Author: Brett Venter

It’s an interesting time to be an internet user. The brains over at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) today detailed the recent trends in cybersecurity threats, both internationally and in South Africa, offering some insight into what South Africans can expect from criminal activity online. The group also detailed the products and services it has at its disposal to help mitigate cyberattacks and other online threats. These range from the kinda-awesome (a network traffic dongle-slash-early-warning-system) to the actually-scary (biometrics for kids). But first, what to expect from the internet in 2023: CSIR, you can’t go in there…

Artemis II, NASA’s upcoming manned mission around Earth’s moon, officially has a crew. Moreover, there are at least three firsts taking place. NASA’s sending a woman and a person of colour on the mission — this much has been known for ages — but it’s also sending a Canadian. Believe it or not, that’s never happened before. This is Artemis II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mua1Lysc_JQ On the mission is Gregory Reid Wiseman (commander), an experienced astronaut and pilot who has spent time on the International Space Station. Joining him are Victor Glover (pilot), who was involved with the first manned Crew Dragon flight,…

If you weren’t aware that the year is flying, let’s point it out for you. It’s already time for the April May 2023 issue of Stuff Magazine. If you’re marking your calendars with ferocious regularity, you’ll know that we’ve just entered the second quarter of the year. And that can only mean one thing — smart homes. By which we mean, the current issue of Stuff (in stores now) will show you how to smarten up your home. It’s not quite a full-on ChatGPT conversion but it’ll do for now. Smarter speakers (yes, with AI in ’em), appliances, gadgets, cameras…

SpaceX’s Starship rocket spent most of the first half of 2021 exploding, either on takeoff or on landing. It finally made it to the ground in one piece, setting the stage for an orbital test where the rocket would leave Earth’s atmosphere. We’ve waited. And waited. Now, the wait may be over. SpaceX’s Super Heavy Starship booster has been placed on a launch pad, waiting for the Starship rocket to be stacked on top of it. That rocket is called Ship 24 and, according to sources, it could finally enter orbit following a 10 April launch. However, nothing’s official just…

Following the success of the Artemis 1 mission test (and the reveal of the suit to be used for Artemis III), Artemis II — the crewed mission around Earth’s Moon — is set to have its astronauts revealed. The time is sooner than you’d think. NASA will announce the four astronauts participating in the mission today at 11h00 Eastern Daylight Time. Which, if you’re in a South African time zone (which we are), works out to 17h00 this evening. Watching the event is also incredibly simple. You can watch via NASA TV, a constant live stream from the space agency…

Audiobook platform Audible sometimes has some great ideas. Spatial audio, in the form of Dolby Atmos support, for instance, is a great idea. Putting ads into audiobooks, though? That’s… several steps down the ladder, somewhere below ‘Comprehensible’. It is, unfortunately, definitely happening. At the moment, it’s part of “…limited testing for non-members only that provides ad-supported access to a limited set of Audible titles.” So if you’re a paying member of the platform, your ears are safe from unexpected crypto ads while reading some Jane Austen. Probably. Who advertises in audiobooks? There’s no real explanation as to why Audible is…

The Electronic Software Association (ESA) had high hopes for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) event. It was supposed to be a return to gaming’s most high-profile in-person event following the pandemic slowdown. Unfortunately, this year’s event has been completely cancelled. And while ReedPop, the company that was taking the organisational reigns of the event this year, is making positive noises about possible future events, it doesn’t look like this gaming institution is coming back. E3 – you sank my gaming event ReedPop’s global vice president of gaming, Kyle Marsden-Kish, said in a statement, “We appreciate and understand that interested…

Netflix giveth and Netflix taketh away. Mostly, though, the streaming platform giveth. And it looks as though it’s set to give its users a little more, in the shape of mobile games playable on TV sets. Even weirder, smartphones (the iPhone, specifically, but we expect Android would also get a look in) would function as controllers. At least, that’s the case according to some code that has turned up in the iOS version of the streaming app. If it’s executed, and there’s reason to think it might be, it would see mobile games playable on TVs. And that means more…

It’s been a long road to Apple’s WWDC 2023. Normally the World Wide Developer Conference is a software-based affair, where UI updates and apps are the order of the day.  But expectations are high for this year’s event. Apple’s finally dated the thing so we’d got some idea when to expect Apple’s Next Big Thing™ – 5 June is the day. And that’s official. What’s (still) not official is whether we’ll see Apple’s Reality headsets. All signs point to ‘yes’, including a report that company head Tim Cook is adamant that AR and/or VR headsets are on the menu for…

Lockheed Martin doesn’t just make weapons systems, the F22 Raptor, and… okay, and rocket engines. Crescent Space is the newest spinoff from the weapons and aerospace company and it’s dedicated to a slightly less explosive aim — that of lunar communications infrastructure. Which, if you’re paying attention, is a major target of the ongoing Artemis program. Nokia has already been tasked with building a 4G network on the lunar surface — gotta let astronauts doomscroll too, after all — but this new venture promises to be a bit more expansive. Dead Crescent Space Our snarky doomscrolling comment isn’t far off…