Author: Stuff writer

South Africa’s fuel prices are finally headed in the right direction. Or rather, petrol prices are headed in the right direction. According to data published by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) on 11 November, petrol is currently facing a major R2/l+ price decrease, even after the National Treasury reduced the relief applied to fuel levies. Petrol stays winning this December Diesel is also looking at a price cut, albeit a smaller one. Motorists likely won’t get to experience the cut at pumps, however. When the National Treasury knocked R3/l off taxes to spare drivers from even larger hikes, it was…

With the way petrol and diesel prices are looking lately, anything that can help relieve some of that pressure is fine by us. If you’re loyal to Checkers’ Xtra Savings scheme, the retailer is rewarding that loyalty through its new partnership with Astron Energy, helping you score 25c per litre on “qualifying fuel purchases” at Astron. You will, of course, need to swipe your Xtra Savings card to qualify for the rewards. The funds won’t be directly deposited into your bank account. Instead, they’ll be made redeemable at any store part of the Shoprite Group — including Usave and Medirite…

Astrolab’s LUMIS intends to put a robotic 5G network on the moon Astrolab is a company intent on putting its products on the lunar surface. Along with its Flex lunar rover concept, the company is demonstrating a powered wireless communications network for moon exploration. That would be LUMIS, or the Lunar Utility Module for Industrial Services. The “lunar power, communications and data node” will use the company’s Flex rover to transport and set up solar panels and communications nodes, with a smaller secondary robot assisting. The idea, eventually, is to deploy 100kW of solar power using the expandable system, though…

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) has some good news… and it has some bad news. The good news is that the early predictions for December are showing signs of recovery after the disastrous adjustments made earlier this week. An occasion that would normally call for celebration is set to leave diesel drivers broken-hearted after the National Treasury reduces the relief applied to fuel levies — down to R1/l for petrol and R1.50/l for diesel. Tough times ahead (for some) That means that R0.50 and R1.50 will be added back onto the price of petrol and diesel, respectively, this December. Petrol’s…

Someone, please tell diesel drivers to take a quiet moment to enjoy this one. After months of fuel price uncertainty and increasingly painful trips to the pumps, November 2026 is bringing some much-needed relief to South African motorists. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) published the official fuel price adjustments today, confirming a massive R1+ decrease for diesel prices, thanks to government intervention. Petrol drivers, manage your expectations… Petrol prices…weren’t so lucky. Owing to the higher prices of diesel around the country, R3/l was cut from the General Fuel Levy (GFL), while petrol only saw a smaller R1.50/l cut. This…

Pick n Pay is on a mission to make its online grocery shopping service, asap!, more efficient. And it’s doing so with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The retailer has partnered with OrderGrid and, following a multi-store trial that claims to have reduced average order-picking times by 30%, has rolled it out to 720 stores nationwide. More AI. Hooray? In theory, the change would lead to customers receiving their orders faster, with fewer missing items. Asap! already claims to have your order delivered within 60 minutes — matching that of its largest rival, Sixty60. If Pick n Pay can…

While the likes of Meta, Boston Dynamics, Tesla, and many others are chasing commercial humanoid robots, Apple isn’t quite there yet. It does, however, have other robotic ambitions. According to a report from The Information, the Fruit Company is working on a larger, robotic version of the newly released HomeView. The ‘why’ is probably a question for the marketing department. For now, Apple is focused on building the thing, which will likely be called the HomeView ‘Ultra’ or HomeView ‘Max’ — though even those aren’t set in stone. Apple’s robotic ambitions come with a twist The HomeView, if you haven’t…

Project Suncatcher’s first orbital AI unit is writing poetry for some reason Project Suncatcher is Google’s attempt at putting AI data centres in space. The company’s first unit, a little cube satellite with TPU hardware and its own Gemma 4 AI model on board, is now in space and transmitting data back to Earth. One of the first things it has sent (likely for PR reasons) is poetry. According to Google, the first prompt sent to the orbital unit asked it to generate a haiku about being in space. The response was… more than a little twee and, we suspect,…

Xbox and Netflix can’t agree on adaptation deal If you’ve got your ear to the ground, you might’ve known that Netflix was eyeing Xbox’s stable of intellectual property and licking its lips. The exclusive film and TV adaptation rights to Xbox games would surely do the streaming giant well, it thought. Look at how well Halo did. $500 million for seven years of exclusivity oughta do it, right? Wrong, says Xbox, which wanted $800 million, according to this newsletter from Puck. Netflix has yet to comment on the matter, while Xbox has said it has seen “record-breaking interest” in its…

Is it just us, or does Black Friday seem to be coming earlier and earlier every year? Not wanting to miss out on all the spending, Amazon’s ‘Early Black Friday’ sale started yesterday and runs until 31 October. There are a dizzying number of deals and special offers, way too many to list them all. Sorting through them yourself can also be tedious. So if you’re looking for tech-related deals, you’ve come to the right place. It’s worth noting that while the sale runs until 31 October, there’s no guarantee that stock will last that long. Amazon’s early Black Friday…