Author: Toby Shapshak

Lions fullback Quan Horn has been picked at fly-half in the first Springbok team of the year – against the Barbarians. It’s classic Rassie Erasmus, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Meanwhile, the South Africa A against Zimbabwe blends a mix of youth and experience. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify Stuff Rugby on…

With two matches to play on June 20th (Springboks against the Barbarians and SA A against Zimbabwe), Rassie Erasmus has named a 53-player squad for both games, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts

The Economist headline says it all: “Wall Street’s undignified SpaceX mania”. While Space Exploration Technologies Corporation has launched mankind to the stars, investors are hoping their bet in the initial public offering (IPO) this week will be similarly stratospheric. “Ahead of SpaceX’s gigantic initial public offering, you can see more rockets on Wall Street than at Cape Canaveral,” writes The Economist. “It’s a sign of investment banks’ abasement before the likes of Elon Musk and the bosses of the AI companies who plan to follow him onto the market.” It adds: “Is that a rocket in your lobby, or are…

Sagrada Família, arguably the most gloriously designed church in the world, is being turned into a Lego set. What took you so long, say the architecture aficionados? The Lego Architecture Sagrada Família set is being released to honour its equally glorious architect, Antoni Gaudí, who died 100 years ago in June 1926. Sagrada Família is an epic construction that Gaudí conceived before the building technology was invented to complete this amazing building. It began construction in 1882, and Gaudí took over as architect the following year. By the time he died, 100 years ago this month, his most iconic construction…

When Amazon.co.za went live in May 2024, it was noticeably without its much-heralded Prime delivery service. It was a lacklustre launch, really in name only, as it had very little to sell and not many people rushed to take up the limited opening discounts. But, more significantly, it forced South Africa’s own Amazon, Takealot, to lift its game. Two days later, it announced its own subscription delivery service. TakealotMore is priced at R39 or R99 a month and, crucially, offers much faster deliveries. For Prime, I was just happy with next-day, let alone the same-day delivery  – if you order…

Elon Musk is likely to become the world’s first trillionaire when SpaceX lists in what is expected to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) ever. SpaceX on Wednesday revealed its plans to raise $75-billion when it lists, valuing the company at a whopping $1.75-trillion. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation said it will sell 555-million shares for $135 each when it goes public. But Musk will retain 82.4% of the voting control. When it lists, SpaceX will be the seventh most valuable company on the S&P 500, which Nvidia leads at $5.2-trillion. Musk is the world’s richest person – worth $825-billion…

Who will win the TV wars is a question that has dominated tech publications for decades. The rapid evolution of flat-panel displays has seen a massive market for these amazing screens. The debate now has a new corollary, which is, who will win the streaming wars? That is a topic that is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. You’ll notice, though, that the major TV manufacturers never put an Apple TV button on the remote control, like they do Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+. Apple, for its part, won’t let you install a streaming app on its MacBook laptops, only…

Amazon has started its Prime delivery service in South Africa. It costs R59 a month or R399 a year. The much-hyped membership programme offers unlimited free deliveries, including on the same day, and its streaming video service, called Prime Video. After Amazon’s buy-everything website itself, Prime is considered the next best thing the ecommerce giant has done to revolutionise online shopping. And it has. Same-day or next-day deliveries weren’t a given when Amazon helped kick off the ecommerce revolution. Now they are. Because Amazon offered free, quick delivery, everybody else had to. Even before Amazon.co.za was announced as going live,…

The last thing any other URC team want to face in a semifinal is the two top South African sides, but that is what they’ve got this weekend, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Meanwhile, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is injured and potentially out for three months, but don’t panic, Cappy adds. We’ve got Mannie Libbok and Handre Pollard, in that order, next in line. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports…

That certainly wasn’t the reception Ferrari was expecting for its new Luce electric vehicle, but then again, that wasn’t what any Ferrari lover was hoping for either.  Instead of the usually low-slung, sleek supercars the Italian brand is known for, it’s produced a soccer-mom family car. With a whopping pricetag of $640,000 (R10,5-million).  There is outrage about the new design, which is a four-door sedan and not something you’d see Magnum driving around in. Maybe an older, settled-down, had-kids Magnum.  I’m always amazed when people have such strong emotions about things that I don’t care about – including cars, football, the firing and hiring of soccer coaches, anything…