Author: Stuff writer

Chinese tech brand TCL is on a mission to make further inroads into Africa. While we’re somewhat ambivalent about the consumer tech scene in other African countries, South Africa is a part of Africa. It’s right there in the name. So when TCL invited Stuff to Dubai to be present for the unveiling of its newest tech, we couldn’t stop ourselves from going. On the menu for the Middle East and Africa are a Mini LED set, the C845, and a pair of QLED screens, the C745 and C645. The brand also announced a new football partnership with Arsenal FC,…

Apple is planning to discontinue its free ‘My Photo Stream’ service in July this year. The service, which has been available since 2011, allows users to upload images and videos from Apple devices to iCloud. “As part of this transition, new photo uploads to My Photo Stream from your devices will stop one month before, on June 26, 2023,” says Apple. Users will no longer be able to load new photos after the discontinuation date. Apple says photos that are loaded to My Photo Stream before the shutdown will remain in iCloud for 30 days from the date that you…

Meta’s less-social chatting platform WhatsApp Business is working on a “Status Archive” feature that will save content creators and businesses a bit of time. The feature, as you might have guessed from the name, allows users to save statuses and repost them at a later stage. This is expected to save business owners from having to recreate the same posts to their profile’s WhatsApp status from scratch when trying to sell or market their products and services on the platform. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is currently rolling out the new feature to WhatsApp Business for Android beta testers. The feature…

If there was any game that deserved a complete remake, it’s System Shock. The original 1994 game was groundbreaking on so many levels, it’s considered by many to be the birthplace of an entire genre. Sure, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is hailed as the first ‘immersive sim’ – a genre of game that allows for multiple approaches and encourages player choice within a tightly-controlled, systemic environment – but System Shock perfected it. A difficult game to parse, even with the help of the overhauled Enhanced Edition, Nightdive Studios’ efforts to rebuild this classic with a new engine and mechanics…

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”. Especially in Africa, the continent that has responded to the world’s needs by creating some of the most widely used tech in the world. This year’s Africa Day commemoration, on 25 May, marks 60 years since the day’s inception. It’s worth looking back, this Africa Day, on the contributions the continent has made to the world at large. Every year, the African Union (AU) comes up with a theme that’s supposed to inspire Africans. It also hopes we’ll remember the theme throughout the year.  This’s year’s theme is “Acceleration of AfCFTA implementation”. Good luck…

How often do you read an article headline and assume that you actually understand what the story is actually about? Admit it, now. We won’t judge you. With the information overload that we all endure online, you probably just don’t have the time to read a million articles throughout the day. Android’s updated Reading mode will convert articles into audio and read them out for you as you carry on with whatever you’d rather be doing instead of subjecting yourself to more screen time. You’ll be able to continue listening when your screen goes off or if you’re using a…

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has become the default browser for OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The new AI integration is also expected to boost the search engine that’s trailed far behind Google for as long as it’s existed. Bing’s integration into the popular AI chatbot is expected to give users timely and up-to-date search results from the web. “Now, ChatGPT answers can be grounded by search and web data and include citations so you can learn more—all directly from within chat,” says Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing. Read More: Is ChatGPT really the internet’s search future? Microsoft made the announcement this…

LinkedIn, as a platform, is gradually mixing more work with pleasure. This transformation has also attracted more spam and scams, forcing it to roll out new features in an effort to maintain its integrity. The new features come after Microsoft’s social network revealed a spike in malicious activity in its latest transparency report. It blocked 58 million accounts between July and December last year, an increase of 22 million spam accounts blocked in the previous six months. Read More: A huge LinkedIn study just showed which connections are better when searching for a job As a remedy, the platform plans…

On Monday, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta received a staggering  $1.3 billion fine from the European Union in another data trust (or lack thereof) scandal. The EU wants Meta to stop transferring data from Facebook users in Europe to the United States. Why? Well…because most countries don’t trust each other with sensitive information. People also don’t (and probably shouldn’t) trust tech companies with most of their personal information. The EU does not know how the US will use the information received from EU Facebook users. The group is concerned that Facebook data could be used to spy on its citizens.…

Short-form blogging platform Twitter now allows users to post videos that are two hours long. Perhaps we should rephrase that — it’s the previously short-form blogging platform. Also, ‘allows’ is a strong word. Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription-based service, now allows users to post videos that have up to an 8GB file size. This is an expansion from the previous 2GB file size which allowed videos up to one hour long. Video quality remains capped at 1080p though. Users can now post longer videos using the iOS app. Subscribers on Android can also upload lengthier videos that are up to…