Author: Trent Meikle

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has relaunched its online streaming service, formerly known as SABC+, again. The most recent makeover – marking the company’s second such relaunch before it even celebrated its second birthday – rechristens the service ‘SABC Plus’, introducing an improved UI, more features, and a massively expanded app library. Don’t worry. SABC Plus is still as free as it was when it took the service off Telkom’s hands in November of 2022, and thankfully still devoid of any such leading questions such as “where’s your TV licence?”. Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and daisies. Everyone’s favourite thing…

Not all that long ago, Oppo introduced us to the Reno 12 Pro – a R19,000 smartphone headlining the company’s slew of devices available in South Africa. At the time, Oppo briefly mentioned that two more smartphones were waiting in the wings – and now one has officially turned up, taking the shape of the Oppo Reno 12 FS 5G. Consider the Reno 12 FS (we’re omitting the 5G naming convention from here on out for the sake of our sanity) to be the younger brother of the Pro, carrying with it somewhat weaker specs, the same AI promises as…

Spoiler alert! If you’ve been counting down the days until Samsung’s Unpacked event in the hopes of seeing the unveiling of the expected Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 smartphones – and everything else – the right way, we’ve got some bad news. Both the Fold and Flip 6 have had what appears to be their entire spec sheets leaked online, courtesy of Evan Blass AKA evleaks, and his Substack newsletter (via The Verge). While Samsung has not yet confirmed the existence of either foldable, further leaks concerning the company’s marketing materials for the devices only compound the fact that…

We’ve never known Vivo South Africa to forego theatrics when dropping a new smartphone. We’d usually encounter some showy event that spared no expense on glitz and glamour for whatever it’s announcing to a cheering crowd. It hasn’t done that this time around. Vivo South Africa has just launched the latest entry of its mid-range Y Series without any preamble. Meet the Vivo Y100. Unlike the company’s flagship V30 5G which demands attention and R20,000, the Y100 won’t be too harsh on your wallets. It’s looking to oppose the tyranny set out by Apple and Samsung by offering some fairly…

Shoprite Holdings is officially stepping into the e-commerce ring. Specifically, it’s bolstering its Shoprite Cash & Carry brand by introducing a new online shopping system which allows “bulk-buying” customers to browse and purchase a “wide range of goods at highly competitive prices,” through the new automated system. A first for Cash & Carry The venture, which marks Cash & Carry’s first appearance in the world of e-commerce, targets spaza shops and small retail businesses alike. To prove its commitment to that statement, the store includes free same-day delivery to those within a 50km radius in the hopes of helping those…

Remember Amazon? Bezos’ e-retail empire that officially showed up in SA back in May? Of course you don’t. Amazon wasted its talents locally, barely managing to compete with its largest competitor – Takealot – despite a far larger budget. No matter. Even if South Africa won’t be privy to the company’s massive Prime Day sale later this month, we can still join in on the fun. You’ll need an R80/m Prime Video subscription first, though. Subscribing to Prime Video gets you access to Prime Gaming – a side of Amazon many have forgotten exists. You’ll need to dust off the…

It’s that time of the month again, folks. Time for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to either uplift our spirits or absolutely shatter them into pieces. Normally, this is when we’d tell you to run for cover (and the nearest garage) but after June’s official update knocked R1+ off the prices across all grades of fuel, we feel a little more optimistic. Thankfully, our optimism has paid off. The Department has maintained that same energy for July, bringing yet another month of cheaper petrol, diesel and paraffin with it. It marks the third petrol price decrease of 2024,…

Sega, once again displaying its inability to make anything new, is shedding the Sonic mindset it’s become so accustomed to, to focus on other reboots like Streets of Rage, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe (ok, we’re less mad about that one) and of course, Crazy Taxi. That isn’t news. Sega released a trailer showing all that off at the end of last year. What we didn’t know was that the Crazy Taxi do-over will be an open-world MMO. Because of course it is. Where is the Shaq-Fu reboot, cowards? https://youtu.be/uLQsitFYpg8 We’ve kicked things off here with sarcastic energy because we’d honestly prefer to see something new come out…

Apple really is all in on AI. And by AI, we mean Apple Intelligence, the company’s first real foray into artificial intelligence. Apple Intelligence is only set to debut sometime in ‘Fall’ (or rather, Spring) in the company’s iPhones, iPads and MacBooks and eventually on the Vision Pro, all for free. But if Apple hopes to eventually make money off the thing, it’ll need to employ an original idea to pull it off – subscriptions. /s Apple Intelligence Pro+ Max (Remastered) (the Movie) That’s the plan, according to Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg in his weekly ‘Power On’ newsletter. He cites Apple’s slowing pace…

Vision Pro will get the Apple Intelligence treatment If you genuinely believed Apple Intelligence, the Big Fruit company’s take on artificial intelligence, would be confined to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac for the rest of its days when the Vision Pro is right there… you’ve not dealt with Apple before. Despite, Apple’s promises to only bring AI to those products, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and his ‘Power On’ newsletter disagree, suggesting that Apple will stick the software into the mixed reality headset. If you’re one of the few to have a Vision Pro on hand (head?) as you wallow in regret over…