Author: Brett Venter

South Africa and stargazing have a particularly long history but there’s a time and a place for everything. That time is winter, as well as a chunk of autumn and spring. This is when atmospheric conditions tend to be most favourable in this country. If you’ve ever felt the desire to spend time out among the stars, you’re joining a South African tradition that goes back hundreds of years. Even better, you’re also partaking of a tradition that goes at least as far back as the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. And just like the ancients didn’t need much in the…

When you think of space telescopes, the SuperBIT program from the University of Toronto in Canada probably doesn’t come to mind. The Hubble, sure. The James Webb Space Telescope, absolutely. But the Canadian program is a little more… low-tech. Specifically, the Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope is a space telescope that doesn’t need a rocket to head out of the atmosphere. That much is obvious from its full title. Instead, the “0.5 m, wide-field, diffraction-limited” telescope is mounted under a massive NASA-made super-pressure balloon at a height of about 33km. As technological solutions go, it’s a little… Eighteenth Century. SuperBIT of…

One of the most frequently cited statistics regarding firearm ownership is that you’re more likely to be killed by a gun in your home. A new smart gun from a company called Biofire Tech promises to drop that percentage by including a feature not seen in your everyday 9mm semiautomatic. Facial recognition. In a move worthy of Judge Dredd, the company’s handgun won’t fire unless it recognises the person holding it. That alone is enough to make the weapon safer, though not entirely safe. There’s still the threat of violence by the person actually programmed to use it but at…

As this review is being written, South Africa is sliding deeper and deeper into the depression that’s known as load shedding. Products like the EcoFlow Delta 2 — that is, high-capacity battery backups — are increasingly becoming essential purchases rather than just nice-to-haves. The tricky bit about choosing what backup option to choose is navigating the capacity/price graph. Is it worth spending R5,000 on a battery backup? Can you get away with less than a thousand Rand? Or should you drop a mighty R25,000, the RRP of the Delta 2, in order to keep some of your electronics running? Actually,…

Are you ready to go down the rabbit hole? That’s unfortunate because we’re not that familiar with the family of Leporidae. But… a representative of the European Union (EU), financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness, said earlier this week that a possible Digital Euro “…is not a Big Brother project”. She was addressing concerns some have that the launch of a digital currency in the region could be used for purposes other than those stated. But it’s been an awful long time since a massively powerful controlling agency put its hands up, said “Aw, nuts, you caught us”, and went back…

Another American city is making use of robotic cops. New York’s new mayor, Eric Adams, has restarted a controversial program that uses Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot in a law enforcement capacity. In addition, another type of surveillance robot is going on patrol in the city. It can effectively be dressed up as a Dalek from Doctor Who, for the vandalism-minded. Robots working in cities aren’t a new phenomenon. Usually, these robots are purpose-built for tasks like bomb disposal. Sometimes, as in the recent case in San Francisco, cities will make foolish decisions for these machines (like giving them permission to…

Previously when we spoke about Artemis, we were referring to NASA’s program to send humans back to the Moon. That’s still on, but there’s a new ARTEMIS in town. This one is more closely related to Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot, except that it’s got no time for construction work. The name is an acronym of Advanced Robotic Technology for Enhanced Mobility and Improved Stability. It was developed by the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and it plays soccer. No, really. ARTEMIS rising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTkupawAG6w The robot has been in development for some time…

Huawei South Africa (though it’s not the only part of the world offering this) has announced a new battery replacement program for a whole range of its older smartphones and tablets. It’s paid-for, of course. Batteries cost money. But it could give your ageing Android a new lease on life. The Chinese company is offering users “…the chance to obtain a genuine battery replacement tailored to their specific device model at a remarkably low price”. That low price isn’t fully detailed — you’ll have to query for that — but pricing will start at R150. Huawei gonna do this? Usually,…

Stuff has had its hands on loads of wearable tech over the years but one brand we’ve been dying to try out is Amazfit. Sure, it doesn’t roll off the tongue and the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro is an even clunkier moniker but the Chinese brand offers great-looking devices at price points considerably below premium. The tricky thing is determining whether those prices are a bargain or accurate reflections of what you’re getting. That takes experience and experience is what we have. Amazfit, weirdly named or not, isn’t likely to strike you as a waste of money. Quite the opposite.…

Just like the stealthy tornado, which lies in wait to ensnare oblivious victims, Netflix has been relatively silent about its plans to stop users from sharing their passwords. Make no mistake, following its rollout to several markets, it’s still on track to turn up this year. But it’ll take a little longer than originally expected. The company said, while reporting its most recent set of financial results, that the plan to limit password sharing on the service more aggressively has been pushed back toward the middle of 2023. Netflix in the USA These plans apply to the company’s largest market…