Author: Brett Venter

All right, you horologists out there. Time for something a bit more expensive than usual. In a world where prices in excess of R200,000 are considered normal, the Diver x Skeleton Black is something special. It’s more than twice as expensive, for a start. Part of that has to do with the brand name — Ulysse Nardin. There are also 23 jewels in the blasted thing. The other bit has to do with scarcity. There are only 175 timepieces on offer worldwide. Which is a missed opportunity, in our books. Since the watch uses the company’s UN-372 Manufacture movement, which…

Quite often you’ll order something from eBay at a hefty price, only to discover that you were sent a valueless box of crap. It kinda makes sense that the online auction house is pivoting to NFTs, then. And that’s official. eBay has bought established NFT marketplace KnownOrigin for an undisclosed sum. The point is to fold it into its existing business model. To “…remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectibles,” according to eBay CEO Jamie Iannone. eBay learning the value of an NFT KnownOrigin has been around since 2018. In that time, it has done…

MeerKAT, if you’ve been paying attention, is South Africa’s newest radio telescope array. Part of the ongoing Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, this bit is up and running earlier than its counterparts. As such, it’s already out there, doing science. MeerKAT’s most recent feat is combining multiple observational instruments into one. It’s done this before, of course. And the whole point of the SKA project is to do it much more often. It’ll eventually link with its Australian partner to monitor the skies more effectively. It’s already doing this, though, by combining 64 radio telescope dishes into a single unit.…

More and more South Africans are considering solar power — for obvious reasons. The largest obstacle is the price. Well, what if you could get your solar power via an app. Sounds weird, right? Solar specialist WiSolar reckons it has the idea figured out, though. WiSolar has a plan to launch pre-paid solar power via an app, that will launch in SA in July. Much like a pre-paid electricity meter, it’ll allow users to purchase power by the kWh. But there are a few glaring questions — like where this solar power is going to come from. Plus, how much…

Scarface is roaming South Africa, keeping an eye out for criminal activity. At least, that’s what its purveyors, the Bidvest Protea Coin group, claim its facial recognition system is being used for. The company has detailed how its Scarface artificial intelligence (AI) system works. It’s… possibly a little concerning, given the current attitude to facial recognition in countries that aren’t China. ‘Say hello to my little friend’ – Scarface, probably Scarface isn’t anything physical. It’s a software tool, designed to work in conjunction with cameras. If you live in SA’s major centres, you’ve likely seen surveillance cameras increasingly turning up.…

So you had your week all figured out. Load shedding was going to come and go at predictable times, and you would manage to work around them. Well, guess what? That’s not the world you live in. That’s right, the prince of darkness has struck again. Stage 2 load shedding has been extended for South Africa for the rest of the week. It’ll kick off today from 10 AM, and continue through until midnight. Then, it’s back from 5 AM till midnight, all the way to Sunday. You’ve got time to replan those now useless plans, then. Load shedding returns…

Apple’s gone ahead and announced the second generation of its own in-house silicon. It has also revealed the first machines to get M2; a MacBook Air and a 13in Macbook Pro. But that’s never going to be enough for our benevolent tech overlord, is it? So it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a batch of other M2 hardware on the horizon. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who spends an awful lot of time knowing things in advance, has details of what’s coming up. Taking the M2 It shouldn’t be surprising at all that Apple’s launching M2 versions of most of its product…

If you were paying attention to streaming news over the weekend, you might have seen Multichoice calling for stronger regulation in the streaming space. Specifically, the broadcaster is looking to force its largest competitors to comply with BEE and South African tax laws. What you’re not supposed to be paying attention to is how these calls for a ‘level playing field’ coincide with Multichoice shedding large numbers of subscribers. The broadcaster is expected to lose R3 billion over the next five years. This can be laid at Netflix and Disney+’s door — even though the latter just got here. But…

If you want an idea of how wild the last few years have been for… everyone… then look no further than the American military. The Pentagon recently confirmed that some instances of UFOs — or ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ — cannot be explained. And barely anyone blinked. Now, NASA has thrown its extremely scientific hat into the investigation ring. Unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, is the new term for unexplained airborne objects. This is at least partly because ‘UFO’ is closely tied with Will Smith snarling ‘Welcome to Earth’ before smoking a cigar. NASA… intends to be a touch more scientific.…

If you take a look at the television services in South Africa, some are better than others. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will net you 4K video streams, but basically nobody else will. That might change, at least a little. Multichoice reckons it’ll be ready to offer broadcasts in 4K by November this year. South Africa’s main paid TV service currently airs content at a maximum resolution of 1080i. This hardly makes the most of that lovely new 4K TV in your lounge. But the company has plans to show at least some 4K content in the near future. Spoilt…