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General

  • YouTube creators need 10k channel views before earning ad revenue

    By on 7 April, 2017

    Over the past year, YouTube has been struggling to maintain an amicable relationship with its content creators -- and it's working hard to change that. In a bid to keep advertisers and creators happy, the platform has announced that new YouTubers will need a total of 10 000 views across all their videos before applying as a YouTube partner. This change is meant to serve as protection for advertisers who have recently pulled their ads after it was reported that antisemitic and racist videos were being endorsed by major brands. "This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel," its...

  • The Future of Health event: SingularityU to host SA changemakers [Sponsored]

    By on 3 April, 2017

    Are you interested in learning more about the Future of Health? Well, you're in luck. SingularityU's Cape Town and Johannesburg Chapters will this week host the first events in its Future Of Series, focussing on the wellbeing of humankind. SingularityU Cape Town and Johannesburg Chapters are a non-profit organisation, run by South African-based alumni, that strive to build a community in South Africa. The Future of Health Cape Town event will see Discovery's deputy CEO Dr Ryan Noach, synthetic biologist Dr Musa Mhlanga, and CEO of Next Biosciences Kim Hulett talk about the phenomenal power of exponential technologies in the health industry, and how...

  • Game of Thrones season 7 release date and teaser is here

    By on 10 March, 2017

    Game of Thrones fans rejoice: the great war is here. Yesterday, the Game of Thrones Twitter announced the much-awaited release date on a live stream with Jaime Lannister actor Nikolai Coster-Waldau. The date -- 16 July 2017 -- was hidden behind ice that was melted as watchers commented "fire" or "dracarys". After the date was revealed, a teaser was posted to Twitter. The great war is here. #GoTS7 premieres 7.16. pic.twitter.com/1Jna10kNuQ — Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) March 9, 2017 The teaser features sound bites from previous seasons over a menacing statue of the House animals, which eventually crumbles to the ground. "Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell, they're all just spokes...

  • The Circle: Hermione Granger, Finn FN-2187 star in creepy trailer

    By on 13 February, 2017

    Harry Potter's Emma Watson, Star Wars: The Force Awaken's John Boyega, Doctor Who's Karen Gillan and just straight-up Tom Hanks all star in James Ponsoldt's The Circle, and a trailer is finally here. The Circle, set for release on 28 April, is based on the eponymous novel by Dave Eggers that follows Mae (Emma Watson), a recent college graduate who gets offered a job at The Circle -- a leading tech company headed by Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks). As the company releases surveillance technology that would have George Orwell rolling in his grave, Mae is forced to choose between the values of her company, her...

  • innovateAFRICA: 22 media projects get share of $1m

    By on 2 February, 2017

    Twenty-two projects in the field of journalism have been selected by innovateAFRICA.fund to receive a share of US$1-million in funding and support. "The world is facing challenging political and socio-economic realities. We need the media and other civic watchdogs to provide the checks and balances needed to help us navigate an uncertain future," says juror and director of investments for Africa at Omidyar Networks, Ory Okolloh, in a press release to Memeburn. "It has therefore been fantastic to see not just the superb quality and range of entries, but also the diversity of ideas and collaboration that innovateAFRICA has fostered across the region." The 22 projects were...

  • Tinder hits Apple TV: get gran to find matches for you

    By on 15 December, 2016

    Tinder is a rather private experience for many people, but the hookup/dating app is now available on Apple TV, if you can believe that. What's the logic behind this move, though? "We decided that the goal of our Apple TV integration should be two-fold: 1) to serve our end users by providing a new use case -- the 'party' swipe, a fun activity with friends and 2) to create a lightweight, modern app that would serve as an experiment field for new architecture proposals," the developer wrote on their blog. Apple TV users will need to use their remote's touchpad to swipe, but...

  • Ghost in the Shell gets its first live-action trailer

    By on 16 November, 2016

    The original manga of Ghost in the Shell developed by Masamune Shirow has now become a cult-classic for any anime or manga enthusiast. Once the manga was turned into an anime by the Production I.G studio and producer Yoshimasa Mizuo and director Mamoru Oshii, the franchise really began to take off. Everything from the production to the soundtrack and design finishing made the movie and the franchise unforgettable. This latest adaptation by writers Jonathan Herman and Jamie Moss as well as director Rupert Sanders and star Scarlett Johansson will see the first live-action adaptation of the iconic franchise. Finally, with a new trailer...

  • No Apple, this iPhone 7 owner is not Saddam Hussein

    By on 1 November, 2016

    Okay Apple, we understand that you aren't too interested in giving out refunds to iPhone buyers, but do you really need them to prove that they're not dead dictators? The Cupertino company and maker of the iPhone 7 landed itself in hot water this week after it asked a Birmingham customer, Sharakat Hussain, to prove that he is not Saddam Hussein (note the spellings). According to a report by The Sun (aptly named "Saddam Insane"), Hussain returned an iPhone 7 that he bought for his sister to his local Apple store, and was told he'd receive the phone in exchange for...

  • 2017 Bookmark Awards are now open for entries [Sponsored]

    By on 24 October, 2016

    The 2017 Bookmark Awards are around the corner, but which categories will be featured this year? We've got the information for you. The IAB has also clarified the overall criteria, saying the work must've been developed for an African or SA audience or by an SA business for an international audience. Campaigns must have flighted between 16 November 2015 and 11 November 2016. "All entrants must produce a 'one pager' PDF that sets out the essence of the entry. Judges are entitled to base their judging in the filter round on this one-pager," the IAB added. Here are the categories being featured in...

  • VeeamON Tour 2016: Gregg Petersen speaks ‘always-on’ businesses

    By on 14 October, 2016

    Software and disaster management company, Veeam, this week hosted its VeeamON Tour in Johannesburg, showing off the company's latest wares for enterprise-level users and admins. Although acronyms, esoteric terms, and technical jargon were flung around at will, there were a few interesting takeaway for consumers. The company -- which was founded in 2006, and arrived in South Africa in 2012 -- offered its first product back in 2008. Since then, the company has seen remarkable growth. Veeam's VP of product strategy, Doug Hazelman, suggests that the Switzerland-based firm is growing 100% year on year, with worldwide customer base currently sitting at...

  • FNB codeFest kicks off in Johannesburg

    By on 6 October, 2016

    The annual FNB codeFest is set to kick off from 3 October to 7 October at FNB in Fairlands, Johannesburg. The six-day forum will be a non-stop programming marathon which will incorporate three main themes, Build, Learn and Share. The event takes place a week after FNB hosted the Africa DevOps Conference, a conference promoting sustainable skills development for future IT specialists. Each year more than 200 developers and programmers attend the forum to accelerate as well as innovate existing technological structures. "Our involvement in initiatives like codeFest and the DevOps conference highlights that FNB is determined to grow and develop the...

  • Twitter’s 140 character stretch begins today

    By on 20 September, 2016

    Great news, Twitter users. From today, the social network will no longer count certain types of content towards the arbitrary 140-character limit. First announced in May 2016, the move will allow tweeters to get more written content into their tweets, regardless of how many images or @names they have included. Previously, these were counted towards the limit. Twitter did ponder pushing that limit to 10 000 characters back in January Polls, videos, GIFs, images, @names and practically any other embedded media won't be counted as one of the 140 characters. Say more about what's happening! Rolling out now: photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and...

  • Mysterious SETI signal probably came from Earth

    By on 1 September, 2016

    The quest to find extraterrestrial life was given a short-lived boost this week when the SETI Institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) announced the discovery of an interesting signal. According to the institute, Russian astronomers operating the RATAN-600 radio telescope detected a radio signal from a star system 94 light years away. The system, called HD164595, is a few billion years older than our own, but has a star of comparable brightness and size, the institute explained. And there is indeed at least one planet orbiting the star. "This system is known to have one planet, a Neptune-sized world in a very tight orbit, making...

  • Good Buy Jo aims to unify South Africa’s messy online retail space

    By on 24 August, 2016

    If you think of price comparison websites or product directories, you'll likely think of PriceCheck. But PriceCheck is getting a new competitor in the form of Good Buy Jo. The site, which sounds like the perfect name for a folk indie band, "offers consumers a place where they can search for things they want across multiple online stores in one location," according to a press release. "It is where customers begin their online shopping journey, where they have choice, browsing power in one central place and access to deals and promotions, based on their unique interests." The site lists merchandise from the...

  • Uber drivers share the ‘deepest’ passenger secrets they’ve heard

    By on 6 July, 2016

    Social news site Reddit frequently serves up some lovely content, with AskReddit in particular making for some entertaining reading. So when user IamHaiseSasaki asked Uber drivers about the deepest secrets they overheard, you just know it's going to be interesting. Of course, the internet being what it is, you have to take some of the stories with a pinch of salt. But I want to believe... User westport76 claimed that they picked up an "absolutely hammered" girl who asked to simply be driven around for a while and apologised for being drunk. The girl then said she had terminal brain cancer and chemotherapy wasn't an option. "She told...