Author: Stuff writer

Vodacom wants to help solve South Africa’s energy crisis by signing a virtual wheeling agreement with Eskom, which it says is the first of its kind. “In addition to adding capacity to the nation’s power grid, this agreement – a Vodacom innovation which has been co-developed with Eskom – will also play a significant role in moving Vodacom closer to its goal of sourcing 100% of its electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2025,” Vodacom said. It will not only “help accelerate efforts to solve the country’s energy crisis” but will also allow Vodacom to secure Independent Power Producers…

There was a collective groan from the world’s comedians when Donald Trump lost the US election. There goes the headline-creating buffoonery. But this week, Trump was back – and for all the wrong reasons. After becoming the first US president to have his mugshot taken, the orange-haired one’s image has become an internet meme already. The Florida Man tweeted posted it himself – so he has only himself to blame for the ensuing comedy – which is ironic and much funnier. https://t.co/MlIKklPSJT pic.twitter.com/Mcbf2xozsY — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2023 Before long, the 45th president of the United States…

When Ann suffered a stroke over 18 years ago, she was left badly paralysed and unable to speak or type. The only way she could communicate was through movement-tracking technology which she used to individually select letters. She could only produce 14 words a minute. But a remarkable breakthrough has enabled her to speak through a digital avatar that also shows her facial expressions, The Guardian reported. The 47-year-old Ann (only her first name is given) suffered what is known as a brainstem stroke nearly 20 years ago. Meta’s got nothing on this “Our goal is to restore a full,…

We get it. You’re busy. You’ve got kids. You’ve never read anything more involved than Percy Jackson. Seriously, who has time to read anymore? Once in a blue moon, you’ll manage to steal an hour or two of time to yourself – if Eskom doesn’t decide to switch off the lights. Trouble is, when you do make the time, you’ve got nothing to read, or worse, you’ve got too much to read. It’s a real issue. Trust us. We know, we know. Stuff is, first and foremost, a tech publication. When you want to get back into reading or look…

Image editing is one of those skills we’re all just expected to have now, whether it’s coming pre-made via an online service or the product of hard-earned time spent tweaking RAW files and adjusting nigh-incomprehensible graphs. The point is, you’re supposed to know how to do it. Social media demands it. Trouble is, unless you’re the sort to actively hunt down new knowledge (there are a few of you out there) it’s awfully easy to just do the bare minimum. And the bare minimum isn’t going to do much to pump up that flagging follower count, is it Jeremy? We’ve…

QVWI held its local launch event at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in Midrand earlier this week. If you’ve never heard of the brand before we wouldn’t blame you. It’s a new consumer electronics brand under Chinese holding company Skyworth Group and is prepping to roll out its ecosystem of devices, apps, and services to the South African market. The complete list of hardware it plans to bring to SA isn’t yet finalized and it’s not going to launch every product all at once. But we have an idea of the gadgets it’ll start with, based on what it showed…

We’ve all been waiting for radical innovations in batteries for years. That innovation has arrived. “The new Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries will make a big difference to South Africans,” says Ryan Martyn of Syntech, importers of Gizzu products. “They support new functionalities like fast charging and many more charging cycles. “Our first-generation products could do 500 charging cycles. The newer ones will do 3,000.” The practical benefit for South Africans is that you can leave them plugged in to constantly charge and serve as a functional UPS. They can also support power-hungry appliances like air fryers, hair dryers, and…

Oh yes, the Roomba – when robots finally did our bidding, just like sci-fi predicted! Well, it wasn’t quite like in the films. The excellently named iRobot company did manage in a small way to “make it possible for housekeeping to be something you do by choice”. But its Roomba wasn’t a humanoid robot cleaner. It looked more like a squashed Dalek (unable to traverse stairs, or even a thick rug) crossed with a dying fly. Rather than mapping out a room, it spiralled out until it hit something, cleaned along the edges, and repeated that dance until the battery…

It wasn’t just the iMac. Remember when all techy kit had to have a transparent blue shell? Bondi blue, thank you. And at the time, this made the iMac, unlike any computer you’d ever seen. Until then, desktop PCs had been boring and beige – even Apple’s. The iMac was different. You wanted to show it off. Geeks could peer at its innards, while normal people would be intrigued by a piece of tech actually designed for real humans. Well, apart from the hockey-puck mouse. Steve Jobs claimed it was “the coolest mouse on the planet”. It wasn’t. It was…

One of the many benefits afforded to Android users is the ability to easily install apps outside of unofficial channels. What some people might not know is that it’s already technically possible for Apple users too. Let’s explore the world of sideloading on Android and iOS. The Basics Get onside In the context of mobile, sideloading means installing apps from outside of an app store – like you’ve been able to do on PCs and Macs forever. Apple argues this is a security threat. But sideloading allows you to dodge lock-in and install apps and games that Apple and Google…