Author: Brett Venter

Back when Worldcoin was sending its Orbs around the world, OpenAI (and Worldcoin)’s Sam Altman wasn’t on very many casual radars. Now the apparent crypto company has rebranded, but its aim of scanning as many human faces as possible hasn’t changed. Instead of free cryptocurrency that never materialised (do those initial folks have a case to plead?), the World Orb promises online security. It’ll still harvest biometric data, of course. Nominally on behalf of Tinder, Zoom, DocuSign, and er… Ticketmaster, having a World ID will tell these platforms that you’re really human. Pay no attention to what’s happening to your…

It’s official. The future will demand that all human survivors are peak-trained marathon runners. Honor’s Lightning humanoid robot, at this weekend’s 2026 Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot half-marathon, beat the human world record for the race by a considerable margin. The current record, held by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, is 57min20. Honor’s robot, competing in a parallel race run by artificial humanoids, set a blistering 50min26 pace for the 21.1(ish)-kilometre race. It wasn’t the only one to outpace actual people, either. At least three of the robotic competitors crossed the finish line before a single human did. Lighting strikes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vUnusbzNMQ Obviously, this…

First, it was sapphire; now the Huawei Watch Ultimate Design is getting a diamond edition, according to a teaser from the Chinese company on the country’s main social media platform. Whether South Africa will ever see the luxury version of Huawei’s smartwatch in person is doubtful, but it’s nice to know it’s out there. The Diamond Edition of the Huawei Watch isn’t just an empty title. Diamonds are used in its construction, with at least four around the bezel and more on the wristband. As for who would don one for a night out, we’d have to guess visiting Saudi…

Price increases are easier to hide when a product is brand new. When something like the Meta Quest 3 (or Microsoft’s Surface range) goes up in price, it’s obvious that something’s troubling the tech industry. Everyone knows what that something is, of course. Correct. The problem is Sam Altman (and other people like him). The RAM shortage is whalloping everyone, including the world’s largest social media company. Starting today, the Meta Quest 3 and its S variants will become more expensive. Meta Quest 3: The Search for More Money And not by a little bit. The Quest 3S is going…

Netflix may or may not belabour its plot details because most folks use the service for background noise, but its newest ‘feature’ might well tackle the problem. According to a letter the company shared with its investors, the mobile app will look more vertical shortly. Which could solve the issue of having to restate what’s happening all the time. At the very least, Matt Damon will be pleased. By putting videos in a vertical orientation, perhaps viewers will actually… be viewers, instead of scrolling their phones every time Kevin Hart comes onscreen. Netflix enhances verticals Specifically, the company is “redesigning…

If you want to see what Huawei will stick up your sleeve next, you’re in luck. The company’s upcoming Watch Fit 5 and 5 Pro wearables have surfaced online, with visuals and details aplenty ahead of the Chinese brand’s reveal. The reveal shouldn’t be too long, either. The Watch Fit 4 turned up in May last year. We all know how large companies like their predictability, so an official announcement should happen shortly. The folks at Winfuture have most of what we can expect, right down to likely pricing. Watch Fit 5 to watch The Fit 5 and Fit 5…

The worst thing about extended power outages is what happens to the contents of your fridge. Bluetti’s new FridgePower power solution hopes to address this problem directly, though it’s not adverse to taking on a few other tasks if you need it to. The brand, which has a local presence, is currently punting its new FridgePower gadget via a Kickstarter campaign. Bluetti was looking for R820,000 ($50,000). It has demolished that goal, with more than R14 million ($850,000) pledged so far. So yes, it’s coming. It’ll be cheaper if you snag one during the crowdfunding effort, too. Out of the…

You would have seen, a few days ago, that Amazon is pulling support for some of its older Kindle models. Moving on from older tech isn’t anything new in the industry. Everyone from Apple to Samsung does it. Microsoft is famous for it, but it’s also famous for providing extended support for entities (usually government ones) intent on keeping those old embedded systems alive. NASA has one of the largest problems of this type. The Voyager program has been running since the 1970s. Software has changed considerably since then, but since upgrades are impossible, the agency has to keep the…

Robot vacuum cleaners are a surprisingly trendy segment of tech right now. Ecovacs’ new Deebot X12 OmniCyclone is just the latest entry into an increasingly crowded market. Right now, though, South Africans will have to admire it from afar. Ecovacs has unveiled its newest contender for your favourite floor assistant and put it on sale, but it’s confined to the European market for now. The company does have a local presence, so it’ll likely turn up once the marketing plan makes it as far as South Africa. Deebot X12 you’re looking for? What can you expect from a (likely) R30,000…

We’ve seen loads of Chinese humanoid robot projects. There are surprisingly few from Japanese companies and even fewer from Japanese auto-makers. The Toyota CUE7 is here to break that drought. This mostly-humanoid creation — it has a wheeled base instead of legs — has a very specific skill set. It can play basketball. That’s not strictly accurate, though. It can certainly shoot hoops, but the robot hasn’t yet demonstrated its skills on a packed court. The CUE7 was revealed on WELT, a German news program, on a (currently geo-blocked) YouTube video. Taking your CUE7 Stuff found a way to watch…