Author: Trent Meikle

Say what you want about Meta but its WhatsApp department has been killing it of late. The most recent update, announced yesterday, adds the ability to send short video messages in a WhatsApp chat – described as an improvement of the voice note feature. That might not sound super cool, and that’s because it isn’t. But it is an obvious quality-of-life update that’ll drastically reduce the hassle of sending videos to contacts. There is a limit, however, with video messages not being able to run longer than 60 seconds at a time. Each video message is protected by the same end-to-end…

Anyone not paying attention yesterday – or just out getting their daily source of Vitamin D – might’ve missed Samsung unveiling of a slew of new products. Those included two new smartphones that’ll flip or fold, a couple of watches and three new Galaxy Tabs of the S9, S9+ and S9 Ultra varieties. The last of those, the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, is Samsung’s most expensive yet. At R33,000, it could scare off plenty of unsure buyers. Is it worth making the leap to Samsung’s latest effort? Well, that depends on what matters most to you, the budget you’re working…

When it comes to the Oppo lineup, Stuff is usually on board. That’s because the Chinese manufacturer is at its best when it’s pumping out mid-rangers, and bringing as many of them as possible to South African shores. Oppo’s latest release, the Oppo A98 5G, ticks both those boxes, having already hit South Africa’s shelves and selling for a decent price. When it comes to the Oppo’s A series, the A98 5G is the new top dog, dethroning the A78 5G that launched in South Africa in February of this year. It appears to be a solid follow-up, maintaining the…

OpenAI has finally followed through on its promise to bring ChatGPT to Android, which has been on the cards since the company released the iOS version of ChatGPT back in May. The thing is, you can’t have it yet. Unless you live in the US, India, Bangladesh, or Brazil, according to the company’s announcement. The rest of us? We’ll have to wait until OpenAI deems South Africa worthy enough to play around with AI. You can, however, register your interest in the app on the Google Play Store in the meantime, which allows the app to be automatically installed when…

Netflix’s awful mobile app might finally be useful. That’s thanks to the streaming giant’s addition of the ‘My Netflix’ tab for its mobile offering, which segregates the stuff you want to watch from the one-season series and reality TV that’s so often shoved onto your home page. At least, that’s what the streamer said it’ll do in a blog post announcing the new feature. #NotMyNetflix Essentially, the My Netflix tab is an aggregation of anything you’ve shown an interest in before. You know, how Netflix’s algorithm is meant to make your home page look. Specifically, it’ll house all the shows…

Spotify – the music streaming industry’s leader – is hiking its prices across several countries, the UK and the US the most prominent among them. South Africa, fortunately, has been spared. Our guess? That won’t be the case for long. Not when there’s free money sitting on the table, waiting to be spent. Raising some questions (and prices) Spotify’s reasoning – besides making a buttload more money — is to “keep innovating” in the ever-evolving landscape that is music streaming. Oh, and because YouTube, Tidal, and Apple have all done it. Spotify didn’t say that in its announcement, obviously, choosing…

We’re less than two weeks away from August’s official petrol, diesel and paraffin price change — officially kicking in on Wednesday, 2 August – and they’re not looking so hot. They might not stay that way, though. Don’t forget, these are just predictions, made possible by the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) data and don’t reflect the real price we’ll see added to the pumps. That said… It’s not often the CEF is far off the mark. The figures presented below are likely to be similar to the real price come August, which is decided by the Department of Energy (DoE).…

Goodbye Twitter, hello X The day we’ve long been dreading (or rather, awaiting in nervous anticipation) has finally arrived. Twitter is no more, and ‘X’ — yes, that’s the name and not his kid’s nickname — will reign supreme. At least that’s what the company’s capricious owner said in a slew of tweets on Saturday evening, noting that the app’s name would be changing, along with the iconic blue bird that’s so inextricably linked to it. “And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he tweeted. He later went on to say, “It…

When it comes to Sad Owl Studio’s Viewfinder – which recently hit the PlayStation and Steam stores – perception is everything. It’s not often that a game comes along introducing mechanics so outlandish that it changes the way you see things. In fact, the last thing to check that box was Portal 2. Viewfinder isn’t quite on that level, but it’s come the closest to reaching the high bar Valve set in 2011. We knew we were in for a good time after the first few minutes of the game’s demo, which made the rounds on social media a couple…

Netflix is finally following through on its promise of cracking down on password sharing in the global market. And after months of slipping under the radar, South Africa has been included in the streamer’s final push which implements the ‘new’ password-sharing rules in every country where Netflix operates. That means accounts living outside of the primary account holder’s residence will no longer be able to access Netflix, with the streamer forcing those members to pay for their own accounts. Yeah, we’re not fans either. Netflix has already begun sending emails to those affected South African members, warning them of the…