By the time EA Play reached South Africa’s shores, it rocked up with a fee almost worthy of consideration: R50/m or R200/year. Aside from the aforementioned library of games, a subscription also offers a minimal 10% discount on upcoming titles and in-game titles, appealing most directly to folks who eagerly await the company’s next FIFA or Madden title every year.

EA Play(ing us for fools)

EA began warning subscribed customers of the change via email yesterday, noting that new prices will come into effect from 10 May 2024, according to GamesIndustry.biz, or “until your next renewal date that occurs on or after X” date. Thanks to u/ssa17k on Reddit, we’ve got an idea of what the email being sent to customers looks like.

And we haven’t even mentioned EA Play Pro, the company’s higher-tier subscription service, which is also included in the price hike. The difference here appears that Pro members can secure new titles instantly, rather than waiting for them to shrivel up and be passed onto the cheaper subscription package.

Read More: Dead Space (2023) PC review – We’re crossing the Event Horizon here

In South Africa, the monthly price of EA Play is being hiked up to R90/m (R40 increase), while a year will now set customers back R650/year (R400 increase). Step up to EA Play Pro, and you’ll pay R305/m (R105 increase), whereas a year of the service now costs R1,700/year (R500 increase).

EA’s email doesn’t mention the reason behind the massive price hike, though according to GamesIndustry.biz, the FIFA-maker is looking to “reflect changes in currency value and to bring fees in line with market value.” Translation? “We’d like more money, please and thank you.”

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7,197 unique devices were recorded performing a collective 285,839 speed tests on the MyBroadband speed test platform all over South Africa from 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024 to arrive at these findings. These speed tests, together with drive tests carried out in cities, towns and on the country’s main roads provide the basis for MyBroadband Insights’ findings and offer real-world performance metrics of South Africa’s mobile network operators.

MTN risks running out of award shelf space

With average download and upload speeds of 82.48Mbps and 24.03Mbps respectively, an average network latency of 24ms, and a Network Quality Score of 9.66 out of 10, MTN takes the cake for best overall mobile network in the country.

More specifically, the operator recorded wins as the best mobile network in most of the country’s major metropolitan areas, including Cape Town, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay but lost to Vodacom as the best network in Johannesburg.

Vodacom wasn’t far behind first place with average download and upload speeds of 77.45Mbps and 14.74Mbps, an average latency of 30ms, and a Network Quality Score of 8.14 out of 10. MyBroadband Insights’ report notes that average network performance for LTE and 5G networks are calculated separately and that Vodacom’s 5G network ranked better than MTN’s. This could explain Vodacom’s standout victory in Johannesburg.

Read More: Rain is hiking prices at the beginning of June 2024

The network performance of Cell C, Telkom, and Rain was also recorded and, unsurprisingly, they didn’t do as well. Cell C and Telkom obtained average download speeds of 39.32Mbps and 30.49Mbps respectively with Rain only managing an average of 19.41Mbps.

While these results may or may not be surprising to you, it’s worth keeping in mind that they are only from the first three months of the year. There’s still another nine whole months for these five mobile network operators to battle it out for South African network dominance in 2024.

But why stop there? 2025 could hold the big break Cell C has presumably been waiting for and 2026 could hold big gains for Telkom. With hundreds of thousands more speed tests to run, it will never be finally decided who is the best mobile network operator. There’s still everything to play for and forever to play it in.

That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who tends to have a very clear inside line on what the company is up to at any given moment. And Gurman reckons that Apple has teams investigating the feasibility of developing and launching a line of home robots.

Robotic Apple

It turns out there are all sorts of folks looking for something to do at the company’s ground-based UFO campus following the end of Project Titan, Apple’s exploration into the world of self-driving automobiles. One of these tasks they’re exploring is some sort of home robot.

Don’t expect anything like an announcement at this year’s WWDC, however. Gurman reports that the exploration is still in the very early stages and it’s too soon to properly speculate what will be on offer. This assumes that development leads to production. Apple is known for taking its time there, too.

Still, there is some speculation. A prototype apparently exists that will follow users around, similar to the behaviour of LG’s recently unveiled AI agent. Another test device sits on a desk and tracks users, which sounds like a more advanced version of the now-defunct Meta Portal. Any and all devices, should they see release, will presumably incorporate the artificial intelligence functions the company is expected to unveil in early June this year at WWDC 2024.

The major challenge for the project’s continuation seems to be uncertainty over what folks will pay for an Apple-made in-home robotic assistant. The company’s hardware wouldn’t be cheap — witness the cost of the Vision Pro headset — and convincing folks to buy into something super-pricey and fairly experimental might be a hurdle that isn’t worth clearing. It may simply continue its push into the VR space with the Vision Pro and its successor headsets, something that is currently taking place anyway. As ever with Apple, it’s only official once it’s announced on stage. Or when someone ‘accidentally’ leaves it in a bar.

The lawsuit was instituted in 2020 by users upset that Incognito didn’t prevent Google from tracking their browsing and other activity while the feature was active. At best it kept data about their activities off their computers, which makes sense since the most recent updates to the function are all about locking it down on the device it’s being used on.

Terror Incognito

The suit complains that this miscommunication has left Google in possession of a vast store of information that it’s not supposed to have. This covers personal data, habits, and other “intimate and potentially embarrassing things” that users are presumably not okay with sharing with a faceless international data company.

Deletion of this data collection is the main step Google is offering in the settlement but other steps are also being taken. Google will be more clear about which data is being collected by its products. Incognito users will also be able to block third-party cookies for five years. No monetary damages await the Big G in this settlement, but individual users are welcome to sue the company.

“The result is that Google will collect less data from users’ private browsing sessions, and that Google will make less money from the data,” said the company’s lawyers.

Google spokesman Jose Castaneda added, “We never associate data with users when they use Incognito mode. We are happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization.”

The implication here is that the technical data collected by the feature was used for some internal purpose at Google. It may or may not have served its purpose but there’s no clarity about what Google products or features have seen a benefit from data users were under the impression was a secret to everyone including Google. Still, the deletion, if approved by a California judge, will mark the end of these legal proceedings for the search giant.

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Eskom’s taking us for a hike

It’s not as though Eskom is coming out of left field with this one. These plans have been in the works since early 2023 when The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approved a massive 33.77% tariff increase split over two years. 2023 took the brunt of the hike — swallowing an 18.65% increase, while 2024’s residential homepower rates will be going up by 12.74% in April.

Had the Democratic Alliance (DA) been successful in its attempts to thwart Nersa’s approved increase, we might’ve been sitting with far lower prices. The DA described the two-year 33.77% increase as “astronomical”, noting that the hike had the potential to price electricity out of many South African residents’ incomes.

When it attempted to get the High Court involved, it dismissed the case — ruling in favour of Nersa’s hike.

“All relevant factors have properly and in detail been considered, the conclusions reached were neither arbitrary nor irrational and the issue of cross-subsidisation was considered at the appropriate stage,” the High Court judgement stated. “The High Court, therefore, found that both the review applications of the DA and SALGA (The South African Local Government Association) must fail.”

Read More: How to find out if you qualify for Free Basic Electricity in South Africa, and how it works

After the 12.74% comes into effect next month, it’ll bring the tariff up to 195.95c/kWh — up from 2023’s 173.8c/kWh. But how will that affect your bottom line on your bill come April? Well, it depends. Houses that use, on average, 600kWh per month will see an extra R168.24 no matter which Homepower tariff they are on.

Bringing that up to 900kWh of electricity each month, residents in the Homepower 1 bracket will pay an extra R398.52, while those in the Homepower 2 and 3 brackets will see a R388.53 increase. Homepower 4 customers have a R405.81 increase to look forward to.

Eskom customers that use around 1,200kWh/m are looking at an increase of around R518.04 and R541.08, depending on which tariff they fall under. Houses that use as much as 1,500kWh/m can expect a R664 hike under the Homepower 1 umbrella, R648 for Homepower 2 and 3 customers, and R676 for those in the Homepower 4 bracket.

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How? By providing free access to Microsoft’s Mzansi Digital Learning platform — a free resource that’s being taken advantage of today. As for where Vodacom comes into this — it’ll be hosting Mzansi Digital Learning on the network’s new NXT LVL platform and integrated into ConnectU — a zero-rated platform that will allow Vodacom customers to access the free resource without any mobile data or Wi-Fi.

It’s essentially turning what was already free learning into, er, free-er, learning. And we’re here for it.

Modern problems require modern solutions

“We are extremely grateful to embark on this transformative partnership with our longstanding partner Microsoft South Africa. Collaborating with a like-minded brand who share our values and ambition is [a] testament to our collective commitment to address unemployment and empower individuals through innovative digital training,” says Mathys Venter, Managing Executive for Prepaid and Loyalty at Vodacom South Africa.

The courses found in Mzansi Digital Learning focus on “important topics to help users understand the changing landscape of business in a digital world of Generative AI, entrepreneurship, and cybersecurity.” Vodacom added that the courses have been designed to align with the most sought-after jobs in South Africa and that participating customers will receive certification by completing courses on the platform.

Read More: Vodacom’s got the collecting tin out again for its annual bout of price hikes

Vodacom and Microsoft aim to reach around 300,000 South Africans through the initiative, adding to the 95,000 people already studying there.

“We are fully committed to supporting and enabling our youth as we collectively work towards closing the skills gap and empowering every person to achieve more in this era of digital transformation. It is increasingly about ensuring young people are equipped with the skills they need for the jobs that exist today and, in the future,” says Asif Valley, National Technology Officer at Microsoft South Africa.

Any Vodacom customers interested in registering for the programme can do so here, though it’s worth a reminder that non-Vodacom customers can also sign up for Mzansi Digital Learning too — though they will have to suffer the burden of mobile data and Wi-Fi requirements. That’s probably what Vodacom is counting on (at least a little).

Meta is the epitome of surveillance capitalism, exploiting our personal data – and young girls – for money. Shame on anyone who still believes they are reaching their audiences when all your marketing money is doing is propping up a “vast paedophile network,” according to an investigation last year by The Wall Street Journal with researchers from Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Every day, 100,000 children experience sexual harassment on Instagram and Facebook, according to Meta’s own documents, as revealed in a New Mexico attorney-general lawsuit last year.

“Meta’s Instagram helped connect and promote a network of paedophiles,” said Senator Dick Durbin, the head of a Senate judiciary committee, which grilled Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month, as well as the CEOs of X/Twitter, Snap Discord and TikTok.

Nvidia, meanwhile, actually does something useful for society – and the stock markets are clearly excited about the potential of its processors needed to power artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia has quietly grown its expertise and market share for making graphical processing units (GPUs), which have been used by the gaming industry for decades. Rendering the complex videos of games requires processors to perform multiple processes at the same time, which turns out to be the same requirement for AI applications.

Never has one industry — AI — owed so much to another — gaming. Parents of gaming-obsessed teenagers can take some solace that their kids’ infatuation with first-person-shooter (FPS) games has helped advance humanity – albeit tangentially.

The Nvidia numbers are extraordinary. The 16.4% increase pushed Nvidia’s valuation to $1.94-trillion, putting it in third place behind tech giants Microsoft and Apple. Its $272-billion increase is about that of the combined value of Goldman Sachs Group and Boeing; while much more than car makers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis put together ($176-billion), according to data from TradingView.

Read More: Nvidia’s secret “TrueHDR” tool uses AI for real-time HDR-gaming conversion

Nvidia’s market cap is – amazingly – bigger than the GDP of all but 11 nations in 2022, including Brazil’s $1.92-trillion and Australia’s $1.69-trillion, according to Investopedia.

“Despite concerns over its high valuation, Nvidia’s unparalleled AI-related intellectual property, rooted in decades of visionary investment, sets it apart in a league of its own,” says Rosenblatt Securities analyst Hans Mosesmann. Indeed it does. Like OpenAI, whose ChatGPT took the world by storm in November 2022, Nvidia is central to the AI industry.

And the good news will keep on coming, says Nvidia’s co-founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang. “Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point. Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations,” he said in a press release.

“We are one year into generative AI,” Huang told the New York Times. “My guess is we are literally into the first year of a 10-year cycle of spreading this technology into every single industry.”

• This column first appeared in the Financial Mail

Now, however, Eskom has published an update to the Kusile repairs, noting that its temporary measure — allowing it to “operate units 1, 2, and 3 [at Kusile] without utilising the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plant,” until 31 March 2025 has so far been successful, and that repairs to the permanent flue gas duct stack that started all this hassle are still on track. Whew.

Finally, some good Kusile news

That’s big news, because, according to Eskom, “the recovery of these units represents a significant milestone in the Generation Operational Plan, contributing a much-needed 2,400MW to the national grid.”

To bypass the MES policy, Eskom was (and still is) forced to make a few arrangements, thanks to the Department’s National Air Quality Officer. For one, it is required to warn the residents surrounding Kusile of the potential health risks involved in living where they do. And two, the obvious, was for Eskom to lessen the impact of its CO2 emissions — something usually handled by the damaged flue gas duct stack.

Eskom’s Group Executive for Generation, Bheki Nxumalo, reckons the utility has so far adhered to all the requirements, noting that emissions from the three damaged units at Kusile remain below the atmospheric emission license and ambient air quality limits set out by the Department.

Read More: Eskom says goodbye to load shedding and hello to load limiting 

“We have implemented robust health screening initiatives within the surrounding areas and have installed additional ambient quality monitoring equipment to specifically monitor SO2 emissions. This ensures that we safely and responsibly operate Kusile while minimizing any potential impact on public health. We remain committed to Zero Harm, which is one of our core business values. We also remain dedicated to achieving a sustainable energy supply for the country,” Nxumalo said.

“The health and safety of our employees, contractors and neighbouring communities remains Eskom’s top priority. We will continue taking proactive measures to manage and mitigate any potential risks,” concluded Nxumalo.

Eskom signed off the update with a reminder that it was “on track” to complete the repairs to Kusile’s generating units by December 2024.

After it brushed off Canal+’s initial R105/share buyout offer at the beginning of February, MultiChoice said that it felt the group had severely undervalued it. We’ve got to admit, it’s got a point what with the sports stranglehold it currently has. Canal+ has since returned, according to Reuters, with an improved R125/share offer.

Surprisingly, Canal+ isn’t raising the white flag

The upped offer has to do with how the media group handled itself after MultiChoice rejected its offer. Canal+ went and upped its ordinary shares in MultiChoice, bringing its stakeholders’ share up to 35.01%. Once it had crossed the 35% threshold, South Africa’s Takeover Regulations Panel (TRP) ruled that it had to immediately make a firm buyout intention announcement — though the TRP later gave the group an extension to 8 April.

It’s come up with a revised offer a little early. While the minimum price for the mandatory offer is R105/ordinary share, Canal+ is bumping that up to R125/ordinary share — a 19% increase — to make it that much more enticing.

Read More: DStv’s largest price hike in years will hit wallets on 1 April 2024 – but it’s not all bad news

“MultiChoice and Canal+ intend to mutually cooperate in this regard. Accordingly, MultiChoice will give customary exclusivity undertakings to Canal+,” MultiChoice said (via TechCentral). “Once the mandatory offer is made, the independent board of MultiChoice will be constituted and will, after receipt of the independent expert’s opinion, provide its opinion and recommendation on the mandatory offer.”

Should the deal be approved by all parties and shareholders, it will have a job getting it past the country’s Electronic Communications Act, which caps voting control of broadcasting licensees by foreign entities at 20%.

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This makes a sort of sense. Since LG left the smartphone game, it’s continued to churn out components that would also suit virtual reality tech. But that doesn’t quite fit the stated aim of the partnership, which is to “…combine the strengths of both companies across products, content, services and platforms to drive innovation in customer experiences within the burgeoning virtual space.”

A new Meta

It doesn’t sound like Mark Zuckerberg, LG CEO William Cho, and LG Home Entertainment president Park Hyoung-sei (pictured above) got together merely to talk about how many OLED screens Meta can buy from the South Korean company’s factories. A possible new extended reality ecosystem is hinted at in LG’s announcement, possibly involving the company’s televisions.

This would include artificial intelligence (AI) built into LG devices based on Meta’s large language model LLaMA (hey, the company has to use it for something). This should result in “…significant synergies in next-gen XR device development”, which sounds to us like an LG-made entertainment device (a headset) that incorporates both LG’s software ecosystem and Meta’s AI and VR tech to compete with the Apple Vision Pro. At a significantly more affordable price point, hopefully.

Of course, that’s not official. The partnership announcement is thin on specifics, leaving us to read between the lines. It would be awfully surprising if we were far from the mark, however. LG, before leaving the smartphone space, was in a very experimental frame of mind and an all-new XR gadget would probably appeal to the company internally. And Zuckerberg is always keen to put his company’s data-suction skills to work in any hardware that’ll have it. We’ll keep our ears open about any more concrete developments in this space.