5 fun AIs that let you play with images in unexpected ways

South Africa's first privately-owned nanosatellite dubbed the nSight1 has been successfully launched into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). The nSight1 began its journey to the space station on 18 April 2017 from Florida, aboard a Cygnus cargo spacecraft powered by an Atlus-5 rocket. It joined 28 other nanosatellites from 23 countries on its journey. South Africa's government news agency suggests that the satellite weighs in at just 2.5kg, and is the first privately-owned nanosatellite launched by the country. "The satellite is an important milestone, demonstrating the outcome of the capability established through the Department of Science and Technology's ongoing investment...

We've been giving avocados stick this month on Memeburn, but today, we're looking at two coconut-orientated Cape Town startups locked in a social and legal battle. A piece published on blog Fury Marketing this week details the story of Jenna Leigh Smuts -- the owner of small Cape Town business Coconut Connection. Smuts is accusing Heather Cheung -- her former business partner -- of stealing her business. Cheung refutes these claims, suggesting that Smuts registered the business as sole shareholder without her consent. Cheung currently owns the competing business dubbed Coconut Connect. The maelstrom While the original business is three years old, it...

Before the internet, countries took to the battlefield to settle differences. While Russia and Ukraine are actively sparring over details of their territories, both countries have this week extended that conflict to Twitter. The two countries' verified accounts had a standoff regarding one particular detail of history: the origins of French monarch Anna Yaroslavna of Kiev who was born in the area considered to be modern day Kiev -- the capital of Ukraine. The argument was the result of a remark made by Russian president Vladimir Putin in a press conference with French president Emmanuel Macron earlier this week, calling Anna...

Update, 12.32pm: US President Donald Trump has deleted the tweet, and posted a response. Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017 Original article: Early this morning, US President Donald Trump set out to tweet something angry about the media to his 31-million followers -- only he didn't quite manage to finish it. Despite the constant negative press covfefe — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017 And as Twitter is wont to do, it erupted in jokes and theories about the mysterious "covfefe". What was Trump trying to say? Who was he contacting? And most...

We've seen social media used extensively as the vehicle for performance art, but what about less image-heavy services like WhatsApp? Arriving via a clever marketing campaign by Sanlam, South African drama series Uk’shona Kwelanga (or The Death of Langa) is set to debut on the Facebook-owned chat app next month. Yes, a drama series made exclusively for WhatsApp. According to the press release, the show "tells the tale of a South African family struggling to deal with the emotional and financial ramifications of loss while planning their father's funeral". The screenplay is penned by Bongi Ndaba (previous head writer of Generations) while a...

The 2017 Cannes Film Festival has come to a close, and all the artsiest of the artsy have celebrated their wins, regretted their losses and bagged some film concepts that started on Tumblr. So if you've not been keeping up with the little town in France, here's who won big in the festival's main competition. The Palme d'Or: The Square, Ruben Östlund Swedish film The Square won the coveted Palme d'Or in a surprise upset. The satirical drama was up against Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled, Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here and Netflix's controversial entries Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories, among others. Directed by Ruben Östlund, The Square is about Christian, a man who converts the Stockholm...

Google Play Music now offers a four-month free trial for those subscribing to its service. The streaming music platform headed by the Mountain View company houses over 30-million tracks, and allows users to upload their own to the cloud, usually comes with a two- or three-month trial. But Google's seemingly feeling a bit generous this week. First spotted by Android Police last week, the deal is still ongoing at the time of writing. And yes, it's available to those within South Africa's borders too. Interestingly, it seems that the deal comes in tow with South Africa's addition to Google Play promo codes supported...

Tiger Woods was arrested for a DUI last night just outside his home in Florida, and he's disappointed his fan base yet again. The golfer, who has been recovering from a back injury, has said that it was a mix of prescription medication he wasn't used to. But the combination of an unseemly mugshot and his former trespasses has left people upset over on South African Twitter. Life is crazy, growing up Tiger Woods was one of our heroes. Years later its looking like he was never the number 1 golfer in the world — ` (@Fresh_Maan) May 30, 2017 Tiger Woods rich forever...

Cape Town's nuclear power plant Koeberg is turning to desalination as the drought deepens, Eskom reveals. A column written this week by Koeberg's power station manager Velaphi Ntuli and published on Engineering News explains that the move is part of Eskom's "robust risk management process" to safeguard the city's power supply. "Koeberg currently uses about 1 300 kilolitres of fresh water per day," Ntuli writes. "In light of the current drought situation, Koeberg is driving various water saving initiatives to reduce potable water consumption by at least a third in the short term." While the power plant itself is cooled by the Atlantic Ocean,...

Tracking firm Effective Measure has released its Mobile in South Africa Report for 2017, having surveyed 4993 mobile internet users from November 2016 to January 2017. For starters, the company found that almost 70% of South African users were browsing the web from their phone, representing a 15% increase from 2015. Who/what reigns supreme? In the network department, Vodacom sat pretty with 53% of the pie, followed by MTN (30%), Cell C (12%) and then Telkom Mobile (4%). It's not immediately clear if Telkom Mobile grew significantly, in light of last year's attractive FreeMe packages. Although a 2016 MoneyWeb report claims that the...

Starbucks is coming to Cape Town and Durban, according to a financial statement published by rights holder Taste Holdings. The news comes just over a year after Starbucks entered South Africa, with its first establishment rooted in Johannesburg's Rosebank. Three stores then followed dotted around Gauteng. "We plan on opening eight to ten outlets this year, including expansion to Cape Town and Durban, a format located in a corporate office and ideally a drive thru format as well," it explains. While a timeline for the arrival of Cape Town and Durban's branches wasn't specified in the statement, the company does confirm that 2017...

Update, 31 May: Solms Delta has released an official statement about the event, refuting allegations of racism. The estate claims that the staff involved were black, and therefore could not have racially profiled. Users on Twitter and Facebook were not appeased by the statement. Honestly not interested in the statement. Have you called & apologized to the victim yet? pic.twitter.com/ujzhlyFWWE — Brett Robson (@brettrobson) May 30, 2017 1. you still think she's guilty hence you're not apologising 2. no footage was supplied when the police asked for it 3. You are #racist — ⚜️ ⚜️ (@ColourM3lush) May 30, 2017 Original article: Nodumo Dee Mhlongo has sparked outrage on...

Former Playboy model Danielle Mathers has been sentenced to 30 days of community service and three years of probation after posting a picture of an unaware 70-year-old woman showering to her Snapchat account, The New York Times reports. Mathers used the image taken at the gym to mock the woman, captioning it "If I can't unsee this, then you can't either." Shortly thereafter, she posted a selfie with her hand over her mouth. Mathers, who was Playmate of the Year in 2015, was met with a wave of criticism online, and many deemed her post as body shaming. Still wondering if @DaniMathers thinks she's...

Great news, Cape Town. According to a report (pdf) by Deutsche Bank, the city ranks 17th out of 47 major cities in terms of quality of life. The survey conducted by the German financial institution using crowdsourced data from cost index aggregator Numbeo looked at indices including the likes of purchasing power, healthcare, cost of living, property to income ratio, traffic, pollution, climate and safety. The city ranked highly in terms of climate and property prices, propelling it to a position above Johannesburg. That also makes it the highest ranked city in Africa on the survey. 'The highest quality of life for whom?...

While South Africa may be preparing for a cold, dry winter, Hollywood is gearing up for a summer of blockbusters, and, hey, at least that's something to look forward to. Last week saw the final trailers of three stupidly big budget films, and one stupidly big budget HBO show. It's time to guess if the money was worth it. Game of Thrones The official trailer for the penultimate season of Game of Thrones is here, promising a whole bunch of monotonous lines about power and plenty of action. The trailer teases Daenerys's arrival to Westeros, Davos giving advice no one will heed, and, most importantly,...