Author: Stuff writer

Boeing Starliner will return to Earther without astronauts on board The issues for the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) have come about primarily because Boeing and NASA engineers can’t be sure that it’s safe to let humans travel in Starliner. Following weeks of delay, NASA has decided that Starliner will return to Earth sans any human passengers. The reason for this is that it “allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew”. This… seems like the best course…

Cameras are an expensive hobby. Believe us, we’d know. If it isn’t the costly centrepiece itself, it’s the massive array of lenses – most of which might end up setting you back further financially than the initial purchase. There is an answer, however. It’s simple, really: buy ‘old’ hardware. Seriously, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with picking up a camera that doesn’t have 2024 printed on it. That’s especially true in the case of Canon’s DSLR cameras, or more specifically, the Canon EOS R6, currently fetching a still staggering price of R48,000. Don’t worry, it comes with a 24-105MM F/4-7.1 LENS.…

Ah, the original Walkman! Ancient music tech with all the charm of a brick – and the heft of one. Listen, when you can suck all of music history from the cloud into a svelte phone, there’s a chance you’ve been spoilt. But Sony’s chunky delight was a genuine slice of wonder 45 years ago. Finally, you could take your own music anywhere, without the inconvenience of trailing a massive extension cord behind you and trying to balance a record player on your head while carrying an amp and speakers. Not that Stuff ever tried that, obviously. Well, certainly not…

Seriously, has there ever been a smartwatch as expensive as the Apple Watch Ultra? Technically yes, if you’re counting its follow-up – the unimaginative Watch Ultra 2 – but it was Apple that initially set the precedent to sell a smartphone that costs as much as a whole flagship smartphone, that Samsung copied as soon as it could. Why did we ever let them get away with this again? To be fair to Apple, even all these years later, the OG Watch Ultra is still just as capable as ever. Whether it’s the coating of “aerospace-grade titanium”, 36 hours of…

Want to get more out of that little black box and power up your television? Stuff shows you how to make the most of your Apple TV and its latest operating system, tvOS 17… THE BASICS Take control On the new Siri Remote, the TV button opens the TV app. A long press of ‘<’ loads the home screen. Hate that app? Use Settings > Remote and Devices > TV Button to have it load the home screen instead. Double-click the TV button for an iOS-like app switcher where you can swipe up to force-quit an unruly app… or avoid…

Foldables aren’t easy to come by in South Africa without a big stack of cash on hand. Seriously. Look it up. Even those devices that don’t have Samsung’s branding plastered all over, aren’t exactly what we’d call ‘cheap’. Of course, this is assuming you’re after the latest and greatest foldable on the market. If you can settle for last year’s model – in this case, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 – you’ll be paying half the price at the tills. That’s a win in our books. People tend to focus heavily on the newcomers to the field, entirely disregarding the…

Vox Telecom is the latest South African internet service provider to launch two of its own fixed 5G packages. They offer up to 300Mbps speeds (depending on your coverage) and uncapped data with 1TB and 2TB Fair Usage Policy (FUP) thresholds for R900/m and R1,600/m respectively. These packages might be a first for Vox but they are far from the first fixed 5G connections available to South Africans – Rain claims that title. Still, better late than never, right? Vox brings 5G to the home Vox launched its 5G service in May earlier this year and is now starting to…

Like clockwork, Apple’s iPhone 16 is right around the corner. But what if we told you there was something… better? This might seem obvious to many of you, but sticking with last year’s tech is almost always the safest bet, and it’s no different for the iPhone 15. Especially when it comes to dealing with the top-of-the-line Pro Max model. It’s (slightly) cheaper than it was ten months ago, but still just as capable. And oh boy, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is one capable smartphone. As if the ostentatious ‘Pro Max’ convention didn’t already make that obvious. It’s an…

It’s time for another Mini Meme and with this one, we invite you to stop, take a good long look in the mirror and ask yourself: What’s the point of paying for access to hundreds of thousands of award-winning movies if you’re just going to rewatch the same five every few months? Or maybe you’re always on the lookout for new movies but can never remember the title when you find one or which service holds the rights to air it that month. Never forget a favourite flick (or accidentally rewatch a lame one) again: these film-tracking apps will help…

THE BASICS Try new things Resident Evil Village on an iPhone is a great technical feat, but it’s horrible to play without a controller – and not ideal with one. For some titles, then, it’s best to stick with a console or PC. So rather than replicating your console experience on a phone, try new games – especially ones designed specifically for touchscreens. Be happy, not IAP-py In-app purchases increasingly infest console and PC gaming, but they’re endemic on mobile. Ideally, find paid games that avoid such nonsense, or those with a one-off purchase to unlock the main game, with…