A whole lot of Jellyfish are washing up on Cape Town’s beaches

Comedian and actor Kevin Hart was supposed to host the 2019 Oscars, but on Friday he stepped down from the role after a slew of old homophobic tweets resurfaced. A number of tweets posted some ten years ago were shared by Guardian US journalist Benjamin Lee, and other users on the social network. Many of the tweets screenshot in the post were deleted on Thursday. I wonder when Kevin Hart is gonna start deleting all his old tweets 🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/ZbYG6SI3Xm — Benjamin Lee (@benfraserlee) 5 December 2018 Buzzfeed reporter Adam B. Vary too trawled Hart's Twitter account more thoroughly on Wednesday -- when...

Before we mention anything else, yes, Drake was Spotify's most popular artist globally. Now that that's out of the way, the streaming music service this week announced its biggest (non-Toronto born) artists, and music of the year. So, who placed where? Drake, for the record, snagged 8.2-million plays this year, making him the most streamed artist on the platform of all time. "God's Plan" -- the most popular track of the year on the streaming service -- brought in more than a billion streams alone. Post Malone was world number two, while XXXTENTACION, J Balvin and Ed Sheeran made it an all-male top...

Well... it's pretty safe to suggest that YouTube Rewind 2018 is controversial. The annual video published by the Google-owned service pays homage to the year that was and the moments that made it, all created by the internet's biggest personalities. This year's theme was "everyone controls rewind" and, well, it had its highs and lows. For one, animation YouTubers Domics, JaidenAnimations and Illymation among others got their time in the spotlight. Two South African-born creators/personalities also feature in Caspar Lee and Trevor Noah. But that's where the joy seemingly ends. On the face of it, the clip opens with Will Smith being Will...

Legendary musician Johnny Clegg was trending on Twitter on Thursday afternoon after a tribute version of his song The Crossing was released on YouTube. His son Jesse Clegg, Andre Fenter, Jack Parow, Jimmy Nevis, Karen Zoid and a host of other South African musicians feature on the track. According to Zoid's YouTube channel, "a group of well-known musicians came together to celebrate the life and work of Clegg and recorded a special version of his song". Though the message was merely a celebration of the man and the launch of his new charity fund, South Africans were quick to assume that Clegg...

When people weren't tweeting about South Africa's political issues, health issues, state issues, or sport, they were tweeting about soapies. Twitter on Wednesday shared a few insights into the country's relationship with the social network, including the most popular hashtags, tweets, and conversation topics. Let's start with something upbeat: entertainment. The country's most talked about show was on Mzanzi Magic. #TheQueenMzanzi "is a South African telenovela created and produced by Ferguson Films about a dedicated wife, mother and successful businesswoman who is forced to do the unthinkable when her husband's secret comes to light," notes TVSA. And yeah, South Africa loves it. The show...

Within a few days of one another, both Apple and Google have revealed their best performing apps and games of 2018 on their respective app stores. Both companies had several categories to fill. Google took inspiration from a “Fan Favourites” voting poll over on its store to determine what users liked best on the Play Store. Apple listed its top performers using "a global collection of top charts and selects from our editors" and awarded winners in each category for both iPhone and iPad. We’ve narrowed it down to the best apps and games overall. Have at it below. Best Apps Google Play Store Google’s...

Google has announced that it will be shutting down its smart-messaging service Allo which it launched just over two years ago. The decision comes after the company “paused investment in Allo” earlier this year, and brought its features to Messages -- Google’s SMS-based messaging service for Android. “Given Messages' continued momentum, we’ve decided to stop supporting Allo to focus on Messages,” the company explained in the announcement. Features such as desktop support, GIFs and Smart Reply have already moved from Allo to Messages. “We've learned a lot from Allo, particularly what’s possible when you incorporate machine learning features, like the Google Assistant, into...

When cyber security is covered in mainstream media, more often than not the victim of an attack or breach is a big firm with tens of thousands of users. In the recent past the likes of Yahoo!, Under Armour, and Facebook have fallen victim to breaches of some degree. Some were not as severe as others, but all -- to some degree -- affected users. Users like you. In South Africa, data security has never been as imperative as it is today. But signing up to a service and praying that your data will be safe and secure in their data clouds...

Google’s educational “holiday hub” called Santa’s Village is back in swing for the 15th year and you can play more interactive games, learn about different regional Christmas traditions, and track Santa’s whereabouts. One of the hub’s new features comes in the form of Elf Maker, a tool where you can make your very own elf to play with. “Choose an outfit, accessories, hairstyle, and even facial hair to add some flair to your little friend,” Google says on its blog. The Santa Tracker is also back, which you can access via Maps or the Android app. “In the days leading up to Christmas,...

Facebook has launched a new feature that allows you to share your saved collection (of gift ideas) with your friends just in time for the holidays. “To help you send gift ideas more easily, we’re introducing the ability for people to share a collection of content saved on Facebook with specific friends and family,” the social network revealed on its website. Collections allow you to group saved Facebook content such as videos, photos, products and even recipes. “For example, if you create a collection of products – a holiday wish list of sorts – you can share it with a group of...

If you like stand up comedy and have no intention of going out on New Years Day, Netflix's latest announcement might tickle your funny bone. The streaming company's Comedians of the World series, which was first announced in July, finally has a launch date: 1 January 2019. The series is set to feature 47 comedians in 13 regions, including South Africa, each delivering a half-hour stand up routine. While many of the content has already been recorded at Montreal's Just For Laughs comedy show in July, other sets have also been taped in São Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai, Berlin, and Amsterdam thoughout...

South Africa is out of recession after the country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.2% in the third quarter of the year. The new numbers were released by Statistics SA on Tuesday morning. The growth comes after two dull, depressing quarters for the South African economy which plunged it into a technical recession. The South African #economy is out of #recession, growing by 2,2% in Q3:2018 compared with Q2:2018 #StatsSA Access all available #GDP documents here until website has been restored: https://t.co/lr2ofjt7rN pic.twitter.com/pldYYaD1lQ — Stats SA (@StatsSA) 4 December 2018 Sectors responsible for growth in Q3 included manufacturing (7.5% growth quarter-over-quarter), agriculture (6.5%),...

More people visited Polokwane in 2017 than Cape Town according to a study conducted by Mastercard. The company's Global Destination Cities Index, published on Tuesday, revealed that Johannesburg was once again the continent's most popular city. 4.05-million visitors stayed in the city for one night or more in 2017, which places it top of the African cities which made the list. "On average, international visitors stayed 10.9 nights and spent US$48 per day in Johannesburg, with shopping accounting for more than 50 percent of their total spend," the report added. Notably, Polokwane -- a city north of Johanensburg and the capital of Limpopo...

Marvel has released the second trailer for the upcoming Captain Marvel movie and it’s got fans buzzing with excitement. The trailer, which shows us more of Brie Larson as the eponymous character in full superhero mode, was released on Tuesday morning and has already racked up over four million views on YouTube. After seeing her in action, fans have no doubt that Captain Marvel can defeat Thanos and save the Marvel universe, when she's done ending wars in her own movie of course. CAROL FREAKING DANVERS JUST DEFEATED THANOS RIGHT HERE #CaptainMarvel pic.twitter.com/k1CxiWq822 — 𝓪𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓈 (@itsjustanx) December 4, 2018 Thanos watching the end of...

Cape Town's annual festive lights gathering is supposed to be a joyous occasion for families, but things turned ugly in the late hours after the event. On Monday around 5am, a bicycle shop in Long Street was trashed and looted. The store, known as Rook Cycles, uploaded a CCTV video to Instagram and Facebook documenting the incident. The 46-second long video shows more than 20 looters jump through the store's broken window, snatching bicycles and bags. At one point, a group of trespassers actually fight over a bicycle in the store. "We’re so optimistic about South Africa. We’ve had opportunities to open elsewhere,...