Author: Trent Meikle

A new music platform has been launched in South Africa. The Music Audit Usage System (MAUS) turned up in March with the aim of securing South African musicians every cent owed to them. How? By tracking what sort of airplay they get across various platforms and venues. MAUS’ creator, DJ, chartered statistician, mathematician, and producer Mark Stent, launched the platform as a way to combat the concerns of underpaid artists in the country. Stent wasn’t alone. MAUS was created by Stent, Jarrod Assenhein (of Radiomonitor SA), plus Andrew Mitchley and Larry Gresham (from David Gresham Records). The group developed this…

WhatsApp announced via a blog post that its voice message feature is getting some much-needed attention over the coming weeks. Finally. WhatsApp claims that over 7 billion voice messages are sent on the platform every day. With that kind of traffic, it makes perfect sense for WhatsApp to be putting so much effort into the feature. What’s new One of the biggest changes arriving over the next few weeks is the Out of Chat Playback function. Users can continue listening to a voice message without needing to stay in the chat. The feature means users can listen to lengthier messages…

Vodacom’s announced price increases — for most of its subscription plans – are set to kick in from 1 April this year. As with MTN’s recent increase, the company is holding price inflation to about 5% (5.3%, to be exact). But it’s still an uptick in your contract premium you probably weren’t prepared for. Vodacom says that it’s time to pass some of the financial load it’s been carrying on to customers. “Over the past three years, Vodacom has absorbed costs and helped buffer our customers from telco price increases. While cost increases are unavoidable across all industries, we are…

Call up your Fortnite duos partner and prepare to take the country by storm. Mettlestate, Incredible Connection, and Asus have a new Fortnite tournament for South Africa. The prize pool? R100,000. The entry method? Via Mettlestate’s website. Qualifiers will be played weekly on Thursdays. The top teams from each week’s qualifier round will advance to the playoffs. The teams that don’t qualify will be given the option to register again and take part in the following week’s qualifiers. This is a decent move on Mettlestate’s part since players have multiple chances at scoring a payday for playing video games. Eye…

According to an internal memo acquired by MacRumors, Apple has stopped repairing iPhones flagged through the GSMA device registry. This is a database of device serial numbers containing the status of all mobile devices on behalf of the mobile industry.   Apple repair technicians have been instructed to deny repairs of any device flagged as missing or stolen through the MobileGenius or GSX systems that Apple iStores use. Stuff was able to confirm this with local representatives. New rules worldwide Speaking to the Johannesburg iStore, Stuff was assured that the new policy has been adopted by all iStores and registered…

MTN has announced an increase in subscription prices for a subset of contract (post-paid) customers beginning from 1 May this year via its website. The pricing changes are unilateral, regardless of what you signed when you took out your contract — which kind of belies the point of signing up for one. MTN has naturally defended the price increase, which would see customers’ contract prices rising 5% on average. “The inflationary environment which has significantly contributed to increased input costs has compelled MTN to react to market pressures. We have tried to keep the price adjustments to a minimum in…

Formlabs, a 3D printing company, is getting involved in wildlife preservation, and we couldn’t be happier about it. An Indian hornbill named Crescent recently received treatment from Formlabs and a group of University of South Florida researchers. Crescent was diagnosed with possibly-fatal cancer in her beak that required the removal of part of her bill. This was to be replaced with a new 3D-printed section.  ZooTampa announced yesterday that the operation was successful.  3D Printing and Saving Lives   Formlabs used a ‘biocompatible’ resin called BioMed White which is safe for humans and wildlife when used either internally or externally.…

CEO Elon Musk has shown interest in starting his own social media platform – according to the tech billionaire’s own Twitter page.  Elon Musk, an avid Twitter user, has been growing more and more critical of Twitter’s platform and its policies over the past few months and believes that Twitter is undermining democracy by failing to adhere to free-speech principles.   A new Twitter? Musk initially gave thought to this idea when he tweeted a poll asking whether Twitter adheres to the principles of free speech, to which 70% responded ‘no’. Following this, Musk stated that the consequences of the…

Apple is getting ready to release a new iPad Pro featuring a brand new M2 chip sometime during spring this year, according to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter. He claimed that a new slate of iPad Pros would release with a new M2 chip, and may also include MagSafe charging.  The last major upgrade for the iPad Pro lineup, Gurman pointed out, was all the way back in 2018. It introduced a USB-C connector, an edge-to-edge display, and of course, improved corners for those who have a higher proclivity for dropping their tablets.  Let the chips fall According to Gurman,…