Author: Trent Meikle

The Disney+ app will soon suck just a bit more than it does already. Today, the Walt Disney Company announced a “first-of-its-kind global deal” with TikTok that’ll give creators more freedom to use the House of Mouse’s IP. The update won’t reach South Africa right away, however. It’ll undergo a trial period in the US before expanding. How do you do, fellow kids? That’s… fine by us. The deal will eventually “bring an expansive collection of thoughtfully curated Disney-centric fan-created content from TikTok to the Disney+ app.” The videos birthed from the partnership will live on both apps. The videos that…

Told you so. With a little over a month left before Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, some disturbing news has come out regarding the price of the coming smartphone. We’ll just say this… If you thought the iPhone 17 Pro and its Max brethren were expensive last year, you’ve got another thing coming. Another 300 things, in fact. Yeah, the iPhone 17 Pro is doing just fine Yup, the iPhone 18 Pro — Apple’s ditching the base model ’til next year — will reportedly be $300 more expensive than last year. Directly converted, that’s a nearly…

There’s no worse feeling than trying to throw plans together in a group chat. That pain only deepens the more people are added. Half of them probably have the group chat on mute, while the other half are sharing the same stickers over and over. Today, WhatsApp announced a slate of updates meant to improve group chats. @All the small things One of those is designed to make in-chat polls that much more bearable. Now, there’s the option to set a timer for when voting is up, set when the poll is created. Edits to the poll question are possible,…

“Made in China” is no longer the insult it once was. In fact, in South Africa’s ever-growing EV market, it’s a badge of honour. Brands like BYD and Geely aren’t only catering to the elite, but are bringing decent EVs — like the Geely E2 — to the country at a relatively affordable price, with a few bells and whistles thrown in. The Geely E2 (Aspire) is one of the cheapest electric cars in South Africa. The Geely E2 (Apex) isn’t. It comes mightily close, however, steering clear of the R400,000 mark and settling on a final price of R390,000…

How do you get more eyeballs on a streaming service? You make it free, obviously, while also raking in thousands of dollars from advertisers. The streamer still charges customers for the privilege of no advertisements, of course. That seems to be the new play from Disney+, according to a report from Business Insider. “Hollywood giants Disney and Paramount Skydance are exploring adding free tiers to their subscription services…” reads the report. “And Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in mid-July that ‘a free offering could make sense in some markets.'” We’re on board Hopefully, South Africa would be one of those markets.…

The writing may be on the wall in permanent marker for PlayStation regarding physical game discs, but there’s still another player in the game. That would be Xbox, which may itself be looking to go the digital-only route one day. ‘Til then, it currently has the advantage over PlayStation. Especially if it can get its ‘Disc2Digital’ plan right. Last month, it was reported that Xbox was working on a ‘Disc2Digital’ feature that would allow gamers to pop their Xbox One or Series X/S game disc into either console and receive a digital licence for said game. That would enable the…

All the progress made with smart IDs in SA means keeping up with all the smart ID-capable bank branches can be difficult. To combat this, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) today announced the ‘My Home Affairs Online’ platform to easily plan a visit. Since the DHA unveiled its new ‘digital partnership model’ last August, a great many branches have gotten involved. 372 branches, to be exact, with that figure expected to grow from the likes of Absa, Capitec, and the rest. The idea was to make smart IDs more accessible to residents, no Home Affairs required. How smart is…

Apple Music just got more expensive Being South African is cool, on occasion. We tend to dodge most of the big price hikes, be it hardware-based or something more in the realm of a subscription service. That luck eventually runs out, as evidenced by the news that Apple Music is passing a bigger bill on to customers locally starting in the back end of August. Apple alerted active subscribers of the music streaming service via email, confirming a R10/m increase for individual subscribers, bringing the price up to R80/m. Family plans haven’t gone unnoticed either, receiving a larger R20/m bump, dragging…

More than a year after the Nintendo Switch 2 launched with the GameCube Classics library in tow, Nintendo has finally relented and stuck the classic that is Super Mario Sunshine into the catalogue. Forget owning it, though. Like The Wind Waker and Luigi’s Mansion, your access is determined by how much you’re willing to fork over. By that, we mean how long you’re willing to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion service. That last bit is important. GameCube Classics, like the rest of the console’s emulators, are reserved for + Expansion subscribers, leaving regular Online members out in the cold. There’s no…

There are more Samsung Galaxy Buds out there than we can count, and according to SamMobile, the South Korean company has more in the pipeline. These may deviate from the stem and wingtip designs that we’re used to, and even stray away from the new clip-ons reportedly in the works. Runners, you might want to listen up Samsung’s on the run If SamMobile is right — and it usually is — the company’s next pair of in-ears will involve a hook. That’ll make the buds wholly supportive of whatever activity you’ve got on, be it running or weightlifting. More so than the…