Author: Brett Venter

Blue Origin might have sent William Shatner to the edge of space and brought him back in one piece but the company has yet to launch a vehicle into orbit or deliver its promised BE-4 engine to NASA. This hasn’t stopped Jeff Bezos’ space company from announcing plans to put a space station, called Orbital Reef, in low-Earth orbit sometime in the second half of this decade. Blue Origin reaches for the stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC3ooNXfcGE The point? The company hopes to offer “…research, industrial, international, and commercial customers the cost competitive end-to-end services they need including space transportation and logistics, space…

Samsung’s got a new tablet on the way, if a new leak from OnLeaks (the clue’s in the name) is accurate. A render of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra has turned up online and it suggests there are a few new features coming to market. It’s been some time since Samsung last launched a flagship tablet — the Galaxy Tab S7 was first announced in August last year, so the S8 lineup is a little overdue. If this render, apparently based on CAD files for the device, is accurate, then Samsung’s also embracing the notch. Another notch for the Galaxy…

There are two ways to get people’s attention — using the words ‘cryptocurrency’ and ‘free’. Worldcoin is a Silicon Valley-based startup that has opted to combine the two, attempting to kickstart its new cryptocurrency by handing out a free bit of it to as many people as possible. It’ll do this by using a device it calls an orb that scans people’s irises — the point is to get a unique identifier, so each person can only claim a portion of the currency once. Worldcoin has placed orbs in 30 locations across twelve countries, and it says it hopes to…

Generators seem like an awful lot of effort, what with set-up, maintenance and finding someplace to store the thing. If only there were some way around all of that? Owning a generator used to be all but unthinkable, unless you had a remote cabin tucked away on the Transkei coast that you visited semi-annually. Now, everyone wants one. But actually picking something from the vast array of red or blue motors-on-wheels can be an imposing task. How much is too much? How much is not enough? Do you need to buy extra bits or is everything you need in the…

Facebook, through Oculus consulting chief technology officer John Carmack, announced last month that it would unlock the Oculus Go headset’s software. The VR hardware wasn’t with us for very long, going on sale for about two years before being sent to that great big junk-heap in the sky. Only, the software update is supposed to prevent that. Will it work? Only you will be able to decide that, by loading the newly-released update to your Oculus Go and seeing what it can do when liberated from the tyranny of Facebook’s grip. Oculus Go and do something new with it Carmack’s…

Sony’s got a new member of its Alpha 7 range after announcing its new A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera. If you’re looking to buy one, it’ll set you back at least R37,000 ($2,500) — local pricing hasn’t been revealed yet but Sony’s hardware will probably justify the cash. A7 IV in our veins In terms of design, it’s fairly similar to the Sony A7 III released at around this time last year, though it shares more of its layout with the A7S III. Internally, though, there’s a whole lot more going on. Sony has sprung for an all-new 33MP backside-illuminated…

We might be heading towards the tail end of COVID but that wasn’t about to stop Razer from releasing its Zephyr N95 mask. Originally shown off at this year’s CES, the company said that it would bring Project Hazel, as it was then known, to market sometime this year. That’s now happened. The Zephyr N95 mask went on sale last night, because on-sale times only matter if you’re an American, and then… all available stock immediately sold out. The Zephyr N95: COVID’s Bane Razer went all-out on its design, making it look like something the well-dressed class of cyber-goth might…

We should probably know by now that if Elon Musk announces a strange product, it’s probably coming to life. The latest is Giga Beer, a beer based on the Tesla brand — because associating drinking with driving makes perfect sense. Actually, it might in this case. Musk first introduced the idea of a Tesla beer while on the site of the coming German Gigafactory. Germany is known for several things but we mainly talk about its beer and its automobiles. Nobody really connects the two. It’s Germany. You’re supposed to have beer. It’s the law. Giga Beer to become reality…

Come on, how often are we going to get the chance to use ‘Florida man’ correctly in a headline? Donald Trump, former US president and declarer of multiple bankruptcies, has announced a new social media platform, TRUTH Social. Because that other thing he did was totally not the social media platform he promised, guys. Really. Florida man tries again What form TRUTH Social will eventually take isn’t known, because at the moment it’s just a landing page where potential users can register their interest and pre-order the app on Apple’s App Store. The platform will function as “…America’s “Big Tent”…

Oppo might be relatively new in South Africa, and we still don’t have access to the company’s high-end smartphones, but it’s just possible that the devices may become even more affordable than they are right now. A new report claims that the Chinese tech-maker is investigating making its own smartphone chips, joining the likes of Apple, Huawei, and Samsung in making more of its own hardware. Taking the Oppo-tunity A report out to Nikkei claims that the company is developing its own high-end smartphone processors, “…in a bid to gain control over core components and reduce its reliance on foreign…