Author: Brett Venter

Smart glasses are edging ever closer to putting a permanent display in front of your eyes. TDK (yes, the company that manufactured cassette tapes) has demonstrated a very advanced version of this. The company calls it a direct retinal projection (DRP) display. TDK’s tech uses something called a meta-optic mirror to project an image directly onto a wearer’s retina. That’s the core idea: an image is projected forward from the glasses’ bows, bounces off the meta-optic mirror, and enters the wearer’s eye. Best of all, it shouldn’t leave smart glasses users staring at a little embedded OLED panel all the…

Companies Freckle and Waffle Home show that we’re rapidly approaching the future predicted by Futurama’s Popplers episode. That future seems, at least in this case, a little more kid-friendly. Both companies have recently announced kid-centric phones — a very limited smartphone in the case of Freckle. Which, if you’re a parent, makes sense. Turning youngsters loose, unsupervised, on the internet is a recipe for trauma counselling. These startups aren’t the first to put thought into smart devices for kids, but these are interesting takes on the tech. Freckle and Waffle The Freckle is supposed to convince kids to go outside…

James Cameron teaches that the only way to be sure about a killer humanoid robot is to melt one. Even then, it’s not certain. Robotics company Figure still thinks it looks cool, which is why it has given its F.02 humanoid robot lineup a fiery sendoff. The company’s decommissioning video, available on YouTube, doesn’t just feature Figure 02 robots jumping into an electric arc furnace. It also has a cameo from the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The way the robotics outfit tells it, the video was Arnie’s idea. Humanoid robot father Figure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAh5oQDPDM The decommissioning video starts as a nod…

Dell, unless you’re looking at its Alienware lineup, can occasionally come across as boring. The company’s new Pro Rugged 13 Extreme laptop might also fit that qualification, but it’ll be boring on a mountaintop during a snowstorm. As with everything in life, it’s often about where you’re doing a thing and not what you’re doing. The Pro Rugged 13 Extreme does its level best to live up to its title. That is obvious just from looking at it. It weighs around 2.4kg (far less than Durabook’s triple-screened machine) while packing serious elemental and damage resistance. There’s also a fair amount…

We’ve followed Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot almost since its very first introduction. We’ve seen it go from a robot being kicked about to its new frame and skill set upgrade. But there’s always something new to install. In this case, it’s a more impressive pair of hands for greater manipulation and control. Better mechanical hands aren’t much use with no ability behind them. The folks at Boston Dynamics have demoed the new four-fingered appendages (old cartoonists were right, apparently) used both autonomously and tele-operated. Handy Atlas  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4whgw2gLBS8 The major upgrade for Atlas is the switch from seven degrees of freedom…

Audible is bringing a few new features to its audiobooks service. One of these is Interactive Stories, which allows readers to have brief conversations with story characters. Specifically, in the voice of the actor narrating that character. The first character is Renfield, the unfortunate who falls under Dracula’s spell in Bram Stoker’s novel of the same name. Artificial intelligence will play a key role here, obviously. There are other features also inbound, inspired in part by Amazon’s Prime Video. Character Guide will give listeners insight into the voice actors. Visual Explorer will provide image assistance for folks who’ve had their…

Solenco is all about moving air around, whether it’s inside a vacuum cleaner or via evaporation of some sort. The Solenco Mist-Free Humidifier, a product seemingly named for better search engine optimisation, is one of the latter. At R3,000, it had best be better at its job than the budget type you find at Clicks. Being Solenco, the Mist-Free Humidifier (we still can’t get over the title) will definitely outperform something that’s one-sixth of the price. It’ll also give other products in the same price range a run for your money. Damp router Solenco’s most expensive humidifier is pleasantly understated…

Huawei finally revealed its Mate 90 line-up in China earlier today, but we’re only really interested in the Mate 90 Pro. That’s the device the company’s past behaviour suggests is most likely to reach South Africa. And, if the pricing for the Chinese models is any indication, it won’t carry much of a markup over the Mate 80 Pro. Those price increases are for the more overpowered models. The Chinese launch has four different variants of the Mate 90 Pro — 12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB at the lower end of the price spectrum, and then 16GB/512GB and 16GB/1TB models. Again, based…

OpenAI had plenty to say about its product(s) at its DevDay event last night, but one of those things was the introduction of a new Pro 500 subscription tier. For access to the company’s best (and fastest) models, you’ll have to hand over $500. A month. There are bound to be users who are willing to part with R8,200 monthly, but we’re unlikely to be among them. At the same time, the previous highest-tier Pro subscription is seeing its access lowered compared to what Plus subscribers get. Previously, ChatGPT Pro users (who pay R1,840/m) using Codex or Work were receiving…

Plenty of AI boosters will give the technology control over their inbox. Few are as bold as space-mining company AstroForge, which reckons it will give artificial intelligence control of an entire mission. The company will do this using Solo, “a spacecraft intelligence model designed to autonomously coordinate a spacecraft’s onboard functions.” That’s not something you can just download and use. AstroForge created the AI model internally, specifically for events like its upcoming Autonomy-1 mission. That doesn’t mean the company will let AI handle a rocket launch — that’s going a little too far. The company’s mission, set for 2027, will…