Author: Trent Meikle

There’s nothing worse than South Africa’s mobile network operators gouging your wallet round the clock. So when Vodacom unveils its half-decent summer promotions, it’s probably worth paying attention. The 2025 ‘Extra Your Summer’ campaign is “designed to offer real relief during tough times,” with data deals and rewards to win. Having already kicked off, the promotion runs until 6 February 2026, so you’ll want to make the most of it while you still can. Vodacom’s golden child this year is a 20GB mobile data bundle — 7.5GB base data, 7.5GB bonus, 5GB YouTube data, and 100 VodaBucks — available for…

While Apple and Samsung duke it out at the top, HMD’s doing what it can to push the budget market forward. The company’s newly announced HMD Touch 4G — currently only available in India — is certainly that, taking smartphone elements and sticking ’em inside a ‘dumb phone’ in what the company calls a ‘hybrid’ phone. Touch wood for HMD’s budget efforts in SA That means a couple of things. One, it’s got a (relatively small) 3.2in “vibrant” LCD touchscreen and even video-calling capabilities with the 0.3MP front-facing cam, and two — no recognisable OS. HMD employs a custom OS…

PlayStation fans are eating well this October. Not only did PS Plus Essential subscribers just get access to Alan Wake 2 for as long as their sub is active, a leak from Billbil-kun (via Dealabs) reckons subscribers to the middle-of-the-road tier, PS Plus Extra, will soon get their hands on Konami and Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake. King of the Silent Hill If the rumours are to be believed, and given Billbil-kun’s track record, it’s safe to get your hopes up a little that the game will hit the PS Plus Extra catalogue of games on 21 October 2025. There’s…

Meta just can’t let go of Facebook. Like feeding an injured bird you know isn’t long for this world, the company is still desperate to see Facebook return to its former glory. One of the ways it hopes to achieve this is by making Facebook even closer to Instagram, a platform that’s still thriving in 2025 in the face of competition. Meta reckons that by updating its recommendations engine to better mimic Instagram’s, it can eke out more watchtime by surfacing “more of the content you’re interested in”. Go figure. It’s astounding that it’s taken Meta this long to make…

It took a while, but Waze is finally making good on its promise to introduce safer reporting that’ll limit drivers’ interaction with their devices as much as possible. Announced in October last year, 9to5Google reports that ‘Conversational Reporting’ is rolling out to Waze users at this very moment after spending a year in beta. Rather than tapping a series of buttons to report any traffic, potholes, police stops, and construction you might come across, all while attempting to keep your eyes on the busy highway, Conversational Reporting only requires a single button press to activate. The rest is up to you…

While the rest of the world continues to squabble, there sits Google Japan like some precocious little kid yet to be diagnosed, and dreaming up some of the strangest concept devices we’ve ever seen. There was the Yunomi cup keyboard, and… whatever this monstrosity is. It hasn’t yet given up on the funky, if entirely impractical, ideas — this time creating the Gboard Dial Version that works exactly how you think it does. Google’s feeling (key)board https://youtu.be/BgdWyD0cBx4 You best believe the Gboard Dial Version is fully functional, mimicking rotary phones of old. It swaps out every pressable key on a…

If you thought your day couldn’t get any worse, think again. The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has issued a notice to recall 12,491 BMW cars across SA, citing an issue with the starter motor. If you’re one of the owners of the cars mentioned below, head to the nearest BMW dealership to replace the starter motor, free of charge. You may be driving a fire hazard The recall affects several of the German motoring company’s vehicles, including the BMW 3 Series (G20 model), 4 Series (G22 model), 5 Series (G30 model), Z4 (G29 model), X3 (G01 model), and X4 (G02…

Ever wanted to take the scenic route when dealing with apps like Spotify, Canva, and Uber? Well, now you can. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI announced yesterday that its flagship AI product has joined forces with all those third-party apps we mentioned, and plenty of others, to remove any critical thinking skills from your path. Powered by the company’s new Apps SDK, and announced during its DevDay presentation, users can interact with certain apps right inside the chatbot, and ask it to generate playlists, order food from DoorDash, create posters inside Canva, and even hail a ride. And so it begins Users can…

Anyone with a working pair of eyes can see that Microsoft Xbox isn’t as dedicated to the homegrown console hardware space as it once was, with the recent Asus/Xbox team-up and Microsoft spending every penny on acquiring developers who focus on the software side of things. Throw in the company’s Game Pass price debacle, and it really does seem like Xbox has thrown in the towel for good. Not so fast, says Xbox. Xbox is alive and kicking – “at least for now” It’s not only keen-eyed observers who have noticed Xbox’s lack of interest. News of Microsoft officially giving…

It wasn’t all that long ago that we bemoaned PlayStation and South African distributor, Koodoo, for the absurd R19,500 price tag attached to the PS5 Pro before it eventually launched locally in December 2024. Those gamers who missed out then won’t have a price decrease to look forward to, but rather an increase to the tune of R1,500. With Xbox safely out of the way, Sony can do what it likes That’s roughly the price of a standard DualSense controller, an expensive and sought-after companion to an already outrageously priced console. Now, South African gamers are expected to pay as…