Author: Trent Meikle

We’re all still celebrating the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE) recent petrol price adjustments for January, but if the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) latest batch of predictions come true, we’ll be celebrating well into February, too. It’s still early days, but motorists may have a R1+ decrease to look forward to. February’s petrol prices can’t come quickly enough As ever, we should note that the CEF’s figures below (captured 8 January) are not final and are subject to change. It, in conjunction with the DMRE, tracks those economic factors that influence the price of fuel locally, such as the…

It turns out that hoovering up just about every semi-known gaming studio doesn’t equal hardware sales. Xbox is proof of that fact, with Chris Dring calling it “the worst year on record for Xbox consoles.” According to Windows Central, Xbox has plans to turn the ship around with more OEM hardware (original equipment manufacturer) headed our way in 2026, all running the Xbox Full Screen Experience on Windows. Xbox feeling PC One of those may well be the rumoured ‘Xbox PC’ that would, again, be developed by a company that isn’t Microsoft, despite the company slapping its logo on the…

If you’re a little ashamed of your Goodreads history in 2025, you can correct course by taking on audiobooks instead. Normally, doing so would require becoming friendly with Amazon’s Audible Premium plan at $15/m (∼R250/m) or your local pirates — but a new deal will lock customers in at R16.40/m for three months. *Audible gasp* That’s just R50, if you play your cards right over the three-month period. The trick is to ensure you cancel the subscription before Amazon charges the full price when the fourth month kicks in. Otherwise, there are no strings attached, with returning customers getting in…

Early adopters of Google’s paid-for AI features won’t be too thrilled about the recent announcement that it was tearing down the paywall and offering up Gmail’s AI powers to everyone. Even those who’d rather read their emails instead of a soulless bot doing it for them will have to opt out of the features, which are on by default. The change was announced alongside several other additions headed to the mail client, all while Google pulled back the curtain to offer us a peek at what we can expect later this year. AI overviews — those confidently incorrect summaries plaguing…

When Beyerdynamic’s Amiron Zero Sport first plopped onto our desks, we were sceptical. Not of Beyerdynamic’s audio chops, which have proven superb no matter the medium, but of the open-ear clip design. The company eschewed the traditional look and feel of decent buds and asked us to clip ’em to our ears instead. So we did. Now we can’t see ourselves going back to the traditional in-ear design when it comes to sports. These clung to our ears regardless of lifting weights at the gym, sprinting the last 100m of Parkrun, or simply strolling around the neighbourhood. Even more impressive,…

The words ‘Instax’ and ‘Cinema’ don’t exactly belong together, but now Fujifilm is hoping to challenge that ideology with the release of the Instax mini Evo Cinema. Like 1965’s Single-8 it’s inspired by, this is a proper video-shooting machine. Instax hasn’t forgotten its roots, however, with the Evo Cinema still pumping out prints whenever you ask it to. The difference being that you’ll have to work a little harder to get your hands on ’em here. Video-first, print-later https://youtu.be/-5WzAafQ4gk Instead of snapping a picture and calling it a day, the camera “converts captured video data into a QR code and creates…

We’ll never say no to a WhatsApp update (unless it’s force-feeding AI down our throats), and Meta has obliged with a group-chat-focused renovation that adds three new features starting today. We’re still waiting for a proper username upgrade to move away from the app’s reliance on phone numbers, but we’ll take what we can get. Group chats just got smarter The most interesting addition is what WhatsApp calls ‘Member tags’, which allows users to assign themselves a role in the groupchat, mainly for the benefit of other members. For example, you might be known as “Anna’s Dad” in the parent-only class…

It’s a new month, which means it’s time to hit up Amazon for the next round of free PC games it regularly offers Prime customers (Prime Video will suffice in South Africa). If you missed out on December’s freebies, not to worry — some of the best games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Lego 2K Drive are still up for grabs, alongside a fresh slate of titles. Kicking 2026 off right comes the turn-based strategy Sid Meier’s Civilization VI. What backlog? You might be sceptical that Amazon, of all companies, is handing out free games — especially games you’ve heard of before.…

Once upon a time, a too-hard puzzle (or that Driver tutorial) might’ve been enough to stump you, possibly for the rest of time. That was until the internet came along, offering guides and tutorials that still left the player in the driver’s seat. Sony plans to retire those ideas, having recently patented AI-powered in-game ‘ghost players’ that just show you how to beat the game. Or rather, the bits you’re struggling with. If you thought Atreus piping up every five seconds with a hint was bad… The ghost in the machine VGC was the first to spot the patent, which reads: “Methods…

To an outsider, you might think that CES’ halls are only packed with robot vacuums toting some AI powers. Sift through all that, and this year’s convention’s more interesting ideas — like Lego’s Smart Brick or Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable laptop that can transform from a regular 16in notebook into a 23.8in powerhouse in a second. Lenovo’s on a roll Lenovo’s no stranger to the wackier laptop concepts at CES. It was only a year ago that the company showed off the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, and it’s only built from there. Now, Lenovo’s experimenting with a laptop display…