Author: Brett Venter

There are a few obstacles when it comes to using solar power. The first requirement is sunlight, which South Africa has in abundance. The second is money, which South Africa has to… borrow from someone else. This might be why the newest solar power plant in the country was made by Amazon. Because they have all the money. The online retailer, and supplier of hosting services to many, has completed a 10MW solar power plant in the Northern Cape. Amazon expects the facility to generate some 28,000 MWh (megawatt-hours) of power a year. Enough, the company says, to power some…

It’s reassuring to know that a $10 billion (R154 billion) space telescope like James Webb shares DNA with terrestrial telescopes. If you stop paying attention to the challenges, what’s currently happening out LaGrange Point 2 isn’t all that different from sticking a laser collimator into a 10in Dobsonian. Besides the fact that NASA’s using eighteen mirrors at once and is operating the ‘scope remotely from a distance of 1.5 million km. Other than that, it’s totally the same. It puts having to readjust a rear mirror in the cold while wearing gloves into perspective. James Webb focuses on the job…

It isn’t often (lately, at least) that Huawei introduces a new product that actually lifts Stuff’s eyebrows. The company’s new MatePad Paper e-ink tablet, though, just broke the dry spell. Revealed just prior to this week’s Mobile World Congress kickoff (if anyone’s even still paying attention to that), the device comes across as part Kindle Oasis, part Android tablet. There are a few significant changes evident, though. Otherwise, the MatePad Paper would just be a Kindle knockoff. There’s a substantially larger screen than we’re used to, clocking in at 10.3in. There’s also a stylus, because you don’t just use the…

Don’t you just love it when South Africa gets something right? An international team of astronomers working at SA’s MeerKAT radio telescope facility has found something remarkable out in space. And not remarkable as in Don’t Look Up remarkable. But it is mighty impressive, nonetheless. The team used MeerKAT to image the single largest cosmic shockwave ever observed. How large is it? You saw the headline, but we’ll say it again. The shockwave is 6.5 million light-years across. That’s large enough that the entire Milky Way is barely a blip next to it. Fear the mighty MeerKAT There are two…

Ukraine’s government has issued an unusual call, situating us all firmly in the future. The government, while coping with Russian forces actually present in the country, is also contending with cyberattacks. They’ve asked, via various hacker forums in the country, the country’s hackers to rally in defence of Ukraine. “Ukrainian cybercommunity! It’s time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country,” reads a post from one of the country’s forums. Reuters reports that the country’s government is taking applications from hackers via Google Docs. Potential volunteers are being asked what their specialities are, as well as for references.…

We’re not sure if you’ve heard, but there are some awfully interesting times going on in Ukraine at the moment. And those times aren’t confined to American and Russian troops preparing to cause damage to neither of those countries. Websites in the world’s newest geopolitical hotspot are taking strain, thanks to ongoing DDoS attacks. Monitoring company NetBlocks reported on Twitter that several Ukrainian government websites “…have just been impacted by network disruptions; the incident appears consistent with recent DDOS attacks”. DDoS – FORMAT c:/Ukraine/V:USSR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmdnqIX6r4k The DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks began yesterday, escalating before tapering off. A NetBlocks…

If you had anything besides love on your mind last Valentine’s Day, you would have noted that South Africa’s labour department and Huawei aren’t getting along. That’s because the Chinese tech company, according to the Department of Labour, employs a 90% foreign workforce. The allowable limit, according to SA’s laws, is just a 40% complement of foreign nationals at any company. Huawei, in a new statement issued yesterday evening, has signalled that matters are proceeding in a favourable manner for all concerned. By which they mean, nobody’s going to court any time soon. Which might well be the best possible…

2021 was a rough year. We get it. Heck, we all lived it. But Samsung had a very specific problem last year — its Galaxy S21 FE handset was delayed. And then it wasn’t. And then it was again. The upshot was that this handset was only announced in January 2022, and only launched internationally on 11 January. That was… a bit late. And not ‘a bit late’ like missing a meeting by a few minutes. It’s more like ‘Why did you even bother turning up’ late. Which is a pity. The Galaxy S21 FE is a great smartphone. Make…

Keep on some Spotify hardware in your car? No, not your cellphone. Spotify doesn’t make that. It does make the Car Thing (or pays someone else to), a device we first saw in April last year. But, like, in mid-April, so there was no chance it was a joke. Initially, the $80 (R1,200) in-car audio device was available by invitation only. That’s changed, but it hasn’t changed enough. Anyone can now buy one, for $90 (R1,350), provided you live in the United States. So it’s less a case of ‘anyone’ and more one of ‘Americans’. But many Americans will tell…

It’s been almost a decade since Elon Musk came up with the idea for the Hyperloop and then threw it out into the world. In that time, several entities have attempted to exploit the idea. There have been test runs, and some, like Virgin Hyperloop, have even conducted passenger tests. But although the company under Richard Branson’s banner has taken the step of sending its former head on a trip in one of its pods, sadly, that’s as far as it goes. Plans for passenger transportation are being abandoned, with the result that 111 staff are being made redundant. Overhyped…