Author: Stuff writer

Plans to send astronauts to Mars seem to be working out for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A magnitude 4 marsquake (as opposed to an earthquake here on Earth) on Mars in December last year This week, scientists finally figured out what actually happened and what it could mean for plans to send astronauts to Mars. “Working together, two NASA spacecraft —one on the ground and one in orbit—detected a large meteorite that slammed into the Red Planet,” says NASA. Side note: Mars is called the Red Planet because (you guessed it)… it looks red due to its…

Now and then, it’s good to go back in time and see how much technology has evolved over the years. Thursday, 27 October, marks World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. Let’s go back in time to 2005, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) picked a day to remind us about the importance of preserving recorded sound and audiovisual documents. Stuff Shop: Go back in time and check out previous editions of Stuff. This year, UNESCO chose the theme “Enlisting documentary heritage to promote inclusive, just and peaceful societies.” Hopefully, you’ll use the tech for some good. Here’s how…

You know that moment when you receive a video, image, or GIF on WhatsApp and you forward it only to realise the text caption didn’t send? You then have to copy the text and send it separately. Well, that may soon come to an end. The Meta-owned messaging platform is testing a new version of WhatsApp Beta which could enable you to forward the media with the text attached…as you received it. The new feature was spotted by WABetaInfo. WhatsApp beta 2.22.23.15 is available from the Google Play Store to a few users testing it on Android. It could soon…

More researchers are finally studying the benefits of video games for children, instead of the disadvantages. And,  the results look good for the kids. A study published by medical journal JAMA Network Open notes how gaming may help children with cognitive and impulse control. Prior studies have linked video games to intelligence, and depression. A study by Psychological Medicine in 2021 found that kids who play video games tend to suffer from fewer mental disorders, including anxiety and depression. “Although most research has linked video gaming to subsequent increases in aggressive behaviour in children after accounting for prior aggression, findings…

You might soon only have to take a day off from life to renew your South African driving license every eight years, instead of the five years that we’re currently subjected to. That’s if the technology and government processes have still not caught up to a better method of renewing driving licenses. The current system requires you to physically go to gloomy government offices in the hopes of actually securing what you went there for. Transport minister Fikile Mbalula told eNCA this week that his department has proposed extending the driving license renewal process to Cabinet. This was after civil…

5.3 million mobile phones will be thrown away this year, according to the International Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), as e-waste continues to worsen across the world. The WEEE estimates that of 16 billion mobile phones, including smartphones, owned globally, 5.3 billion will become waste in 2022.  “Stacked flat atop one another at an average depth of 9 mm that many disused phones would rise roughly 50,000 km – 120 times higher than the International Space Station; one-eighth of the way to the moon,” says the WEEE. The world observed International E-waste Day this month, on October 14th. What…

Video game Trackmania has become accessible to the blind and visually impaired, thanks to company Artha France’s new technology. The tech includes a belt, your skin, and a camera and it allows the visually impaired to nail some laps on Trackmania. Using a haptic feedback belt strapped to their bodies, gamers are able to perceive their gaming environment. This is possible because sensations from the screen are transmitted, via a camera, to their skin. These players are able to see parts of the game because the skin sensors transmit data to their visual cortex. Just because a user’s eyes aren’t…

Crisis averted: WhatsApp is back, following a stress-filled morning of panic after the messenger service went down. Messages, calls and statuses’ were all down, forcing users to find alternatives. Now, we can rest. The world is at peace again. The messaging app went down on Tuesday morning across different parts of the world, including South Africa, the United Kingdom, and India. Read More: Mayday Mayday: WhatsApp is down As expected, social media, mostly Twitter, was one of the places where people went to inform each other of the latest developments and how they can all go back to chatting on…

Yes, you read that correctly. WhatsApp is down. The messenger stopped sending and receiving messages on Android and iOS on Tuesday morning, resulting in what usually happens when the messaging platforms occasionally goes offline – panic.  Many have flocked onto other social media platforms to ask each other if they were all on the same page. Read More: WhatsApp is making ‘view once’ images a little safer to send WhatsApp users reported having difficulty in sending and receiving messages, making calls as well as viewing status. Some users reported their issues on Downdetector, a website that enables users to report…

Instagram is enhancing its features to make it harder for trolls to slide onto your timeline and into your DMs. We didn’t say to stop trolls entirely, we said to “make it harder.” History has proven that it’s only a matter of time before they find a loophole to slide into before spamming your timeline again. Instagram will give you the option to block all existing accounts of a ‘person’ who may be spamming you when you block one of their accounts. That’s if it’s an actual person you’re blocking and not a bot. Well, you’ll be able to block…