Author: Duncan Pike

Update: Following Xiaomi’s announcement that the Xioami 12 would be coming to SA, we finally know which one is coming and how much it will cost. South African’s get the model featuring 8GB RAM and 256GB ROM. That’s great, 128GB fills up rather quickly. What isn’t great is the rather large price increase over the international price. This was to be expected though and it still works out cheaper than importing it yourself. The Xiaomi 12 has a local RRP of R18,000 and is available right now. Original story: Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is finally bringing one of its top-end…

Update: Well, that was quick. It looks like google.co.za is back up. The new lease will last until 25 June 2023. Let’s hope Google or MarkMonitor ticks the autorenew box before then. For all the folks thinking about trying to swipe the domain out from under Goolge’s nose, better luck next time. Original story: It’s the first day of a new month and that means, for a lot of people, subscription renewal day. But it looks like someone at Google forgot to hit the renew button ahead of the lease ending for the google.co.za domain, so it’s gone dark. The…

The Ford EcoSport has been around, in some form or another, for the last nine years. This is evident every time you go leave your house. You’re bound to see at least two on the road. Since its launch, in 2013, the Blue Oval has sold around 75,000 vehicles to eager South African buyers. There’s no denying that it filled a gap or ticked the boxes South Africans want ticked. Things have slowed down a bit in 2022. That could be because the EcoSport is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. Or maybe it’s that the EcoSport…

First National Bank is looking to benefit from the dire situation South African motorists find themselves in. The bank is giving qualifying customers even more eBucks from tomorrow, 1 July, until the end of September 2022. This is coming at a time when the fuel price is already at an all-time high. Most signs are pointing to another increase. Data from the Central Energy Fund indicates that the next one is likely to be R1.80 for petrol and R1.60 for diesel. Getting a little extra back from your bank… might take the sting out a little. FNB to the rescue…

If you were still on the fence about Sony’s claims that it’s going to be more friendly to the PC, this next bit of news should convince you. The company has just announced a new hardware brand, Inzone, consisting of gaming monitors and headsets. In both cases, you can see heavy design influences from the PlayStation 5. This makes sense. These peripherals aren’t only for PC gamers but PlayStation gamers as well. M is for ‘monitor’ Sony’s gaming monitor lineup consists of two models, the M3 and M9, for now. The flagship M9 will ask for $900 overseas which puts…

We’ve been zooming about on the Xiaomi Mi Electric Scooter 3 (XMES 3) for a bit. Even in the cold. And it’s possibly the most fun we’ve had outdoors since we reviewed that longboard last year. Wow, time flies. Or zooms, in this case. The XMES 3 can be a fun distraction. Or it could be a legitimate form of travel, getting you from point A to B without the hassles cars bring. Like paying for petrol. But only if your travels don’t include many public roads. There aren’t any indicators here. You also miss out on some car benefits,…

If you’re looking for something to do with your bags of money, why not throw them at Ford? Why? A limited run of the Ford Mustang California Special has landed in SA. Only 100 vehicles are available to prospective buyers so if this is the car you’ve been waiting for, you better get to ordering. What’s Special about this one? Well, according to Ford, the California Special brings the “quintessential style of west coast America” to South Africa. It also embodies the “free-spirited ethos of the 1968 original”. If you’ve been longing for either of those, they’ve arrived. If you…

If you’ve been a reader of Stuff Magazine (at least for the previous three issues), you would’ve seen Samsung’s QN90A appear at the top of our Top 10 TVs list. Heck, we even named it our TV of the Year for 2021. Earlier this year at CES, Samsung unveiled its QN90B series. With that, it was looking to improve on what came before. We’ve spent a bit of time with the 50in QN90B and we are mightily impressed. We’re not sure how Samsung has managed to cram these smarts into a package this competitively priced. Actually, we do know, but…

Taking the IP rating to new levels You’ve probably heard about an IP rating by now. When you buy a flagship smartphone, you’ll notice it’ll mention an IP68 rating. That’s usually followed by an asterisk with some small print at the bottom saying the device is rated for 30 minutes submerged at 1.5m in room temperature water in a controlled lab environment. With that in mind, imagine the surprise of one lad when the iPhone he lost ten months previously was handed back to him in working condition.According to a BBC report, Owain Davies went canoeing in Gloucestershire, England in…

Stuff says –  4/5 Are you looking to bring a bit of smarts to your home? This IoT WiFi plug from Bneta does just that, to some extent. Don’t expect anything too fancy, this is just a plug. It’s not going to brew your coffee or walk your dog. But it will provide some extended functionality for a few mundane tasks. And that’s what these sorts of things are meant for.Light switches are so last yearThe setup is fairly straightforward. First, you need to download the Bneta IoT app. Then stick the plug between whatever device you are wanting…