Author: Brad Lang

Xbox Game Pass is an incredible service. The amount of titles on offer satisfy even the most avid gamer but if you upgrade to the Ultimate tier then Microsoft will throw in Xbox Live Gold for free… as well as some new treats. Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will now receive access to Spotify Premium which is a sweet little deal! Of course, nothing in this capitalist wasteland is free and if something is free then there’ll be terms and conditions. If you’re already a Spotify Premium member then this deal will not appeal as you’ll need…

It’s felt like Clubhouse has been on a steady and gradual rise for a while now. Many have considered the app to be the next big thing, hence why every major social media company is in the throes of cloning it. If you take a look at some of Clubhouse’s most recent numbers, there’s been a rather extensive drop off in downloads. In April 2021, Clubhouse accumulated around 922,000 downloads. While that number may initially appear impressive, it’s certainly not all that good when you compare it to previous months. According to analytics firm SensorTower, Clubhouse saw an incredible spike…

If you live in South Africa you’re doubtless familiar with the word “corruption”. It’s rampant in our little country and while corruption is an issue elsewhere in the world, it’s rather pronounced here. Where we can see it. Knowing this, and prompted by South Africa being ranked 69th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2020, Telkom is taking steps to weed out less-than-honourable employees within the company. To this end, it’s launching a brand new platform for the public to report acts of corruption within Telkom. This seems like an admirable idea to have. Partnering…

Folding phones are just so hot right now, even though no one actually owns them and they’re often not what they’re cracked up to be, if you’ll pardon the pun. If you were to ask top Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, you’d learn that even Tim Cook’s shiny iPhone may be going the way of the hinge in the near future. Kuo claims that Apple is looking to launch an 8in foldable iPhone in 2023, which is just over a year and a half away. We know, the knee-jerk reaction is to say it’s two years away but we’re almost halfway through 2021.…

While you might not think a gym would be the kind of place cybercriminals would actively pursue, there’s an amazing amount of personal data to be find in those online files. Such was the case late last week when fitness group Virgin Active confirmed that it had been the victim of a “sophisticated” cyberattack. While that sounds rather bad (because it is) the company has yet to confirm what kind of attack it was subjected or what kind of information was exposed to the hackers. It all sounds rather similar to what happened to Garmin towards the end of last…

Towards the end of last year, DStv launched its snazzy little all-purpose entertainment box: The Explora Ultra. Not only could you get all of DStv’s channels, but there was built-in support for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Showmax and now YouTube has joined the available platforms on the box. It’s rather strange that YouTube is only being added to the assortment of apps now, considering the scale of the video-sharing platform and how many people make use of it on an almost daily basis. It should hopefully diversify the available content on the Explora Ultra even further. Speaking to MyBroadband, Multichoice South Africa…

Spotify is improving on its somewhat dated app design. It seems like nearly every week there’s some new update to fix every part of its more-than-a-little cluttered UI. The latest page to receive an overhaul will be Your Library, that place where Spotify dumps every piece of audio content you’ve expressed an interest in. Starting today, Spotify is overhauling Your Library with more filters, better categorisation and finally the ability to filter via downloads. Dynamic Filters will make its debut in Your Library and will allow users to sort via Artist, Playlist, Album and Podcast. The app will then highlight all…

It seems weird to say it but… Telegram hasn’t had a video conferencing option until very recently. By very recently, we mean next month. The app has seen a massive spike in users since WhatsApp started playing its very unfun game of altering its terms and conditions, has decided that it needs to step up its features game. Starting in May, an update will be rolled out to the instant messaging app that will patch in the ability to host and join group video calls. Honestly, it feels like it should have come ages ago, but here we are. Telegram!…

As far as future jobs are concerned, it’s more and more likely that you’ll need to learn some kind of programming skill if you’re a youngster. Something that can be more than a little difficult if you’re in South Africa. That’s why Microsoft is partnering with the Public Service Sector Education, Training Authority (PSETA) and Afrika Tikkun to expand its upskilling program, namely the Global Skilling Initiative, further into South Africa. 20,000 young South Africans will be trained in the art of software development to help better acclimatise them to the working world of the future. It’s a great initiative…

Facebook was trying to scrub everyone’s mind clean of second-hand sites like Gumtree with Marketplace, where Facebook users can sell goods and services. Facebook Marketplace has been growing exponentially, as it just surpassed 1 billion active participants. It looks like Zuckerberg’s plan to use the social media platform’s existing user base to capitalise on folks looking to sell older furniture is paying off. If anything, this success has proved that Facebook’s push into eCommerce was a solid idea. Beyond the billions users, Marketplace also has a million registered Shops that see around 250 million users every month. That’s a lot…