Author: Brett Venter

First National Bank (FNB) yesterday announced several new features designed to tempt potential customers over to the green side. Among those was a free Starbucks coffee a week, a great deal if you live in Gauteng and can get to one of five local stores. There’s also access to Udemy courses, a medical and armed response app called GuardMe, Slow Lounge access (FNB owns that outright now), and a games subscription. But perhaps the most interesting of the bank’s new “lifestyle solutions” are so-called ‘Hero Device Deals’. This is a feature where apparently high-end devices are available from the bank…

Prepare your wallet for another mugging. South Africa’s national energy regulator, NERSA, is proposing a 7.47% increase in municipal electricity tariffs. The price hike would come just three months after Eskom’s recent tariff increase. The state-owned power utility scored an extra 9.6% in tariffs — less than the roughly 20% it was seeking, but still enough to sting. NERSA, via a new discussion document, is proposing the new 7.5% tariff increase kick in from 1 July 2022. That’s the process as usual, but the agency says that it will not hold public hearings on the matter. It cites time pressure…

On the one hand, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a game by the studio that bought us Borderlands, is an allegorical take on the inner workings and insecurities of longtime character, Tiny Tina. On the other hand, it’s about traipsing through a wacky world populated by strange characters and even stranger missions. So… exactly like Borderlands, then? Well… yes, and no. The game’s systems are familiar to anyone who has played anything in the series. As far as DNA goes, there’s far more Borderlands 2 than Borderlands 3 in this one. That’s one thing to be thankful for. But it’s more than…

It’s time for a brand-new issue of your favourite tech publication. The April-May- 2022 edition of Stuff Magazine has landed. Head on to your nearest store or pay a visit to one of our many digital versions of the magazine and pick up an issue that covers basically every aspect of your life. Yes, even that one, provided you read it in the smallest room.  First up is the road. The April-May 2022 edition of Stuff collects some of the best EVs available in South Africa today. The price of petrol is getting a little ridiculous, even with the promise…

You may not be aware that South Africa offers a Free Basic Electricity allocation to a portion of its population. If so, you’re either too busy trying to keep your family fed, or you don’t have to worry about FBE. Even if the latter is the case, it’s entirely possible that you know someone who could benefit from the government program but doesn’t. Be a good chap (or lass) and pass it on, will you? What is Free Basic Electricity? Free Basic Electricity is a program that gives some South African households between 50kWh and 60kWh of free electricity a…

If you’re a South African, you know that the cost of visiting the petrol pump has you considering buying a horse. There’s another petrol price increase due in a matter of days. Before that happens, the South African government has a little respite in store for the country. From 6 April — so next Wednesday, when the petrol price is likely to go up — South Africa’s fuel levy will be dropped by 40%. This tax break will remain in effect until the end of May. SA’s finance minister Enoch Godongwana made the announcement while addressing parliament on 31 March.…

So you want in on Samsung’s newest crop but don’t have R28,000 to splash out on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Maybe you’re on a budget, or maybe you’re just ambivalent about camera performance. In that case, the S22+ is also off the list. Time to examine the stock Galaxy S22, the only phone in the lineup that costs less than R20k. As is usual with the only flagship lineups that matter, most of the specs are common throughout the range. If you’re looking for powerful, you’ve found it. There are a few concessions — the jump forward between generations isn’t…

If things were any more magical, we’d be Disney princesses. Disney+, the streaming service for people with a love for traumatising animation (and Marvel movies), lands in South Africa soon. In just over six weeks, give or take an eternity, it’ll be possible to subscribe to the mighty mouse’s video content. It’s the most exciting launch since Netflix first launched in South Africa. But, unlike the Netflix launch, there are far more options on the market to distract you. Showmax has secured access to some of Disney’s content (for a while). Netflix has a mobile-only plan available. Disney+, believe it…

Nobody ever reads the terms and conditions. Nobody EVER reads the terms and conditions. Stuff constantly has fun with the fact during its giveaways. But perhaps, if you’re planning on sticking your life savings into crypto or NFTs, you should have some idea of the risks involved. Which, if you’re not suckered by the Discord positivity, is quite clearly laid out in the terms and conditions. That you didn’t bother to read. Cryptocurrency proponents — the ones that make a serious living from it — are all well aware of the risks. So are the companies funding it. It’s time…

So you want to be a streamer, do you? Then your budget should probably include tickets to this year’s in-person Comic Con Africa. Why? StreamerCon, apparently. There’s now one more reason to attend the in-person geek festival in September this year. What is a StreamerCon? StreamerCon is not, as the name suggests, a parole program where former convicts get jobs on Twitch. No, it’s a “…hub for creators to expand their reach, collaborations to spark, and for aspiring content creators to be guided by industry veterans.” It sounds like it’ll be the most live-streamed part of Comic Con Africa. Which…