Author: Trent Meikle

When it comes to South African banks that offer Smart ID services at their branches, there’s no question that Capitec is leading the pack with 86 such branches as of April. But there’s no shame in playing for second, is there? Standard Bank today confirmed it had hit a milestone of 50 new bank-assisted Smart ID processing branches. If the bank is to be believed, it actually reached that milestone a little over a week ago, before April drew to a close. It only told people about ’em today. That’s what we’d say too if we’d missed an internal deadline. It…

For years, WhatsApp has been the definitive messaging app for much of the world. That’s partly because it only requires Android 5.0 and iOS 15.1 or higher to properly function. That’ll be changing later this year, at least for Android users. Starting 8 September 2026, Meta will drop support for Android 5.1 and below. Darn. It’s time for an upgrade From then on, WhatsApp will require Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and later to run. The Meta-owned messenger confirmed the change on its FAQ support page, explaining its decision on which devices it chooses to support: “Devices and software change often, so…

You know Chery, but do you know the brand’s line of electric vehicles? Unless you spend a lot of time outside of South Africa, we’re guessing the answer is ‘no’. That’ll change later this year when Chery brings the ‘Q’ into the country, looking to compete with the ever-growing local market of affordable electric vehicles. An official price and launch date are still up in the air, but barring any big surprises, the company hopes to make this South Africa’s most affordable EV yet. That title is currently held by the Geely E2, which turned up on our streets only a…

After Samsung did some actual innovating for the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s new Privacy Display, we thought the creative juices might be running a bit dry. How wrong we were. At Display Week 2026, the South Korean company’s display-focused arm unveiled its latest ‘Sensor OLED Display’, which promises exciting health upgrades on the horizon. Your move, Apple Rather than rely on some built-in sensors to get a rough idea of your health, Samsung Display’s 6.8in panel sticks the sensors into the screen, requiring only a finger to get a reading. Better yet, it’s doing all that at a bearable resolution, in addition…

You might know Xiaomi for its, well, everything. It wasn’t one of the Chinese company’s vacs, TV boxes, or massage guns that caught our attention today, however. It was the Xiaomi 17T and 17T Pro phones that appeared to have leaked ahead of their official launch, thanks to the folks over at WinFuture (via GSMArena). Normally, we’d be discontent with watching these upper mid-rangers from afar, but after the Xiaomi 15T got its start in South Africa in October, we’re a little more optimistic about their future here. We’ll likely still have to wait a month or two, but we can…

It’s odd to see Capitec in the headlines for something other than its Smart ID infrastructure rollout. This time, the news involves the bank’s MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) bringing eSIM support to users later this year. Capitec Connect CEO, Dalene Steyn, confirmed as much while speaking to MyBroadband. Capitec reckons that its MVNO is flying high at the moment. As of February 2026, the bank noted that it had 1.5 million active Connect clients under its wing. And when it introduces eSIM support — only arriving in the second half of the year, unfortunately — that number could grow further.…

Spotify’s taking a stand against AI. Kinda Spotify may be struggling to stem the flow of AI-generated tracks flooding its platform, but it’ll be damned if you’re tuning into Eddie Dalton without at least knowing he’s ripping off hundreds of real Blues musicians. The streamer has announced ‘Verified by Spotify’, a fancy little green badge that’ll prove an artist is human. Any profile without the badge is a warning to steer clear. Mind you, not everyone can see these badges at the time of writing. It may take a few weeks to roll out, Spotify said. ‘Til then, you’re on your…

If you like to handle all your own vacuuming instead of giving the ‘bots even more independence, then you’ve probably dreamed about ditching that cord for some time. The Xiaomi G30 Max does that, while simultaneously ticking boxes you probably didn’t even realise you wanted. It’ll clean your home and clean it well, but for the hefty price of R8,800. That cord is starting to sound pretty good, isn’t it? Grab it by the handle Pony up, and you’ll be rewarded with a cordless, premium handheld vacuum that proved fairly easy to set up and even easier to use. It…

It wasn’t all that long ago that Apple refreshed the absurdly expensive Apple Vision Pro headset. Apple brought the M5 chip to the Fruit Company’s $3,500 AR (augmented reality) headset, alongside a new Dual Knit strap. It apparently wasn’t enough to revive interest in the headset, leading Apple to reportedly can the device. For good. Losing Vision That’s according to MacRumors, which reckons that interest has waned in the device ever since it hit shelves in 2024, reportedly selling around 600,000 units. At $3,500 a pop, that’s still a pretty penny, but not the long-life cash cow that it had initially hoped…

We can’t pretend we weren’t a little miffed when it looked like PlayStation had introduced a 30-day online license check that could leave you locked out of your digital games without an internet connection. Others, too, rebuked Sony’s policy that was a little too reminiscent of Xbox’s mistakes back in 2013. Fortunately, this isn’t the case. Good news for PlayStation gamers A Sony rep, speaking with GameSpot, has confirmed that the console only performs a single license check after a game has been purchased. This has seemingly been introduced to combat refund scams, preventing players who might refund a game from…