Author: Trent Meikle

The world runs on subscriptions. That wasn’t always the case, but when the BMWs of the world figured out that customers would actually pay a separate, monthly fee for heated seats… everything changed. For the worse. Now, everything is a subscription, whether you like it or not – and it’s having an adverse effect on all South Africans. Subscribe to unsubscribing Subscription fees have slowly become a normal part of life, infecting even basic household items like printers. That’s not to mention the several streaming services, cloud storage solutions, and software fees that people regularly pay for monthly, often in…

People like to learn through podcasts. The same is doubly true for a podcast catering towards your specific needs, even if the hosts aren’t exactly… real. That’s what Google reckons is cool about NotebookLM, a tool that’ll summarise any information you throw at it, with two AI-generated hosts built to care about whatever niche topic you do. “Jamie, pull up facts about dinosaurs” “We’ve received a lot of great feedback from the millions of people using NotebookLM, our tool for understanding and engaging with complex information. One of the most frequent requests has been for a mobile app — for…

Computex is the perfect excuse to introduce yet another new entry into the handheld gaming PC space, and MSI hasn’t disappointed. The company unveiled the all-new MSI Claw A8 (BZ2EM), and this time, it’s packing some AMD hardware under the lid—the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, to be precise. He is Ryzen It’s certainly a worthy upgrade for the new 8in handheld, especially considering MSI’s last outing with the Claw 8 AI+ was still rocking Intel internals as recently as six months ago. That one can still be had for a cool R22k locally. As for the Claw A8… we’ll cross…

South African motorists are set on a course to enjoy even cheaper fuel prices this June than they did in May, with the Central Energy Fund (CEF) predicting a massive 50c/l drop in diesel prices. Petrol drivers won’t be quite as lucky as their diesel counterparts, but can still expect a reasonable price cut when filling up next month. Keep holding thumbs, pretty please It should be noted that the CEF’s figures below are not final and are subject to change. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is officially responsible for adjusting South Africa’s fuel prices at the…

South Africa’s streaming landscape has come a long way in a very short time. Only ten years ago, the country was still eagerly awaiting the arrival of Netflix, before the world’s biggest streamer eventually turned up in 2016. Sure, local player Showmax was busy making a name for itself, but it struggled to find its footing. It has since transformed into an industry giant with some of the biggest names in the biz backing it. Netflix leads the streaming charge Now that most of the biggest streamers in the world – Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV – have…

Android, coming soon to a desktop near you Ever wanted to turn your Android smartphone into a desktop? If you own a Samsung smartphone, you already can – assuming you’ve got an external display handy to make use of the device’s DeX mode. But what about the rest? Google appears to be developing just that, if the latest updates to the Android 16 beta are anything to go by. The new ‘Android Desktop Mode’ feature, initially spotted by Android Authority back in March, buried deep under developer settings, didn’t function. Fast forward to today, and the feature is operational, but with…

If you’ve yet to see what is arguably one of HBO’s best-ever television shows, we recommend you fix that as soon as possible by making your way over to Showmax and turning on Silicon Valley. It’s a show so crammed full of jokes and equally dramatic moments that will not only have you busting a gut multiple times an episode, but also have you invested in the characters and, most importantly, this ultra-realistic tech world on display. It’s no wonder that Silicon Valley is as good as it is with Mike Judge at the helm, who is behind some of the best series…

We’ve got some bad news for all those still subscribed to Netflix, and especially bad news for anyone who’s a bit late to the Netflix train. The streaming giant has quietly hiked its subscription fees overnight – and has yet to inform all its customers of the change. These aren’t minimal hikes, either, with some going up by as much as 20%. A low blow from Netflix Even with a Premium subscription at hand, Netflix has yet to warn us of the change, instead updating its website to reflect the new prices, which affect the Mobile, Standard, and Premium tiers.…

Even if you’re fed up with Spotify’s continual lack of hi-res audio or YouTube Music’s atrocious UI, customers are typically loyal to a single music streaming service because that’s where their music is. Sure, there are third-party services that can help, but none that we trust to get the job done right. In a bid to get these loyal customers over to Apple Music, the streamer is rolling out functionality to do just that. Goodbye Spotify, hello Apple Music It’s unknown whether this is part of some experimental test from Apple or if the feature is rolling out. Either way,…

South Africa has, so far, avoided the tyrannical fist of Netflix’s more affordable “with ads” tier since it debuted elsewhere back in 2022, but we don’t expect that to be the case for much longer. During the streamer’s Upfront presentation, it provided some insight on its recent ad-ventures, and the results aren’t good. For us, that is. Ad nauseam Netflix reports that around 94 million active monthly subscribers around the world now subscribe to the ‘Basic with Ads’ tier since its launch three years ago. That’s more than double the figure the company reported just a year ago, and it…