Author: Brett Venter

Robotics company Boston Dynamics is suing military robotics company Ghost Robotics over the design of Ghost’s robotic quadrupeds. The suit, according to Robot Report, claims that Ghost has infringed on seven different patents applicable to the Spot robot dog. Specifically, Ghost’s Vision 60 and Spirit 40 units infringe on Boston’s technology, according to the suit. The infringed capabilities include how the robots navigate stairs and gait interruption, among other abilities. Boston Dynamics sees a Ghost Boston, when queried, replied with a boilerplate “We don’t comment on ongoing litigation” statement but its motivation for the suit is even less clear. The…

Everyone knows that one guy or girl who doesn’t pay for Netflix but racks up massive viewing hours. A bit like that houseguest on your couch who won’t leave, these users tend to be hard to shift. Well, the streaming platform is giving users the ability to give them the boot. The new feature is one that has taken its sweet time coming. Netflix calls it Manage Access and Devices because it… lets you manage access and devices on an account. No more Netflix for you Using the feature is as easy as clicking over to the relevant menu (Manage…

NFTs or non-fungible tokens were super popular for a while there. That interest has taken a dive since November 2021, which means it’s the perfect time for fitness brand Nike to launch its own take*. .SWOOSH is the name of the company’s new web3 platform. It’s entered a beta, ready for rollout at a future date. The name for the platform is taken from Nike’s iconic emblem, known as the swoosh. Or, more likely, the swoosh™. This new venture uses all those lovely crypto-themed buzzwords like ‘blockchain’ and ‘web3’ and ‘please invest in this’. A .SWOOSH in the hand Nike’s…

Australia, in the face of increasing ransomware attacks, is considering making it illegal to pay off those behind these attacks. The country’s largest health insurer and its second-largest telecoms company have, in recent months, had their data locked up. That’s not the whole list, of course. Several other entities have suffered ransomware breaches recently. Ransomware, in case you missed the introductory classes, is when an outside party breaks into a system, encrypts it and demands money to give the data back. When it’s done to an individual user, as it was initially, it’s often possible to suck up the loss…

Samsung South Africa is bringing two new TV technologies to South Africa in the next few months. First up is QD-OLED, followed by new MicroLED screens that will puncture and drain all but the most well-padded of wallets. Both are a little late to the party but that doesn’t mean we weren’t expecting them to turn up. At the very least, an invitation has been open ever since both were announced. QD-OLED – Quantumania Samsung took the wraps off a new screen technology called QD-OLED at the end of 2021. A combination of its quantum dot technology and more traditional…

German auto brand VW has all sorts of high-tech ideas. NFTs and EV battery recycling are just two of these, but the folks at VW Norway are either really smart or really bored. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Norway has unveiled an EV of a completely different sort. It’s really compact, has limited range, and only moves at 20km/h. That would be awful if it was an actual car but it’s an office chair. Office chairs usually don’t move at 20km/h unless their owner was just fired and the chair was lobbed out of a high-rise window in frustration. VW moves…

Earlier this month, social media company Meta announced widespread layoffs. Some 13% of the company’s workforce will soon be looking for work. Those folks have to come from somewhere. It seems like Portal and the rest of Meta’s hardware division are taking the knock. A brief report from Reuters says that Meta is slamming the brakes on its hardware divisions. At the moment it appears that VR is safe — because of its metaverse utility — but everyone else… well… Portal to nowhere Portal, if your memory is a little short, was a lineup of smart displays. They were primarily…

Warfare is increasingly becoming more automated. So much so that the term ‘killer robots’ has entered the lexicon. If humanity is fine with blowing them up using ‘bots, why not unleash a few robot medics as well? That’s the question being asked by researchers at the University of Sheffield. It is a legitimate question to ask. Military doctors are extremely valuable. They also take a very long time to make. It doesn’t always make sense to send them to places where bullets are whizzing by. They go anyway. But they might not have to if the UK’s robo-medic plan takes…

Yet another brilliant group is attempting to combine NFTs with a pre-existing system in a manner that adds more or less nothing of value. The Spectrum is a South African property development based in the Western Cape. The concept behind it is ‘purchasing an apartment but with added NFTs’. The development is offering 306 units across ten floors in a property located just off Nelson Mandela Boulevard in Cape Town. Of these, micro, studio, one-, and two-bedroom units will be available. But, as mentioned, you’ll need a crypto wallet as well. The thing is, we’re not really sure why. Getting…

Most of the planet is acquainted with Chris Rock’s most recent hit. The standup comedian and actor is hoping for another one early next year when he becomes the first artist to live stream an event on Netflix. Talk of the streaming service jumping into live streaming has been around for some time. Rock’s announcement as the first to take the leap is just confirmation of what has been suspected for months. ‘We will Chris Rock you’ – Netflix, probably Chris Rock is about to make history as the first artist to perform live on Netflix! The legendary comedian, writer,…