Weekly Roundup Podcast #116: New phones for SA, tech giants’ Q2 results

Welcome to Weekly Roundup, our podcast discussing the latest tech trends, innovation and news from the last few days.

This week, Hadlee Simons hosts Andy Walker and Stephen Timm in studio.

We start off on Memeburn’s side as Andy talks tech giants’ financial quarters. Facebook beat Alphabet for the first time ever, but only because the latter was slapped with a US$2.7-billion fine by the EU. Running far behind them is Twitter, which saw no increase in users this quarter.

Stephen then talks about how a tax exemption for grants to small businesses has yet to take off two years after taking effect. Sars spokesperson Sandile Memela said that since March 2015, just one small business has applied for and been granted tax exemption.

Finally, Hadlee talks the latest phones coming to the South African market. Among these is the Moto Z2 Play, which has been confirmed to arrive before the end of August.

What are we watching, reading, playing: Stephen is still reading Brazillionaires: Wealth, Power, Decadence, and Hope in an American Country by Alex Cuadros, and listening to “old music”.

Andy is listening to Jay Z’s latest album 4:44 and trying to figure out where it fits in the rapper’s repertoire. He’s also been struggling to play Splatoon 2 online, but that hasn’t dulled his love for the Nintendo Switch.

Hadlee watched Dunkirk this week, and was wholly impressed as a fan of war movies. He’s still playing War Thunder on PS4, because he can’t get enough of that air combat. He is also reviewing the MacBook Pro.

Recommended Reading:

• Facebook makes more cash than Google in Q2, but revenue slows
• Alphabet shrugs off $2.7bn fine, still makes stacks of money this quarter
• Two years on tax exemption for grants to small businesses fails to take off
• BlackBerry KeyOne gets South African price courtesy of Cellucity [Update]
• Moto Z2 Play coming to South Africa ‘very soon’ [Exclusive]

Additional Reading:

• Dunkirk movie review: made of the Reich stuff