Author: Trent Meikle

After spending years as the subscription black sheep, YouTube Premium is beginning to look mightily attractive. Why? In a move that pretty much everyone could see coming, the company may be about to handicap its ad-filled tier in the way of blocking ad blockers entirely. When the company said it would be investing more into Premium once the service hit 80 million users in 2022, this isn’t what we had in mind. Begone, ad blockers Before you slide into the deep end, this isn’t the new normal. At least, not yet. So far, the only confirmation that the video giant…

Are you tired of AI taking over your feed? We feel the same way. And, apparently, so does Spotify. The musical giant recently took down thousands of songs from Boomy, a startup whose schtick is producing artificially generated “music”. Unfortunately, despite removing “tens of thousands” from Boomy’s catalogue, that only amounts to a measly seven percent of the entire bouquet according to someone close to the matter. “And now, here’s… Human Music” The thing is; Spotify isn’t too fussed about where the music came from. If that were the case, Nickelback would have already been wiped off the face of the…

In what appears to be the platform’s first half-decent change since Musk’s $44 billion takeover in 2022, the anomalous weirdo has announced that encrypted DMs (direct messages) are coming to Twitter later today, 10 May. Don’t take that date too seriously, though. As we’ve seen with the platform’s previous updates, Twitter isn’t bound to the constraints of mortal time. Regardless, we know that encrypted DMs are coming sometime in the near future. But wait, there’s more We’re excited to launch two new features in Direct Messages today! 📢 Introducing DM Replies! You can now reply to any message you receive in…

Worried that WhatsApp is listening in to your real-world conversations? Don’t. Both WhatsApp and Google have confirmed that they’re aware of a bug plaguing the messenger, causing the app to look as though it’s accessing your smartphone’s microphone, without actually doing anything. The bug (as Meta calls it), appears to only be affecting Android devices, with Google seemingly already working on a fix. The issue was first called to attention by both WABetaInfo and Twitter engineer Foad Dabiri, sharing an image that confirmed WhatsApp’s use of the microphone, even when the app was closed. Not long after, Musk made his…

Capitec, South Africa’s largest digital bank, is looking to fundamentally change how South Africans act around money. It’s doing that with the help of the Capitec MoneyUp Chat, a chatbot that goes by the name of ‘Moola’, using WhatsApp to provide free, “conversational learning” to anyone that seeks it out, and not just Capitec’s own customers. MoneyUp Chat isn’t just throwing a load of figures and vague terminology at users in the hopes that something will stick. Capitec knows, that despite being free and relatively easy to use, it needs a hook to keep people engaged. That’s why it’s been…

Ah, passwords. Humanity’s way of keeping prying eyes away from… well, everything. We despise them, and yet, can’t live without them. Google boldly asks: what if we could? That’s the future Google is selling with the help of passkeys, an authentication solution that makes use of a device’s local PIN or biometrics to replace finicky (and usually hackable) text-based nightmares. Last week, Google announced the launch of passkeys across all of Google’s personal accounts, though it won’t force the change on anyone that doesn’t want them. In fact, if you weren’t an avid tech-news reader, you probably weren’t aware of…

It’s been a rough few months for the country’s petrol drivers. Numerous increases have plagued petrol pumps, with diesel drivers sipping on martinis for months, paid for with the savings made on their monthly fuel spend. Come June, however, both petrol and diesel drivers could both bask in the warm glow of happiness. Early predictions point towards a massive fuel price decrease across the board. Don’t believe us? Then maybe you’ll believe the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) latest predictions (captured on 5 May 2023), which are rarely ever wrong. What with June’s official petrol prices being more than four weeks…

Taking the digital gold Has your mother ever told you that playing Fortnite all day would amount to nothing? Well, she was probably right. But for the few that have achieved Fortnite excellence, they’re being given a chance to show off their skills at the upcoming Olympic Esports Finals taking place in June of 2023. That’s because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently added the shooter to the Finals line-up. The twelve participants from the Fortnite Champion Series will compete in an International Shooting Sport Federation-backed sharpshooting competition that does away with any battle royale elements, instead competing in “a…

We’re of the opinion that the gaming scene in South Africa peaked in 2014, when Free Lives released Broforce – one of the very best side-scrollers around. That was nearly ten years ago, and nothing’s come close to Broforce’s quality since. Well, perhaps Stasis: Bone Totem, a follow-up to 2015’s Stasis from the minds of The Brotherhood can unseat Broforce from its current hierarchy. We’ll see about that on the 31st of May, once the game hits the Steam and GoG stores. We’re not in Space anymore So… what is Stasis: Bone Totem? In short, it’s a horror game. More…

Rain has officially entered the mobile network fray, unveiling its first 4G mobile network, taking the fight directly to South Africa’s three other major network operators – Vodacom, MTN and Telkom. If that weren’t enough, the operator is rolling out rainOne, a new product that combines all of its services into one. This includes unlimited (and uncapped) data on a fixed- 5G connection for the home, plus free monthly calls and data across two mobile phones (there is a limit, but we’ll get to that). All for R560/m, with no long-term contracts involved. Bless the 4G Let’s cover that 4G…