Author: Trent Meikle

As crazy as it seems, Disney+ has already been in South Africa since May. But unless you’re an owner of an Android TV box or DStv decoder, you might have missed out on the service. That’s because it missed some of the major TV app stores, and the Disney+ web portal is one of the worst services we’ve ever used. It lost out on plenty of customers by postponing its console release. That changes today. At least, for PlayStation (5) owners. Goodbye Stranger Things, hello… Willow? See, the Xbox Games Store already has access to Disney+. It managed to gain…

The SABC is facing financial troubles again. Because of course it is. It’s a company that relies on South African residents’ money to keep it afloat. What did you expect? It’s been this way for years too — (attempting to) force residents to pay for a TV licence and channels that have been rendered almost completely useless after the launch of streaming services within the country. It’s no wonder that the broadcaster has been unable to meet its quota for ages. It’s no different in 2022. The SABC recently presented its financial troubles to a parliament – the headline being:…

Despite already being five days into December, South Africa is still awaiting the country’s official fuel price changes – set to change this Wednesday, 7 December. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on the prices before the Department of Energy makes December’s fuel prices official. It’s been a month of ups and downs in terms of petrol price predictions. At the start of the month, SA was bracing for increases of R1.50 for petrol and R0.55 for diesel. Thankfully, much has changed since. As it stands, petrol drivers are set to be slightly disappointed, and diesel drivers will likely…

Eskom teases a return to stage 2 If constantly checking Eskom’s Twitter page depresses you just as iT does us, you may be a little behind. On Saturday morning, Eskom plunged South Africa into stage 4 load shedding on short notice, only to announce a return to Stage 3 on Sunday, 4 December – effective from 5 AM this morning. In even better news, the country is set to return to Stage 2 at 5 AM on Tuesday morning. Whether that’ll hold true over the next nineteen hours… remains to be seen. We’ll believe it when we see it. The…

In a bid to either counter the impending doom of the world at the hands of AI or help bring it about quicker, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) are making AI courses mandatory for all qualifications available at the school. “The study of Artificial Intelligence is being made a compulsory course in all qualifications in the University of Johannesburg to empower its graduates to advance in all areas of work,” UJ Principal Tshilidzi Marwala said. The sudden desire for compulsory AI courses came after the launch of the Department of Communications and Digital…

Not long after the launch of SABC+ – the service formerly known as TelkomONE – the SABC is once again working on a scheme that should see the broadcaster lose less money than it currently does. To counter South African residents not paying TV licences, the SABC is toying with the idea of a loyalty and rewards programme designed to ensnare more people into paying for a (useless) TV licence. From the horse’s mouth The news comes straight from SABC’s website, on which it posted a bid document highlighting the broadcaster’s plans. The broadcaster was in search of service providers…

Before you get all excited, no, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement were not involved with Evil West. As much as we’d have liked them to be, they aren’t. Get over it. Hopes and dreams dashed, we can actually tell you about Evil West. The game made by Flying Wild Hog – a developer you’ll only know if Hard Reset or Shadow Warrior sound familiar. Evil West slipped under our radar a bit. With God of War: Ragnarök (which we reviewed) predating Evil West by around two weeks, you can understand. After checking out the trailer for Evil West, we had…

Good news everyone! Elon Musk is making headlines again – and it’s not a Twitter story. This time. Before we return to your regularly scheduled Twitter updates, we need to discuss Musk’s Neuralink show-and-tell event, held on 30 November. “can i please have snacks” – Monke (2022, colourised) Monkeys can type telepathically now. No, we’re not joking. If you’ve followed Neuralink’s journey into the world of connecting human brains to machines, this might not be such a surprise. A few months ago, we got a look at a monkey playing Pong with only its mind as a controller. Neuralink has…

If you’re one of the few that actually own a DStv Streama – whether by choice or because you have an older Hisense or Samsung TV, you’ll be excited to learn that Multichoice is finally bringing Disney+ content to its dedicated streaming box – nearly two months after its launch. The Streama is finally on par with some of the country’s better Android TV boxes – and it only costs R200 more! The introduction of Disney+ puts the mouse’s offering alongside the DStv, Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, and Showmax apps. Still not on PlayStation or Xbox “The DStv Streama upgrade…

Eskom has given South Africa some good news for the Christmas period. The power utility has announced changes to its Christmas maintenance schedules, set to greatly reduce load shedding over the holidays. It’s not quite the same as literally saving Santa Claus, but it’s the best Eskom can do. And if you’re crying about us spoiling the ending of The Nightmare Before Christmas – keep it to yourself. The twelve stages of Christmas Of course, we still need to remain prepared for the eventuality that we’ll experience load shedding at some stage over the period. Before making changes to its…