Author: Trent Meikle

Who still uses Telkom’s fibre in this day and age? Telkom may once have championed broadband in South Africa, being the first to get ADSL up and running commercially but since then, it’s been one overpriced package after another. To counter this narrative (and feed their workers), the provider has launched a new, prepaid R100/week fibre-to-the-home deal. It’s even sporting some half-decent speeds. What’s the catch, Telkom? Of course, there’s a catch. Known as Prepaid Compact-Fibre, the 20Mbps/10Mbps download and upload package deal is only available in those areas where Openserve operates — and even then, your area may not…

No surprises here: Netflix is still on top Bad news, everyone. Netflix is king, and we are but subjects condemned to a life of misery under its thumb. If it wasn’t already obvious, we’re still feeling the salty residuals of the streamer’s decision to abolish (free) password sharing, ultimately catapulting Netflix into the stratosphere. See, the streamer recently released its Q1 figures (via Variety), adding 9.33 million more feathers to an already-laden cap. If you haven’t been keeping track, those nine million new subscribers put Netflix right under the 270-million-user mark, leaving Prime Video, Disney+ and, uh, the rest, in…

Major corporations in the US and Europe are finally taking seriously a sector South Africans have been king of for quite some time: power stations. And thank goodness, too. If it wasn’t for Asus’ upcoming ROG Mjolnir or DJI’s drone-fast-charging power stations, the area might develop into a barren wasteland of boring ideas. As such, DJI’s newly released Power 500 and Power 1,000 in the US and Europe (both devices released in China last year) are exactly the kick up the backside that the power station industry needs. At the time of writing, DJI hasn’t announced any intention to expand…

It’s been a minute since Stuff had a shiny new Vivo to play around with. Ever since the Chinese smartphone maker’s V27 5G graced us with its presence, it’s been quiet. That’s no longer the case after the company officially launched the Vivo V30 Series in South Africa at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on Thursday, 18 April 2024. Headling the affair and joining the ranks of Vivo’s flagship V Series was the V30 5G — described as the company’s thinnest smartphone that still manages to pack in a 5,000mAh battery in the trunk. Following in its footsteps is the Vivo V30e,…

If you want to see something funny, just mention the words ‘budget headphones’ around the Stuff offices and wait for the looks of abject terror to spread across our faces. Unless those words are preceded by Anker, that is. See, Anker has made a name for itself in the high-end budget audio space (it’s a thing), and the Soundcore Space One is continuing that legacy. You’re getting a whole lot of headphone here for the R2,000 asking price. Active Noise Cancelling (a must when stepping foot into Stuff’s bullpen), an exquisite battery that’ll leave Eskom wheezing, and some killer looks.…

Electricity-loving Marvel fans, unite! Asus, the company behind the ROG Ally and some of our favourite laptops is doing something a little different. Enter the ROG Mjolnir, a sun-sucking power station worthy of the God of Thunder himself (and any South African struggling to fend off load shedding’s advances, we guess). Initially teased as an April Fool’s joke, the ROG Mjolnir is anything but. Asus confirmed as much just a day later, noting that the world would get a closer look at the specs keeping this hunk of metal (plastic?) — that would look right at home as a display…

We had hoped, after the drubbing South Africa’s petrol drivers have experienced at the hands of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy regarding official fuel prices, a price reduction would be in order when May rolls around. According to freshly harvested mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF), we won’t be quite so lucky, with petrol drivers expected to suffer their fourth increase in as many months. Diesel drivers, on the other hand, are tipped to experience yet another round of decreases by the time the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DoE) alter the country’s pumps. As…

YouTube is on the prowl. In October, the Google-owned platform kicked off a war against desktop users using an adblocker, all in a desperate attempt to get the service’s Premium numbers up. It… sort of worked, but now the company is cracking down on its largest demographic yet: mobile users. Well, not entirely. YouTube is now targeting those third-party apps that use its API to circumvent the incessant ads on the platform– found most commonly on mobile devices. The company said as much in a recent community announcement, noting that it was “strengthening our enforcement on third-party apps that violate…

Ah, Disney+. If you weren’t supplying a finite supply of Shōgun (that we promise we’ll get around to watching), we’d likely cancel our subscription tonight. That appears to be the case for many of the House of Mouse’s customers, which is why Disney+ is looking to include FAST (free, ad-supported streaming television) channels into the mix. Disney+ a whole lot of Star Wars That’s what The Information (via Engadget) reckons is happening, anyway. FAST channels are nothing new. Roku, Pluto TV and Tubi are all well-acquainted with the idea, even if they aren’t active in South Africa. The report doesn’t say where Disney+ might be…

Banish whatever hopes you had balled up in the deepest, darkest recesses of your mind that Nintendo might pull a fast one on the world and debut the Switch 2 at Gamescom this August in Cologne, Germany. That definitely won’t happen, after the Mario-maker confirmed to Games Wirtschaft and later, Eurogamer, that it wouldn’t be attending the conference this year. “Gamescom is a great event, and each year we evaluate whether Nintendo should participate or not,” a Nintendo UK spokesperson told Eurogamer. “After careful consideration from all perspectives, we’ve made the decision not to be present at Gamescom 2024. Players will have…