Author: Trent Meikle

Remember when Netflix seemingly turned the world upside down when it started getting huffy about password sharing and had people swearing they’d stop bowing down until something changed? Yeah, that didn’t work. All it did was add subscribers to its already massive arsenal and draw up a blueprint for streamers to follow suit. Now, Disney+ is doing exactly that. Disney Plus (minus the freeloaders) In the US, at least. So you can put that rude-worded tweet away for the time being. We’ve been bracing for the House of Mouse’s password squeeze ever since it began trialling it back in Canada…

Samsung may be the talk of the town throughout January and February thanks to its newly launched slate of  Galaxy S24 flagships, but Oppo doesn’t care. It’s February and it hasn’t been dissuaded: it’s time to launch something new. It’ll be the A series getting a refresh, moving up from last year’s A78 to 2024’s A79 5G which hit the shelves this week for R12,000 — up R3,000 or so from the A78. If Oppo’s naming convention hadn’t already made it extremely obvious, 5G connectivity is the standout feature here. And fair enough. Oppo wants to flaunt what it’s packing…

After spending the better part of January living in denial of the Central Energy Fund’s increasingly depressing run of petrol and diesel price predictions, it’s time to face the music. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has brought to an end what could have been a four-month-long streak of fuel price decreases — having just published the official figures that’ll be hitting the country’s pumps on Wednesday, 7 February. What are you still doing here? Go and fill up Honestly, considering the circumstances, February’s price hikes aren’t nearly as rough as they might have been. The last time the…

In the wise words of Jian Yang, “If [an] oil company wants to buy your house, there’s oil underneath.” MultiChoice Group, the conglomerate that controls South Africa’s DStv and Showmax, appears to be thinking along similar lines, having just rejected a bid from France’s Canal+, which sought to acquire the Group for R105/share as recently as Thursday, 1 February. MultiChoice wants MORE MultiChoice, according to TechCentral, feels as though it has been undervalued by the French media company’s roughly R48-billion valuation, and we’ve got to admit; it makes a fair point. It only recently helmed the relaunch of Showmax following a partnership…

Starfield: all aboard the sinking ship! Look, we knew PlayStation was winning this console cold war from the moment God of War Ragnarök was as damn gorgeous and excellent as it was. It didn’t help when Microsoft began discounting the Series X across Europe and hunting down big-name acquisitions worth more than some countries’ GDPs. But if the reports of Xbox losing hold of the few exclusives it has are true, we’ve got front-row seats to its obliteration. When we heard the news of Hi-Fi Rush’s possible departure to the Nintendo Switch of all places, we thought nothing of it. A somewhat reputable…

Remember last week? When the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) predictions warnings of a 40c price hike across petrol and diesel prices would be a tad too rough on the country’s collective wallet? About that… The CEF’s latest round of data — captured on 1 February 2024 — is predicting yet another major price hike come February. We’d gladly return to last week to ease up on the sarcasm. But what’s done is done, and there’s no use in crying about it. And — forgive us for huffing a little copium — there’s always the chance things turn around before the…

Things have been going relatively well for everyone’s favourite electricity utility recently. “Relatively” being the key word here, what with Eskom dumping around 608 hours — or 25 days (of 33 total) — on the country’s head this year. It’s doing its best to make up for those blackouts, having just announced that it would be expanding its load limiting project that was first introduced to Fourways and later to Riverside View in 2023. If Eskom is to be believed, the pilot programme in Fourways and Riverside View was a success, having received a “good reception” over the past couple…

We’re big fans of FNB’s eBucks at Stuff. Not only is it a life-saver for those dedicated enough to play by its rules, but it’s often looking for new ways to innovate and improve itself for customers. That’s evidenced by the bank’s latest partnership with Spar, the grocery retailer. Eligible customers — FNB Private Clients, Private Wealth and RMB clients — who use their virtual cards at any Spar, KwikSpar, Tops or SuperSpar can earn up to 15% back in eBucks. This is the part we might’ve thrown a little joke in, but we’re out of those today. It’s simply grand.…

We may still be mourning the loss of E3, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the odd evening out with the people who put it in an early grave. In the (very) early hours of this morning, PlayStation hosted its first State of Play of the year, digging deep into games that have been on our release radar for some time now and a couple of new ones that weren’t. That means previews of Rise of the Ronin, Metro Awakening VR, and the opportunity to spend some quality time inside the eccentric mind of PlayStation’s poster boy, Hideo Kojima.…

After spending ages at the bottom of the internet pile, South Africa is finally being recognised for its patience. Oh, we’re not moving much in the rankings, but Google has announced that its Johannesburg Cloud region data centre is officially ready for use. We’ll take it. Especially when what we’re getting is “access to high-performance, secure and low-latency cloud services,” for businesses and the potential for some real change in the industry. Google also revealed plans for a launch event later this year, to showcase just how transformative the tech could end up being for South Africa and, more broadly,…