13 April 2010

Time. It happens.

Here’s a potentially damaging confession: I use my watch only to tell the time. Although it’s equipped with six hands, I generally use only two of them, and manage to work out the time of day by noting where they’re pointing. 

06 April 2010

High-tech shooting range makes firearm training more realistic

None of us want to give the bad guys a break - but when innocent bystanders are present the last thing we need is some gung-ho cowboy whipping out a gun and firing indiscriminately. With firearms accidents happen in a flash - and the ability to discern when or when not to shoot is not a skill easily learnt. Marksman... 

01 April 2010

Quiet your PC

There’s no volume dial for the spinning components of a computer, but there are plenty of tricks to hush the hum.  

01 April 2010

The science of victory

Soccer’s future may lie in the laboratories of Europe 

15 March 2010

Pump up the volume

Do the maths: 62 dual power amplifiers x 600 watts per channel each. Cape Town stadium’s mind-boggling sound system shows how things have moved on from the days when a stadium PA consisted of a half a dozen battered horns dangling from lighting flex and squawking gibberish. 

01 March 2010

2010 digital preview

When gadget manufacturers want to make a blockbuster announcement, they usually do it in one place: the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This annual gathering of geekery gives us a sneak peek at what the year has in store for tech fiends. 

01 March 2010

3D FX — but not cameras — makes a rich, new Alice in Wonderland

If there's any filmed world that's made for 3D, it's Wonderland. PM talks to Alice in Wonderland's visual effects supervisor, Ken Ralston, to find out how he and Tim Burton created an immersive 3D world — without using stereoscopic cameras. 

01 March 2010

A geo-engineered world

Scientists envision radical ideas to rid the planet of global warming ills, but the cures won’t come without risks.  

01 March 2010

Backyard engineers rule

There’s nothing more satisfying than being able to “make a plan”. Take my buddy Kevin Thorpe for instance - this guy has to be one of the most lateral-thinking DIY-ers I know. In fact, whenever I get stuck on a home project he’s always my first port of call. The other day he decided to build a well so he... 

01 March 2010

Bringing the hurt

Non-lethal energy-beam blasters could finally find a home – inside special operations gunships.