Author: Trent Meikle

South Africa is going digital, baby. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has heard the pleas of Stuff’s own Toby Shapshak and officially announced its plans to make digital IDs and passports a reality in South Africa. The system is… online? The plan was detailed in the DHA’s Strategic Plan for 2025 to 2030, where the department mentions its ‘digital identity initiative’ that will supposedly streamline immigration processes and “ensure that services are more efficient and secure.” And, as Shapshak says, enable Saffas to leave the home walletless. “It’s not just that I want a minimalistic approach to what I have to…

It seems like South Africa’s great petrol price streak is coming to an end. Despite positive predictions from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) in the early days of June, the energy institution’s latest snapshot (captured 20 June) paints a distinctly nastier picture than the one we’re used to seeing, with petrol and diesel drivers expected to shell out more for a full thank this July than they have in June. Can we talk about the political and economic state of the world right now? This isn’t some minor increase either, like the CEF’s previous predictions last week may have indicated.…

Apple’s feeling a little perplexed Well, it was a fun idea while it lasted. Rather than nurture its home-grown AI talent after OpenAI snatched Apple’s best employees away, the Big Fruit Company would rather buy some. The higher-ups have reportedly discussed the potential of acquiring Perplexity AI, according to Bloomberg’s Apple guru Mark Gurman. Perplexity AI is a hot commodity right now. Not only has Samsung attempted to secure its services for its devices, but Meta reportedly considered acquiring the company for itself earlier this year before it decided to invest heavily in Scale AI instead. Perplexity maintains that it has…

If you thought you could escape the seemingly endless reach of artificial intelligence by journeying to the very depths of the tablet pool, think again. Even Oppo, the talents of which typically include decent budget and mid-range devices, is sticking AI into the most six-thousand-Randest tablet out there, the Oppo Pad SE. Ignore all its shortcomings, for want of a better word, and the Pad SE makes a case for being a decent, though not exactly budget, tablet. It won’t boot up Assassin’s Creed or Resident Evil anytime soon, or ever, for that matter, but it should make for a decent Netflix streamer…

Now that we’ve spent roughly two weeks in the company of the Nintendo Switch 2, we have some thoughts. One of those is ‘When can we get back to playing The Wind Waker?’ and another is ‘Why do squids look like that?’ We don’t have those answers as we’ve spent so much of our energy focusing on the Nintendo Switch 2 — specifically Mario Kart World — the only ‘proper’ title the console has. Nobody’s lookin’ at you, Welcome Tour. Like a devious parent, we’re gonna rip the loose tooth out quickly. Two more weeks with the Switch 2 weren’t…

In a rather strange turn of events, Netflix, once championed for ‘ending’ the tyrannical reign of broadcast TV, is now entering the space itself. Kinda. As reported by the Financial Times, Netflix has found itself in a “landmark deal” with French television network TF1 to bring the broadcaster’s traditional content line-up to Netflix, effectively saving it from this hardcore streaming era, which it helped build. Netflix will show all five of TF1’s traditional ‘linear’ channels on its own platform starting 2026, including major live sports and shows like The Voice — but only for those users in France. It’ll also hand…

We don’t need to sugarcoat it. Google’s Veo 3 model, which lets anyone with enough disposable income generate move-level visuals (not to mention the voices to go along with them) from nothing, is perhaps one of the most advanced and terrifying things we’ve yet seen to come out of this AI era. And now it’s coming to YouTube. Don’t slip in the AI slop Specifically, YouTube Shorts. Instead of, uh, banishing the ‘AI slop’ plaguing the platform in recent months, Google is bolstering it with the addition of Veo 3. Before, Veo 3 was limited to the folks willing to pay…

It’s almost a given at this point that Samsung would re-emerge from its hibernation by the time July rolls around for its next big Unpacked event, and the South Korean outfit has not disappointed. While we’re still awaiting official word from the horse’s mouth, leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) reckons the date is set: 9 July 2025. Samsung’s gonna Fold (no, not like that) That’s comically close to last year’s mid-year Unpacked, which fell on 10 July 2024 and saw the company reveal the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip 6 devices, a new Ultra Watch, and plenty more besides. Whether Samsung…

South Africa has made history, both by entering the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time — thanks to the Mamelodi Sundowns — as well as the team nabbing a very decisive win this morning, ensuring it’ll have more eyes on it by the time it’s ready to play against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, 21 June. To make it easier for Saffas, Hisense is offering its customers the chance to watch the entire tournament live, entirely for free. You’ll need a VIDAA-equipped Hisense or Toshiba smart TV to take advantage, however. That decades-old Hisense TV still plaguing your guest…

It was nice while it lasted. We’d become so used to the idea of South Africa’s petrol and diesel prices going down on a regular basis that the latest predictive snapshots from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) came as a bit of a shock. Captured 16 June 2025, the CEF predicts that South Africa is in for its first fuel price increase in months. Grab those petrol pitchforks Fortunately, the numbers are still relatively small, at least for now. The CEF’s figures, while the most accurate available, are not official. On the first Wednesday of every month, the Department of…