Staff Reporter, Author at Memeburn

These new Apple emoji will hit the iPhone before 2018
By Staff Reporter on 18 July, 2017
In honour of World Emoji Day, Apple has announced a bunch of new emoji coming to its major operating systems before 2018 makes its presence felt. These operating systems include the iPhone and iPad's iOS, Apple Watch's watchOS and macOS, running on its laptops and workstations. "With thousands of emoji available on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, there are many ways to add personality to every message," the Cupertino company notes in a press release. As for the new emoji, there are over 15 heading for users' devices, including a number of completely new icons. A breastfeeding emoji, a woman with headscarf...
Google Maps gives you the best time to leave for your destination
By Staff Reporter on 17 July, 2017
Google Maps now helps you pick the best time to leave your your destination, thanks to a nifty new feature. Previously Google Maps would direct, and estimate the time of travel based on route and traffic along said route. But now the app (at least on Android) provides users with a graph on estimated travel times throughout the day. Google will also highlight the best time to leave -- which is ironically well before the time most companies let their employees go. Go figure. The feature is currently available on Android, but not yet available on the web or the iOS version of...
14 gorgeous Instagram snaps of South Africa’s weekend snow
By Staff Reporter on 17 July, 2017
The latest cold front that scurried across South Africa this weekend brought more than just rainfall to the Western Cape. The province, along with parts of the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, were blanketed in healthy layers of snow. Thanks to the perfect timing of the front, much of the snow fell over the weekend in these provinces. That gave social media users and adventurers an excuse to pack those puffer jackets, smartphones and head out to document the weather. Below are just some of the snaps of South Africa's latest snowfalls taken by Instagrammers. Table Mountain might not get snow often, but...

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Weekly Round Up Podcast #114: New YouTube #1, Netflix for indie games & more
By Staff Reporter on 17 July, 2017
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, Stephen Timm and the newest Burn Media staffer, Daniel Mpala. First on the agenda is Psy's "Gangnam Style" losing its coveted most watched spot to Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again". The new leader is on its way to cracking three-billion views, but that means little for the artists who have earned more streaming on Spotify than on the video platform. Next up, Hadlee talks of an incident in the US that saw Google...
#BeyonceTwins: Bey breaks Instagram with first picture of Sir and Rumi
By Staff Reporter on 14 July, 2017
Beyonce might've been in the news recently courtesy of her husband's new album, but the singer-songwriter-mega social media star today unveiled her one-month-old twins to the world. And yes, they are utterly adorable. The post hit the social network around 5am Friday in South Africa, and subsequently garnered 3.1-million likes, with 137 000 comments to boot. It's on its way to becoming the most-liked post on the network ever, a title held by Beyonce's pregnancy reveal posted in February 2017. "Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today," reads the post. Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today. 🙏🏽❤️👨🏽👩🏽👧🏽👶🏾👶🏾 A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on...
See You Again Gangnam Style: YouTube’s most watched video now belongs to Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth
By Staff Reporter on 12 July, 2017
Psy's "Gangnam Style" is no longer YouTube's most watched video after Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" on Tuesday took the honour. K-pop hit "Gangnam Style" has had a remarkable run. Debuting in July 2012, the track was the first YouTube video to hit a billion views just six months later. It also became YouTube's most viewed video in November 2012, overtaking then-benchmark Justin Bieber's "Baby". The track hasn't had a formidable challenger, but that all changed on Tuesday. "See You Again" now has 2.902-billion views compared to "Gangnam Style" with 2.896-billion. 'See You Again' is set to become the first...

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#LionEscape: four more lions escape Kruger National Park
By Staff Reporter on 10 July, 2017
The lions of the Kruger National Park are seemingly fed up with roaming the fenced expanse. Following May 2017's edition of feline prison break, rangers have today reported that four more male lions have escaped from the park. "We are not completely sure about the whereabouts of the lions," explains SANParks' spokesperson William Mabasa "and as soon as we have concrete information we will share this". The lions had however been seen wandering near the Matsulu, Mpumalanga area. Soon after the news broke around 1pm SAST, the hashtag #LionsEscape began trending on Twitter. This was also propelled by SANParks' tweets alerting residents of the...
The Weekend Social Trends Report: Dlamini Zuma, #MenIn4Words & more
By Staff Reporter on 10 July, 2017
We know how much you enjoy living your life beyond the confines of your smartphone screen. But come Monday, you still want to hear about the social media highlights from the weekend, right? Well look no further than South Africa’s Weekend Social Trends Report, compiled for you by us, and fuelled by the country’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram community. Edition #2, 8-9 July 2017. Dlamini Zuma punts presidential prospects? It's not often we see a set of tweets propel an account into Twitter trending status, but Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma did just that Saturday. Speaking at a Catholic Women’s Union event in KwaZulu-Natal,...
You can now tip your Uber driver in the US and Canada
By Staff Reporter on 7 July, 2017
If you're an Uber or UberEATS user in North America, you can now tip your driver through the app. The new feature addition is part of Uber's 180 Days of Change campaign announced in late June, which outlined a number of key focus areas for the company. Adding driver tipping to the app was one. While tipping was initially available in three US cities, the company has now rolled out the feature to around 100 additional cities including a handful in Canada. Tipping is entirely optional, and can be done using the app after a delivery has been made or a trip has...
Weekly Round Up Podcast #113: Spider-Man, SA’s Crypto players & more
By Staff Reporter on 7 July, 2017
Welcome to Weekly Round Up, our podcast discussing the latest tech trends, innovation and news from the last few days. This week, Hadlee Simons hosts Andy Walker and Julia Breakey in studio. Julia opens the floor with her review for Spider-Man: Homecoming, which she expects superhero fans to love -- though she may be biased in her adoration of Tom Holland as Peter Parker. Hadlee then moves on to discuss South Africa's cryptocurrency leaders. Some of the names on the list are doing surprisingly well in the international scene including the likes of Llew Claasen and Riccardo Spagni. Spider-Man, cryptocurrency heroes in South Africa, and Samsung's...
Kesha’s ‘Praying’ music video gets all the praise on YouTube and Twitter
By Staff Reporter on 6 July, 2017
After teasing her new album on Instagram earlier this week, singer-songwriter Kesha has finally released her new track to YouTube. And it's going viral. Dubbed "Praying", the track is the first off her upcoming album Rainbow, set to be her first released in close to five years. "Praying" might be a little slower and more melodic than Kesha's previous records, but the subject matter is markedly more serious than the likes of "Timber" or "Your Love is My Drug". In "Praying", Kesha sings: Well, you almost had me fooled Told me that I was nothing without you Oh, but after everything you've done I can thank you...
Antarctica’s about to give the world one of its biggest ever icebergs
By Staff Reporter on 6 July, 2017
Ships sailing near northern Antarctica may soon have to navigate around one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). The organisation issued an update on a bulky chunk of ice it's monitoring from space, a chunk that could easily be the size of a small country once it breaks free. Once the 200km-long crack travels its final five kilometres, the iceberg will be released into the Southern Ocean from the Larsen C shelf, off the continent's jutting northern peninsula. After it sets sail, the berg will be between 190m and 210m deep, carrying around 1155...

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#JHBFire reappears as another Johannesburg fire kills at least seven
By Staff Reporter on 5 July, 2017
A fire that broke out today in a Johannesburg CBD building has killed at least seven people, according to the city's EMS. The number of fatalities from this morning building fire in the Joburg CBD has increased to seven. Pics by @MarykeVermaak pic.twitter.com/PypG0rCXjI — City of Joburg EMS (@CityofJoburgEMS) July 5, 2017 Fire at Cape York building in Joburg CBD has been extinguished, sadly 1 person has died trying to escape the fire. Pics by @moses_moyo pic.twitter.com/piDETyZoc1 — City of Joburg EMS (@CityofJoburgEMS) July 5, 2017 The fire, which burnt through the Cape York building on the corner of Jeppe and Nugget Streets in...
MiniMeme Podcast #3: TV writers, let’s fight
By Staff Reporter on 5 July, 2017
Welcome to MiniMeme, the podcast brought to you by Burn Media’s junior staff as they tackle the topics that tickle their fancy. This week, Julia Breakey and Matthew Alexander pick a bone with TV writers who make promises in first seasons that they just can't keep. Shows like Lost, Orange is the New Black, and Gilmore Girls had (or are in the midst of) really terrible endings, and we're not mad; we're just disappointed. Let us know if you agree, disagree, or want to punch us in the face here or over on Twitter.
US laptop ban lifted for Turkish, Etihad and Emirates Airlines flights
By Staff Reporter on 5 July, 2017
For frequent fliers darting between the United States and Dubai or Istanbul, there’s some good news regarding that particular laptop ban. The laptop-in-cabin ban has been lifted for those traveling from Dubai International Airport and Instanbul Ataturk Airports on Emirates and Turkish Airlines. Dear Passengers, #WelcomeOnBoard to our US-bound flight. Please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your own electronic devices. pic.twitter.com/WbcZwNPhrf — Turkish Airlines (@TurkishAirlines) July 4, 2017 The news also comes after Etihad Airways flights departing from Abu Dhabi International Airport became exempt from the laptop ban. Flights leaving the airport operated by the carrier now adhere to new measures outlined by the United...