Author: Trent Meikle

Electric vehicles (EVs) are all the rage lately, which makes a kind of sense considering what the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy usually has to say regarding fossil fuel prices at the end of each month. A big issue, as ever, is money. So when we hear that Volvo has finally launched the EX30, its cheapest EV to date, in South Africa, our ears prick up. The EX30 was officially unveiled last week at Johannesburg’s Victoria Yards and is bringing with it a starting price of “just” R776,000 and the “smallest CO2 footprint of any Volvo car to date.”…

After what turned out to be a busy and AI-filled beginning to the year, Samsung is showing no signs of slowing down. A fresh crop of leaks just turned up surrounding the South Korean company’s incoming mid-ranger, the Galaxy A35, and we’re inclined to believe them. See, it isn’t coming from some C-grade outlet — but rather a team-up between AndroidHeadlines and Steve H. McFly (AKA @OnLeaks). These aren’t the first Galaxy A35 rumours to surface. In early January, AndroidHeadlines gave us what appeared to be a real peek at the device’s official renders ahead of Samsung’s official unveiling. Which, according to…

When you think of AI, you’re probably put in mind of some soon-to-pass apocalyptic event that wouldn’t be out of place in James Cameron’s head. Or AI toothbrushes. One of the two. Fortunately, we’re still in the ‘making cool stuff’ phase, and now Adobe’s throwing its tech — centred around music production — onto the ever-growing pile of generative AI use tools. A Doo be Doo be Do bye-yeah https://youtu.be/J6jhWyU5lBY It goes by the unimaginative name of Project Music GenAI Control, announced during the Hot Pod Summit earlier this week. The idea isn’t a new one. It’s essentially a platform…

As much as we love WhatsApp, navigating around the place can be a hassle. The Meta-owned messenger has spent the past few months renovating the app in the hopes that won’t be the case for too much longer. After hearing what’s next in store for Android devices — a feature going by the name of “search by date” — from the horse’s official WhatsApp Channel, we reckon we’re one step closer to a hassle-less land. Back to the Past The feature is as self-explanatory as it gets. The update — which is already live on Android — allows users to…

Ever since Honor’s emancipation from the now Google-less Huawei, we found ourselves spending more and more of our time in their company. Having somewhat recently played with the higher-end Honor 90 and less recently the scrappier X9a – which we praised as an “admirable all-rounder” – we were keen to see what Honor had in store next for South Africa. That turned out to be the Honor X9b, a follow-up to that scrappy mid-ranger we had a good time with about a year ago. It’s (almost) everything a sequel should be; improved specs, a new letter in the name, a…

If you thought the news of DStv’s price hikes (plural) was already putting excess strain on your wallet, you’re going to hate the newest info from Vodacom’s end. The operator announced last week that it was gearing up for its annual price hike that’ll be hitting its postpaid and fibre products soon enough. You have until 1 April 2024 to mentally (and physically) prepare for the increase. Vodacom isn’t messing around this year Vodacom’s justification for the hike is lodged firmly behind Stats SA’s announcement of 5.3% headline inflation for January 2024. Vodacom’s increases are less than 5.3%, coming in…

MultiChoice is all about raising prices at the moment. Last week, the group’s lead broadcaster, DStv, hit customers with a subscription price hike — though the blow was softened slightly by DStv’s new “price lock” scheme. We were left with a week and a half to recuperate before the broadcaster confirmed that its decoders had also seen a hike, effective 1 February 2024. Don’t attempt to decode the broadcaster’s motives That’s according to a report from MyBroadband, who first noticed the hikes, with DStv later confirming the news. Now, picking up a single-view decoder – with installation – will now cost an even…

Babe, wake up: there’s a Barbie phone coming The world’s largest brands are turning up in droves to show off their products for the year at Mobile World Congress — and HMD is no different. The Nokia-makers haven’t brought anything tangible with them, only news of a partnership with Mattel and something it calls “HMD Fusion” which should make for an interesting 2024. That partnership with Mattel will present itself in the form of a retro, Barbie-themed flip phone later this year. Neither HMD nor Mattel is wasting the Barbie brand after the year it had, with HMD designing an entirely…

We hope you’re prepared to be disappointed. It’s that time of the month again – time to see what horrors the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has in store for the country’s petrol pumps. Don’t judge our cynicism too harshly, we invite you to check out the last one of these and it’ll make sense. It’s not all bad news, however. The Central Energy Fund (CEF) — the state-owned energy company responsible for keeping an eye on the country’s fuel prices — has blessed us with a fresh batch of data (captured 22 February) that’s predicting a moderately more…

It’s been a whole year (and one day, but who’s counting?) since Sony took one giant VR leap forward when it launched the PSVR 2 — the R14,000 headset that needed a PS5 (requiring a sacrifice of R10,500 at minimum) in the vicinity to even function. That may not be the case for much longer after Sony said it was testing the ability to hook up the headset to a PC. The PC Master Race is pleased “We’re pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer…