In the early hours of this morning YouTube, including its TV and Music services, went down around the world, preventing users from accessing content. The platform was fast to acknowledge the problem and tweeted that they was working on the issue. An hour later, it had been resolved. We're back! Thanks for all of your patience. If you continue to experience issues, please let us know. https://t.co/NVU5GP7Sy6 — Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) October 17, 2018 Meanwhile many users showed off their panic, amusement and relief with a healthy influx of memes on Twitter under the hashtag #YouTubeDOWN. I survived the great #YouTubeDOWN of 2018 pic.twitter.com/0pGKsXjYMS —...
The country of New Zealand has crowned an overly-fluffy, drunk, and adorably clumsy species of pigeon its bird of the year. Known as the the kererū or wood pigeon, the bird received the most votes in the country's annual Forest & Bird's annual Bird of the Year competition. While it's as cute as it is tubby, the wood pigeon is also known for scoffing down fermented fruit, which often renders it slightly drunk. And yes, it makes for YouTube gold. The campaign, which also spawned a Twitter account dedicated to the bird's endearing qualities, took advantage of its sheer size, and drunk uncle...
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first baby, the royals announced on Monday morning. The news comes after Meghan and Harry, Formally known as the Duke and Dutchess of Sussex, were wed at a fairytale May wedding in Windsor. "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019," Kensington Palace's official Twitter account announced. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able...
Traditional photos too mundane for you? If you're a Facebook user, you can now post 3D photos to your News Feed if you have the required hardware. The feature allows you to transform and share your photos by making them move to give a life-like feel, taking specific advantage of the spate of dual-camera smartphones. “You just take a photo in Portrait mode using your compatible dual-lens smartphone, then share as a 3D photo on Facebook where you can scroll, pan and tilt to see the photo in realistic 3D”, the company explained in a blog post. The social network also suggested...
Instagram this week introduced new features to help fight online bullying in its community of users. In an announcement yesterday, new man-in-charge Adam Mosseri revealed the anti-bullying tools, saying that “there is no place for bullying on Instagram”. “That’s why today we’re announcing our latest tools to help combat bullying, including a new way to identify and report bullying in photos,” he explained. By using machine learning Instagram will now be able to detect harmful content in pictures and captions so that they can be removed accordingly. “This change will help us identify and remove significantly more bullying — and it’s a crucial next step...
In a tweet yesterday, Twitter Support announced a new data saver mode for the social media platform on both Android and iOS. “When turned on, images will load in lower quality, and videos won't autoplay,” the tweet explained. Reduce your data usage with data saver mode on Twitter for iOS and Android.📱 When turned on, images will load in lower quality, and videos won't autoplay. When you want to view images in higher quality, tap the more icon and select "Load High Quality". — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 3, 2018 You’ll still be able to see high quality images though, if you choose to. The...
Instagram has added a new nametag feature to help you connect with people around you. The nametag, which you can find in the settings menu of your profile is “uniquely yours and makes it quick and fun to add people and accounts you discover in person”. You can customize your nametag to and extent, as Instagram allows you to choose between colour schemes, emojis or your own selfie. “To scan someone’s nametag, you can either swipe right into the camera, hover over the nametag and hold down on your screen, or enter the camera by tapping ‘Scan a nametag’,” the company explains. Though...
Facebook has announced the implementation of third-party fact checking for news and information in South Africa. This new security feature is meant to “help assess the accuracy of news in South Africa, and reduce the spread of misinformation, whilst improving the quality of news people find” on the social media platform, the company explains in an announcement. The company is working alongside certified fact-checking organisations AfricaCheck and AFP. “Local articles will be fact-checked alongside the verification of photos and videos. If one of our fact-checking partners identifies a story as false, Facebook will show it lower in News Feed, significantly reducing its...
Instagram now has over a billion users. That's a seventh of the human beings alive on planet Earth today. But while some (nay, probably a majority) use the social network to peacock their wares, hate-like their rivals weekend getaways, or get to know someone before they embarrass themselves on their first Tinder date, Instagram has a number of other use cases. For example... Understand our planet Use it to learn more about this weird rock we live on. Want to learn more about South Africa? Want to be able to name different planes simply by looking at them? Want to understand how to make...
Now that the glorious days of MTN's Free Twitter are over, and we're done mourning, you're probably intent on saving all the data you possibly can. Even if you're one of the fortunate few on an unlimited plan, saving data is still good practice. But did you know that there are alternative Twitter apps that you can customise to use much less data? Here are three primed for use on cheaper phones and slower networks for data-deprived users. Twidere Twidere is an open-source and extremely lightweight Twitter app, with additional support for Mastodon. Aesthetically, it's quite fetching, as users can customise colours and themes. It...
Facebook has revealed new features for its Marketplace as it celebrates being around for two years. “Marketplace was introduced in 2016 as a place for people to buy and sell within their local communities,” said the company on their website, which also notes that the space has evolved into a platform for users to discover products and services globally. Now Marketplace is receiving some updates and features to improve its service. Improved AI abilities According to Facebook, artificial intelligence is the key to making its Marketplace as efficient as possible. While currently AI helps personalise the quality of your user experience, new updates will...
Today is not just a Wednesday, it is also October 3rd, more commonly known as Mean Girls Day. Many fans of the pop culture teen movie took to social media to celebrate, but soon the hashtags #MeanGirlsDay and #October3rd were out shadowed by another hashtag -- #instagramdown. At some point in the late morning, Instagram went down and caused a slight panic on Twitter. me coming to twitter to see if anyone else is having instagram struggles #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/y44VInCO8M — nevada ;) (@nevadaross7) October 3, 2018 I’d like to welcome everyone who’s here because Instagrams down. Here have a cup of tea ☕️ you’ll...
Instagram has a new "head" in the form of its vice president of product, Adam Mosseri. The company’s co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who resigned last week, made the announcement in a blog post. “We are thrilled to hand over the reins to a product leader with a strong design background and a focus on craft and simplicity -- as well as a deep understanding of the importance of community,” the duo said. Mosseri was originally a Facebook employee and only recently became a part of the Instagram team. "Adam began his career as a designer, managed his own design consultancy, and...
Indonesia has a storied and frightening history with tsunamis, and on Friday, it was given a stark reminder. A 7.7-magnitude earthquake which struck off the coast of the island of Sulawesi triggered a tsunami which lashed parts of Indonesia. Brave citizen journalists armed with their smartphones took to high land -- or a tall building -- and filmed the entire ordeal. In the case of the below haunting video doing the rounds on Twitter, the latter is true. Indonesia geophysics agency says Sulawesi quake caused a tsunami. This video is doing the rounds. We believe it is real. pic.twitter.com/7xDzzRuj5v — David Lipson (@davidlipson) September...
A train at Cape Town Station is reportedly on fire, according to a number of eyewitness reports. Twitter users on Friday afternoon uploaded pictures showing plumes of black smoke rising from within the station precinct. #capetown @CapeTownTrains on fire, again #trainfire #fixourtrains pic.twitter.com/GGtEkwiN4I — Jodi Allemeier (@urbanjodi) September 28, 2018 @CapeTownTrains trains burning on Cape Town Station? pic.twitter.com/0dhVzVyale — Amgelica_Davids (@That_Amgelica) September 28, 2018 @CapeTownTrains train on fire 🔥 pic.twitter.com/k4s2IDt2wE — Shane Arm (@arm_armshane) September 28, 2018 Train set alight at the Cape Town Station. So irritating when people destroy public services pic.twitter.com/LALwBlxwQF — Scott Ortlepp (@SOrtlepp) September 28, 2018 Some reported scenes from within the station itself, suggesting...
Malusi Gigaba is caught in South Africa’s latest sex tape fiasco
Fans love the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but hate the ‘blurry’ shots
Malusi Gigaba’s sex tape hack is South Africa’s version of Celebgate
Woman rejects new Datsun from boyfriend, Twitter has the last word
Halloween’s favourite boy band, the Slashstreet Boys, are back
Memeburn focuses on everything digital in the emerging markets sphere. More about us here
