Author: Duncan Pike

It was only a few months ago that Spotify expanded its ‘test’ and locked song lyrics behind its premium paywall. Thankfully for free users, the company will reverse that decision and make song lyrics available to all users. Hopefully, other companies take note and think twice before trying to charge for once-free features. It was just a prank Speaking to Engadget, a Spotify spokesperson said the company was “always testing and iterating” and that it would be restoring its lyrics feature to full power for free users “over the coming weeks.” When Spotify began its test of charging for access…

Following the March launch of the flagship Honor Magic V2 and Magic 6 Pro, Honor SA has officially announced it will bring all three Honor 200 devices to SA shelves. The Honor 200 Lite is already available but when the Honor 200 and Honor 200 Pro debut at a local launch event on 24 July, it will mark the first time that Honor will launch the ‘Pro’ model of its upper-mid-range number series in SA. It should be an Honor The headlining feature of the hero Honor 200 Pro is its photography abilities. For hardware, you’re looking at the same…

With the local launch of the Vivobook S 15 on Friday last week, Asus is the first laptop manufacturer to bring a Copilot+ PC to South Africa. If that’s enough to warrant a purchase for you, then you’ll be happy to know that they’re already available for R30,000. Happy shopping. For the more discerning consumer, who at least wants to know what they’re getting for their money — or if you’re doing the sensible thing and waiting for reviews — here are the important bits. ‘First’ — Asus, probably The Vivobook S 15 draws its AI powers from a Qualcomm…

Remember the good old days when food was cheap and you didn’t absolutely require a Microsoft account to use your new Windows PC? With the company’s continued push to get its users to use an account, not to mention the price of eggs today, that era is on its last legs. Microsoft’s latest attack against local Windows account fans is the removal of an official guide on how to convert an MS account into a local offline account from the Windows 11 documentation. Microsoft account or get lost Of course, the company still offers instructions on how to convert your…

It shouldn’t be surprising that Ghost of Tsushima, a third-person open-world action-adventure and one of Sony’s last titles to launch on the PlayStation 4, has arrived on PC. Developed by Sucker Punch Studios and ported by Nixxes Software, it is the latest previously exclusive PS title to receive the PC Master Race treatment – and it only took four years. It debuted on PS4 in July 2020 towards the end of that console’s lifespan. The PS5 launched a few months later but it was only in August 2021 that Sucker Punch released an expanded Director’s Cut version of the game.…

Oppo has officially launched its Reno 12 series in South Africa during a local launch event on Wednesday, 19 June. The Reno 12 Pro is the first model of Oppo’s new smartphone range to arrive, though it says the Reno 12 FS will show up in July while the Reno 12 F 4G will hit stores in August 2024. Those models will join the A79 and A58 as part of Oppo’s broader range for South African consumers, but until then, the Reno 12 Pro gets all the limelight. This time ’round Oppo is introducing its very own AI tech which…

Danish audio juggernaut Jabra recently unveiled iterative updates to its flagship in-ear headphones, the Elite 10 and Elite 8 Active, improving upon a few aspects and introducing one or two new and genuinely useful features. By naming them Elite 10 Gen 2 and Elite 8 Active Gen 2, Jabra has made it clear that these aren’t entirely new products but incremental updates to its previous offerings. They are, however, priced higher (at least they will be in the US) than their predecessors were at launch so Jabra seems to be betting that its improvements and new features will be enough…

If you’re interested in tech, you’ll probably already know that Apple announced what it calls ‘Apple Intelligence’ during the keynote for its annual worldwide developers conference last night. If you aren’t interested in tech, here are some cute animals. Enjoy. Apple crammed all the incoming updates to its iPhones, iPads, watches, and MacBooks into the first hour of last night’s keynote, we have a separate article for those. It scarcely mentioned AI at all. We thought we might even be spared from anything AI-related… how naive. Oh, that’s what AI stands for https://www.apple.com/newsroom/videos/videos-2024/autoplay/2024/apple-intelligence-notes-image-playground/large_2x.mp4 Apple made some lofty claims about Apple…

When it comes to first-generation devices, it doesn’t matter which product category or company you look at, you’ll always find room for improvement. Very few companies, if any, have hit all the right points on their first go. Having said that, Sonos has made a lot of positive choices with its first set of headphones, the Sonos Ace, and while they aren’t perfect, they’re a competent first effort that leaves us hopeful of Sonos’ future headphone endeavours. But we’ll review future headphones in the future. Right now, we’ve got these to try. There’s no getting around the fact that, like…

Following a Chinese launch in April, Huawei has just made its new Pura 70 smartphone series available for purchase in South Africa. Of the four models in the range, South Africans will have the choice of the Pura 70 for R20,000, the Pura 70 Pro for R27,000, and the Pura 70 Ultra for R35,000. In classic Huawei fashion, you’ll also get the Huawei MatePad SE as a promotional gift with your purchase. If those lump sums are too heavy, the devices will also be available on monthly contracts through local network operators. But what are you getting for all that…