Author: Trent Meikle

AI has long been better than humans at our own games. Chess (Damn you, Nelson!) and more recently DeepMind’s ‘Go’ AI, which comfortably took down a professional player. AI will only improve as time goes on, moving onto different projects and perfecting them one by one. And then there’s DeepMind’s latest venture; teaching an AI how to play the beautiful game. Which shouldn’t be harder than teaching it chess, right? Yesterday, DeepMind – which is Google-owned – published a paper showing off its new neural probabilistic motor primitives (NPMP). The point? Teaching AI how to use physical bodies, well enough…

An overhaul to South Africa’s current driver’s licence system is coming, as Cabinet confirms the launch of newer, more secure licence cards. The current system is 24 years old and is in desperate need of a change. It’s become too expensive to keep alive, forcing the government’s hand. News of an updated driver’s licence first came from Fikile Mbalula earlier this year, with an expected release of October 2023. At the time, he said he was still awaiting Cabinet approval. This has since been given. This means the October 2023 release date is likely still on track (if everything goes…

If you’ve ever seen someone walking around with a cane and a seeing-eye dog and thought “I want to look like that”, now you can. Lenovo has announced the Lenovo Glasses T1, a pair of consumer smart glasses. A set of Micro OLED displays sit behind the glass which pairs up to either Windows, macOS, Android or iOS. They look interesting but feel too niche to really make a dent within the industry. Maybe we’ll be proved wrong – especially if a wireless, less on-your-face model arrives in the future. Better than Matt Murdock’s  The announcement came during Lenovo’s virtual…

After months of will they, won’t they, Ross finally ended up with Rachel Twitter finally has an edit button. The feature is currently only available for Twitter Blue subscribers. We’re hoping it doesn’t stay that way. There are still 237 million unpaying users to think about, Twitter. For the time being, only four countries can access Twitter Blue: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S. The company confirmed the addition itself through a tweet yesterday. 30 Minutes or Less For now, the feature is confined to internal testing before heading to Blue subscribers’ apps later in the month. The original…

OpenSignal, an analytics company based in London, performed a series of tests that offer a definitive answer to the question; which South African network operator is the fastest and easily accessible? It’s a close match between MTN and Vodacom, SA’s most popular networks. The answer won’t exactly shock you (thanks Eskom), but you may go ‘hmm’ after reading the numbers. Speed When it comes to overall speed, MTN takes the crown. In terms of average upload and download speeds, MTN is quicker. MTN attained a ‘score’ of 27.7Mbps, beating Vodacom by 2.7Mbps. MTN also triumphs in upload speeds with a…

Rain, one of South Africa’s more popular 5G network providers, has launched a new special that sees customers receiving two data packages for the price of one. The promotion revolves around the upcoming Rugby World Cup Sevens (taking place between 9 and 11 September), of which Rain is a sponsor. Bless the 5G Rains The package costs R1,000/m over 24 months, saving R1,000/m on a second (free) package that someone else in the family can make use of. Rain’s site doesn’t detail network speeds, simply stating that the package comes with ‘ultra-fast’ 5G speeds. That’s great and all, but we’d…

The UEFA Champions League is back, and you can catch it on Showmax Pro, or DStv’s SuperSport. The competition kicks off on 6 September, with Chelsea and Dinamo Zagreb getting the action started at 18:45 South African Standard Time. The Champioooooonnns All the matches will be shown live – every group stage, every quarter-final, semi-final, and of course the finale. Which is where we’ll potentially see Manchester Uni… oh. This isn’t the UEFA Europa League. Well then, a likelier final could potentially see Manchester City get their first win in the Champions League. If the team still can’t manage it…

Solar panels are expensive. Very expensive. Huawei and MetroWatt have spotted a gap within the market, forming a partnership to offer solar installations for a rental fee rather than a once-off purchase. Take that, Eskom. Pricing starts at R2,800/m, with the more extensive system costing R3,800p/m. It’s certainly not “cheap”, though it’s a big offset to the pricing of outright buying a solar system. The savings alone in electricity would help pay for the rental fees, anyway. Solar Solutions for all “Our hybrid solar and battery backup solution comprises both state-of-the-art technology owing to our 22 years’ experience within the…

Unfortunately, SIM-swap fraud is a thing, and it’s only getting worse as time goes on. In 2020, nearly 93% of all banking fraud cases in South Africa came from SIM-swapping, according to a report from SABRIC. It’s not nice, but SIM-swapping has become the method for this medium. What exactly is SIM-swap fraud? There are a number of ways these folks can ruin your week and get into your private accounts. First, they need access to your phone number. They either target an individual or try different phone numbers until they get one right. Once they have that, they’ll find…

Meta has stumbled once again, this time announcing the closure of its standalone Facebook Gaming app. The app’s official death takes place on 28 October, so make the most of it while you still can. It doesn’t mean Facebook Gaming is going away entirely. You’ll just be forced to use the original Facebook app. You’ll find the app’s functions under the ‘Gaming’ tab. How very Meta The app lived a fairly short life, first seeing release in 2020. The idea was to compete with the growing market of live-streamed games, which experienced a boom in the midst of the COVID…