Author: Trent Meikle

Well, it was fun while it lasted, eh? After going three months without any sort of petrol and diesel price hike, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is looking like it’ll end that streak come the first week of February. That’s if the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) latest data dump, captured on 17 January, has anything to say on the subject — it usually does. The only reprieve we can offer is that the CEF’s predictions — which are more than likely to be the closest thing to ‘correct’ as possible — aren’t filling our brains with scary ideas…

Circle to Search is Google Lens but with extra steps Last night’s Samsung Unpacked event in San Jose, California wasn’t only to shill the S24 family or the accompanying Galaxy AI. Not all of it, anyway. It actually brought with it a couple of features that we could definitely see ourselves trying at least a couple of times — the coolest of which is probably Google’s Circle to Search. It’s about as self-explanatory as it gets. Anybody donning one of the three newly announced S24s will be able to simply perform the necessary gesture (long-pressing the home button or navigation…

How to watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked https://youtu.be/J7x0E0hLaJ8 This evening will see Samsung’s first Unpacked event of the year, just a week after the end of CES. We’ve already got a pretty good idea of what to expect when the South Korean conglomerate takes to the stage later in San Jose, California. If the onslaught of rumours and Samsung’s own rigid schedule are anything to go by, we’ll likely get a look at the line-up for the S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra, and possibly a few other products that might not interest South Africans much. Take that all with a pinch…

https://youtu.be/D6TBgNkrYBU TVs – especially those big mothers – are expensive. But who wants to see Kevin De Bruyne’s assist against Newcastle on some 40-inch rinky-dink display that’s not even OLED? Whether you’re looking for something to pick up the slack in the sports department, or simply going through a mid-life crisis, a projector is usually the next logical buy. Preferably, you’re looking for something 4K that won’t be shackled to your garden’s braai pit. We’d recommend Hisense’s C1 Mini Laser Projector to fill that role. That 4K spec the C1 is revered for might sound like the most important thing,…

Copilot (for Pros) Copilot, Microsoft’s immense push into artificial intelligence (AI), may have only just gotten AI features for Office apps back in November, but Microsoft has already begun paywalling those same features but for consumers. It’s a ‘new’ program called Copilot Pro because of course it is and will cost $20/m (R370) because of course it does. Subscribing will give users access to a host of AI-powered features in Microsoft’s Office suite in apps like Powerpoint, Word, and Excel — with general access to OpenAI’s most recent models. Oh, and you’ll be able to build custom Copilot GPTs if…

YouTube is getting desperate You saw the sub-header. YouTube is getting desperate. The Google-owned company hasn’t said as much, but it doesn’t take a genius to notice that it’s on the hunt for new Premium subscribers — its R72/m ad-free tier. That’s evidenced by YouTube’s most recent assault on adblockers, involving slowing down load times and even limiting full-screen mode for anyone who dares avoid the platform’s ads. That’s according to a Reddit post that began seeing some traction over the weekend, showing video proof that YouTube is doing exactly that. It wasn’t just u/NightMean noting the issue, with many…

The time has come to say goodbye to the tech event of the year, CES. It’ll be January 2025 before we get to say hello to the Consumer Electronics Show again, but that’s okay. There’s still plenty to sift through from 2024’s show — but you needn’t bother with all that. Our job is to do all the sifting for you and cherry-pick the very best gadgets from CES 2024. First, we’ve got a ground rule. We’re only covering the tech that has a real shot of making it to the shelves — or at least, our shelves — before…

What is this? A console for ants? We think we’re finally starting to get why those games you played back in the days of yore aren’t as readily available as we’d like them to be. Money. Duh. Atari’s latest project — the Atari 400 Mini — from Plaion and Retro Games Ltd proves our point. Are we that fussed? Not really. Do we still want one? Obviously. How could you not? The 400 Mini is just that — a mini version of the Atari 400 that was released back in 1979 — that’s been retrofitted with a bunch of modern-day…

Anyone new to Acer’s Nitro family might not know that the whole idea is to meld high-end performance with “budget’ pricing. Sure, it’s difficult to ignore the Nitro 16’s R38,000 price tag, but stand it next to something like the ROG Strix Scar 18, and it all begins to sting a bit less, yes? The Nitro squad might be missing all those extra dressings you’d normally see in the altogether more expensive Helios line-up, but that’s okay. Acer’s done some work to keep the cost down, with the GPU taking the biggest hit but that’s okay. Our review model chugged…

Finally! A worthy YouTube update! It’s been a minute since we had the opportunity to praise YouTube. That might have less to do with our burgeoning cynicism than Google’s decisions, but alas. That’s changing today after the platform announced it would be making key how-to videos more accessible, specifically in the realm of first-aid and emergency care advice. It’s doing so by partnering up with various health organisations globally and making it “even easier to find step-by-step explainer videos for basic first-aid and emergency care made by authoritative health organizations.” For example, when searching up something like “how to perform…