Author: CraigWilson

Video streaming service ShowMax has added the ability to download TV show and movies for offline viewing to its Android app and promises the feature will come to Apple devices soon. User can download up to 25 pieces of content, which can be either episodes of TV series or movies. The downloaded content remains in the app for up to 30 days, but once a particular show or movie is started the user has 48 hours to finish watching it before it disappears. Users can, of course, download the same content again should they wish to and the same stipulations…

Another day, another streaming service launching in South Africa, except this time the streaming service comes from one of the elder statesmen of the internet: Google. That’s right folks, Google Play Music is now available in South Africa. It’s taken a while, but the combination of features and Google’s raw clout means it’s got to be considered a serious contender regardless of how much of a head-start some of its rivals have had in this market. Google Play Music offers users 30 days to try the service for free. Thereafter it’ll cost R49.99 a month if users sign up before 26…

Once a software player exclusively, Microsoft South Africa has launched an online store to sell not only it’s software, but it’s new range of hardware, which includes the first Windows 10-powered mobile handsets, the Lumia 950 and its larger sibling the 950XL. As you’d expect, Xbox products and partner devices like Acer’s laptops are also available from the store. Consumers who opt to buy one of the new Lumia handsets via the online store will also get a Fitbit Flex, the entry-level fitness tracker from US-based wearables company Fitbit. In addition to letting users renew their Office 365 subscriptions or…

Telkom has partnered with Naspers’ streaming service ShowMax to zero-rate data used for the streaming service. The offer only applies to Telkom’s Summer Unlimited packages, but is applicable to both existing and new customers. Telkom is also giving customers that sign up for its SmartHome Premium or Smartplan 100 services a 30-day trial of the video streaming service if they sign up before the end of December 2015. Given ShowMax offers a week trial by default and only costs R99/month this isn’t exactly the biggest carrot from the operator, but it’s pleasing to see it playing well with others nevertheless.…

When it comes to streaming music services, South Africa’s pretty well covered. But all of the existing offering are subscription based, and any African music in their catalogues tends to be incidental rather than their focus. Which is where Mziiki comes in. While anyone has been able to download the Mziiki apps or use the service’s web or .mobi sites since it launched in East Africa in 2014, it’s only as of Monday that the service is carrying South African content. To date the content that has been available has focused on genres popular in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. Mziiki lets users stream…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has agreed to reduce the quantum of the fine it imposed on mobile operator MTN after the company failed to disconnect 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers with unregistered SIM cards in August and September. MTN will now have to pay $3.4 billion, instead of the initial $5.1 billion the NCC had called for. That’s going to hurt not just MTN’s bottomline, but its share price, which took a substantial knock when news of the NCC’s punitive measures originally broke. According to a notice to shareholders issued on Thursday morning, MTN has received a formal letter dated…

Instant messaging service WeChat Africa has announced it intends to invest R50 million in African tech startups. The company will take applications from startups in January, and those that take its fancy will get support from it for a “speedy entrance into the market using the WeChat platform”, according to a release from the company announcing the initiative. WeChat has roped in Batstone, a Cape Town-based tech strategy firm, to help it source the right startups and coordinate the early stages of the investment initiative. Interested parties can apply here from 18 January 2016. “Our fund aims to provide financial support…

In October the Core Group announced it was following the lead of Apple in the US by allowing consumers to take out a package at South African iStores that’ll enable them to upgrade their phones every year. In order to be eligible for the deal you’ll need a iStore Card, which is issued by Standard Bank. Thankfully, you won’t actually have to bank with Standard Bank, though, so rest easy. Interested iPhone fanatics can apply for an iStore card here. They’ll need to be at least 18 years old, receive a monthly salary of at least R4,000 and be a…

The iPad Pro, which looks a lot like two iPad Air’s placed side by side and fused together, will go on sale in South Africa tomorrow through the 20 iStore outlets around the country and online. As expected, the rand/dollar exchange rate hasn’t done us any favours, and those looking to pick up one of the new, 12.9in/32.8cm tablets will have to fork out between R13,500 and R18,000, depending on the configuration they opt for.Billed as a tool for creative professionals, the iPad Pro promises the ability to edit 4K video thanks to CPU performance that’s nearly double that found…

South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria are the latest regions to get the option of storing video content from YouTube offline using its mobile app. In other words, users in these regions can now choose content for later viewing when they have access to a decent internet connection, and consume it when they don’t. YouTube parent company Google announced the new feature in a post on its Africa Blog on Wednesday. Author of the blog post, Google product manager Matthew Darby, says the feature is particularly well-suited to sub-Saharan Africa, where reliable internet connectivity “remains a big challenge”. Don’t we know…