Author: Trent Meikle

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,…

South Africa loves the game of football. Sure, we like rugby and cricket more, but that’s usually because we stand a chance at actually winning. Even so, football is still a favourite pastime of young South Africans. Because of this, Lay’s donated a football pitch to Tembisa last year, made out of around three million Lay’s chips packets. And it’ll be recycled again once the pitch is too rough to keep playing. A year later and the pitch is still in perfect condition. It’ll stay that way for another nine years before being completely recycled again. The Tembisa pitch will…

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Forward Event took place this past weekend, revealing a plethora of announcements involving upcoming games and DLCs. There were even a couple of Netflix announcements thrown in, but we’ll get to that later. First, let’s look at not one, but five Assassin’s Creed games announced at the event. A new Prince of Persi… oh It’s been a minute since we last had a new Assassin’s Creed game to dig into. Well, not really – but considering Ubisoft’s regular release schedule for the franchise, a two-year gap isn’t something you’d expect. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the first of the…

Yesterday marked the launch of the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport’s new ‘Smart’ Drivers Licence Testing Centre (DLTC),  this time at the Gautrain Midrand station. Yes, you read that right, in Midrand. Here, you’ll be able to perform all the same bookings as any regular DLTC. Except these ones are ‘smart’. Which (hopefully) means they’re quicker and more accurate than standard DLTCs. The Department of Roads and Transport has partnered with the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) which will eventually see a DLTC at every station across the province. There are three Gautrain DLTCs currently operating; the Midrand station, Centurion…

Masterclass and Udemy could be in some trouble. YouTube is launching the ability to create paid-for educational courses right on its platform. Creators would no longer need to redirect their YouTube audience to other sites, instead keeping them where the audience is. YouTube, of course, will get a cut. YouTube is also changing how certain apps use YouTube as an educational aid. The company is partnering with specific educational companies to provide a distraction-free way to use YouTube’s educational content. There won’t be any ads Most already turn to YouTube for educational purposes. According to YouTube, at least 93% of…

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and keeper of personal information, is launching a pilot programme to bring 50 free Wi-Fi hotspots across South Africa. TikTok Africa announced the programme’s launch on Thursday, citing World Literacy Day as the reason behind its sudden kindness. Perhaps TikTok should look into hiring Lea Michele to promote the pilot’s launch. That would be pretty funny. Free WiFi for all (in certain areas) TikTok has partnered with local Internet supplier ThinkWifi to supply the 50 Wi-Fi hotspots. If you live in Soweto, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha or Bushbuckridge, it might be time to go on an adventure…

Uber Eats, Uber’s food delivery service is looking to expand. No, not by adding more restaurants into the mix. But by becoming a ‘virtual mall’ that’ll sell more than just non-food items. The best part? The company intends to have these deliveries at your door in 30 minutes or less. Gobbling up the market “We’re bringing women’s comfort wear, we’re looking into apparel, but we also want to expand more into verticals such as books, stationery, because we find that those do really well. Herbs, pharmacies, those do very well,” said Uber Sub-Saharan Africa’s Cikida Gcali-Mabusela. Uber Eats already sells…

Microsoft is nearing the finish line of its purchase of Activision Blizzard, as both companies await regulatory approval. Once it has approval, Microsoft will be the new owner of Activision, along with the underlying IP that comes with it. Call of Duty will be under Microsoft’s control – which has unsurprisingly upset Sony. Keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation is a must in Sony’s eyes. It’s worked closely with Activision in the past and would like to keep that streak going. Microsoft and Sony are currently in discussions about extending the current marketing deal. And Sony isn’t happy about it.…

The coveted Twitter ‘edit button’ is officially on its way, confirmed last week by the big Blue Bird itself. If you’ve tweeted before, you’ll know the pain of spotting a typo just milliseconds after it goes live. Then you’re required to shamefully delete the tweet and start over – with a keener eye than before. Or, you could just leave it for the world to see. Own it. This shouldn’t be a worry for much longer after the edit button rolls out to Twitter’s users (we hope). See, the feature is only available to Twitter Blue subscribers at the moment.…

After a slew of Apple Watch and Apple Airpod news at Apple’s Far Out event, we were greeted with our first look at the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus. It’s the law to release at least two products – one bearing the ‘Plus’ name, and Apple delivered. Most were probably expecting this one. If you weren’t then you’ve probably been under a rock for the past decade. Welcome to 2022. The year’s nearly finished. iPhone 14 – Plus a little extra The new iPhones are here. There’s not as much of a difference from the previous generation. But, there’s enough…