Author: Max Milella

As much as podcasts are the new radio talk shows, they’ve always been a bit.. one-sided. Your favourite podcaster(s) talk(s) and you listen. There’s not a whole lot of room for community engagement as a podcast is going on. At least on radio shows you can sometimes call in to share your thoughts and opinions. Well, Spotify wants to get its listeners involved, and is adding new Q & A and poll features to its podcasts.  Spotify wants you to have your say The feature is integrated as of yesterday, the 30th of September, also known as International Podcast Day.…

Facebook has more than a few messaging platforms it calls its own, and it’s decided to start pulling them together. The company announced on Thursday that a new update to Messenger and Instagram lets users create group chats that bridge the gap between the two platforms.  Facebook starts the convergence It works exactly as you’d think it would. Cross-app group chats let you start chats with contacts off your Messenger and Instagram contact lists. Users need to opt-in to the new feature, but Facebook says more than 70% of eligible Instagram users have chosen to do so already.  That’s not…

Back in August, South Korea made an amendment to its Telecommunications Business Act which prohibits Apple and Google from forcing developers to process all in-app purchases through their billing systems. Instead, they should be allowed to use third party services. While most of the new bill went into effect by the middle of this month, both tech monoliths have yet to allow users access to third-party billing services. Now Reuters reports that South Korea has told them both they have half a month to present compliance plans for the new law. South Korea makes it a date Additionally, the Korea…

Vaccine misinformation has been an issue for a while now, and it’s become a particularly poignant issue in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Social media platforms like YouTube have been tackling Covid-19 vaccine misinformation in a variety of ways. YouTube removed over a million videos spreading Covid-19 misinformation back in August, and is now taking its hard stance on medical misinformation a step further by banning any anti-vaccine content outright.  YouTube bans all vaccine fibs The video-sharing platform’s Community Guidelines have long prohibited many other forms of medical misinformation, such as unsubstantiated (see: false) claims of cures for certain diseases,…

Phone batteries are temperamental things. There are few things worse than whipping out your phone to call an Uber at the end of the day only to find your phone at 5%. Except perhaps realising the battery that lasted you 14 good hours two years ago is now only good for 10. Over the past week or so, many iPhone users have been watching their batteries bleed around 30% in an hour, which is cause for concern. The cause? Spotify.  iPhone users might want to stick to Apple Music for now iPhone users upgrading from iOS 14.8 to 15 have…

The modern world’s ransomware and malware plight doesn’t look like it’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it appears that it’s just growing, with hackers adding new tools to their arsenals by the day. Microsoft has now discovered a new malware used by Russian hacker group Nobelium, responsible for last year’s SolarWinds attack, to backdoor Windows domains. Microsoft’s Malware Menace Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) has named the malware ‘FoggyWeb’. It is apparently a backdoor that allows hackers to access and steal admin credentials for Active Directory Federation Services servers. This in turn gives them access to the Security…

MultiChoice unveiled its DStv-branded streaming box, named ‘Streama’ alongside the Explora Ultra during the DStv showcase last year. While the Explora Ultra hit shelves soon after, we’re still waiting to see the Streama. And we might be waiting a while longer. The broadcaster has now announced that it is delaying the launch of its new hardware.  A Streama bad luck for MultiChoice MultiChoice says we have the ongoing global chip shortage to blame for the delay. At this point, it’s worth asking what piece of industry that nasty business hasn’t hit yet.  “The unforeseen global chipset supply constraint that resulted…

Moya Messenger (from Datafree) unveiled its e-wallet platform, MoyaPayD, with a soft launch towards the beginning of July this year. Since then, it’s seen some significant growth, having amassed a user-base 100 000 people strong in under 3 months, and it’s now launching officially.  Moya ways to pay The messaging platform’s key selling point is that it’s data-free, meaning that you don’t have to spend a single megabyte of your rather pricey mobile data to use it, and PayD is exactly the same. This makes it particularly attractive to users who can’t afford to throw money at expensive data packages. …

It sounds surprising but charging cables have been a bit of a hot topic recently. Such a hot topic, in fact, that even the EU has joined the conversation, and has proposed that electronics manufacturers be forced to have their devices conform to USB-C charging standards. This would, in its eyes, cut down on the amount of e-waste caused by people throwing out old chargers and buying new ones when their new smartphone or tablet turns up with a new port. The EU wants to see more USB-C The proposal comes by way of the European Commission, which calls it…

We suppose there really isn’t a place for surprises in the tech world anymore. Sorry, Tim. Images of Samsung’s next line of flagship mobiles have now leaked, and it seems like these handsets might be getting a bit of a name shake-up too.  Samsung’s 2022 lineup https://twitter.com/OnLeaks/status/1441690953161580544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1441690953161580544%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Fnews%2Fsamsung-galaxy-s22-and-s22-renders-leak-out-hint-at-a-galaxy-note-22-ultra Notorious leaker @OnLeaks gave us our first look at the new line over on their Twitter feed, which they acquired from apparently reliable inside sources. Design wise, the vanilla S22 and the S22 Plus don’t look all that different from last year’s S21 range, which isn’t all that surprising. Most mobile designers seem…