Author: Trent Meikle

While the rest of the world continues to squabble, there sits Google Japan like some precocious little kid yet to be diagnosed, and dreaming up some of the strangest concept devices we’ve ever seen. There was the Yunomi cup keyboard, and… whatever this monstrosity is. It hasn’t yet given up on the funky, if entirely impractical, ideas — this time creating the Gboard Dial Version that works exactly how you think it does. Google’s feeling (key)board https://youtu.be/BgdWyD0cBx4 You best believe the Gboard Dial Version is fully functional, mimicking rotary phones of old. It swaps out every pressable key on a…

If you thought your day couldn’t get any worse, think again. The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has issued a notice to recall 12,491 BMW cars across SA, citing an issue with the starter motor. If you’re one of the owners of the cars mentioned below, head to the nearest BMW dealership to replace the starter motor, free of charge. You may be driving a fire hazard The recall affects several of the German motoring company’s vehicles, including the BMW 3 Series (G20 model), 4 Series (G22 model), 5 Series (G30 model), Z4 (G29 model), X3 (G01 model), and X4 (G02…

Ever wanted to take the scenic route when dealing with apps like Spotify, Canva, and Uber? Well, now you can. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI announced yesterday that its flagship AI product has joined forces with all those third-party apps we mentioned, and plenty of others, to remove any critical thinking skills from your path. Powered by the company’s new Apps SDK, and announced during its DevDay presentation, users can interact with certain apps right inside the chatbot, and ask it to generate playlists, order food from DoorDash, create posters inside Canva, and even hail a ride. And so it begins Users can…

Anyone with a working pair of eyes can see that Microsoft Xbox isn’t as dedicated to the homegrown console hardware space as it once was, with the recent Asus/Xbox team-up and Microsoft spending every penny on acquiring developers who focus on the software side of things. Throw in the company’s Game Pass price debacle, and it really does seem like Xbox has thrown in the towel for good. Not so fast, says Xbox. Xbox is alive and kicking – “at least for now” It’s not only keen-eyed observers who have noticed Xbox’s lack of interest. News of Microsoft officially giving…

It wasn’t all that long ago that we bemoaned PlayStation and South African distributor, Koodoo, for the absurd R19,500 price tag attached to the PS5 Pro before it eventually launched locally in December 2024. Those gamers who missed out then won’t have a price decrease to look forward to, but rather an increase to the tune of R1,500. With Xbox safely out of the way, Sony can do what it likes That’s roughly the price of a standard DualSense controller, an expensive and sought-after companion to an already outrageously priced console. Now, South African gamers are expected to pay as…

Only days after the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) imposed minor petrol price increases while diesel drivers were left jumping for joy in October, the latest round of predictions from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) reckon November’s official adjustments won’t be quite as divisive, with decreases across the board. Good news, everyone! We should remind readers that the CEF’s figures (found below) aren’t final and are subject to change. The CEF, in conjunction with the DMRE, tracks those economic factors that influence the price of fuel locally, offering daily insights into how the country’s fuel prices are…

Making rightsholders’ spirits Sora Last week, OpenAI unveiled Sora 2, the next model of its AI-powered video generation tool, which can supposedly create just about anything on command to feed its own social media-like video app… except for copyrighted characters. In the days since its launch, CEO Sam Altman says the company has received valuable feedback from users, ‘interested groups’, and most importantly, rightsholders. Up first, OpenAI plans to offer rightsholders “more granular control” over how their characters and content are generated by users on the Sora app, allowing them to opt in and have their characters’ likenesses generated for…

First National Bank (FNB) has unveiled some long-awaited and major changes for its reward scheme, eBucks, all of which serve to improve the customer experience. Up first is the launch of eBucks PayDay, which will now see all customers receive their eBucks on the same day every month — on the 15th — rather than some random date. Next, beginning in November, the bank will roll out much-needed changes to travel rewards for eBucks, and “address some of the points of frustration customers have raised in the past.” That includes eBucks customers enjoying discounts on the ‘full fare’ for domestic…

While we and the rest of the world are still waiting on Amazon’s next batch of Kindle e-readers, announced earlier this week, our retail overlords have some big plans for its hardware line-up. Surprise, surprise: they involve AI. Kindle is no stranger to artificial intelligence, and now Amazon is building upon what’s already available. Smartening up your Kindle We’ve all been there, coming back to a long-forgotten book that you put down halfway through, only to be distracted by something else. Some might enjoy re-reading those early bits to get back to see beyond what they already have. Others… don’t,…

Microsoft is, once again, raising the price of its game subscription service, Game Pass, across the board. Microsoft is also rebranding and ‘upgrading’ some of its tiers, while others are left out in the cold. The new prices start from 4 November 2025 for current subscribers. Newcomers aren’t quite as lucky. These hikes aren’t minor. They are, in fact, the most substantial increase the subscription service has seen yet. You’d think, with Microsoft’s gaming hardware slowly drifting towards an iceberg, it’d like to hold onto one of its most valuable assets yet — software. Apparently not, with some increases reaching…