Author: Marcé

2020 threw us some massive curveballs. While businesses across the globe scrambled to transition to work-from-home, one industry experienced incremental growth.  That industry is gaming. Adjust your view slightly and you’d see that it is actually the perfect year to launch new consoles and gaming hardware. Enter the PlayStation 5 — the newest entry into the world of casual (and competitive) gaming, and one beast of a system.  Sony played up a variety of features on its newly launched console (finally available in South Africa). Some are absolutely brilliant, bringing the gaming experience to a new level, quite literally. As…

In probably the most accurately named software feature in 2020, Twitter’s finally made its new disappearing tweets feature live for everyone on the platform. ‘Fleets’ as they’re called, will allow users to post a thought, and have that thought disappear a while later. It’s not a new idea, but it could be useful.  Thing is, you’ll need to access the feature through mobile Twitter, not desktop. So if you’re reading this, struggling to find the fleets and ready to @ us, calm down. Pick up that smartphone, open the Twitter app, and try to make a tweet. They’ll sit right…

There’s an old saying that goes: if you yell loud enough, change will happen. The same rings true for the internet, where we’ve seen many instances of public outcry bringing about change. Following the Apple/Fortnite debacle earlier this year (catch up on that here), Apple’s dropping its App Store cut to just 15% come January.  Today, Apple announced that it will reduce its App Store commission fee from 30% down to 15%. As The Verge puts it, this is “… one of the most substantial changes to how iOS developers earn money in the history of the iPhone maker’s digital…

If you’re anxiously keeping an eye on the gate, waiting for your precious PlayStation 5 delivery, we get it. Sony’s new hardware is highly sought-after for a reason. And if you’re just waiting to load that cross-gen Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War edition onto your brand new console, there are a few things to keep in mind.  People around the world (that already have access to the PS5) have noticed that simply loading the cross-gen bundle of the new Activision title doesn’t work all that well. Unfortunately, the developers have made it particularly confusing to load and play…

The world of banking is increasingly focusing on bringing consumers digital options. In a COVID-run world, half the people don’t want to go into physical banks and the other half don’t feel comfortable touching the keypads at pay points. The solution may not be virtual cards. But… Capitec is now offering virtual cards in South Africa.  How the virtual card works The main thing making virtual cards so appealing is the fact that they’re more secure when it comes to online payments. Capitec customers can now apply for a digital card through the Capitec app. The additional ‘card’ will be…

It looks like Apple is keeping its promise of pricing incoming MacBooks similar to the previous-gen hardware. That means you can get a 2021 piece of Mac for more-or-less the same price as the 2020 variants that run on Intel hardware. This time, you get the full Apple experience with the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air iterations, powered by Apple’s own M1 silicon.  Here are the MacBooks Apple’s just released official South African pricing for its new hardware and pre-orders are open on the local iStore website. Here, you’ll see that the new M1 MacBook Air enters at just…

It’s been one helluva ride for the Chinese telecoms company,  Huawei, over the past few years. While the human population of the world is busy fighting an invisible threat, Huawei’s been fighting intensive sanctions against its business from the US. Now, in an unprecedented move, the US government has approved the sale of Qualcomm mobile chipsets to the company.  According to a report by Reuters, Qualcomm has received permission from the US to sell 4G mobile chips to Huawei. It’s the first exception of its kind to come from the Trump administration. We know that Qualcomm applied to be an…

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Last week we saw Apple’s ‘One more thing’ event produce some new hardware. While that in itself isn’t revolutionary, Apple announced its Intel-replacement processing unit, the M1 chip. The newly revealed Mac Mini portable desktop will be powered by Apple’s new proprietary silicon. And we have local pricing.  iStore South Africa has revealed local pricing for its new Mac Mini, coming in with two variants: 256GB and 512GB. Pre-orders have opened on the local iStore online shop.  Checking in, Mac Mini Apple’s newest and littlest desktop machine gets the same performance benefits as the updated MacBook Air and the 13.3in…

It feels wrong hyping up another massive consumer product launch in a year like 2020. As the world’s people struggle to make ends meet (thanks, COVID), corporations have shown no signs of slowing down. With that, the next-gen game console launches planned for this year went ahead as normal. And you know what? We’re so damn happy that it did.  It’s especially in times of turmoil where humans tend to find other avenues that feed them happiness. Whether it’s something small like retweeting a friend’s CV or something larger like saving up to buy a PlayStation 5 — we need…