Author: Trent Meikle

A week after Apple announced its line-up of iPhone 14’s, South Africa finally has pricing for [some of] its devices. Be warned, it’s not pretty. Prices are quite a bit higher than last year’s range, so bear that in mind before rushing off to get yourself a shiny new device. During the ‘Far Out’ event, we saw the standard iPhone 14 and its Plus-sized counterpart. If you’re looking for the best of the best, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max should satisfy that itch. For a price, of course. Keeping it simple Let’s start off with the standard iPhone…

Eight years after its release, The Sims 4 is finally going free-to-play. EA is slowly realising that the freemium model is the new meta for games. Or, at least, this one. It makes perfect sense. Lure customers in with a free game, then charge exorbitant amounts for the DLC that accompanies it. 100 million kids on Fortnite can’t be wrong, can they? Well, actually… Goodbye Sims 4? Hello, Sims 5? Surprisingly, the game is going free-to-play on all platforms, not only on EA’s Origin. Whether you’re on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or one of the other consoles that run The…

It feels like every company believes it can enter the film industry willy-nilly. It turns out they can, as long as they have enough money. Apple did it, now WhatsApp is following in their footsteps. The messenger is marking its debut in the film industry with Naija Odyssey; a short film centred around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Also known as the ‘Greek Freak’, Giannis is a popular NBA player, currently with the Milwaukee Bucks. WhatsApp presents… The film is reportedly twelve minutes long, and focuses on Giannis’ ‘origin story’. But why Giannis Antetokounmpo? Well, in February the player signed an endorsement deal…

Community Chats is the next big feature coming to Facebook. It will help the platform’s 3 billion members connect even harder, through specific group chats that focus on specific topics. Like many Facebook features, this one seems… familiar. Facebook just won’t die. It’s considered the laughing stock of social media, yet Meta continues to beat a dead horse. No matter, it’ll make the inevitable implosion that much more spectacular. We’ll be watching from a safe distance, of course. Spreading Discord Community Chats won’t only be plain old text chats. There’ll be separate channels that support video and audio too. If…

If you spent your afternoon looking forward to the Nintendo Direct that took place and were thoroughly disappointed by the lack of a Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker Switch port, you’re not alone. Still, it wasn’t a complete waste of time. We finally got to see some more footage of Breath of the Wild’s sequel, and a title; The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It still wasn’t enough to satisfy most people’s gaming needs. Just a few hours later, Sony held its September State of Play, which did a better job of releasing the happy chemicals into the…

We’re already in the middle of September, which means it’s time to speculate on October’s petrol prices. South Africa has had two months of decreases and it seems that we won’t be breaking that streak just yet, at least according to the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) stats captured on 13 September. As usual, we need to take these numbers with a pinch of salt. These are predictions and should be treated as such. The true prices of petrol are announced by The Department of Energy on 5 October, once it’s taken in all mitigating factors. Even so, it doesn’t hurt…

Starbucks Odyssey sounds like a futuristic spaceship that travels the galaxy while selling mediocre coffee. Disappointingly, Starbucks Odyssey is just the brand’s last-ditch attempt to cash in on the world of NFTs. Take the Starbucks loyalty rewards program, combine it with web3 technology, and voila! You have Starbucks Odyssey — a place for customers to buy or earn NFTs to unlock bigger and better rewards. Quick! NFTs are dying! Starbucks already has a rewards system in place, where customers earn ‘stars’ to unlock perks; such as a free coffee. While pitching the idea of web3 to investors, Starbucks said Odyssey…

If you actually care about the metaverse, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised that the upcoming ‘Project Cambria’ has leaked. The leak was first posted to Reddit and then to Facebook, unsurprisingly. The device was left behind in a hotel room before Ramiro Cardenas posted the video on Facebook. It gave us the name of the headset – ‘Meta Quest Pro’, which has been teased as ‘Project Cambria’ for nearly a year. The cat’s out of the bag From Meta’s point of view, the timing of the leak couldn’t be worse. October brings us Meta’s Connect Event, which is when the…

Once, 4K TVs were out of reach for the majority. Now, they’re fairly common and cheaper than ever. This one, however, isn’t. Sure, Samsung and LG’s pricy 4K TVs lead the pack, but there are other brands making good-quality TVs for us to consume content on. TCL is one of those brands. Stuff recently got to play with the company’s C835 65in and it’s stunning. You’ll hear that a lot, so buckle in. It’s not the cheapest 4K TV out there but it’s still good value for money. The C835 uses Google TV as its OS, and that’s perfectly okay.…

South Africa’s first utility-scale renewable energy captive power project is coming. Unfortunately, the power won’t be going to the people, but rather a direct line to Tronox SA who has the right to use the power under a long-term power purchase agreement.   Absa has said it’s acting as a joint mandated lead arranger and lender for the entirety of the project. An estimated R4.1 billion has gone into the construction of the project, which has its home in the North-West.  Solar powering the mining industry Developing the project is Sola Group of South Africa; providing power in 100MW segments,…