Author: Toby Shapshak

There will be no bigger test this year than the Springboks v All Blacks at Fortress Eden Park, where New Zealand haven’t lost for 30 years, 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. Listen to Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Previous episode: Springboks go big for Wallabies at Ellis…

Hiring Gweneth Paltrow to be Astronomer’s spokes-celebrity after its CEO was humiliatedly outed for having an affair at a Coldplay concert is a pure stroke of marketing genius. That Paltrow has been “consciously decoupled” (or, as the rest of us would say, divorced) from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin just adds spice to what is the social media story of the year so far. One always has to add “so far,” given how outrageous such occurrences are when they happen – this being the year of the Jeffrey Epstein revelations – you can’t help but fear we’re just getting started. All Astronomer…

The usual giant players are joined by a few just as giant youngsters for the first Test against the Wallabies at Ellis Park. Coach Rassie Erasmus named his team on Monday, a world-first, Toby Shapshak jokes with Andy Capostagno. 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. Listen to Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts or…

Despite a stronger showing in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions, the Wallabies are still a work in progress. The Springboks, meanwhile, are the strongest they’ve ever been, 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. Listen to Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Previous episode:…

One of my favourite apps for many years was Instapaper (Android/iOS). It filled a niche in my digital consumption that few other apps could. Back when connectivity was scarce, Instapaper spotted a need and offered a great and simple solution. If you wanted to read an interesting article or webpage later, you could save it to Instapaper using a browser extension, and then read it later in the app. The app helpfully downloaded a version of the story for offline reading – often when you didn’t have internet access. Over the years, I evolved how I used Instapaper. At first, I…

When I first went to Shenzhen in 2004, it was still being built. There was construction everywhere. Everything was new. Now, it’s arguably the most important single city in the global consumer electronics industry. Between 80% and 90% of all gadgets are manufactured in this one conglomeration of a city. And now, it’s coming for the auto industry. Be afraid. Be very afraid. By Shenzhen, I don’t just mean the city itself, but the business model it effectively represents. China is the most industrialised manufacturing country in the world and is excellent at it. It’s no longer the knock-off capital (okay,…

Rassie Erasmus has effortlessly begun the transition to the next Rugby World Cup cycle by leaving out three double World Cup winners for the Rugby Championships, while bringing in a crop of talented youngsters, 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. Listen to Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts or…

“You look like Leonard, but you talk like Sheldon,” people said to me for years. But, until I watched The Big Bang Theory in 2008, I didn’t get it. In this hilarious TV show, two geeky physicists live across the hall from a beautiful blonde waitress, and the half-hour episodes highlight the cultural and intellectual clashes between the two opposing stereotypes. To hilarious effect. Truly hilarious effect. Unlike House, which features one enigmatic genius with a fearsome wit and a rare aptitude for problem-solving (played to perfection by Hugh Laurie), The Big Bang Theory features four geniuses with no social…

You have to wonder who at Cupertino thought through the consequences of Apple suing a YouTuber for a “coordinated scheme to break into an Apple Development iPhone, steal Apple’s trade secrets, and profit from the theft”. In surprisingly hard-hitting court papers, Apple sued two men, claiming their “misconduct was brazen and egregious”. Apple’s investigations found that “defendant Jon Prosser – working with defendant Michael Ramacciotti – improperly accessed and disclosed Apple’s highly confidential, unreleased software designs, including details regarding the unreleased iOS 19 operating system (which is now known as iOS 26) for Apple mobile devices”. Prosser, a YouTuber who…

After sending me numerous fake video clips, clearly from TikTok, I told an old friend last year to get back to the basics and read a proper newspaper. The final nonsense clip featured two guys claiming that Turkish Olympic pistol shooter, Yusuf Dikeç, famous for his nonchalant stance, only took up shooting after getting divorced. It was patent misinformation. “Stop getting your news on TikTok,” I told my friend, who really should know better. “Or, only get it from reputable sources,” I added. A few weeks back, the jovial proprietor of a well-known breakfast establishment ranted about how angry he…