Author: Nick Cowen

Donald Trump continues to battle to maintain his online presence after reports emerged that his much-touted blog is pretty much deader than disco at this stage. The Former US president launched his blog called ‘From The Desk Of Donald Trump’ in May after he was thrown off of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at the beginning of the year, following the Capitol Hill riots. The ban has remained in place as the Don has continued to push his baseless claims that the US elections were fraudulent and that he actually won. Trump’s return face-plants Back in March, a former aide to…

By now, if you have any interest in consumer tech (and if you don’t, why are you here?) you’ll know that Apple and Epic Games are having a slugfest in a California Federal court in Oakland. What you may not know, is what this fracas is all about – what caused it, how did the two companies get here and who is likely to win? Here’s a quick breakdown addressing those questions. Epic Vs Apple: The Players Epic Games, if you didn’t know, is the developer of the world’s most popular game, Fortnite. Released back in 2017, this player-vs-player Battle…

Tinder has tweaked its operating system to cut down on the amount of abuse that users fling at each other. According to a report on the BBC, the dating app will now detect offensive messages and ask the user to stop and think before sending them. Tinder says be polite The new tweak is essentially an augmentation to a feature the dating app already has, in which it asks people receiving messages in which it has detected an abusive phrase: “Does this bother you?” Tinder that that trials of the new tweak, which will ask “Are You Sure?” to a…

Netflix is apparently attempting to make inroads into the video games business according to a recently released report. A story published on The Information states that the movie and television series streaming giant is looking to hire a gaming industry veteran at an executive level to lead the charge into future gaining initiatives. Netflix turns its attention to games According to a report on Gamespot, Netflix is essentially looking (at least for now) at creating a service along the lines of Apple Arcade except without any adverts. “Our members value the variety and quality of our content. It’s why we’ve continually…

Microsoft and Bethesda are going to share the stage at this year’s E3 2021. Well, a virtual stage at any rate, since thanks to the risks associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, E3 is going to be held entirely online. The news was confirmed by IGN (via French publication Le Figaro) who spoke to Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty. In the article Booty confirms that he two companies plan to have a joint conference. The article’s author, Chloé Woitier, tweeted that said conference will be held ‘in the coming weeks’, which basically means it’s likely to take place at E3,…

While WhatsApp (and by extension Facebook) has come in for its fair share of flack this year over its new privacy policy, it still remains one of the most used chat apps around. Whether this is down to general apathy or the fact that nearly everyone’s smartphone-owning parents won’t delete it is up for debate, but it’s likely the chat app is going to work hard to keep as much of its user base fleeing to the likes of Telegram and Signal as it can. To wit, news has emerged from Android Authority (via WABetInfo) that WhatsApp is working on…

To AirTag or not to AirTag. That is the question. If you’re a cyclist, or are friends with a cyclist, chances are you’ve heard a very familiar tale of woe. You (or your mate) have just finished a revitalising ride at a park or on the beachfront. Having locked the bike against a railing or on the rack fitted to your car, you head to a local watering hole for some refreshment. As you return to where you left your bike, you heart sinks, as you see it is no longer there. Some light-fingered sod is now in possession of…

If you’re one of those folk who put a premium on having a blue tick next to your Twitter profile, rejoice! Twitter has announced that it’s reopened its application process for verification for the first time since 2017. In a blog post, the social media platform said that it will begin rolling out the application process over the next few weeks. Twitter suspended its verification process back in 2017 after it was roundly slammed for giving a blue tick to the account belonging to right-wing activist Jason Kessler. Kessler was the bloke who organised the the rally in Charlottesville in that year,…

Another day, another Facebook headache. It seems that 2021 is turning into a banner year for bad news about the social media giant. Between user data landing on the dark web, a news blackout in Australia, and shunning SA’s parliament over misinformation issues on its platform, Facebook’s news cycle over the last six months makes a train wreck look appealing by comparison. Now news has emerged from The Next Web (via The Markup’s Citizen Browser project (MCBP)) that in spite of making a pledge back in February this year to remove misinformation about vaccines from its platform – particularly around the…

Democratic Alliance MP and member of parliament’s committee of Communications and Digital Technologies Phumzile has resigned her position as member of parliament. https://twitter.com/zilevandamme/status/1395417173544341504 Van Damme issued announced her resignation on Twitter, saying that she is leaving on her “own terms”, and the reason is “not because the DA is a so-called ‘racist party’ but because of a clique of individuals.” Van Damme exits the DA “During my seven years as the Shadow Minister of Communications, and a Parliamentary Whip, I had the pleasure of witnessing the fruits of my hard labour, when we took on the SABC, and turned the…