Learning languages, Tesla, Uber: 5 Memeburn articles you loved this week

In comparison to the raking anger which the year started with, the past week has seemed remarkably calm. Heck, even the stories you were most interested in this week contained a lot less rage and vitriol. In fact, if the stats are anything to go by, you’re far more interested in learning a new language than anything else.

Other topics that piqued your interest were revelations that Tesla has no plans to build a Gigafactory in South Africa, the #ZumaMustFall campaign’s call for mass social media action and the latest in Uber’s plans for world domination.

These were the five most read Memeburn article of the past seven days:

5. UnoTelly wants to remind you that international Netflix sucks

Last week, Netflix became legally available to consumers in 130 new countries around the globe. And while the news was initially greeted with widespread adulation, it quickly became clear that, thanks to content and licensing agreements, those countries would mostly be getting a stripped back version of the video streaming service.

South African Netflix users, for example, only have access to around 600 titles compared with the more than 7 000 titles on the US version. Read more…

4. Uber reveals the next phase in its quest for global domination — and it’s pretty damn cool

The scale of Uber’s ambitions became a little clearer this week as the company announced a new feature “Trip Experiences” for users who are riding in an Uber. According to tech blog The Verge, Trip Experiences “will allow third-party apps the ability to serve up notifications, content, or ads to its users during their trips.”

What does this mean? Essentially, customers in the backseat of an Uber become a captive audience during their ride. If they are looking for entertainment, they can be served some music, or some short viral videos; on a way to a meeting they can receive the latest financial indicators and up-to-the-minute business analysis. On their way home, they can adjust the thermostat in the house to the temperature that they want. Read more…

3. #ZumaMustFall movement urges SA digital players to donate 30 mins a day to cause

While the ugly wounds of South African race politics have been picked open this week, there are still some determined to make the country’s president Jacob Zuma pay for his mid-December axing of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene — an action which sent the Rand into freefall.

Memeburn has received an email from someone claiming to be “one of the people behind the #ZumaMustFall campaigns” urging South African companies with a social media presence to donate 30 minutes to an hour of their time every day to what it says will be “THE biggest Social Media campaign this country has ever seen”. Read more…

2. No plans for SA Gigafactory: Tesla confirms

As much as South Africans would like to see their electricity woes disappear with the construction of a lithium-ion battery factory, it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. In fact, contrary to recent reports, Tesla Motors has confirmed to Memeburn that it is not planning to build a Gigafactory in the Western Cape.

The speculation-turned-fact comes after it was revealed that the major US-based electricity car and battery manufacturer has appointed South African Evan Rice as the regional business development manager. Read more…

1. New online tool claims it can teach you a new language 1.5X faster than Duolingo

So how are your New Year’s Resolutions going? Have you reached the stage where you panic because you have no idea how you’re going achieve them? Well if learning a new language was one of your resolutions, then you might want to have a look at LanguageZen.

The tool, which is still coming out of Beta claims to “adapt to every learner and is scientifically proven to be the fastest way to learn a new language”. Read more…