Why load-shedding really disappeared in South Africa
Eskom’s generation improvements is only playing a small part in the reduction of the power cuts.
Science/Tech
UFS wins top national award for entrepreneurship teaching excellence
The Top 3 were announced at the EDHE Gala Awards Ceremony in Johannesburg on 26 November, where the UFS project took the top prize.
OpenAI warns new models pose high cybersecurity risk
OpenAI has warned that its upcoming AI models could pose a “high” cybersecurity risk, as their capabilities advance rapidly.
People with DStv in South Africa must make a big decision
DStv customers around South Africa are deciding whether to remain subscribed after the pay-TV platform announced that it was losing four channels, with another twelve at risk.
Revolut FX Spreads Creep Higher For Travellers – Global Nomads Look To Digitap ($TAP) Card As The Best Crypto Presale
Revolut genuinely changed the game when it launched in 2015, and consumer banking has never been the same since. But a decade later, global travellers are coming to realize that the next great upgrade might come from a crypto presale rather than a traditional fintech. FX spreads, weekend markups, and legacy rails are all starting […]
Australia’s Social Media Ban Is Now In Force. Other Countries Are Closely Watching What Happens
After months of anticipation and debate, Australia’s social media ban is now in force. Young Australians under 16 must now come to grips with the new reality of being unable to have an account on some social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Only time will tell whether this bold, world-first experiment will succeed. […]
ChatGPT Is Apple’s Most Downloaded App of 2025
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Apple on Wednesday released its annual list of the most downloaded apps and games for the year. For the U.S. market, OpenAI’s ChatGPT topped the ranks of free iPhone apps (not including games) with the most installs in 2025. The AI app was followed by Threads, Google, TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google’s...
Operation Bluebird Wants To Relaunch ‘Twitter’ For a New Social Network
A startup called Operation Bluebird is petitioning the US Patent and Trademark Office to strip X Corp of the “Twitter” and “tweet” trademarks, hoping to relaunch a new Twitter with the old brand, bird logo, and “town square” vibe. “The TWITTER and TWEET brands have been eradicated from X Corp.’s products, services, and marketing, effectively abandoning the storied brand, with no intention to...
Google Faces Fines Over Google Play If It Doesn’t Make More Concessions
EU regulators say Google’s Play Store changes still don’t meet fairness rules and are preparing a potentially hefty 2026 fine unless Google makes deeper concessions. Reuters reports: Google Play has been in the European Commission’s crosshairs since March, with regulators singling out technical restrictions preventing app developers from steering users to other channels for cheaper offers....
India Proposes Charging OpenAI, Google For Training AI On Copyrighted Content
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: On Tuesday, India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released a proposed framework that would give AI companies access to all copyrighted works for training in exchange for paying royalties to a new collecting body composed of rights-holding organizations, with payments then distributed to creators. The proposal argues...
Geminid meteor shower: where to watch Australia’s biggest shooting star show this weekend
Stargazers will be able to see potentially dozens of meteors an hour, with the peak on Sunday night
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They’re bright, they’re plentiful and the Geminids – which make up what’s regarded as one of the best annual meteor showers to witness – are about to reach their peak viewing time.
The Geminid meteors have already been active in our...
Qualcomm Acquires RISC-V Chip Designer Ventana Micro Systems
Qualcomm has acquired RISC-V startup Ventana to strengthen its CPU ambitions beyond mobile, “reinforcing its commitment and leadership in the development of the RISC-V standard and ecosystem,” the company said in a press release. CRN Magazine reports: The San Diego-based company said Ventana’s expertise in RISC-V, a free and open alternative to the Arm and x86 instruction set architectures,...
Ubuntu Will Have Native AMD ROCm AI/ML and HPC Libraries In Next LTS Release
Longtime Slashdot reader MadCow42 writes: Canonical just announced that they’re packaging AMD’s ROCm libraries (for AIML and HPC with both data-center GPUs as well as desktop/laptop GPUs), directly into the Ubuntu Universe archive. You can run ROCm on Ubuntu today but you have to install it via a script from AMD and manually remove and reinstall for any upgrades or bug fixes. Having it in...
Adobe Integrates With ChatGPT
Adobe is integrating Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat directly into ChatGPT so users can edit photos, design graphics, and tweak PDFs through the chatbot. The Verge reports: The Adobe apps are free to use, and can be activated by typing the name of the app alongside an uploaded file and conversational instruction, such as “Adobe Photoshop, help me blur the background of this image.” ChatGPT...
Nasa loses contact with spacecraft orbiting Mars for more than a decade
Space agency is investigating after Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend
Nasa has lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars for more than a decade, though the US space agency said it was trying to re-establish a communications link.
Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend. Nasa said this week that it was working...
True Classic Tees Deals for the 2025 Holidays: 25 Percent Off Crew Necks
True Classic Tees is running holiday “flash deals” with some of the best prices we’ve seen in months.
Cable Channel Subscribers Grew For the First Time In 8 Years Last Quarter
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, research analyst MoffettNathanson released its “Cord-Cutting Monitor Q3 2025: Signs of Life?” report. It found that the pay TV operators, including cable companies, satellite companies, and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like YouTube TV and Fubo, added 303,000 net subscribers in Q3 2025. According to...
Eufy’s Best Robot Vacuum Is $405 Off (2025)
Eufy’s last-season robot vacuum-mop has a crazy price cut. Grab it before it’s gone.
Matric exam breach in South Africa
The Department of Basic Education has revealed that an examination breach was detected during the marking process for the 2025 National Senior Certificate exams.
Many States Say They’ll Defy RFK Jr.’s Changes to Hepatitis B Vaccination
Most Democratic-led states will continue to recommend the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, despite a CDC advisory panel’s vote against it.
MAPU Introduces the World’s 1st “Platform Utility Ratio” Redefining How Crypto Value Is Measured
FAYETTEVILLE, NC (PinionNewswire) — MAPU, the native utility token powering the MatchAwards.com AI economic-development platform, today announced the launch of the industry’s first Platform Utility Ratio (P/U Ratio) a transparent, data-driven metric grounded in real activity generated across the MatchAwards ecosystem. This marks a major milestone for Web3: a digital asset whose value...