Author: Toby Shapshak

While researching their blockbuster movie Saving Private Ryan director Steven Spielberg and star Tom Hanks kept coming across references to Easy Company, the legendary US paratroopers who featured in every major battle of World War II. It led to one of the greatest war series about one of the greatest units in the history of war. In the pantheon of good war films, there is a special place for this 10-part miniseries about the remarkable exploits of the parachute battalion of American airborne infantry who took part in all the major battles of the Second World War, from Normandy to…

I watched Chernobyl twice when it came out and a third time to write this review. I lived through the Cold War and years of the threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD). Nuclear weapons were the world-ending threat I grew up fearing. And then a nuclear power station had a meltdown. I lived through Chernobyl, watching the news broadcasts on SABC with my family. I was 15. As much as the Cold War threatened a Soviet nuclear attack, such an invasion never came to pass. But ultimately, Russian nuclear weapons crept across the border into Europe, through the Chernobyl accident.…

“Have you bought an eSIM?” I asked an older friend who was taking a cruise with her husband. “Not yet,” she replied. So I bought them both eSIMs and sent the QR codes to her phone. Let’s call her Heidi. Then I stopped and thought, they’re both at the airport, how will they scan the codes? So, I sent my friend’s eSIMs to her husband’s phone so she could just scan them off his (and vice versa). When you buy yourself an eSIM, it’s easy to scan, especially if you buy it on your computer. But how do you scan…

You forget just how desperate the state of Springbok rugby was a mere 18 months before the 2019 World Cup in Japan. It would end so dramatically and with such triumph, sure, but it began at rock bottom. Losing 57-nil to the All Blacks in 2017 was the nadir of Alistair Coetsee’s ill-fated reign as Springbok coach. In came Rassie Erasmus and his partner-in-genius, Jacques Nienabr. They would go on to revolutionise South African rugby, turn around the fortunes of a top-tier but depressed team, scandalise world rugby with the innovative bomb squad of replacement forwards, and win a World…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KNakJa4iEE Dell’s path to sustainability Computer industry veteran Doug Woolley says sustainability is now a key focus. Woolley, the vice president of sales for Southern Africa and a director of Dell South Africa, tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak how Dell has made significant strides in sustainability.

If you wanted to identify the stage in the golden age of television that we are living through right now, I think we’re in the prequel phase. Or, what happened before what happened. The star of the prequel phase is House of the Dragon, the prequel to arguably the greatest fantasy TV series ever, Game of Thrones. Who was the first dragon queen? Why are there ongoing feuds amongst the great houses of Westeros? What happened before Hodar, before “Winter Is Coming”? (For what it’s worth GoT scored 9.2 out of 10 on IMDB, to its prequel’s 8.3. IMDB may…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c37zCVOgN9g Kena Health wants to make healthcare affordable The co-founder and CEO of Kena Health, Saul Kornik, wants to give real-world, cost-effective healthcare to millions of South Africans, he tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. He’s already proved he can solve another of the country’s thorny healthcare problems, placing doctors for their practical experience.

The best thing about the Apple Watch 10 is that it takes half an hour to charge to 80%. Sure, it will warn you if you have sleep apnea and high blood pressure but for everyday use, faster charging is always better. Essential, actually. This is the fourth Apple Watch I have owned and the painfully slow charging has always been my biggest bugbear – after the weird not “charging to full” setting I have to manually turn it off just about every time I put it onto a charger. We’ll discuss that later. I got myself the Apple Watch…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou4jnL1mMCs How fairy tales can teach us about cybersecurity As scammers lean into the psychology of human nature to scare or shame people into giving up security information, Standard Bank is using another form of psychology to upskill people to avoid phishing and fishing: good, old-fashioned fairy tales. Dr Belinda Rathogwa, executive head of digital and ecommerce for personal and private banking at Standard Bank South Africa, tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak about this novel approach to educating people. Audio-only options:

When you have your own acronym – which is a rebranding of PTSD – then you are a very special player. And Pieter-Steph du Toit, the towering colossus who never stops tackling, is this year’s men’s 15 world rugby player of the year. Even the judges of that competition agreed. https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/stuffrugby/episodes/PSTD-is-the-worlds-best-rugby-player–Again—StuffRugby-e2rfo97 Listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify. Read more: TV is an app. Rugby is real life Read Cappy’s Rugby World Cup 2023 wrap: You can’t beat the Boks, because they are you