Author: Tshepo Chauke

In spite of recent controversies, Adobe is continuing its AI venture with new video generative and editing tools. The Firefly Video Model joins Adobe’s suite of generative AI tools, though only available in beta for now. The model also marks their foray into the video generation corner of the AI market, dominated by OpenAI’s Sora and Stability AI’s Stable Video Diffusion. The design company is just one of many devoting themselves to AI recently. It’s an expensive endeavour, requiring much processing power and energy, evidenced by the size of Canva’s recent price hikes. However that will do little to deter…

Today marks the launch of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) official podcast. Yes, one of America’s most secretive government agencies is getting a spot on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all the rest in the form of No Such Podcast, featuring interviews with NSA officials as they discuss their roles in various “combat support, foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions.” No Such Podcast’s first two episodes dropped earlier today, the pilot of which puts Osama Bin Laden in the hot seat, with further episodes following every week until mid-October. Launching with a Bin Laden pilot https://youtu.be/8eB4oUeFtvE?list=PLWvkfYC3snpXb5gEJcJ0WOhkFud2L_Nsc The agency has long been shrouded by…

YouTube, for better or worse, is the internet’s Library of Alexandria, and now the platform is making it official with the introduction of “Courses”. Rollout will be gradual, but once live, will allow creators to sell and share structured educational content, separate from their regular videos. First announced in 2022, YouTube initially made Courses available to a small and select group of YouTubers. Two years on, after clearly liking what it saw, YouTube is finally making Courses available for all creators, platform-wide. A course correction? https://youtu.be/dYBjjD8HDg4 Courses are accessible via dedicated tabs on channel pages and even have their own…

With Africa’s gaming industry approaching a milestone revenue of $1 billion in 2024, giant tech firms are beginning to show excitement about its growth potential. African gaming has been boosted by increased internet access across the continent, reports VoANews. From about 2014 to 2022, the percentage of people with internet access doubled from about 19% to 40%. Aided also by the increasing affordability of low- to mid-end tech, these have given Africa greater access to the global gaming industry in terms of both playing and development. Interactive storytelling and culture Kenyan game developer Daniel Macharia developed the adventure-action game Nairobbery.…

In a barren blockbuster year where many large franchises are regrouping in hibernation, Alien: Romulus arrives as a rollercoaster of a film at its relatively brisk 119-minute runtime. Following the same narrative format as Alien and others in the series, it’s far from a reinvention of the wheel. Still, it may be the best iteration since the original and is certainly one of the best blockbusters to come out this year. Since David Fincher’s disastrous Aliens 3 in 1992, people have lusted for a quality new instalment to the franchise that remained connected to the first two movies. Neill Blomkamp…

In a bid to make itself a more reliable source of news and information, YouTube has begun the rollout of its new Community Notes-like feature. First announced in June, the feature aims to reduce misinformation by allowing users to provide contextual notes to any information in a video they deem confusing, vague, or incorrect. YouTube has invited a few lucky users to join the beta of its new feature that resembles X’s Community Notes. Users in the program should see an ‘Add Note’ button below the video feed. This will, in theory, allow users to add context to statements in…

Steam Game Recording, Valve’s new addition to the platform, is a native recording feature that means now you don’t have to rely on third-party software to capture those highlights your friends wouldn’t believe without evidence.  It is only available in beta for now, but it is available for sampling in both desktops and the Steam Deck. Earlier this year the online video game retailer launched Steam Families, an overhaul of their old sharing UI, in a bid to enhance the sharing experience on the game hosting platform. Taking a page from music streaming services’ various family-sharing payment features, Family Sharing…

The Tecno Spark 20 arrives a year after the Spark 10 arrived on South African shores and set a new benchmark for the brand’s budget phones, especially over the more lightweight Spark 10C. A year later, the Spark 10 is a little cheaper, which only provides more bang for your buck. The Tecno Spark 20 enters as an upgrade in a challenging, crowded budget phone market. But how much of an upgrade is it? Let’s open the hood and determine exactly for whom these changes are for. Good looking out Firstly, the Spark 20 possesses a much higher build quality…

YouTube is reportedly experimenting with a new way to embed ads into videos in its newest move to circumvent ad blockers. The video hosting site has been working to mitigate losses from ad blocker users that enjoy Premium benefits without paying.  Last October, YouTube’s war with the ad blocker community peaked when it tested pop-up warnings imploring users to either uninstall their ad blockers or subscribe to YouTube Premium. While the effort had some success with many users following suit, it also inspired many others to try out more sophisticated ad blockers. On The Offensive YouTube’s quest for more ad…

“Ah, you want to make a Kurosawa movie.” That’s what screenwriter Josh Friedman said to director Wes Ball after the latter pitched his vision for the latest instalment in the Planet of the Apes franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. And… we get it. The Japanese director’s films often focus on a protagonist’s suffering journey, as he encounters multiple points of view and discovers more about the world surrounding him. Kingdom of the Planet of the Ape’s Noa finds himself split between the different agendas of the characters he comes across during his journey to find himself after losing his…