Author: Trent Meikle

How do you get more eyeballs on a streaming service? You make it free, obviously, while also raking in thousands of dollars from advertisers. The streamer still charges customers for the privilege of no advertisements, of course. That seems to be the new play from Disney+, according to a report from Business Insider. “Hollywood giants Disney and Paramount Skydance are exploring adding free tiers to their subscription services…” reads the report. “And Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in mid-July that ‘a free offering could make sense in some markets.'” We’re on board Hopefully, South Africa would be one of those markets.…

The writing may be on the wall in permanent marker for PlayStation regarding physical game discs, but there’s still another player in the game. That would be Xbox, which may itself be looking to go the digital-only route one day. ‘Til then, it currently has the advantage over PlayStation. Especially if it can get its ‘Disc2Digital’ plan right. Last month, it was reported that Xbox was working on a ‘Disc2Digital’ feature that would allow gamers to pop their Xbox One or Series X/S game disc into either console and receive a digital licence for said game. That would enable the…

All the progress made with smart IDs in SA means keeping up with all the smart ID-capable bank branches can be difficult. To combat this, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) today announced the ‘My Home Affairs Online’ platform to easily plan a visit. Since the DHA unveiled its new ‘digital partnership model’ last August, a great many branches have gotten involved. 372 branches, to be exact, with that figure expected to grow from the likes of Absa, Capitec, and the rest. The idea was to make smart IDs more accessible to residents, no Home Affairs required. How smart is…

Apple Music just got more expensive Being South African is cool, on occasion. We tend to dodge most of the big price hikes, be it hardware-based or something more in the realm of a subscription service. That luck eventually runs out, as evidenced by the news that Apple Music is passing a bigger bill on to customers locally starting in the back end of August. Apple alerted active subscribers of the music streaming service via email, confirming a R10/m increase for individual subscribers, bringing the price up to R80/m. Family plans haven’t gone unnoticed either, receiving a larger R20/m bump, dragging…

More than a year after the Nintendo Switch 2 launched with the GameCube Classics library in tow, Nintendo has finally relented and stuck the classic that is Super Mario Sunshine into the catalogue. Forget owning it, though. Like The Wind Waker and Luigi’s Mansion, your access is determined by how much you’re willing to fork over. By that, we mean how long you’re willing to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion service. That last bit is important. GameCube Classics, like the rest of the console’s emulators, are reserved for + Expansion subscribers, leaving regular Online members out in the cold. There’s no…

There are more Samsung Galaxy Buds out there than we can count, and according to SamMobile, the South Korean company has more in the pipeline. These may deviate from the stem and wingtip designs that we’re used to, and even stray away from the new clip-ons reportedly in the works. Runners, you might want to listen up Samsung’s on the run If SamMobile is right — and it usually is — the company’s next pair of in-ears will involve a hook. That’ll make the buds wholly supportive of whatever activity you’ve got on, be it running or weightlifting. More so than the…

There was a time when seeing an EV traversing South Africa’s roads meant something. It meant they had a little more money to throw around, a little more faith in Eskom, and a little more time to devote to the maybe one charger in the area. Nowadays, they’re on nearly every corner in the bigger cities, courtesy of GridCars, which foresaw the EV hype years ago. After more than a decade of service, it’s time to put some chargers to bed. The company confirmed as much in a recent blog post, with EngineeringNews reporting a R40 million dump into the…

The worst-kept secret of the year is Apple’s incoming foldable: the iPhone Ultra. Earlier this year, the Fruit Company reportedly ordered ten million of the things, hoping to have them ready by September. That, for the uninitiated, is usually when Apple likes to debut its new flagship phones, and this year will be no different. Okay, maybe a little different. The company is reportedly withholding the base iPhone 18 ’til next year, set to release alongside the iPhone 18e. That leaves the iPhone Ultra clear to take its place alongside the more expensive iPhone 18 Pro models. Whether you’ll actually…

Back in April, Checkers unveiled Pixie, an AI-powered assistant built to make the already-easy process of ordering and delivering food from Sixty60 even easier. You might’ve missed that one, though. See, the catch was that Pixie was reserved for a select few Xtra Savings Plus members. Now it’s coming to everyone. Stuff’s own was one of those with access to Pixie since its inception in April and mostly found the feature a hindrance. Shoprite obviously feels differently. The company reckons 98% of members already use Pixie — though it doesn’t really mention whether those are one-time testers or loyal fans of…

If you missed the good news, the new owners of MultiChoice, Canal+, have secured the rights to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. It’s unclear whether the French broadcaster was having trouble acquiring the rights, seeing as it only confirmed that it’d broadcast the tournament mere hours before it kicked off last night, 23 July. Share the Commonwealth Typically, coverage headed for SuperSport is announced weeks or even months ahead of time. SuperSport has long been a backer of this tournament, broadcasting it for more than fifteen years straight. But after MultiChoice failed to secure the rights to the 2026 Winter…