Author: Marcé

It’s that time of the year again – Multichoice’s DStv has announced its annual subscription price increase. Expect to pay a maximum of R20 more per month this year, depending on your preferred package. The company is also offering yearly payment options, which will trim a bit off that monthly cost if you have the capital.  DStv’s not as greedy (this time) DStv Premium subscribers will pay R10 more for access to the service’s full service, up to R839pm from R829pm. You can also opt to pay it once-off for the year for just shy of R10,000. That way you’re…

The company formerly known as Facebook is threatening to suspend its services (yep, including Facebook and Instagram) in Europe. This is according to Meta’s annual report for the Securities and Exchange Commission which was filed on Thursday. It seems European data regulations may prevent Meta from functioning properly in the region. These regulations bar any company from hosting Europeans’ data on servers outside of the continent. This is thanks to robust user privacy laws which aim to protect users’ data by keeping it within the European jurisdiction.  Meta’s collecting its toys, ready to leave Meta kind of relies on its…

Samsung’s latest slabs made from ocean waste Tech companies are increasingly focusing their efforts on developing more environmentally sustainable products. Whether they do this by removing the charging block or changing packaging, it’s not always in the end user’s best interest. Samsung’s bringing that same energy to the upcoming Galaxy S22 range of devices, which will be made from discarded fishing nets. The company confirmed in a recent blog post (yeah, this one’s not a leak), that its upcoming devices are made from a new material. This material is made from abandoned fishing nets or “repurposed ocean-bound plastics” that could pose…

You may recognise the internet’s latest fascination: Wordle. Even if you haven’t participated, the word may ring familiar. It’s a browser-based word guessing game that allows you six guesses to find the word of the day. It changes every day.  Most recently, The New York Times bought the rights to Wordle, giving the internet’s word-geeks slight anxiety about the game’s free-to-play nature. This week’s reports detail that the game will be free-to-play ‘at the time’, which puts future availability up for debate.  The Times won’t pay around $1 million for a game that it plans to offer up for mahala…

At a mere fraction of what Microsoft Gaming paid for Activision Blizzard a few weeks ago, PlayStation’s Sony has acquired Bungie. The development studio is best known creating Halo, the Xbox’s leading sci-fi shooter, and for its open-world shooter Destiny. Sony’s going for a Bungie I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome Bungie to the PlayStation family! Bungie create community-driven games with outstanding technology that are enormous fun to play, and I know that everyone at PlayStation Studios will be excited about what we can share and learn together. pic.twitter.com/VySocfBxtx — Hermen Hulst (@hermenhulst) January 31, 2022 ​​The deal reportedly closed at…

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people across the world have had to access tests for the illness at some point. These tests are currently widely available, but quite expensive and only via medical practitioners of some sort. A new study may make COVID-19 tests more affordable and accessible – especially in countries like South Africa.  The US currently offers rapid antigen COVID-19 tests in drugstores across the country. South Africans still need to gain access to a medical institution by booking an appointment to test for the virus at any point. At the beginning of the pandemic, locals had to…

South African motorists are finally able to apply for a new vehicle licence disk online. Well, they haven’t been able to for a while. But this time it’s via an official government channel. The South African Post Office has launched a web portal that does just that.  Third-party vehicle licensing services are extremely common in SA, with even big names like Pick n Pay and FNB jumping on the bandwagon. This mostly just means motorists get to pay a premium for them to facilitate the renewal. These vendors typically offer a lead time of a few weeks, and delivery to…

The industry standard for instant messaging is quickly becoming more secure. Meta (that used to be Facebook, ‘member?), is rolling out an update that will see its Messenger service gain end-to-end encryption in more of its features. This includes group chats and calls via the platform.  In August 2021, Meta added E2E encryption to its call feature, but it wasn’t enabled by default and was only available to a small test group of users. The company details in an announcement post that it will now roll out to all Messenger users. This will happen over the next few weeks.  The…

In August 2021, Huawei started bringing its Nova range of devices to South Africa. These replaced its flagship P- and Mate- ranges. Now it’s launching yet another smartphone in the budget-to-mid-range fam, called the Nova Y9a.  In the past five months, the brand managed to bring its Google-less Nova Y60, Nova 8, Nova 8i and Nova 9 to SA.  Meet the Nova Y9a This one lands with a quad-camera array around back, complete with a 64MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide and dual 2MP sensors. Up front, you’ll find a 6.63in FullView Display, without any selfie-cam cutouts. That’s because it…

Smartphones are absolutely packed with technology, which means they’ve replaced devices like calculators, cameras, routers, and other tools. A new report claims that Apple’s iPhones may start accepting tap payments using near-field communications (NFC), thanks to an upcoming update.  As reported by Bloomberg, small businesses may soon accept payments ‘directly on their iPhones’. This is without the need for any additional hardware – just a software update.  Pay on my iPhone, thanks In 2020, Apple acquired a Canadian mobile payment solution start-up called Mobeewave. The tech allowed any smartphone to accept payments from a credit card using NFC technology. That’s…