Author: Brett Venter

The big target on the motoring industry (and Google’s) radar at present is the self-driving car, a science-fiction concept made flesh and placed on our roads. We’re expecting specific models in future to feature the technology but a company called Cruise is looking to turn the average standard car into an autonomous one with the addition of a new fitting and a spot of app control. But don’t get too excited yet, the tech is very localised. The idea is to add a unit called the Cruise RP-1, a sensor pod that contains cameras, radar and other bits and pieces,…

Technological South Africans now have an app-based solution to fighting crime in South Africa in the form of Bull Horns, an app that has been designed and launched locally with the intention of alerting the cops and/or friends and neighbours in the event of criminal activity in your area. Bull Horns is basically a panic button for your smartphone that can be used to contact the police or any other emergency contact specified silently in the event of a break-in, either via a phone call or SMS. If you happen to live in a close-knit community, they can be notified…

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri7qNQc5Q08″] Yesterday’s expectations were on the ball as Microsoft and Nokia have detailed the Nokia X2, the Android-forked smartphone that slots into the low-to-mid-range of the market. We were looking for a phone that had a 4.3-inch display, 1GB of RAM and a 5MP camera, most of which was accurate. The display is in fact a 4.3-inch 480 x 800 screen and it’ll feature a dual-core Snapdragon 200 CPU (1.2GHz) when it launches. In other words, pretty much everything that leaked was true. As for when it launches… that’s something that we don’t know just yet, nor do we…

HTC’s the next in line to make a Nexus tablet and, according to a report from Android Police, the details for their hardware have been released into the wild. Unintentionally, of course. The report claims that HTC’s 8.9-inch tablet, which is codenamed Volantis but will likely be known as the Nexus 9 once things go official, will feature a 2,048 x 1,440 display backed by Nvidia’s Tegra K1 64-bit chipset. Other specs for the tablet include 2GB of system memory, 16GB and 32GB storage flavours and an 8MP (rear)/3MP (front) camera setup. An LTE model of the tab is supposed…

In a little less than a day’s time. Microsoft and Nokia will be taking the wraps off of a brand new product, one that is widely expected to be the Nokia X2. In case you missed the launch of the Nokia X, this is the company’s take on Android but not the same Android that Samsung and everyone else are firmly wedded to. A teaser page on the Nokia Conversations blog, we’ll know everything tomorrow but the colour scheme that the company has used for the page is similar to that used for the Nokia X announcement, hence the expectation. Nokia’s…

Google acquired smart-device maker Nest a short while ago and now Nest is adding a few more feathers by doing some acquiring of their own. According to a post on the Nest website, the company is busy acquiring an outfit called DropCam, which specialises in home monitoring gear. No specifics are available are available concerning what Nest (and, by extension, Google) wants with DropCam. DropCam makes and sells hardware which allows people to keep an eye on what is going on at home while in other locations, with night-vision and two-way radio over Wifi being features of their products. According…

You might recall that Apple announced an new entry-level iMac configuration for the world at large last week, with availability starting immediately in most places. In very short order, South African distributor Core has announced local pricing and availability for the 21.5-inch Apple desktop and the cost… isn’t bad at all. As from “early July”, with a more specific date probably being made known closer to the time, South African Apple fans will be able to get their hands on the 1.4GHz iMac setup starting from R15,000. Keep in mind that this is the recommended price from Core so you…

What a funny-looking set of headphones. And made by Parrot no less, the company that gave the world the AR.drone. This is the Parrot Zik, a name that we’re still not wholly sure how to pronounce without something dirty in another language, and the Zik (stop giggling) is a set of wireless Bluetooth headphones that need to be worn in order to truly experience them. Wear and tear The reason you need to wear them is because first impressions are probably not accurate. Looking at Parrot’s cans in their box, you get the idea that all that metal and the…

BlackBerry is going to be giving the world a new QWERTY keyboard smartphone in September this year, at an event in London. This is according to BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen, who stated that the event would go forward during a recent conference call discussing the company’s financial results. The details of the phone, which was known under the Windermere codename before being labeled the Passport, are fairly mysterious at the moment but the dimensions are known and that’s what is a bit weird. BlackBerry is reportedly opting for a square 4.5-inch (with a 1,440 x 1,440 resolution). It’s probably going to…

Facebook has added another new fruit to their tree, announcing the acquisition of a company called SnappyTV. The company, which is based in San Francisco, specialises in video editing for upload to social networks and Twitter intends to use the company to “…make it easy for TV broadcasters, businesses, and event producers to share high-quality videos”. The result is that you might see more video clips popping up in your Twitter feed in future, in whatever form Twitter deems appropriate. In the past, it’s been used to post highlights from sports games and news so we’re not really looking at…