Author: Tshepo Chauke

Apple’s Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter might have met its final end, considering it is listed as sold out in the company’s online stores in the US and most of the world. It is still available in some countries including Sweden, Norway, France, Denmark, and Finland, according to a MacRumors report, but that will likely only be true while those countries have stock. Following that, it seems the product is being culled from Apple’s ranks with the rest of the Lightning range. Gone Like Lightning Apple first unveiled the headphone adapter in 2016 as an included accessory with the…

More than a decade after abandoning the idea, Apple could be revisiting making its own television sets. According to biographer Walter Isaacson, back in 2010 Steve Jobs proudly proclaimed, “I finally cracked it,” referring to his work on the Apple TV, adding that it would be “completely easy to use”. Apple didn’t go much further with Jobs’s ‘hobby’, at least publicly, before pivoting to its current offering of the Apple TV 4K set-top box. Second time’s the charm? Apple-made TVs on the way? According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the Fruit Company could revisit the idea of an Apple-branded TV set,…

The Logitech Zone 305 drops as the modernised sequel to the H309 wired headphones, which have become a hit among budget headphone users. People loved the H309s’ surprising build and sound quality at their price point. Logitech saw an opportunity to give people a modernised refresh of the budget-friendly H309 headphones, keeping the essentials while adding key connectivity upgrades that make these well-suited for an office environment. Zoning In Environmentally inclined users will love that the Zone 305 headphones are made of lightweight 55% recycled plastic. They are visually understated and are plenty strong while remaining flexible. The 2.6in replaceable…

The YouTube app on Meta Quest is changing how we experience online videos, allowing users to host private watch parties with friends, even across long distances. The Meta Quest’s YouTube app already lets people stream Shorts, movies in 4K, and immersive 3D 360-degree videos in 8K. Now users can watch everything except 3D content together with friends, creating a shared entertainment experience that may transcend traditional streaming. VR watch parties on Meta Quest To start, open the YouTube app on your Meta Quest headset and select the “co-watch” icon, which starts a private watch party. Users can then invite up…

Microsoft has been preparing the launch of its Recall feature for months, but its subsidiary OpenAI might be beating them to the punch with “Operator.” According to unnamed sources, Operator can perform actions on a user’s behalf, such as writing code or booking a trip. Cruise Operator One of the sources, present at an OpenAI staff meeting, told Bloomberg that OpenAI leadership announced plans to release Operator sometime in January, both as a research preview and through its programming interface for developers. OpenAI has yet to make a public statement. It’s no surprise that OpenAI is throwing its hat into…

YouTube is launching a new feature to assist creators by allowing them to remix a select group of authorised songs. Users can choose one of these songs, prompt the AI to customise the song’s mood or genre, and get a remix to match the emotion of their content. YouTube’s AI remixer Last November, YouTube launched its Google DeepMind-powered Dream Track experiment, which allowed a select group of creators to create soundtracks with authorised AI-generated voices from artists like Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, and a few others. Dream Track shorts show a tag indicating that they were…

The international break looms over football once more. Showmax Premier League is ready to keep viewers’ hunger for highly competitive football satiated with extensive coverage of the upcoming UEFA Nations League Matchdays. With up to twenty matches freely available from the 14th to the 19th, true football junkies can catch every kick of every game at no extra cost. Showmax Premier League With the return of the usually unpopular international break this week, Showmax Premier League subscribers are getting one less reason to disconnect from the service with extensive UEFA Nations League, all for free. Showmax Premier League subscribers will…

Construction is underway on a new 120MW solar plant, the brainchild of Teraco, South Africa’s largest data centre operator. The solar plant will help power its data centres and facilities around the country. In an age of AI, cloud computing, and big data, investment in renewables makes more sense than ever. Teraco goes green Upon completion in 2026, energy generated from this plant will ‘wheel’ across the grid. Teraco hopes the utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant will power the “next generation of client cloud and AI computing applications” with renewable energy. Teraco CEO Jan Hnizdo says the company recognises the importance…

No, that headline is technically correct. Rain is launching what it calls its smallest, fastest, and smartest router ever. Dubbed the101 pro, the router is a sequel to its the101 5G router released last November. It launches alongside its the101 Xtender, which allows users to squeeze more from the network. Rain seeks to play a bigger part in the roll-out of 5G in the country to help more South Africans access high-speed internet with the the101 pro. the101 pro-blem, but a glitch ain’t one Rain’s 2019 inception led to the introduction of the first standalone 5G network in the world…

Vault22 is the newest finance app to arrive in South African app stores. The app is the amalgamation of Standard Chartered Bank subsidiary SC Venture’s wealth management app Autumn, and 22Seven, a finance platform backed by Old Mutual subsidiary NEXT176. Autumn + 22Seven = Vault22 According to the 2023 FinScope South Africa survey, only 24% of South Africans consider themselves financially healthy, 43% say they’re coping, and 33% feel their financial knowledge and management require improvement. Financial tools like Vault22 hope to fill this gap and help vulnerable South Africans empower themselves with financial know-how. The app is a combination…