around since 2018 but it was previously confined to companies. As long as your workplace supported it, you could access it. Now, you don’t need to wait for your capitalist overlords to give a damn about your health to get you some Discovery coverage. It’s not quite medical…

If you’ve always wanted a BMW smartphone of your very own, you’ve (probably) been out of luck (unless you could find that one Vivo special edition). That’s a good thing. When companies with no experience make smartphones, the results tend to be terrible. But when Samsung is making the device? Then it might not be such a terrible idea. And the South Korean company isn’t the only one setting up strange partnerships. Chinese brand Realme (which is related to both Vivo and Oppo) has announced a Coca-Cola partnership that really is quite special. Not quite as special as its recent Naruto-themed…

Do you think you have what it takes to create the next great African (or South African) film production? Showmax wants to hear from you. And not in the whole ‘do it for exposure’ way you might expect, either. The streaming platform has funding to hand out for ten films set in Africa. The company, in partnership with the Joburg Film Festival, is inviting pitches from… well, from everyone. But there are a few terms and conditions attached to these proposals. Otherwise, like advertising a job on Facebook, folks will apply despite being massively underqualified. Showmax what you’ve got The…