Author: Brett Venter

Samsung may have a closer look at its new smartwatches coming to MWC this year but there’s also a chance that we’ll see the Galaxy Buds 2 turn up as well. It’s a small chance, considering Samsung loves to launch its new headphones alongside new smartphone hardware, but it’s a chance. Check out the Galaxy Buds 2 Whenever the reveal does happen, we’ve already got a fairly accurate idea of what they’ll look like. Website 91Mobiles got its hands on what it says are official renders of Samsung’s newest in-ears, and the images show hardware that looks quite similar to…

It’s not just space agencies exploring the space beyond our skies — private companies have a hand in it too. Both SpaceX and Virgin Galactic have seen their missions take a step or two forward, in some very different ways. SpaceX has set a tentative date for the first orbital test of its Starship rocket (which will probably end with it exploding on contact with the Hawaiian ocean), while Virgin Galactic officially has permission to take passengers to the edge of space. SpaceX is going up The private spacefaring company making all the headlines at the moment is “…shooting for…

It’s a very good time to be a taikonaut. China’s space program has gone from a standing start to a gallop, with the Zhurong Mars rover performing admirably for the country’s first Mars exploration robot. First, it made it to the ground in one piece, then it took photographs of itself. And now there’s video (and audio) of the rover’s decent onto the red planet. Say ‘Zhurong’ to Mars https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1409020026619891712? The folks at NASA might be able to get away with a live-stream but they’ve had practice. China’s rover actually captured video of the descent to Mars, including a spectacular…

Skyworth’s got another TV for you to check out this year and this one’s a monster. Actually, they refer to the 86in SUC9500 TV as a beast, but that’s a little bit because of their celebrity partner — SA rugby player Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira. And also because this R35,000 TV set is 86in in size. R35k (though you can find it for cheaper than that online already) isn’t much at all for a 4K TV of this size and, in keeping with previous releases, it’s also got a whole bunch of Google tech inside. The SUC9500 doesn’t… er… suck The…

Samsung’s MWC event is just around the corner but most of its surprises seem to be spoiled. We already knew much about the Galaxy Fold 3 and the Galaxy Flip 3, but we weren’t properly sure what they’d look like. That’s changed. Spying on the Galaxy Fold 3 https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/1408107239903223808? A couple of much more official-looking images have dropped online, thanks to Evan Blass (otherwise known as EVLeaks on Twitter). The Galaxy Fold 3 looks about how you’d expect, in that it’s a flat slab with a hinge in the middle. A follow-up image shows an S Pen and a more…

China plans to send its first crewed missions to Mars by 2033, as part of a series of missions intended to establish a long-term human presence on the red planet. Reuters reports that Wang Xiaojun, the head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country’s main rocket construction company, explained as much at a Russian space exploration company. You’re going to Mars, China? According to Wang, China is eying manned missions to Mars in 2033, with followup missions in 2035, 2037 and then in 2041 — quite a specific timeline for the country to establish a presence on…

We’ve been hearing about it for weeks, even if we weren’t expecting Windows 10 to be supplanted, and now it’s official. Microsoft’s Windows 11 has been revealed and it looks, on first glance, like a very clean take on the company’s operating system. But then, that’s always the case with a fresh install of Windows (we don’t talk about Windows 8 any more). There are some serious changes afoot, despite how familiar the interface looks. That’s… sort of the point. Microsoft is leaning hard into the idea that this is the Windows you’re used to, with some furniture shuffled and…

The iPod is a beloved piece of tech, although it’s one that has been made redundant by all the other tech out there — specifically the smartphone and the rise of streaming. Nobody needs a dedicated music player any more — even if that hasn’t stopped folks from making them. Apple’s iconic music player is no more, but you can go back and revisit the past thanks to a browser-based version of the music hardware. Although it’s not made by Apple, it does, of course, support Apple Music. And it’s a fan of Spotify. Spotify the iPod difference The creation…

When a scientific enterprise refers to itself as the “Noah’s Ark of science”, we have to start asking what they know. Earth 300 is a proposed scientific superyacht that wouldn’t look out of place in a Roland Emmerich movie about surviving the apocalypse. We’re still trying to decide if that’s a good thing. Exploring the Earth 300 It’s certainly ambitious. The craft, if it ever winds up being built, will be a 300-metre floating scientific laboratory, powered by a type of nuclear reactor called a Molten Salt Reactor that is supposedly safe and emission-free. The tricky bit will be making…

Samsung’s got a Mobile World Congress event kicking off next week, with smartwatches in the spotlight. One of those is the Galaxy Watch Active 4, a device that has seemingly been revealed (almost totally) before the 28 June event. But that’s nothing unusual for Samsung. Details have been turning up for some time now, so this latest batch just adds to the growing pile of what we know. Here’s what that consists of (so far). Galaxy Watch Active 4 looks like a watch Perhaps the most striking thing about this leak is just how much Samsung’s action-focused wearable looks like…