Author: Brett Venter

Soon the International Space Station (ISS) will be the recipient of a brand new BFF. Instead of a wholesome relationship, a BFF in this instance is a BioFabrication Facility. Which sounds considerably larger than it actually is. NASA’s not sending a whole new factory up into space. It’s more of a compact bio-printer. It’s also not the first time it’s been up there. The ISS played host to the BioFabrication Facility in 2019 when it was used to print human heart cells and a substantial portion of a human knee’s meniscus. Now, it’s heading back up there. BFFs forever? The…

Huawei’s most recent smartphone launch was quite heavily signposted. The Pocket S, a successor to the P50 Pocket handset, is now official. As expected, it’s cheap. Surprisingly cheap, for a folding smartphone. Based on Chinese pricing (the only country where it’s official), there’s no cheaper folding smartphone anywhere else. If you were to opt for the 128GB version of the phone — you can’t, but if you could — it would set you back R15,000. Its official price is about CNY6,000, while the 256GB version costs CNY6,500 (R16,300). A later 512GB version will launch towards the end of the year…

After threatening to do so for several months, Netflix has finally dropped its ad-supported tier on the world. Well, some of the world. The new plan, called Basic with Ads, is available in the United States and ten other countries. Before you get excited, South Africa isn’t one of them. And that might be for the best. It doesn’t really seem like you’re getting the best deal by paying Netflix less money. The new bottom tier will set subscribers back just $6 (R110) per month. That’s… not all that far from South Africa’s basic pricing, which makes us a tiny…

It’s just about time to step into the blood-spattered shoes of Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, once again. Stuff has been playing God of War Ragnarök for some time now and you’re going to want to do the same. Of course, you already knew that. Ragnarök directly follows the events of 2018’s God of War. In case you’re a little misty, Kratos resurfaced in Midgard with a son, Atreus, and a recently-deceased wife, Faye. The father-son duo embarks on an epic journey to scatter Faye’s ashes at a very specific location. This entails vast quantities of blood, hacksilver, and father-son…

On any list of items you really don’t have to own, the Porsche 911 Soundbar 2.0 Pro is right up there with a Triceratops skull. It’s an impractical purchase but you really wouldn’t complain if it were sitting in your home. The drawbacks of owning an actual dinosaur are obvious. The drawbacks of a speaker, even one made by Porsche Design, are a little less so. Well, this one is made from the exhaust system of a Porsche 992 GT3. It looks spectacular, but moving it around or installing it will be a pain in the neck. Plus, do you…

You remember Game of Thrones, right? That epic fantasy show based on a still unfinished book series? (Yes, George, we’re not going to shut up about that. Stop making video games and write.) The one that screwed it all up in the last season? Yeah, that show’s going to be turned into NFTs, apparently. This makes a sort of sense. In the game of thrones, you win or you die. NFTs are a little bit like that. Some people make money from it. Everyone else has to lose it in order for this to happen. See? It’s synergy. Game of…

Following on the heels of the Fujifilm Instax Link Wide photo printer is the Instax Mini Link 2. It’s, more or less, the same device as its predecessor. It’s an instant camera without the camera attached, meaning you get instant photographs with none of the uncertainty. That kinda misses the point, but that’s on you. We’ve been expecting the Mini Link 2 to turn up since July this year. It’s finally come (and since gone from the Stuff offices). Here’s what we found out about it, over the course of some twenty instant photographs. Magic box The Instax Mini Link…

Primetime Channels is the newest feature to issue forth from video sharing website YouTube. Basically, it’s a collection of streaming services, in one place. It’s also not exactly a surprise. We’ve been expecting something like this for some time now. That’s Primetime, baby Long story short, a load of different streaming providers have joined forces with YouTube. The likes of Starz, AMC+, Showtime, Paramount+, and Epix are all represented, as well as some lesser-known providers. Hallmark Movies Now, Sundance Now, and The Great Courses are a few of the slightly more recognisable options but you know how these things are.…

Turntables aren’t just for hipsters anymore. Actually, expensive turntables have never gone away. Here’s another one, made by a Japanese company called Esoteric. Called the Grandioso T1, this turntable costs ¥7.7-million. That’s a mighty R950,000, just a handful of change shy of a full R1 million. It might look like an over-engineered kitchen scale but Esoteric’s vinyl player really hopes to justify the price tag. The Japanese company’s speciality is high-end audio tech but the T1 is its first analogue vinyl player. Still, it looks the part. Mucho Grandioso The first thing you need to know about this turntable is…

You might think you’re serious about your digital photography but you’re not really serious about it until you’ve used the LSST. The world’s largest digital camera is a stunning 3,200MP unit that cost about R3 billion ($168 million) to put together. You won’t find it at any photography stores. The LSST camera is part of an astronomy project. That much should be obvious. There’s not much call for a camera that can read the serial numbers on money from a distance of 24km. The project is the Legacy Survey of Space and Time and it’s supposed to run for ten…