Author: Trent Meikle

Like the beginning of every zombie film, South Africa is considering calling for a national state of disaster. The only difference? Ours isn’t for anything nearly as cool as zombies. Our predicament involves Eskom, which is somehow far more depressing. You know, what with the constant bouts of load shedding that are crumbling the economy? Not so natural Whether the country meets the criteria needed to officially declare a state of disaster is still being explored said President Cyril Ramaphosa at the African National Congress strategy meeting on Monday. The last time South Africa fit the bill was just over…

For years, PlayStation Plus was the service every PlayStation owner had to have in order to play most of their games online. It didn’t cost much and had the bonus of offering up two or three “free” games each month. Whatever your thoughts were, it was a decent service – even when PlayStation decided that giving its subscribers Tennis World Tour 2 was a good idea. Last year saw the service change (almost) entirely. In an effort to try and match Xbox’s wildly successful GamePass, PlayStation split its PS Plus service into three tiers. The first – Essential – was…

Apple – the first company to ever be worth more than $3 trillion (yes, with a ‘T’) – has plans to officially raise the prices on the App Store in several countries. Unfortunately, South Africa is one of those unlucky countries, joining the UK, Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, Nigeria and Norway. Hooray. First petrol, and now the App Store? According to a note sent out by Apple to developers, the increased prices are set to come into effect on 13 February 2023. Here’s a full list of the updated prices on the Apple Developer site (see page 8 for SA). While…

“We’re just going for a walk” This Thursday, 2 February, two astronauts currently residing on the International Space Station (ISS) are planning a trip into the void, leaving the comfort of their ‘home’. The plan is simple. Spacewalk out to the exterior of the ISS and (hopefully) finish the job that’ll eventually allow future astronauts to upgrade the station’s power system. The astronauts in question are Nicole Mann (NASA) and Koichi Wakata (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). This is the pair’s second spacewalk together. Less than a month ago, the duo began work on installing new exterior struts on the ISS…

Do you remember Stuff’s last February petrol and diesel price prediction? We signed off rather hopeful that there wouldn’t be any way for anything to drastically change the upcoming petrol and diesel prices. Well… we’ve learned a valuable lesson about underestimating South Africa. According to data captured by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) on 20 January, the country was expecting an increase of around 25c/l in the petrol department and a 5c/l increase for diesel drivers. New data from the CEF has surfaced – captured on 25 January – slating the country for an increase of double what was predicted…

The launch of Amazon’s marketplace within South Africa has been pushed back, according to a “well-placed” source who spoke with Daily Investor. Jeff Bezos’ empire was initially meant to expand sometime next month, though it seems that date has been pushed back to the end of 2023. Just in time for that Christmas push, huh? We have Amazon at home Despite having already secured warehouse space and agreeing to terms with South African courier companies and fast-moving consumer goods retailers, the company is slowing the rollout until Q3 or Q4 at the latest. It’s possible that the constant threat of…

Huawei expanded its presence (and flagship line-up) in South Africa today with the official launch of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro (and the Huawei FreeBuds 5i and MatePad SE 10.4in). The Chinese conglomerate has had nearly two years since the Mate 40 Pro turned up to think up as many new buzzwords as it possibly could for the launch of its successor, the Mate 50 Pro. Dazzle us, Huawei. The Mate 50 Pro isn’t some secret that the world only discovered this evening. In fact, the Mate 50 Pro has been on the market in China since September 2022. There…

Earlier this morning, Asus South Africa announced two new additions to its Vivobook range – the Vivobook GO 15 OLED, and the Vivobook GO 14. Vivobook’s whole thing is to offer as much performance possible while sticking to the small(ish) design and cheap(ish) price point that’s become synonymous with the line-up. GOing OLED If you’re at all familiar with Asus, you’ll already know that the company is head over heels for a good OLED display, and that’s clear here with Asus’ naming conventions. But an OLED panel isn’t the defining factor in a laptop. It’s a small piece of the…

The Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between South Africa and the United States ended on 4 December 2022. If this isn’t the most terrifying sentence you’ve read all morning, we are concerned about your Twitter feed. Fortunately, the implications aren’t as scary as they sound. At least, for us. Eskom on the other hand… One less nuclear option – for now The pact between the US and South Africa enabled Eskom to import nuclear fuel components to the lone atomic plant in the country – the Koeberg power station. With it now ended, Westinghouse Electric can…

TymeBank and The Foschini Group (TFG) are teaming up, opening a “new front door” to the banking world in South Africa. Even if you aren’t already a customer, you’ve definitely heard of TymeBank. You know, the bank that lets you open an account faster than it takes to pay for parking. The partnership between TFG and TymeBank introduces new ‘products’ that’ll help customers in both the banking and shopping realms. Saving your tyme The first addition to the two companies is the opening of 600 TymeBank TFG kiosks spread out across a host of TFG’s stores (Foschini, Markham, and Sportscene,…