Author: Trent Meikle

Last week, South Africa got one of the best belated Christmas presents we could ever ask for: A R2 drop in petrol prices and an even better R2.70 drop for diesel drivers. If you’re only heading back onto the roads today after a long month of Christmas dinners and countless braais, then you should probably fill up. If, for some reason, you’re extending your holiday all the way into February, filling up a little later might be a safer bet. Why? Well, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) is predicting yet another drop in petrol and diesel prices. It won’t be…

Dragons in space It’s been over a month since SpaceX sent its Dragon spacecraft up to the ISS, filled with new solar arrays and a bunch of experiments to keep the astronauts up there occupied. It’s time for those experiments to make their way home, with the Dragon spacecraft set to make the trek back to Earth in the early hours of tomorrow morning. SpaceX’s Dragon left Earth with 3,500kg of hardware and leaves the ISS with 2,000kg of completed experiments. One of the major experiments conducted over the last month is the Astrovad vest test – a vest that…

CES 2023 is officially upon us. Well, not us specifically. South Africans have been sentenced to watch from afar, awaiting every new announcement as it happens. Still, it isn’t the event that matters. It’s the tech. And you best believe there’s some cool stuff to see. CES kicked off last night for the masses, though some of the bigger names revealed their announcements to the media prior to the doors opening. Names like Samsung and LG revealed a plethora of new screens to hypnotise us with – and Sony told the world that the PS5 shortage was over. There’s even…

More than two years after its launch, Sony’s PS5 still feels as elusive as ever. Okay, maybe not as elusive as when it first launched – scalpers were selling consoles for close to R25,000 a pop. That’s since died down – thank goodness – but it doesn’t mean that PS5s are readily available. Heck, some South African retailers still have trouble keeping stock. But that’s about to change. At least, that’s what Sony says. Chips back on the block “Everyone who wants a PS5 should have a much easier time finding one at retailers globally, starting from this point forward,”…

WhatsApp is simple. You type out a message and hit send. That’s the gist. If you’re under the age of 15, you probably communicate primarily through GIFs and sticker packs. Come to think of it, that’s how most of the population over 60 communicate as well. Except those tend to lean more towards the ‘good morning’ and ‘good night’ variety. But as with any tech, there are hidden features and tips that can make the experience a more pleasant one. Don’t want anyone to see your profile picture? Done. Sharing your live location? Easy. The problem is, WhatsApp doesn’t always…

Lego designers make up the backbone of our society. They sit quietly, without any recognition, pumping out designs that the brickmaker feels okay with charging an arm and a leg for. If you disagree, now’s your time to show them up. Build your own set, submit it, and the set could be an unofficial, yet official, Lego set. Five winners will be chosen, with 20,000 units being made of each winning set. These won’t be sold in regular stores – no – these will be packaged under Lego’s own BrickLink, available online exclusively. The winners will even be paid –…

E-tolls are unfortunately still a thing. In 2023. Yup, the entire scheme was meant to shut down before the clock struck twelve on 31 December 2022. That… didn’t happen. The Gauteng Premier’s office released a statement confirming the delay of e-tolls’ demise. We can’t be exactly sure when they’re going away, but until then, Sanral can continue collecting bills. But there is perhaps some good news attached. Recently, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said that people who have paid their e-tolls bills will have their money refunded. Speaking to 702 yesterday, Lesufi claimed that the e-toll shutdown delay was due to…

South Africa has a problem. We call it load shedding. You might have heard of it. We’ve spent the last decade or so suffering at the hands of Eskom, and it’s only going to get worse. If you’ve managed to avoid all that, we don’t like you very much. South Africa’s network operators have had it particularly bad. When higher stages of load shedding kick in, the operators often don’t see enough electricity in a day to keep their backup batteries charged. This means paying for generators and fuel (which is at least a bit cheaper as of today) or…

You may or may not be shocked to learn that South Africa had plans to shut down e-tolls by the end of 2022. You definitely won’t be shocked to learn that the shutdown has been delayed until some time in 2023. In South Africa, we’d be more worried if the shutdown had taken place when it was supposed to. Back in November, finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the National Treasury had set a date of 31 December for the scheme to be shut down. On 31 December, the Gauteng Premier’s Office released a statement, stating that “due to the…

Remember, remember the 18th of November – the tenth anniversary of Nintendo’s oft-forgot Wii U console. In honour of Nintendo’s worst-ever selling console (selling even less than the GameCube), we’ve rounded up the top ten Wii U games that can be played on the Nintendo Switch. Because if we’re being honest, that’s the only place we’ll ever get to try them out. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild It feels a little silly that on every Nintendo top 10 we do, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild manages to find itself in the number one spot.…