Author: Brett Venter

Remember that scene in The Dark Knight where Batman reveals he’s turned every phone in the city into a surveillance device? This… is a little bit like that, except it only has university-level funding and it can’t find the Joker in the space of a few hours. But, other than that, more or less exactly the same thing. With limits. Researchers at Glasgow University have come up with an algorithm that can use a device like a smartphone or a laptop to identify the layout of a room, using sonar or echolocation. Batman at home The algorithm uses sounds or…

HTC, once a bastion of Android smartphones, is now making VR hardware for the masses. The company has Vivecon taking place next week, from 11 to 12 May, where it’s expected to unveil some new hardware. Some of it we knew about — a fitness-focused headset called the Vive Air was leaked early by an awards website (and the company has since claimed that it’s a concept only) — and now we know a little more. Two more of the company’s headsets have turned up early. Virtually all of HTC’s announcements Spotted by website Protocol, the VR company has leaked…

The thing about attacking pirates is that you’re not allowed to swing onto their ships using your rigging any more. So the UK’s Royal Navy testing out Gravity Industries’ Jet Suit as an aid to getting a team on board a ship that doesn’t want them there… makes a kind of sense. And it looks a little like Tony Stark testing his first Iron Man suit over the ocean. Yes, this is a real thing. No, we’re not sure when Britain’s sailors will be using them in a real-world situation. But, when they do, hopefully someone’s running a live stream…

A short while ago automaker MG revealed its first electric vehicle concept — because you can’t be a car manufacturer in 2021 and not be working on an EV. Called the Cyberster, because they used up all their budget on design and had nothing left over for the name, MG’s concept EV might become a reality. But that rather depends on the company’s fans. Making a better MG You see, it’s not enough that the Cyberster looks the way it does (all sleek and predatory), with a projected range of 800km per charge, the ability to go from zero to…

Clubhouse may have taken the world by storm (for now), but all it did was open the floodgates. Twitter’s Spaces, which is a similar concept to Clubhouse and whatever clone Facebook is cooking up (kidding, it’s called Live Audio Rooms), is about to expand in a big way. If you’re hauling around at least 600 Twitter followers, then you’re newly eligible to host a Spaces session using either the Android or iOS version of the app. Soon you too can talk into the void in the hopes that your followers will tune in. The Spaces between us But that’s just…

Samsung’s not known for keeping a tight lid on upcoming products and the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 3 is no exception. Nor, it seems is the Galaxy Z Flip 3, both of which have been extensively leaked in recent weeks. Well, that leak has just become more of a… drip? Possibly a trickle? The Fold 3 and the Flip 3 were both revealed in formerly-confidential images (‘formerly’ because we’re all about to look at ’em) showing both of Samsung’s upcoming foldables. And some badly ‘shopped-out watermarks. Spot one, Fold 3 The images look like official press and promotional photography, but…

Oppo’s Reno 5 handset has only recently made landfall in South Africa but already it’s set to add a new member to its family. But, since it lives in China, expect the Oppo Reno 6 — rumoured to be launching a little later this month — to take a little time to get here. Oppo-sight day The brand tends to go a little overboard when announcing new products, especially the Reno lineup, so a claim that there’s a television event planned for 22 May this year with China’s  Zheijang television channel has some credence. The event is expected to focus…

WhatsApp is all about its updates lately, offering improvements to its disappearing messages and its desktop app. But there’s something new in the works — a review tool for that love-it-or-hate-it feature, voice messages. The service, according to WABetaInfo, is calling its new feature Review Voice Messages because… well, you use it to review your voice messages prior to sending them off. WhatsApp with this voice thing, anyway? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfdcGxCRRcE&t=2s Don’t get too excited, yet. You won’t be checking your audio quality prior to sending off your elegantly crafted mini-podcasts to your adoring fans in that one WhatsApp group just yet.…

Apple announced a whole mess of new products at its Spring Loaded event, which isn’t all that surprising. Typically, we were made to wait for local pricing for the new crop of devices but that wait is over. Apple’s local arm has pricing for the new purple iPhone, the speedy new M1-powered iPad Pros, the refreshed Apple TV (plus the new remote) and the AirTags. All of the devices are currently available for pre-order, so if you must have that purple handset, best you act quickly before everyone else has one. Apple’s TV and AirTags If you’re dying to get…

China has its eyes, along with the rest of the world, on other planets and places outside our solar system. The country’s Chinese Space Station Telescope, intended to launch in 2024, is a space telescope in the vein of the famous Hubble but with a few significant differences. The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) is a little cumbersome, at least as far as a name goes, but the device is known by another title — Xuntian, or Heavenly Cruiser. Here’s what the pending eye in the sky entails: Xuntian rituals Xuntian will, when it launches, be fitted with a two-metre…