Author: Trent Meikle

Suzuki’s all-new Grand Vitara has hit South Africa’s shores, bringing with it a chance for Stuff to sample the automaker’s new flagship model; the 1.5 GLX 6AT AllGrip Hybrid. As the name suggests, this is an all-wheel driver, with Hybrid functionality to boot, making it a real machine on the offroad. We would know. Stuff set off through torrential rain in George, in the Western Cape, through long stretches of muddy track and possibly the most dangerous of South Africa’s hazards — plain-old concrete roads, potholes and all. Yeah, we gave it a proper test. Before going any further, there’s no skirting…

WhatsApp’s got another update on the way, this time choosing to focus on privacy in a big way. There are actually two new features to dive into, the first being a way for users to automatically silence spam calls, and something entirely new known as ‘Privacy Checkup’. According to the Meta-owned company’s announcement, protecting its user’s privacy “remains the driving force behind what we’re building at WhatsApp.” Yeah. Okay. Spam, be gone! Lawsuits aside, we’ve been keen to test the update’s spam call blocker since it was unearthed in the app’s beta program a few months ago. Dubbed ‘Silence Unknown…

As if the countless Transformers movies or James Cameron’s series surrounding this eerie topic weren’t warning enough, Mecedes-Benz is bringing ChatGPT voice controls to its cars. The AI chatbot has slowly wended its way into every nook and cranny of our lives; our PCs, smartphones, news, film, and finally, motor vehicles. At least it’s not our vehicles. Not yet. Mercedes’ first test is limited to the US, though we don’t expect that to remain the case forever. Exhausting  The idea, obviously, is to improve the brand’s current ‘Hey Mercedes’ assistant, or as Mercedes puts it; make it “even more intuitive.” The…

Somehow, we’re already in June. The middle of June to be specific, which means we’re just over two weeks away from the Department of Energy’s official decision that’ll determine the fate of the country’s petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin prices in July. Fortunately, we don’t need the Department of Energy to get some sort of idea of where those prices are headed in the here and now. That’s a job for the Central Energy Fund (CEF), with its latest predictions pointing towards a (slight) drop in petrol prices. Diesel, on the other hand… Good news for petrol drivers Before we…

NASA’s got a plan NASA is erring on the side of private lately, with the recent announcement that it would be making numerous Space Act Agreements with seven of the world’s largest private space companies – all in the name of space discovery and the “U.S commercial low Earth orbit economy”, of course. If that sounded sarcastic, it wasn’t. That’s because these agreements are unfunded – meaning no unnecessary money enters the wrong pockets – we’re a little more inclined to believe them. Though no money is being exchanged, NASA is instead offering up its exceptional wealth of knowledge, plus…

Seriously, WhatsApp has been knocking it out of the park lately. Unique usernames, locked chats, and of course, the edit button. Meta’s messenger is due a “bad” update soon, right? Yes, but that won’t be happening any time soon if the rumours over at WABetaInfo are true (and they usually are). This time ’round, Meta is working on multi-account support. Living a double life As it stands, the only way to have two instances of yourself across two WhatsApp accounts is to use your phone’s built-in Dual Messenger feature which works… fine, though it can be a hassle to set…

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta isn’t the be-all-or-end-all content platform it hoped it would be by now. Creators are flying this way and that between YouTube, Twitch, and even TikTok and the few that decide to give Meta, or more specifically, Facebook, a chance rarely ever seem to stick it out long-term. Now, Meta is making some changes in the hopes of driving more creators towards itself with the expansion of its “performance bonus program.” Across the Meta-Verse The first change concerns Meta’s performance bonus program, which pays a premium to creators in exchange for more engagement on their Facebook posts. Meta…

For once, Twitter has gone a couple of days without inciting some sort of “controversy” on the Internet. Or perhaps we’re getting better at tuning Musk’s plaything out. Whatever the case, that blissful peace has come to an end. The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has laid a $250 million lawsuit at Twitter’s feet for – you guessed it – violating copyright law. The NMPA’s lawsuit is on behalf of seventeen music publishers (including Sony and Universal) who themselves are working with some of the industry’s “best” artists. The suit was filed in Tennessee’s federal court, with the claim that…

Google just couldn’t help itself. During its annual I/O keynote last month, the search giant made it clear that it was joining the generative ‘AI goldrush’, a fad being adopted by any tech company worth its salt in 2023. Google took it a step further, with nearly every announcement at the keynote focusing on AI in some way or another – with Gmail’s “Help me write” feature being one of them. It’s finally being released from its desktop confines, and making its way to Gmail’s Android and iOS apps. Artificial Mail Alas, ‘Help me write’ is — so far –…

Making money through YouTube has long since been a dream coveted by the youth (both past and present), though the platform’s Partner Program has long since been reserved for its better-performing channels. Now, however, YouTube is changing the requirements for eligible channels to join up, allowing smaller creators to start earning some sort of revenue in their channel’s infancy. Howdy, partner YouTube announced the changes to its YouTube Partner Program (YPP) yesterday, giving smaller channels access to features like channel memberships, Super Chats, Super Thanks – also known as tipping (and money laundering), and the ability to promote their merch…