Author: Trent Meikle

We won’t pretend that Vivo’s V30 so-called ‘flagship’ didn’t leave a bad taste in our mouths. It was an overly expensive piece of tech that slapped a few LEDs on the rear before calling it a day. We knew that for Vivo to truly win us back, it would need to dazzle, and dazzle us it has. Vivo will officially bring its latest flagship – the X200 Series – to South Africa, being one of the first smartphones to debut the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC. That’s a big deal, even if all you see are a couple of numbers changing…

Jake Paul 1, Netflix 0 What a weekend. Never have we seen the human race so aligned against one common enemy: Jake Paul. On Saturday, Netflix hogged more than 60 million pairs of eyes worldwide, thanks to the streamer’s most ambitious event ever – a boxing bout between a true legend of the game, Mike Tyson, and… a 27-year-old former Disney Channel star. It went just as you’d expect a fight at your local nursing home to go, except that the participants in this case each walked away with an extra $20 million in their back pockets. If only we,…

Walking into Gladiator II with high hopes for an entertaining sequel that could somehow match, or even top that of Russell Crowe’s legacy in the original film was never going to be a good idea. Fortunately, after the shambles that was Napoleon, we adjusted our expectations accordingly. Thank goodness. Gladiator II ultimately presents itself as a slightly too-long popcorn flick with enough gravity and action to entertain throughout the 2hr30m runtime. Denzel Washington shines bright among a sea of mediocrity, while David Scarpa’s script proves once and for all that he doesn’t belong at the forefront of a Ridley Scott epic, for lack…

Have you ever wanted to ask questions about the Earth, with no judgment? Moreover, would you rather get those answers from an actual, verifiable scientist, or some hallucinatory AI-powered chatbot? The latter, obviously. Earth Copilot, built using Microsoft’s AI tech and NASA’s, uh, knowledge, in a new partnership, does just that. Down to Earth AI https://youtu.be/YJs6kU4BtR4 As handy as an on-call scientist would be, it just isn’t feasible, even if NASA weren’t operating on over 100 petabytes of data. Instead, NASA will incorporate Microsoft’s AI into its data repository, supplying all the geospatial data necessary. But as NASA mentions in…

Remember Threads? Meta’s overly ambitious retort to Twitter X? No? Well, it won’t be picking up many more users once it eventually weaves ads into the mix – set to debut in early 2025 according to a report from The Information (via The Verge). Losing the thread What was once one of the very few redeeming qualities of the platform is going away soon. We’ve known this much for months since Instagram head, Adam Mosseri confirmed in a Thread that “We definitely plan to bring ads to Threads,” in April. It was more a question of when our (the royal ‘our’)…

Medical aid, we can all agree, is a necessary evil (except perhaps for the folks working in the industry and even then…). It’s a malicious system that prices itself out of reach from most, and profits off the few. Discovery Health wants to change the narrative with the launch of ‘Active Smart’ – its most “affordable” scheme to date. Sure, affordability is subjective, but Discovery’s planned entry fee of R1,350/m certainly is an attractive offering, even if you aren’t familiar with the offerings. Aimed at “young professionals” and “new entrants”, the Active Smart tier “delivers a tailored solution, meeting these…

We’re nearly halfway through November, which can only mean one thing: it’s time to take a look at what’s in store for petrol prices this December. After a fairly rough month, money-wise, for motorists, which felt the sting of minor increases across the board for both petrol and diesel, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) has some good news, and some not-so-good news. According to a fresh report from the state-owned energy company, captured 12 November, it looks like diesel drivers will bear the brunt of the increase, while petrol drivers may escape unscathed. Neither we, nor the CEF can guarantee…

If you happened to miss Toby Shapshak’s conversation with Andy Capostagno before the Boks’ took on Scotland last night, or worse, the game itself, fear not. DStv, the sole supplier of legal South African rugby, has announced new “customer experience enhancements,” starting with a 24-hour rewind ability and cloud PVR recording. It may not help you catch last night’s game, but it sure means you won’t miss the Boks’ next game against England. Taking a DStv Stream https://youtu.be/2rnO3fU5Pf8 It’s worth mentioning that these new features are headed to DStv Stream customers, improving upon the current ‘Watch from Start’ functionality and…

No surprises here Despite the years-long production drought in the early COVID days and an unwavering price point, the PS5 is considered a real money-maker. Not long after the release of the PS5 Pro, Sony has finally revealed its figures for the original console at an earnings briefing. As of the end of Q2 2024, Sony’s current-gen console has sold 65.5 million units, not even considering the big holiday push expected this December. Surprisingly, it’s a million or so units short of last year’s figures for the same period. Sony isn’t stressed. Despite the minute drop, revenue is up by…

We were a little sceptical about Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions (we’re dropping the ‘Harry Potter’ from here on out) when it was first announced. That might have something to do with the disappointing lack of Quidditch in Hogwarts Legacy – cut so that Quidditch Champions could live on as this separate, R560 title. It didn’t help that the consensus appeared to be less-than-stellar where Quidditch Champions was concerned, noting a distinct lack of the magic from the books. We’ll be the first to let you know that Quidditch Champions is far from perfect, sure it’s easily the most fun we’ve had playing a sports…