The Weekly Roundup #119: iPhone 8 rumours, R14m NSFAS bonanza & more

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

This week, Hadlee Simons hosts Stephen Timm and Julia Breakey in studio.

Hadlee opens the floor talking iPhone 8 rumours. Some sources have said it will do away with physical home buttons entirely, there’s been talk of an OLED screen and others claim it will cost nearly US$1000.

Over on Memeburn, we talk Burger King Russia’s new cryptocurrency Whoppercoin. The currency “will be used to reward customers for their purchases”, and can be used to buy burgers in return when enough have been accrued — which makes us suspicious as to whether it’s just a glorified rewards system.

Also in the news this week is an Eastern Cape student who was accidentally sent R14-million by NSFAS instead of her standard financial aid. It is believed she spent over R800 000 of it in just two months, and it seems she will be pushed to pay it all back.

Finally, Stephen Timm talks a former Rocket Internet employee who told him about how he was parachuted to various countries to start businesses there. Cape Town born Tauriq Brown says he started and ran several ventures by cloning others.

What are we watching, reading, playing: Stephen hasn’t been consuming much media lately, but he did recently drop his Samsung S7 on a hard floor and it survived [lol – ed].

Julia has been watching Archer, an adult cartoon about spies, and 3%, a Brazilian dystopian she says is intriguing. Both the shows are currently on Netflix.

Finally, Hadlee is has been playing F1 2017 which he calls “really fun”. He’s also waiting on the Nintendo Switch to come back from Germany so he can play Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. He’s also been listening to podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno, and — of course — Brand New’s new album Science Fiction.

For all this and more, have a listen to the podcast below. Also, be sure to catch the thorough Recommended Reading list at the foot of this article.

Recommended Reading:

• iPhone 8 rumour roundup: gestures for the home button?
• Whoppercoin: Burger King launches its own cryptocurrency – Memeburn
• NSFAS sent a student R14m, she loses it by going viral – Memeburn
• Former Rocket Internet man tells how he cloned firms, from Cape Town to Bangkok – Ventureburn

Additional Reading:

• My Dad Wrote a Porno