Author: Brett Venter

South African digital bank TymeBank today announced a series of new features and changes to its business. All of these share a common thread — they’re geared to point the bank squarely at small businesses. Specifically, the bank hopes to make itself the best choice for small South African startups. Key to this is the acquisition of a company called Retail Capital. Retail Capital focuses on something called working capital solutions. In basic terms, the company lends money to businesses in need of products or supplies to continue operations. So a shipment of food for a spaza, a batch of…

One of the largest criticisms lobbed at blockchain technology is that it’s not really useful for anything beyond making sure it continues to exist. Almost every single implementation adds an extra, power-heavy layer on top of systems that don’t actually need it to function. Video games are being made that leverage the blockchain. They’re almost without exception irritating grind-fests. Attempts to add NFTs to games, for unique digital items, have been reviled. So reviled that similar efforts without blockchain integration have to specifically say they avoid the technology. So it’s time for yet another industry to decide that blockchain is…

Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless headphones have long been a staple of Stuff’s Top 10 lists. Currently, the brand is on its third-generation Momentum product but the Momentum 4 Wireless is waiting in the wings. And now, we know all about it thanks to a Canadian online retailer that jumped the gun. This is weird because Canadians are more sensible with guns than their American cousins. It’s mostly the look that was spoiled by this errant leak, though. The visual redesign is the largest change coming to the lineup anyway, but the leak itself doesn’t drop any specs beyond what is included…

August is a pretty special month. It’s the host of International Women’s Day and is widely considered Women’s Month. It also mostly contains Leos, but that’s just statistics. The August-September 2022 issue of Stuff Magazine is out in the wild and it celebrates at least a few of these points. We’ll give you a hint — it’s got nothing to do with Leos. We’re pretty sure. No, it’s women in tech that headline Stuff’s newest issue. And not international women in tech, either. We know they exist, but why should they get all the good press? We’re talking about South…

Some ideas are so obvious that people never think of them. Samsung’s upcoming ‘Repair Mode’, a feature that locks down a phone so that it can be remotely repaired, is one of them. Let’s be clear here. You don’t have to lock up your phone in order to repair it. Folks have sent unsecured computers and phones in for repairs for decades. But the people working on your stuff are probably also poking around in there. It’s human nature to want to see what you’ve got stored. Maybe that missing Futurama episode is on there. Repair Mode engaged Samsung is…

Every town on the planet has a really notable person who originally lived there. If only there was a way to see all of those people on a single map. Well, now that you mention it, there is. It was built by geographer Topi Tjukanov, who also works at a company called Mapbox. Mapping fame Did you know Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar and Barack Obama in Honolulu? Who is the most famous person from your home town? I made a map of the most notable people around the world. Built with @Mapbox. Check it out here: https://t.co/NR0J7nqTn1 🧵…

Spotify has finally caught up with the rest of the world. The company announced a device called the Car Thing in April last year. It was released into the world in February 2022. And now, it’s cancelled. As far as hardware launches go, that’s extremely short-lived. The news was announced during the company’s most recent round of earnings data. The device isn’t going away, so if you happened to have bought one, it’ll continue working. But Spotify isn’t making any more — though they’ll remain on sale until existing stock is gone. What is this Car Thing? A Spotify spokesperson,…

You probably know, based on the country’s recent Eskom announcement at least, that countries often buy power from each other. You’ve perhaps also heard that Botswana has offered to sell South Africa some of its surplus. But other African neighbours might come off a little worse, according to Bloomberg. Zimbabwe currently has deals with Mozambique and Zambia, purchasing power from those countries in order to bolster its power needs. But those contracts are coming up for renewal, and South Africa is jockeying for a slice of the power on offer. Eskom goes hard That’s according to Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority…

It appears that the latest essential accessory for motoring fans is a wristwatch. BMW’s done it. So have any number of other brands. Next up is Land Rover. Land Rover Classic, a sub-brand that pays tribute to older designs from the marque, is launching a wristwatch. The new gear comes from watchmaker Elliot Brown and is known as the Elliot Brown Trophy Expedition. It’s not just turning up for the fun of it, though. It’s being launched to coincide with the new Defender Works V8 Trophy II launch. Land Rover to watch Which, if we’re being totally honest, is completely…

Cliches are trite. That said, all good things must come to an end. Facebook has reported its first-ever drop in yearly revenue in its most recent financial results. The dip isn’t much, at all, but it’s a sign of things to come for parent company Meta. The rest of the tech world probably won’t escape unscathed either. Facebook’s revenue for the second quarter of 2022 was R480 billion ($28.8 billion). That’s a drop of 1% for the company. 1% isn’t much (unless you’re part of the 99%) but it’s still the first time the social network has experienced a fall…