Apple launches a Netflix rival, news subscription service and a credit card

After last year's SONA delay, courtesy of the change in the Presidency, 2019's State of the Nation Address will start on time, and on the initially proposed date. That date is today! President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver his second address at the helm of the country, which will begin at 7pm tonight (that is, if the EFF doesn't disrupt proceedings as suggested). But, if you can't quite get out of the Cape Town CBD before then, find yourself stuck without a television, or want to covertly watch the address from abroad, you can do that from the Parliament YouTube channel's...

DStv has announced that it will offer Compact and Compact Plus customers Showmax for free for two months. In a press release published on Thursday, the company revealed that the offer will last from 7 February to 7 April. "A two-month no-cost test-drive has now been made available to DStv Compact and Compact Plus customers," the company noted. Usually, Showmax costs R99 per month. The deal is seemingly aimed at giving users a chance to test if the streaming service is to their liking. "Once the two month period is over, Compact and Compact Plus customers will be charged the discounted rate of R49...

In an announcement posted to its Advertisers Hub, Facebook has revealed new transparency updates for users. Spotted first by TechCrunch, the updates will inform users about why they see certain ads, in an attempt to make targeted advertising more authentic. Specifically, you will be informed of which company shared your information with Facebook. "Soon, when a shared Custom Audience from a customer file is used, the 'Why am I seeing this?' explanation will surface the name of the business that uploaded the user's information to Facebook and highlight any Custom Audience sharing that may have taken place," the company explained. Custom Audience...

Unicode 12.0 has been revealed for 2019 and with it comes 59 new emoji -- that's excluding variations for skin tone, colours and genders. Emojipedia showed off the first look in a video on YouTube. "Emojipedia has today updated its sample images as a demonstration of how these 230 new emojis might look when coming to various systems throughout 2019," it noted. New expressions include the yawn face, "small amount" hand gesture and even new white and brown hearts. The update also caters for differently-abled people. This includes an ear with a hearing aid, a deaf person emoji, mechanical limbs and wheelchair variations. There are also...

South African streaming service Showmax on Wednesday announced its third Original set to debut after 2017's Tali's Wedding Diary, and January's The Girl From St Agnes. But unlike these shows, this Original will take the form of a travel show, hosted by and starring South African comedians. Trippin' With Skhumba will star Tembisa-born comedian Skhumba Hlophe as he travels with fellow comedians to their hometowns. Showmax explains that the show will cover the "places that won’t make any tourism brochures and stories that would be edited out of any authorised biographies". Starring in the first season are comedians Celeste Ntuli, Siya Seya, Salesman,...

Google has revealed two new updates to its security features on Safer Internet Day. "We’re always working to make sure your data is protected, whether you’re using Google products or checking out your favorite websites and apps," the company said on its blog. Password Checkup Password Checkup is a Chrome extension that can detect if your password information has been compromised. "If we detect that a username and password on a site you use is one of over four billion credentials that we know have been compromised, the extension will trigger an automatic warning and suggest that you change your password," Google...

As South African businesses enter a new year that is fraught with economic uncertainty, achieving sustained growth will be a difficult task. Yet for leaders who can turn an enterprising eye to the many opportunities within emerging technology, there is immense potential for growth and innovation. One such example is the increasing influence and prominence of APIs, which are already changing the face of banking, for one. API stands for application programming interface, and essentially describes an efficient mechanism to allow software to ‘talk to’ other software. Let’s take a closer look… Commercial sites, such as Facebook, make certain parts of...

Google has revealed two new accessibility apps for Android 9.0 Pie meant to help those with hearing difficulties. In a blog post, the company's head of product for accessibility Brian Kemler revealed Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier, and both are fairly self explanatory. Live Transcribe This is a tool that translates audio into text in real time. When the app is enabled, it uses your microphone to transcribe the speech around you so that you may read it on your phone as it happens. "Live Transcribe has the potential to give people who are deaf or hard of hearing greater independence in their everyday...

In an interview with the Independent intended to promote his new movie Cold Pursuit, actor Liam Neeson instead dropped a racist, rape-related bombshell from his past. The 66-year-old Northern Irish star told the publication that he had once been tempted to go on a murderous rampage against black people after discovering that a friend had been raped. "She said it was a black person," Neeson claimed, which led the actor to seek out any black man for revenge. "I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I'd be approached by somebody -- I'm ashamed to say that -- and I...

Developer Mozilla announced on Monday that Firefox 66 will mute automatically playing video content on web pages by default. This means that when you're browsing the web through Mozilla Firefox, videos that play automatically will be silenced. "We know that unsolicited volume can be a great source of distraction and frustration for users of the web," the company's Chris Pearce said in a blog post. "Any playback that happens before the user has interacted with a page via a mouse click, printable key press, or touch event, is deemed to be autoplay and will be blocked if it is potentially audible." The company...

WhatsApp doesn't want anyone who isn't you reading your messages. On Tuesday the company announced that iPhone users can now enable Touch ID and Face ID on the messaging service. This means that, as an iPhone user, you can now lock and unlock your WhatsApp and only gain access with your fingerprint or face. "At WhatsApp, we care deeply about private messaging, and today we're excited to introduce Touch ID and Face ID on iPhone to help prevent someone from taking your phone and reading your messages," the company announced on its blog. You can access the new feature under the...

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was Southern Africa's biggest movie this past weekend, according to data from Ster Kinekor. The new release from Dreamworks, voiced by Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera, jumped straight to the top of the chart, relegating The Upside to second place. In third spot, DC's Aquaman remains Southern Africa's biggest grosser still on the chart, raking in R51.6-million since its debut nearly two months ago. Oscar winner Rami Malek's Bohemian Rhapsody places fourth this week, while the M. Night Shyamalan-directed Glass is fifth. Notably, the next three movies are all South African-made. Matwetwe, produced by DJ Black...

They call February the month of love, but while some think of the perfect date as dining al fresco beneath a moonlit sky, others would argue that an uncapped internet connection, a large screen, and the bevy of content available on Netflix and Showmax this month is all they really need. Here's what to watch on South Africa's streaming services this month. Showmax 2 Dope Queens If you've ever wondered what your favourite podcast would be like as a live-action talk show, 2 Dope Queens is your answer. Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson tackle race, gender dynamics and sex under the veil of comedy,...

On Sunday, Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage was arrested by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after it was discovered that the musician was actually born in the UK. The 26-year-old has posed as a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia, a city in the US, but, according to reports, the star has allegedly overstayed his expired visa by about 14 years. The news took the internet by storm, and a multitude of memes were born in the rapper's honour. He spent much of Super Bowl Sunday and early Monday as a trending Twitter topic. https://twitter.com/SeorPablo2/status/1092191498077171712 https://twitter.com/itsnotmasonh/status/1092285701159235585 https://twitter.com/Dumbledoofus/status/1092170971899936770 https://twitter.com/PitEntertain/status/1092212200079544322 Some fans decided that the name "Sir...

On Sunday, the 53rd edition of the Super Bowl took place in Atlanta, USA, and as the American sporting tradition dictates, a number of ads and trailers were released during the event's half-time break. If you want to read more about the half-time show, click here, but for the trailers and advertisements we found noteworthy, here are six of the best below. Avengers: Endgame teaser trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iFq6IcAxBc Marvel released its second teaser trailer for its eagerly anticipated flick Avengers: Endgame. The 30 second video shows the team preparing for the big battle with Thanos after he destroyed half of it during Infinity War. The movie...