Author: Trent Meikle

Looks like movies [are] back on the menu, boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lco9Ki-5qfQ It only took five months, and for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (sorry about that one, Duncan) to be delayed, but the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has finally struck a “tentative agreement” with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) to end the strike. What strike? Oh, boy.   The strike, which lasted for nearly four months and ran alongside the Writer’s Guild of America’s strike which ended back in September after securing wage gains, minimum staffing requirements, and most importantly – major…

The Legend of Zelda is going live-action “宮本です。「ゼルダの伝説」の実写映画の企画を数々のヒット作を手がけたAvi Aradさんと長年進めてきました。今回Aviさんに共同プロデューサーをお願いし、任天堂自ら制作に深く関与して正式に開発をスタートしました。完成まで時間がかかりますが、楽しみにお待ちください。”  After seeing that announcement, if you can’t read Kanji and Kana count yourself lucky because it’s some of the worst news we’ve heard all year: there’s a Legend of Zelda movie in the works. It’s not the usual rumour bait, either. It’s coming directly from one of the game’s original creators; Shigeru Miyamoto. Thank God for Google Translate. “This is Miyamoto. I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films,” said the…

We’re still a couple of weeks away from the chaotic last Friday of the month that is the infamous Black Friday. To Vodacom, that doesn’t matter. It’s getting the ball rolling a little earlier on what it likes to call ‘Black November’, with deals up to 75% across the provider’s range of wireless internet packages, game consoles, and more.   You won’t need to wait until Friday before you can start filling up your cart, either. Vodacom is kindly inviting customers to start spending their money earlier than most, with deals kicking off today, 7 November, and running until Wednesday, 6…

Turbocharged ChatGPT ChatGPT – that artificially intelligent chatbot your aunt heard about on the radio and now won’t shut up about – is getting stronger. That might seem obvious. It’s AI’s whole schtick. This time, it’s the bot’s creators, OpenAI, giving its list of GPT-enabled chatbots a boost, with some updated knowledge bases and a far larger context window. That can all be found in the company’s latest model – GPT-4 Turbo.  Oh, and OpenAI is getting around to protecting its customers from copyright lawsuits – like Microsoft and Google’s procedures.   OpenAI showed all this off at its very first…

WhatsApp, one of the world’s largest messengers, has always been big on data security and privacy. Which is odd, since, you know… Hey, we’re not complaining. This year alone, WhatsApp’s brought us plenty of security-focused additions and now it’s adding another to that lofty pile, according to WABetaInfo. Next up? Email verification.  Gone will be the days when users needed to rely on their cellphones to get into their WhatsApp accounts – wherever they are. Once the update goes live for everyone it’ll give users the choice of logging into their accounts through an email verification code, rather than requiring…

Meet Grok (no, not that one) The only thing people might dislike more than AI is Elon Musk. Naturally, then, it’s Elon Musk that’s bringing yet another large language model into this world. One that won’t judge you for asking it how to make a very specific white powder (for baking, guys).  Coming from behind the xAI doors is ‘Grok’ – a chatbot that aims to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Bard. It’s planning to do that with the backing of the world’s richest man, and a little bit of humour, too. xAI recommends that those checking out ‘Grok’ -…

To the average South African, Tecno is just another budget smartphone manufacturer, albeit a rather good one. That all changed tonight, 2 November, at Tecno’s grand unveiling of the Tecno Megabook T1 – a laptop that’s aimed at students and budget hunters alike. Those reading from foreign soil might not get why that’s such a big deal. Well, it’s the first time the brand has brought something along from its global catalogue. It’s also got a certain charm that we found difficult to ignore.   Aiming for Megabook domination The star of the show, the Megabook T1, is a laptop. But…

You’ve got a friend in me Instagram Ever wanted to build the perfect best friend? No? Well, Instagram is letting you do it anyway. All with the help of AI, of course. According to several screenshots shared by Alessandro Paluzzi (via TechCrunch), Instagram is developing an “AI friend” that’s designed to be as malleable as possible.  That means the AI friend can be moulded to each user’s liking. You’ll be tasked with deciding the bot’s age, ethnicity, and personality – all from the predetermined list of character traits Instagram’s got on offer. For instance, the AI friend can be “creative,”…

For anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with the news or, frankly, just hasn’t left the house much (we get it), you might’ve missed Sony’s announcement of a new, shinier PS5. Sony’s avidly dodging the ‘Slim’ sobriquet, but we’re still going to call a spade a spade. The ‘new’ PS5 is smaller, slimmer and hitting shelves just in time for the holiday season. It’s a PS5 Slim.  Knowing the name won’t do much for those people who can’t decide whether they should hang onto their ageing PS5 or head to the store when the rumoured 10 November release for the Slim…

It’s been a minute since Stuff last got to play around with something from TCL’s catalogue. That’s because TCL has been too busy cooking up a refreshed line-up of its C-series, specifically looking to satiate our appetites with the C745, a TV meant for gamers on a budget. Being avid members of both categories, we really wanted to like this one. And we did. A lot.   “Budget” might seem like a strong (or wrong) word when you look at the R12,000 (RRP) price, but when you compare it to something from under Samsung or LG’s auspices with similar specs, things…