Author: Trent Meikle

Like a sibling scrambling to get back in the good books because their brother was the first to say ‘thank you’ at the dinner table, Absa and Discovery Bank have fallen in line with the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) ambitious plans to digitise and expand smart ID and passport processes in SA. All aboard the smart ID push Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber announced that the two banks had signed up for the partnership in a post on X. Like dominoes, Absa and Discovery Bank followed in the footsteps of FNB and Capitec, the first to join the initiative,…

Say hello to Orion, the newest budget brand aiming for the jugular of the larger, more recognisable brands operating in SA. At least, that’s the impression we got from the company’s Nebula Elite, a keyboard that could be easily mistaken for something from Logitech’s range, without the outrageous prices. To prove that point, the Nebula Elite can be picked up for as little as R700. That might not sound particularly budget — and it isn’t — but when it’s cosplaying a set of keys that’ll go for more than triple that price… Orion sounds that much more reasonable. It’s not…

We’re already well into August at this point, meaning that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s  (DMRE) fuel price adjustments are fast approaching. After what turned out to be a pretty rough couple of months for SA’s diesel drivers, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) has some good news for fuel prices this September. The latest predictive snapshot (captured 12 August) reckons that all South African motorists are due a fuel price cut at the pumps when September eventually rolls around. The DMRE typically adjusts fuel prices on the first Wednesday of the new month, which will fall on 3 September next…

It’s everybody’s dream to turn a hobby they love into a satisfying and, more importantly, paying profession. That becomes a little more difficult when your hobby is gaming. RGB Gaming is a local esports organisation working to make that happen at South Africa’s more forward-thinking schools, and now it’s got Hisense to back it all up. RGB Gaming playing co-op with Hisense The two announced a partnership today, with the sole purpose of expanding the esports mission across South Africa. Hisense will handle the tech, and RGB Gaming will do what it does best: organise gaming events around the country,…

It’s frankly astounding that Nintendo had the gall to withhold Donkey Kong Bananza from the world as long as it did, particularly in the face of the R1,530 Mario Kart World it served up at the Switch 2’s launch instead. We had our fun with World, but we can’t deny that Donkey Kong Bananza is the best excuse yet to pick up a Switch 2. With the original Super Mario Odyssey team at its back and a more palatable R1,330 price, it was almost impossible for Bananza to fail. We’re pleased to report that Nintendo’s latest not only met our already high expectations, but blew…

No more excuses, guy. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) announced yesterday that it was partnering with two of South Africa’s largest banks, FNB and Capitec, in a bid to expand smart ID and passports services around the country and ensure easy access no matter where you are. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that FNB and Capitec were the first South African banks to sign up for the DHA’s new ‘digital partnership model’. The upgrade will see the number of branches offering these services rise into the hundreds, as well as offering these services through banking apps. Banking on…

MTN Business announced today that it has partnered up with the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) Gauteng Region as part of a strategy to prop up local businesses. The agreement, which was signed during a ceremony at the MTN Innovation Centre, will see the Council become an official reseller of MTN’s business-based products, “including mobile data, ICT services, and enterprise connectivity tools.” “SANTACO is not only a transportation powerhouse, but it also represents community enterprise and resilience at scale. By collaborating with SANTACO, we are helping unlock digital and economic participation where it matters most,” said Charles Molapisi, CEO…

After this year’s Summer Games Fest turned out to be a bit of a bust, we turned our attention to the event that’s kept the spirit of E3 alive. Gamescom promises four days of pure gaming goodness. Kicking off proceedings is Opening Night Live, led by the one and only Geoff Keighley (who else?) on 19 August 2025. Gamescom officially kicks off the following day — 20 August — and runs ’til Sunday, 24 August. It’s Opening Night, fellas https://youtu.be/SKHL2qbqkSA Opening Night Live is typically where you’ll see most of the event’s biggest reveals and updates, but that doesn’t necessarily…

GPT-5 is coming to Apple Intelligence. Soon Last week, OpenAI debuted GPT-5, supposedly delivering one of the biggest updates to the model’s overall speed and usability while (briefly) mourning the loss of GPT-4o. The question on some Apple users’ minds now is when ChatGPT integration with Apple Intelligence will bring the model’s new smarts to play. Soon, apparently. According to Apple (via 9to5mac), the company expects its devices to catch up shortly. As it stands, the iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and visionOS 2 versions utilise GPT-4o when using the ChatGPT add-on on top of the native Apple model. Apple…

There are roughly 80 million PS5 consoles out in the wild, according to Sony’s most recent quarterly results drop of the current financial year, confirming it had reached the milestone as of 30 June 2025. For a console that costs as much as this one does – not to mention the expensive 4K TVs required to get the most out of it – as well as supply issues in the console’s early days, that’s a rather impressive figure. The PS5 takes the lead Of course, it’s got nothing on the PlayStation 5’s elder siblings, all of which managed to cross…