Author: Brett Venter

If the details of your life are so consistently exciting that your peers can’t keep up, the obvious solution is a newsletter. At least, that seems to be the thinking behind WhatsApp’s latest feature-in-testing. The feature, if it eventually makes it to everyone, might not be known under that label, however. Subscribe to our newsletter In terms of function, though, it’s almost identical. WABetaInfo, those folks who spend all day deconstructing WhatsApp, uncovered the new feature in the most recent Android beta version of the app (2.23.5.3). Don’t bother, the beta program is completely full. What it entails is sending…

The launch of ChatGPT spawned — or rather launched — several similar projects. Google’s Bard came out (and immediately screwed up). Microsoft launched its AI-powered Bing browser, which seems to be a little more stable. Financially, anyway. Psychologically, it appears to have issues. The company has some plans ahead for the internet browser. Setting limits, a good tactic for anyone battling mentally, is one of them but there’s also a little monetisation in the works. There always is. Taking a time-out One of the first things Microsoft is doing with its AI system is giving it a little space. In…

It’s been a long road to the announcement of Sonos’ newest speakers. The Era 300 was first known about in August last year, with a follow-up revealing many of the range’s details earlier this month. Now, ahead of anything like an official announcement, the range has leaked more or less in full. The Verge has had all of the details about the American brand’s upcoming speakers first. Hardly surprising, given the proximity of the two. It has completed the hat trick by publishing official images from the company, as well as American pricing for the lineup — before they’re even…

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…