Author: Duncan Pike

Telegram is gearing up to offer a premium subscription tier, if the latest iOS beta is anything to go by. A range of stickers and reaction emojis were uncovered in the iOS 8.72 beta. When selected, users are asked to sign up for a premium service in order to make use of the stickers, according to an Android Authority report. Help keep Telegram’s lights on Telegram has been free pretty much since it launched. It’s about time we saw something like this. Last year was the first time the company earned revenue, thanks to premium features and an ad platform.…

Coca-Cola releases its first flavour for gamers, but why? Coca-Cola isn’t the first soft drink company to attempt to cosy up with gamer culture. We’re sure it won’t be the last. The one to do it the best was arguably Mountain Dew, best seen in the MLG Montage parody days of the late 2000s. That’s not going to stop Coke from trying to squeeze its way into the conversation – and people’s mouths. Coca-Cola Byte is the latest experiment from Coca-Cola Creations, the division that brought Coca-Cola Starlight to select shelves last year. SA shelves missed out there and we’ll…

The announcement of Sony’s latest earbuds, the WF-L900 or ‘LinkBuds’, first came across our desks in February earlier this year. We were first sceptical, and then a little excited. Sceptical because a ring-shaped audio driver and open-back design were unheard of in a true wireless earbud. Excited because if anyone could make a risky idea like this work, it was Sony. Risks don’t always work out. But if you have Sony’s track record in the personal audio space, you can afford to take a few chances. But these are not for most users. When spending R4,000 on wireless earbuds you…

If you think there aren’t enough laptops available on the market then you’ll be pleased to know Asus plans to fix that. More devices are coming to its ‘Pinnacle of Performance’ event on 9 May 2022. At least two brand new devices will turn up: the Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED and the Zenbook S 13 OLED. More are likely in the offing, but this pair is confirmed for now. If you couldn’t tell by the names, Asus is smitten with OLED. But an excellent screen doesn’t make a notebook. It’s just a part of the whole package. Here’s what…

At first glance, the new Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro seems a decent mid-range device. For R6,500 you get a lot of bang for your buck. Zoom out a bit, though, and things become a bit murky. There’s a lot going on with the company’s smartphone lineups. Let’s say you want a Redmi Note 11. Do you choose the Redmi Note 11, Redmi Note 11 Pro, Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G, Redmi Note 11 Pro+, Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G, Redmi Note 11S, Redmi Note 11E Pro, or the Redmi Note 11T 5G? There’s also the Poco series to consider.…

Twitter may be rethinking Elon Musk’s buyout offer Elon Musk and Twitter are back in the news. If you haven’t been following the story over the past month or so, it started with Musk quietly buying up Twitter’s common stock until he was the largest single shareholder with a 9.2% stake. Twitter’s board of directors then made him an offer to join them on the board (the dark side). Well, he refused, because it turns out 9.2% of Twitter wasn’t enough. He wanted it all. On 14 April, he made Twitter’s shareholders an offer of $54.20 (~R845), around 18% higher…

With over 70 million songs in its library, Spotify is bound to have at least one song that’ll appeal to almost every taste imaginable. But most people listen to more than one song. We’re also pretty sure there are a lot more than 70 million songs out in the wild. That mixtape your Soundcloud rapper cousin has been begging you to play, for example. Or the countless bootleg remixes and alternate recordings from a live performance. Or maybe your favourite artist is boycotting Spotify and removed all their music from the platform. What do you do then? Well, if you’re…

South Africa’s largest integrated energy and chemical company, Sasol, has launched a customer rewards programme that’ll award users that sign up with points. Where have we seen this before? Oh right, literally everywhere else. Thanks for joining the conversation, Sasol. Customers can redeem Sasol’s points against their fuel purchases or for a garage pie and a Red Bull at 2 AM, depending on how your night went, at a participating Sasol retail convenience centre. Another loyalty card to fatten your wallet Sasol’s vice president of marketing, Palesa Mokaba, said that its rewards programme aims to “…excite its customers with a…

Telegram first released its timed auto-delete feature for chats in February last year. But it recently updated the feature to include a few more timer options in the new auto-delete menu. As for why you’d want to auto-delete your chat history, well, as Telegram’s changelog puts it, “[s]ome conversations aren’t meant to last forever.” Whether you’re avoiding a nagging partner, dodging the authorities, or just looking to declutter your chat history, the auto-delete timer lets you set it and forget it. Telegram self-destruct in five steps The person you’re chatting with might not forget as easily though. Both parties are…

Elon Musk has finally played his Twitter hand and revealed his big plan. Today, 14 April 2022, he tweeted “I made an offer” together with a link. That link turned out to be an SEC filing with his offer to outright buy Twitter. I made an offer https://t.co/VvreuPMeLu — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022 This whole episode, unbeknown to most folks, started in January 2022 when Musk started buying Twitter shares a few times a day. He did that until he owned 9.2% of the company. When this knowledge was eventually made public Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal shared that…