Author: Trent Meikle

Electricity-loving Marvel fans, unite! Asus, the company behind the ROG Ally and some of our favourite laptops is doing something a little different. Enter the ROG Mjolnir, a sun-sucking power station worthy of the God of Thunder himself (and any South African struggling to fend off load shedding’s advances, we guess). Initially teased as an April Fool’s joke, the ROG Mjolnir is anything but. Asus confirmed as much just a day later, noting that the world would get a closer look at the specs keeping this hunk of metal (plastic?) — that would look right at home as a display…

We had hoped, after the drubbing South Africa’s petrol drivers have experienced at the hands of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy regarding official fuel prices, a price reduction would be in order when May rolls around. According to freshly harvested mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF), we won’t be quite so lucky, with petrol drivers expected to suffer their fourth increase in as many months. Diesel drivers, on the other hand, are tipped to experience yet another round of decreases by the time the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DoE) alter the country’s pumps. As…

YouTube is on the prowl. In October, the Google-owned platform kicked off a war against desktop users using an adblocker, all in a desperate attempt to get the service’s Premium numbers up. It… sort of worked, but now the company is cracking down on its largest demographic yet: mobile users. Well, not entirely. YouTube is now targeting those third-party apps that use its API to circumvent the incessant ads on the platform– found most commonly on mobile devices. The company said as much in a recent community announcement, noting that it was “strengthening our enforcement on third-party apps that violate…

Ah, Disney+. If you weren’t supplying a finite supply of Shōgun (that we promise we’ll get around to watching), we’d likely cancel our subscription tonight. That appears to be the case for many of the House of Mouse’s customers, which is why Disney+ is looking to include FAST (free, ad-supported streaming television) channels into the mix. Disney+ a whole lot of Star Wars That’s what The Information (via Engadget) reckons is happening, anyway. FAST channels are nothing new. Roku, Pluto TV and Tubi are all well-acquainted with the idea, even if they aren’t active in South Africa. The report doesn’t say where Disney+ might be…

Banish whatever hopes you had balled up in the deepest, darkest recesses of your mind that Nintendo might pull a fast one on the world and debut the Switch 2 at Gamescom this August in Cologne, Germany. That definitely won’t happen, after the Mario-maker confirmed to Games Wirtschaft and later, Eurogamer, that it wouldn’t be attending the conference this year. “Gamescom is a great event, and each year we evaluate whether Nintendo should participate or not,” a Nintendo UK spokesperson told Eurogamer. “After careful consideration from all perspectives, we’ve made the decision not to be present at Gamescom 2024. Players will have…

Long live Samsung After a short absence, all thanks to Apple’s doings in December 2023, Samsung is officially the top dog in the global smartphone market. Again. That’s according to a fresh crop of data from the IDC (International Data Corporation) covering the first quarter of 2024, noting less a leap in Samsung’s sales, and more a drop in Apple’s. All’s fair in love and war, right? As it stands, Samsung currently holds strong in the #1 spot by controlling 20.8% of the global market share. Apple, which still has enough cred in the bank for a close second, managed…

Look, we’re basic. Like everyone else, we’d much rather get our hands on Apple’s mainline phones, like the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. Unfortunately, Apple’s pricing convention makes owning one of those an unobtainable fantasy for many. But if the leaks coming out surrounding the company’s upcoming iPhone SE (Special Edition) 4 are true, it might be more our speed price-wise. Special Editions are back, baby iPhone SE 4 rumored specifications: – Size and weight: 148.5 x 71.2 x 7.8mm, 166g – Appearance: 7000 series aluminium alloy, right-angled frame, front and rear glass (no Ceramic…

Meta’s WhatsApp, like everything else in 2024, has slowly heaped more and more artificial intelligence (AI) onto its plate. If it isn’t the incoming AI-powered image editor or smarter-than-most customer support, then it’s Meta’s AI chatbot. Thus far, however, that feature has been limited to a small number of users in the US. That’s no longer the case. WhatsApp is finally extending what was an already-limited trial to more countries, and South Africa is included. While reports seem to indicate that Indian users are receiving the lion’s share of the trial, Stuff can confirm the feature has reached a limited number…

If you haven’t been paying attention, HMD Global (Human Mobile Devices) owns Nokia now. This isn’t news — it’s been that way for the better part of seven years — but with the company’s recent upswing in activity, we thought a reminder was in order. In fact, it’s gearing up to launch its own smartphone brand, but before it gets there, it’s got three new Nokia ‘dumbphones’ to share. Meet the Nokia 6310, Nokia 5310, and Nokia 230. You might have thought the ‘dumbphone’ was dead and buried, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Just the other day we spent…

When Electronic Arts (EA) gave the world EA Play roughly ten or so years ago, it already felt like customers were being ripped off. EA Play is the company’s subscription-based service, which charges users a monthly or yearly fee in exchange for access to a library of washed-up FIFA titles and the odd half-decent title (see Mass Effect and It Takes Two). Now, the service is seeing a massive price hike effective immediately. Emphasis on massive. By the time EA Play reached South Africa’s shores, it rocked up with a fee almost worthy of consideration: R50/m or R200/year. Aside from the aforementioned library of…