Author: Trent Meikle

Okay, truth time. When was the last time you really dove into Gmail’s features beyond sending and receiving your emails? Yeah, that’s what we thought. Back when the service was released in 2007, there wasn’t much to do besides choosing a new theme to stare at while emails continued to flood in. We know, we know – you chose the Ninja theme and haven’t budged since. But Google’s had plenty of time to innovate since then, adding new features often, even if it doesn’t always tell you they’re there. Whether you’re a work- or personal-Gmailer, it doesn’t matter. We’ve picked…

We’ve all got one. A neighbour that takes the night’s silence for granted a few times more than is necessary. Or perhaps, it’s your generator that’s making all the noise, utterly drowning your neighbour’s unheard pleas to keep the noise levels down. “But,” you think, “who cares?” And you’re right… to a point. At a certain stage, it becomes a choice to be hated by your neighbours. And besides, it’s pretty expensive to quieten a generator, right? Not… really. Sure, it can run your pockets rather deep if you want to do the thing properly. Fortunately, doing the thing properly isn’t always necessary. There…

What’s the best way to get back at pirates? Beat them at their own game. Radiohead proved that in 2007, and now Apple is attempting to do something similar. We think. It might just be an odd new marketing strategy. Whatever the case, Apple just uploaded the entire first episode of its currently-premiering post-apocalyptic series Silo to… Twitter. As in, free for anyone to watch. And yes, we checked; this is the same Apple that released a $50,000 Mac Pro. A slow-burner 3 days until the #Silo finale. Here’s the entire first episode. pic.twitter.com/lIcTXCQ9D6 — Apple TV (@AppleTV) June 27, 2023…

We hope you haven’t been taking your electricity-filled days for granted because that period of peace has officially come to an end. That’s right, daytime load shedding is back. Stage 2, to be specific, the power-denier announced at 6:10 this morning on Twitter. Hold your groans ‘til the end, please. #LoadsheddingUpdate Wednesday, 28 June 2023: Due to the delay in returning to service some generating units , Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented today at 07:00 until 16:00. Thereafter, Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 until midnight. Eskom will… — Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) June 28, 2023…

No matter how hard it tries, Meta just can’t shake the metaverse nor rid itself of its ties to VR. It can’t afford to, especially not after Apple struck back with its own, probably better (and far more expensive), AR headset last month. The company is locked in and will be until the Sun dies or Zuck runs out of money. Whichever comes first, we guess. Until then, we’re locked into covering the company’s attempts to regain some of the money it’s burnt – the latest of which is the launch of Meta Quest+. We have a couple of Questions If…

You’ve heard of the Surface Pro 9 (probably because you’re an avid Stuff reader) even if you haven’t seen one out in the wild just yet. We think the R45,000 price tag might have something to do with that. That might change soon. Incredible Connection is looking to offload some stock, fast. Not by lowering the price, of course, but by pairing the tablet/laptop with a free Surface Go 64GB tablet, a cover, and an Office 365 Modern Pack, worth a combined R14,800. Fortunately, the promotion isn’t only tied to the Surface Pro 9’s most expensive model, or even the…

South Africa is obsessed with TV boxes. We’re… not sure why. It might have something to do with our failing economy coupled with a general lack of smart-enough TVs out here. Maybe it’s because Xiaomi’s first attempt at a full-on TV box was just too good to ignore. Whatever the case, Xiaomi’s gone and done it again with the Xiaomi TV Box S (2nd-gen). If you were hoping for any drastic changes here, look elsewhere. Differences are slim and Xiaomi knows it. That’s why you’ll struggle to find the first iteration of the TV Box at stores that don’t deal…

At least these will be Playables The nicest thing we can say about Google’s Stadia is that its death was swift. Despite the very tragic (and public) demise of the platform, Google isn’t giving up on gaming entirely. According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal (TWSJ), the search giant has been working on a new gaming initiative that’ll bring online games to YouTube. Known as ‘Playables’ (for now, at least), the service will allow users to play games – instantly, apparently – on YouTube’s dedicated iOS and Android apps and the platform’s website. TWSJ has intimated that…

PlayStation once again matches its biggest rival. Just yesterday, Microsoft announced that a price hike was on the horizon for the company’s Xbox Series X, along with its ‘Netflix for games’ Game Pass subscription tiers. This morning, with as blank a face as possible, PlayStation’s South African distributor, Gamefinity, warned MyBroadband that a PS5 price hike was coming. Sooner than you might’ve hoped for. And on payday as well… This is the second time South Africa has suffered a PS5 price hike since its launch in 2020, though the first was due to a broader hike from Sony’s higher-ups. The…

If we can’t escape the continually expanding AI headlines, then neither can you. This time, at least, it’s YouTube getting involved in 2023’s keyword and actually using it for some good. With the help of Aloud – a company that specializes in AI-powered dubbing and pulled from Google’s Area 120 incubator –  the platform is turning its talents to helping creators to dub their videos in other languages, YouTube announced on Thursday, according to The Verge. Me gusta y suscríbete The idea is a stroke of brilliance from YouTube. While the platform’s larger creators such as Mr. Beast already pay…