Author: Brett Venter

Apple was never going to just announce an iPhone 14. There’s a new iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max coming to market and it’s Apple’s best smartphone ever. Again. We’re almost tired of the company being this right about itself. The phone’s design is familiar enough — it’s got a stainless steel chassis, a toughened display that uses the company’s Ceramic Shield tech, and arrived in a few shades. There’s a new Space Black (which is just… black), Silver, Gold, and then something called Deep Purple. Because Uncle Tim’s been revisiting Smoke on the Water, apparently. Island living The iPhone…

It wouldn’t be an Apple event without a new set of earbuds. The new AirPods Pro sport Apple’s new H2 chip, which offers improved performance with Apple Silicon. That’s typical of the company, making sure it works especially well with other Apple hardware. It should work just fine on other devices, thanks to a new low-distortion audio driver and custom amp, but M1 or M2 processors will offer it a greater edge. Apple makes quite a few interesting claims that we can’t wait to test out. AirPods Pro: Round 2 Some of these are familiar, but better. Apparently. Spatial Audio…

It seemed, in recent months, that Meta was hellbent on turning Instagram into an online store where users do their own product photography. A new report suggests that Meta has told staff that this drive is being scaled back. But it won’t be entirely gone, of course. Commerce on Insta is very much on Meta’s mind. It’s just that short-form video — otherwise known as ‘competing with TikTok’ — is more pressing. As such, expect a few changes to the app in the next few months. A bit of that Instagram The Information reports that Instagram staffers were told earlier…

If you absolutely must be the very best influencer in your niche, you probably want to cast your eyes over the Sony FR7. The Japanese company bills it as a world first and it’s actually aimed at the cinema industry. But, given its feature set, it could work well with a small team of content creators. That’s because it offers users “…remote pan/tilt/zoom control, high flexibility in zoom capability and wide-angle shooting” in a single unit. You’ll have to pay for this, of course. About R170,000 is the barrier to entry. That’s an awful lot of sponsored videos, and you…

Danish brick company Lego has yet to release a computer keyboard. In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with the MelGeek Pixel, a Lego-compatible mechanical keyboard. If you don’t immediately see the attraction, you’re probably not the target market. If you are the target market, you’re probably a fair bit like Stuff’s own Duncan Pike: Obsessed with switches and travel distances, a little too evangelical about Dutch company Wooting, and convinced you’ll custom-build a mechanical keyboard one day. It’s like vinyl, but for tech nerds. In that case, the Pixel is for you. One way to push a Pixel…

Just when you thought it was safe to leave your lights on, Eskom has returned with an all-new round of load shedding. Stage 2 is back from this evening at 16:00 until 22:00. It’ll resume on Wednesday morning and continue through until Saturday. Load shedding, take 57 #PowerAlert1 Loadshedding will be implemented at 16:00 until 22:00 tonight; thereafter loadshedding will be implemented daily at 05:00 – 22:00 until Saturday pic.twitter.com/YmgcoI3roP — Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 6, 2022 The good news is that we’re all getting a break from load shedding from 22:00 to 05:00 every day until Saturday.…

South African entertainment is frequently underrated. The creative minds behind the upcoming Netflix series The Brave Ones hope to prove this statement is true, come 16 September. That’s when the supernatural series launches on the international streaming platform. But first, a new trailer. If you’ve already seen the teaser, you’ll retread some familiar ground. The difference this time around is that there’s a little more of it. Who are the Brave Ones? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxc5hiWx6sA The series, helmed by Nigeria-born director Akin Omotoso, takes viewers through the tale of the Brave Ones. Six episodes will journey through three different worlds — the…

Word on the street is that Apple considered ditching the SIM card slot in some of its iPhone 14 models. Whether it actually took the step is something that remains to be seen. It might happen, it might not. We’ll see, tomorrow night, at Apple’s Far Out event. No more SIM city? Mark Gurman, the Apple whisperer, suggested in his most recent newsletter that Apple hopes to drive eSIM adoption with the launch of the iPhone. It’s not clear which markets Apple would target, but some carriers are apparently on board to push the adoption of the digital version of…

Ride-sharing app Uber is test-flighting a new feature in South Africa, starting this week. From 8 September, drivers and passengers will be able to initiate a recording of their trip via the app. This recording can be used as evidence in the event of a so-called “safety incident”. The pilot program is only available for Uber drivers and users in Gauteng. If you’re in Johannesburg or Pretoria, you can record your trip (in case) from this Friday. Previously, the ride-sharing app launched a similar trial in both Americas (US of, and Latin). Uber safety? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utJDvFN_V44 There are two ways to…

It’s official. The price of petrol is going down for the month of September. Of course, we knew that already. The question was by how much. That question has an answer. South Africa’s department of Mineral Resources and Energy has published the official petrol price drop taking effect from 7 September. For a change, you don’t need to scramble to fill your tank tomorrow. You can scramble to fill it on Wednesday instead. Less pricy Petrol South Africa’s fuel price drop isn’t as splendid as we were hoping it would be, but it’s still in the range of a couple…