Author: Duncan Pike

Proton, the privacy-focused technology company best known for its encrypted email service ProtonMail, recently announced it is expanding its ecosystem with a password manager. This is the fifth security-focused product the company offers, along with its encrypted email, calendar, cloud storage, and VPN applications. Proton’s new password manager protects the contents of a user’s vault with a 32-byte random vault key which is encrypted and signed with an asymmetric user key. This user key is encrypted with a bcrypt hash of the account password and the account salt. The company also assures that “[a]ll cryptographic operations occur locally on your…

Taiwanese tech maker Asus has unveiled this year’s refreshes to its Zenbook family of thin-and-light laptops, along with a sort-of-all-new device in the form of the Zenbook S 13 OLED. Strangely, Asus wasn’t the only Taiwanese tech maker to make announcements today which is either a meticulously planned Taiwanese conspiracy, or just a coincidence. While a total of five devices were included in the virtual launch event, only two of those will be coming to South Africa, the headlining Zenbook S 13 OLED and a refresh of the Zenbook 14 Flip OLED. But those might both sound familiar, so what’s…

Taiwanese tech maker Acer today unveiled nearly a dozen new laptops across four of its product lines intended for launch in South Africa this year. Depending on what you’re looking for, prices range from R15,000 all the way up to R90,000. Availability is also device-specific but they should all be here by September, with the first arriving in June. There were several other products mentioned, including an air purifier, e-bike, Chromebook, desktop gaming PC, and two gaming monitors. But, as far as we know, only nine laptop-shaped devices will grace South Africa’s shelves, digital or otherwise. Of the laptops heading…

American audio maker Sonos recently launched its “Pro” subscription service aimed at commercial spaces like coffee shops, gyms, or tech startups that see a lot of foot traffic. Unfortunately, the service is only available in the US for now, where it costs $35/m (R640) per location. While the press release does state “with additional markets to follow”, it doesn’t say what those markets are or when a wider rollout can be expected. The new service is controlled via “a bespoke Sonos app experience”, essentially a web-based interface that presumably works similarly to the mobile app… with a few extra features.…

South African high school students looking to make a name for themselves in the local competitive esports scene have another opportunity to do just that. Acer and African Cyber Gaming League (ACGL) have partnered up for a ‘new’ esports league, the Acer Nitro ASL (ACGL Schools League), proving you can never have too many acronyms in the same sentence. The Acer Nitro ASL isn’t completely new, just the ‘Acer Nitro’ part with Acer joining the league’s second term as a headline sponsor. In return for naming rights (and that sweet sweet brand visibility), the company will be providing the prize…

Here’s how to watch SpaceX launch its Starship rocket today SpaceX is a few hours away from the uncrewed maiden launch of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever made (so far). Currently, the 120 metre-long Starship is sitting on the launch pad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Today’s launch window opens at 08h00 local time, or at 15h00 here in SA. In a Twitter Spaces session yesterday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said today’s launch was only a ‘maybe’. If anything gives the SpaceX team reason, the launch will be postponed. We can certainly understand why. SpaceX’s Starship…

It feels like it wAs only the day before yesterday when Eskom pushed South Africa to Stage 5 load shedding after a turbulent Easter weekend. If you thought things couldn’t get any worse… where have you been for the last few years? Following yet another unforeseen breakdown of a generating unit at Medupi power station, the state-owned power utility has sent the country into Stage 6 load shedding “until further notice”. Eskom doing Eskom things We guess that means the already-worrying schedule for the rest of the week (that EskoM published only yesterday) is already outdated. A day of Stage…

If you use WhatsApp, there’s a good chance you use it (or can’t but would like to) on more than one device. But WhatsApp has always been limited to a single ‘main’ account on one smartphone tied to your mobile number, regardless of the combination of devices. Until now… kinda. The eagle-eyed folks at WABetaInfo reported that the messaging platform’s new companion mode has received a wider rollout to beta testers, after first being available to a select few. The Google Play Beta Program has even opened up (at least it was at the time of writing) so if you’re…

There hasn’t been a shake-up in the premium wireless active noise-cancelling headphone scene in a rather long time. Anyone that knows at least a little about the industry could probably list the companies and their products that sit atop most critics and reviewers ‘best of’ lists. If you’re trying to do that now and said Sony, Bose, Apple, and Sennheiser, you’d be spot on. But that hasn’t stopped other companies from trying to compete for a spot among the best. Shure is one of those companies with its Aonic range of products. We’ve spent some time with Shure’s over-ear Aonic…

After a tumultuous Easter weekend load-shedding schedule, that ranged from no shedding to Stage 3, Eskom recently announced the return of Stage 5 load shedding, much to the country’s delight. According to its most recent Power Alert, the current Stage 3 shedding will continue until 17:00 on Tuesday, 11 April. Thereafter, we’ll have to endure Stage 5 shedding through Tuesday night until 05:00 on Wednesday morning when we’ll switch back to Stage 3 until 16:00, followed by some more Stage 5. The load shedding itch that Eskom can’t scratch Feedback from Evening Peak 10/04/2023 (18:38) Eskom Availabilty: 25 920 MW…