Author: Marcé

About a week ago, the rumour mill churned out some reports about Amazon’s plans to launch some televisions. Well, it looks like those reports were true, and Amazon has announced its own range of TVs — the high-end Fire TV Omni Series and the more affordable 4-Series Fire TV. Amazon’s TVs on Fire Both of the ranges come in 43in, 50in and 55in, while the Fire TV Omni is also available in 65in and 75in sizes. All of them come in black, while the larger Fire TV Omni devices also come in silver. All of ‘em feature 4K HDR10 compatibility…

We know that Australia’s justice system has no time for Facebook, especially following its ruling that tech companies should pay for the news published on its platform in the country. Now, a new ruling by the Australian High Court will see that news sites are liable for any defamatory user Facebook comments that appear below their content on Facebook.  This comes as part of a long-running defamation case against a number of news outlets in the country by a person named Dylan Voller. In 2016, multiple news sites reported on a story that included pretty shocking images of Voller being…

Honestly, who keeps track of their vaccine card anyway? South Africa’s Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla has confirmed that SA’s Health Department approved a digital vaccine certificate, which is currently in production and will become available to vaccinated citizens in the next week.  It will reportedly come as a standardised, digital vaccine passport which should open up international travel to more South Africans. “And this certificate will be able to be uploaded on your smartphone and it can be printable,” said Phaahla. “This initiative is in line with the World Health Organisation initiated vaccination certificate.” Vaccine passport opens aeroplane…

If anything, you won’t expect a patent battle to be the thing that threatens the Apple iPhone 13 from launching in China. Mere days before Apple’s scheduled to reveal its latest hardware, an injunction’s been filed that may bar the production, sale and export of iPhones that feature the company’s virtual assistant Siri.  The injunction was filed by Chinese AI company Shanghai Zhizhen Intelligent Network Technology, also known as Xiao-i Robot at the Shanghai Higher People’s Court. But this case stems from a long-standing battle with Apple, initiated in 2012. Here’s the tea, Apple Xiao-i Robot develops AI-based chat systems…

This is what you get when a selfie stick and a gimbal have a child. The company well-known for its drone and gimbal tech, DJI, has launched the Osmo Mobile 5 in its lineup of handheld gimbal devices. And this one definitely sports some unexpected improvements.  Osmo’s evolution Realistically, the Osmo Mobile 4 didn’t need much improvement. It features some of the best consumer smartphone gimbal tech available, and the attachment mechanism works wonders. Now DJI’s taking the new version and expanding on it, quite literally. The 5 will morph into a selfie-stick (ahem… ‘extension rod’) when needed, and it……

South Africa is flooding with budget-friendly mobile devices, and for good reason. Flagships are too expensive, and good tech has become increasingly affordable. That’s true of the Oppo A16s which is now available in South Africa for R4,000.  PrOppo quality It comes with fairly standard specs for a smartphone in this price class, including a 5,000mAh battery, a triple camera (that we’ll get into just now), 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and microSD support for up to 256GB. While there’s nothing particularly revolutionary here, we do know Oppo produces quality products at a good price.  The rear camera is fitted with…

Folding phones can still be considered ‘fringe’ tech, and while not a lot of people have direct access to one, they’re becoming increasingly available. But the folding display tech in these don’t reflect what we would expect in a ‘bendable display’, but LG may have the answer with its ‘Real Folding Window’.  This one’s interesting because it’s not purely plastic — like most foldable devices — and the company says it’s as hard as glass but it lacks the whole breaking thing.  LG’s rollin’ in PET According to reports, LG details ‘new material’ which is used to coat a sheet…

It’s about that time of the year again, i-fans. Apple has revealed the date it’s planning to show off some new tech, likely in the form of the iPhone 13 and friends. According to a tweet and invites sent out to media, the event is scheduled for 14 September 2021 at 19:00 South African time.  The event is titled “California streaming,” and will be another virtual broadcast from Apple Park, it’s the new normal, after all.  Apple’s lucky 13 While we don’t know exactly what the company has planned for the event, we can expect to see some smartphones –…

The Chinese smartphone and tech brand that’s managed to knock Apple off its seat as the second-most popular smartphone seller globally is gearing up to launch its newest range of handsets, called the Xiaomi 11T.  Early reports show we’re expecting two devices at least: an 11T Pro and an 11T. While we’d like to keep some of the technical aspects of these a surprise for some (because we don’t know ‘em officially), it’s pretty exhilarating to know the Pro model will support 120W fast charging, as confirmed by the company itself.  Xiaomi’s speedy demon incoming Xiaomi’s Twitter handle confirmed that…

This month, DiDi, the Chinese ride-hailing service launches in Gauteng after a successful pilot in Gqerberha and a rollout in Cape Town. DiDi is the largest ride-hailing platform in the world, playing host to over 15 million drivers globally as of March 2021.  Other than winning the number game, how does the service compare to competitors like Uber and Bolt currently in South Africa? DiDi vs Uber vs Bolt First and foremost, a third ride-hailing service will bring increased employment into SA, and DiDi prides itself on only taking 13% of the driver’s earnings. Other ride-hailing services take in excess…