YouTube is significantly raising the barrier to entry for its YouTube Partner Programme (YPP), effective February 1. While the baseline requirement of 1,000 subscribers remains unchanged, the platform is doubling the engagement thresholds needed for creators to begin monetizing their content. Read: AI models design viable synthetic viruses for the first time Under the updated…
Britain’s BP on Tuesday reported a sharp upswing in second-quarter profit, as energy supermajors reap massive profits from higher fossil fuel prices amid hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. The oil giant posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $5.7 billion for the April to June period. That comfortably…
Google is significantly lowering the financial barrier to its consumer artificial intelligence ecosystem by restructuring its entry-level subscription tier. The Google AI Plus plan will now cost $5 per month, down from its original launch price of $8 per month, according to an announcement by Vikas Kansal, Google’s Product Lead for Gemini AI Subscriptions. To…
Newly listed on the JSE, Canal+ has made it clear where it intends to spend to keep DStv subscribers paying: live sport. The French group, which took control of MultiChoice last year, on Wednesday confirmed a clutch of premium rights deals timed to coincide with its inward listing on the Johannesburg bourse. SuperSport will broadcast…
A quantum computer built by IBM IBM will invest more than US$10-billion in coming years in an effort to deliver the first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029, according to an SEC filing on Thursday. The investment will go towards R&D, capital expenditure, scaling manufacturing capabilities and acquisitions, the company known for building the Watson…
South Africa’s offshore allowance South Africa limit is set to double for the first time in over a decade, marking a significant shift in exchange control policy. The amount South Africans can send offshore without SARS clearance hasn’t budged since 2011. That’s about to change. On 25 February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the Single…
Equinix South Africa MD Sandile Dube Global data centre operator Equinix is planning to build 160MW of additional data centre capacity in South Africa as part of a R7.5-billion investment push, having acquired land in Johannesburg and Cape Town totalling R890-million. The Nasdaq-listed firm, which opened its first South African data centre in Johannesburg in…
The Samsung Galaxy S26 series was launched during the Galaxy Unpacked event last night. South Korean electronics giant Samsung has released its third-generation artificial intelligence (AI) smartphones, unveiling its flagship Galaxy S series. The S26 series, the launch of which was livestreamed to a global audience during the Unpacked event last night, comprises the Galaxy…
iOCO co-CEO Rhys Summerton. (Photograph supplied) JSE-listed technology services company iOCO, formerly known as EOH, is forging ahead with its share buyback scheme. On Friday, iOCO announced it has repurchased an additional 2 183 365 shares under its ongoing share buyback programme. The shares were bought back between 2 January and 29 January, at prices…
Signage at the SK Hynix Inc. booth at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. The expo runs through Nov. 10. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images South Korea’s SK Hynix on Wednesday reported record full-year profit for 2025, more than doubling…
