Author: Brett Venter

Fujifilm’s got an all-new retro-designed instant camera for you to check out — the Instax Mini 40 is set to launch in South Africa a little later this month. The instant camera, in keeping with previous models from the company, turns up on 21 April at a fairly affordable price point — just R1,400. An all-new old thing The Instax Mini 40’s launch is a global one, which means that South African fans won’t have long to wait at all before snapping instant shots of… whatever they want, really. The camera brings with it more than just retro styling, however.…

Google’s smartphones are typically hard to come by in South Africa, but that’s changing. And just in time, too, because the company’s Pixel 6 handset is reportedly going to be the first to come with a chipset made by the search giant. 9to5Google reports that Google’s newest handset, including the Pixel 6, will ship with the company’s rumoured ‘GS101’ Whitechapel chip. That’s a Google-made (or at least -designed) SoC (system-on-chip) that will be used for the company’s handsets and its Chromebook hardware. Because everyone else from Apple to Samsung are doing it — why can’t Google? Pushing Pixels The chipset,…

In the beginning there was Hyundai, then there was the Genesis sub-brand. Or, actually first there was Genesis and then there was Phil Collins, and then there was the Tarzan soundtrack. But that’s not the point here. The point is that Hyundai’s sub brand launched in China recently and the South Korean company used 3,281 drones to put on a bit of a show. Which is a bit of an understatement. Hyundai’s show in Shanghai on 29 March this year, using more than three thousand drones, was a record-setting affair — one that continues to evolve. The Genesis of drone…

Here’s a sentence we never thought we’d write. A South African company is working on a plane called the Pegasus Vertical Business Jet, which is really an awesome concept. It’s a plane that can take off and land like a Harrier II GR7 — either from a runway or a helipad, if that’s the sort of thing you have at home. But don’t get too excited about the Pegasus just yet. It’s still being developed by a company called Pegasus Universal Aerospace, headed by Dr. Reza Mia. Local development is continuing with Epsilon Engineering Services, a Centurion-based outfit. The plane’s…

You may have thought you’d seen it all but if you haven’t seen Samsung’s Adidas-branded Galaxy Buds Pro with their little snapback-shaped case (which looks like it’d attach to a keyring rather neatly), then you haven’t seen it all. Except now you have, so you have. You with us so far? Sadly, while you might now have seen everything, you probably won’t manage to own everything. Or, at least, you won’t manage to own Samsung’s white-and-green earbuds. They’ve only been announced for South Korea, meaning you’ll never own a set of buds that arrive in a replica Adidas sneaker box.…

Xiaomi last month was reported to be working on its very own electric vehicle (EV), according to several sources. The company has since confirmed those reports, detailing a little more about its plans for entering the electric vehicle market. The company intends to get the ball rolling to the tune of $1.5 billion as an immediate investment, with a total spend of $10 billion in EV development over ten years. But the company will be spinning off a wholly new subsidiary to manage the creation of its own vehicle. Xiaomi the money? https://twitter.com/DavidBlueLS/status/1376823788310962176? The subsidiary, which hasn’t been named, likely…

You know which book properties haven’t been properly exploited in video game format? The fantasy tales by Edgar Rice Burroughs, notably the Tarzan and John Carter franchises. Game developer Tanglewood Games and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc hope to change all that with John Carter: Warlord of Mars. Slow down, John Carter But, before you get too excited, there isn’t much to see of the game yet. It’s got the backing of the company that owns the rights to everything Burroughs wrote but the game itself is still early in development. There’s some basic animation done, a few character models have…

Showmax is, like many streaming services around the world, focusing time, money and effort on its own original programming. Skemerdans is one of those. This tale revolving around the Oasis jazz club in the Cape Flats has the distinction of being the service’s first Afrikaans-language Showmax Original. And, as luck would have it, there’s a new trailer for the show out and about. The last time we checked in on it, there was precious little content to see because… well, it hadn’t actually been filmed yet. That took place in October last year, at Cape Town’s Club Galaxy. Sussing out…

Vodacom left this a little late in the day today but we kinda understand why — it’s 1 April (for a while yet). Too early in the day and you might take it a little less seriously. The mobile network is dropping prices for some of its 30-day data packages, altering allocations for others and introducing one new one. The reasoning? To further digital inclusion for all, apparently, but also, it’s good business. Nice one, Vodacom The data packages being changed range between the 150MB bundle and the 1GB bundle — there’s also a 2GB bundle which will cost users…

Real life is catching up to video games. Microsoft has been awarded a US Army contract to supply the military agency with 120,000 headsets based on the company’s Hololens technology. The contract will run over ten years and should net the tech company up to $21 billion over the period. This isn’t a surprise, however. The tech giant previously had a $480 million deal with the US Army in 2018 to create the prototypes — this recent announcement marks the shift from prototype to production of the IVAS headset. Military Microsoft The headsets, known as the Integrated Visual Augmentation System…