Instagram users hit by hacks, inaccessible accounts

It’s Friday the 13th. It's an infamously creepy day and all I’ve been thinking about are the odd things I notice whenever I’m signed in to Facebook or Google. Can you relate? If you can, let us know which one of these occurrences you've experienced online today. Logging into Facebook and seeing an ad for something you Googled the previous day. Example: Curiously researching smoothie recipes and then seeing ads for juice blenders. Waiting for a flight and being notified of a delay via Google before the airline even has time to make an announcement (flight number included!) Facebook asks you to...

So... my World Cup predictions are out the window. France will play Croatia in the final after the teams beat Belgium and England respectively. The latter was quite the cracker, with Croatia scoring just a few minutes into the second half of extra time. England simply had no reply. But what the win also gave Croatia is the largest search spike on Google than any of the other semi-final teams this past week. We look at this, and more search anomalies, in the below piece. Croatia sees biggest search spike after England triumph Within the week of the semi-finals, Croatia saw the largest global...

Microsoft Windows' often used but even more often forgotten text processor Notepad is getting an update. In the latest build of Windows 10 marked as 17713, Notepad is earmarked as one of the programs receiving a new lick of paint. "With Build 17666, we introduced extended line ending support for Notepad. We’re excited to share that today’s build has a few more surprises in store based on what you’ve been telling us!" the company writes in an update. Firstly, users can zoom text in Notepad similarly to Microsoft Word. There's a new menu option available, while the CTRL and MouseWheel combo will...

If you loved District 9 and Elysium, and also happen to be a fan of 1980s cyborg policemen, you're going to love today's news. South African born director Neill Blomkamp will be directing a new RoboCop film, according to an MGM Studios' tweet. "Very excited about this," tweeted Blomkamp, confirming the news on his own Twitter account late Wednesday. Very excited about this https://t.co/0R38DzSXp5— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) July 11, 2018 Terminator co-writer Justin Rhodes and original RoboCop creators Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner are also working on the project. Speaking to Deadline in an exclusive, Blomkamp seems into it too, and is concentrated on...

DStv has today announced that all subscribers -- regardless of their selected package -- will receive the "full complement" of SuperSport channels to view from 13 July for no additional charge. The company announced Wednesday its plans to introduce "SuperSport open time" and open access to the 13 channels for a limited period. This includes SS1 through to SS12, as well as the 24-hour news channel Blitz. "Sport has a beautiful way of uniting friends and families, and sometimes even strangers. This is our way of thanking our customers for their support," said Multichoice CEO Calvo Mawela. During this period, users can also stream...

Drake's 25-track album Scorpion may not be as revolutionary as some of his earlier work, but there's no doubt its as popular as sliced bread. It's his eighth chart-topping album and racked up over a billion streams in its first week on the internet. But there's another reason why this album is so popular, and it's got to do with one song in particular. "In My Feelings" is typically Drake, meshing R&B and hip-hop seamlessly to create one head-bobbing summer banger. But it's also spurned an entirely new dance phenomenon. Initially dubbed the #DoTheShiggy challenge, the fad was created by Instagram comedian...

A new feature on WhatsApp will now indicate if a message you receive has been forwarded from another conversation. This means that you will be able to see if you are the original receiver of a message or not. Forwarding messages is a simple affair: hold said message until WhatsApp's top command bar is visible, then hit the right-facing arrow icon at the right hand side of the bar. A list of contacts will then appear. Additionally, if you receive a forwarded message, you will be notified by a small label above said message. "This extra context will help make one-on-one and group chats...

Avengers: Infinity War is now the second highest grossing film in South Africa's history. According to Disney South Africa, the flick made R73-million locally, with more than 870 000 attendances at cinemas across the country. Notably, the film has also done extremely well in West and East, Disney South Africa states. "Avengers: Infinity War has also raked in a total of Kes 66.9m in East Africa, making it the 2nd highest grossing film of all time behind Black Panther," the company writes in a press release. "Similarly, in West Africa, the film hit N450m at the box office, making it the 2nd highest...

Instagram has released a new “questions” sticker option for Instagram Stories. This is an interactive feature that will allow users to post “prompts” on their stories to increase audience interaction. Viewers of your story can tap on this sticker to ask you questions about your post. You can see these responses in your list of viewers. To reply, all you have to do is tap on the question of your choice. A new story, with your response, can then be created. "The questions sticker gives you another easy way to get closer with all of your friends," Instagram writes on its...

"It's like Africa going to the final" is a disposition many Twitter users across the continent harbour after last night's semi-final. France beat Belgium 1-0 in a drab affair in St. Petersburg, but the win is seemingly not just a highlight for France itself. More than half of the French squad can reportedly play for a team based in Africa if they so wished, based on parental nationality. In fact, the man who scored the winner last night, Samuel Umtiti, was born in Cameroon. As a result, many users across Twitter are now supporting France as an African team. FRANCE IS GOING TO...

Netflix's Smart Downloads is now available on Android, and it may save you from forgetting to download your favourite shows. Smart Downloads is pretty simple in concept. "Now, when you finish watching a downloaded episode, Smart Downloads will delete it, and then automatically download the next episode. You watch,  We do the work," the company sassily explains. "We know how annoying it can be to go through all your apps and delete files you no longer need; we also understand that when it comes to Netflix, the faster you can get to the next episode you want to watch, the better." Users can...

The United States isn't the world's foremost footballing nation -- unless you're talking about their variant using a rugby ball and "end zones". But you'd expect a country of some 325-million people to have a grasp on the World Cup thus far. After all, it's one of the planet's most watched events. But nope. According to Google Trends data, the United States actually isn't too sure who's in the World Cup. "Is Mexico still in the World Cup?" is reportedly the nation's most searched for question in the past week. Stranger still is this question: "Who won the World Cup?" We'll be able to answer...

South Africans love sport, don't they? And now that the World Cup is entering its pivotal semi-final stage, more users than ever are tuning in to see a ball (and Neymar) roll around a field. DStv has noted this trend, reportedly seeing a 60% increase in weekday usage of its DStv Now mobile streaming app since the World Cup began. Notably, there are five times more people using the app this June than in June 2017. "The absolute peak in concurrent usage for one event was reached on 26 June, during the Nigeria vs Argentina game," the company adds in a...

If you've turned your head to the sky this past week, you may have noticed something: it hasn't rained. At all. Since 2 July 2018, the city's surrounds haven't seen a drop of the wet stuff, and that's pretty concerning. For one, some of the key catchment areas could miss their long-term rainfall average for July. But, with that said, dam levels have still increased steadily over the previous week. The latest figures by the City of Cape Town shows an increase of 5% since 2 July 2018. The dams are now holding 53.3% of their total storage. We're also just 0.1% shy...

This is not a drill: the Carters are heading to South Africa in December. Beyonce and Jay-Z will both perform at the Mandela 100 Global Citizen Festival taking place in South Africa, it was announced Monday at a press conference at the Sandton Convention Centre. They'll be joined by Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Pharrell Williams, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Usher and Wizkid. Naomi Campbell and Oprah will also reportedly be in attendance. Oh, and Cassper Nyovest will also be there. Sharing a stage with Beyoncé and Jay Z in December. #GlobalCitizenFestivalSA pic.twitter.com/s4mwWgEK9S — R.M Phoolo (@CassperNyovest) July 9, 2018 The concert, organised...