Author: Brett Venter

When you hear the term ‘smart city’, you usually think of a technologically-advanced place where the electricity stays on 24 hours a day. Be that as it may, the City of Joburg, in its most recent budget, has allocated a bunch of cash to planned smart features for the city. Among them are plans for automated substation fire suppression, an eHealth system, and a bunch of WiFi hotspots. The total budget for these features, according to a speech made by the city’s finance MMC Julie Suddaby, is R316.5 million. The lion’s share of this goes to an automated fare payment…

The Toyota Starlet might be a little weirdly named, but it makes up for it with features. The Japanese automaker has detailed the versions and prices of the country’s newest semi-affordable hatchback. The Starlet launched in South Africa on 23 May, so the current specs and prices are immediately available. There are some exterior changes to look out for. Both the front and rear ends have seen a tweak or two, there’s a boot spoiler and a new two-light cluster at the back. Chrome detail has also been added to Toyota’s new Starlet. Which is still a really weird name…

We don’t need to tell you that load shedding sucks. Everybody knows. But a pair of solar projects, recently approved by South Africa’s energy regulator, could make it suck a little less. Two new 100MW solar plants have been approved by NERSA. The projects will be constructed in the North West Province, because that’s where we keep all the sunlight, apparently. They’ll be handled by a company called Sola Group, on behalf of a group called Tronox Mineral Sands. Apparently. Something solar NERSA has granted the license for these two new 100MW solar plants under SA’s new rules that allow…

From our very first moment with Dolmen, this space-based action RPG in the vein of Dark Souls, we knew what sort of game we were dealing with. The game’s menu gave pretty much the whole thing away. On loading up this game on the Xbox One, the menu can only be navigated with the D-pad. The Xbox One’s thumbsticks don’t do anything. The same goes for the menu in-game. It seems like a small thing, but it’s a pretty big deal. Dolmen has ambitions of being the space version of Dark Souls. Or The Surge, a game it resembles a…

Distressing signs for South Africa’s petrol price in June this year has loomed for some time now. The situation appears even more dire than it seemed to be two weeks ago. Then, it looked as though South African motorists could be paying at least R3.00 more per litre of petrol in June. Unfortunately, it seems this prediction was a little too optimistic. Currently, the petrol price increase appears to be sitting at R2.25 a litre. But that’s not the end of it. Petrol price pain pending The current petrol under-recovery sum of R2.25/litre doesn’t account for the government-mandated tax break.…

The headline should have told you everything you need to know — Eskom load shedding is sticking around for the rest of the week. The State-owned power utility is having trouble keeping the lights on during the current cold snap. Eskom is continuing its trend of not load shedding during the day if it can help it. Can’t have you sitting around doing nothing on company time, after all. That just won’t do — there’s capitalism in thar hills, and you’ve been nominated to dig it out. Then, you can go home and sit in the darkness. Everybody… wins? What…

Apple’s iPhones last so long that losing support for one is always noteworthy. WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app, is about to do just that. A few iPhone models are outright losing support for the app, while others will require a software update. The folks from WABetaInfo have found a warning message from the app, saying that WhatsApp won’t be supported on iOS 10 and iOS 11 devices after 24 October this year. That’s plenty of notice, if you’re using an older phone and have yet to update to iOS 12 or better. WhatsApp with upgrades Now, generally, this…

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule hasn’t had the greatest time of it. Its initial orbital test didn’t end particularly well, and its second was called off at the last second. Boeing’s third try at sending its capsule on an unmanned run to the International Space Station (ISS), though… That’s turned out okay. Starliner launched last night on top of an Atlas V, one of the United Launch Alliance’s rockets. The launch was supposed to demonstrate the viability of yet another crew capsule, to compete with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Starliner’s starring role The first time Boeing’s craft launched into space, a series…

If you’re old enough to remember a certain film starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Spacey, you’ll know the words ‘What’s in the box?’. Netflix has decided that kids need that experience, only with far less trauma. Instead of Gywneth Paltrow (which is a scary thing to find inside any container), kids using the streaming service on their accounts will find a new show inside a so-called mystery box. Netflix is rolling out the feature as a stand-in for the ‘Play Something’ function for those who have trouble deciding what to watch. The Netflix mystery In a bid to…

South Africans know the pain of booking a driver’s license test in this country. First, you line up for ages in the cold. Then you line up for ages to get an eye test, even if you already paid for one. Then you link up for ages in order to complete the bloody booking. It’s the middle step that might get a tad simpler, if transport minister Fikile Mbalula is to be believed. Mbalula says that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is tidying up an agreement with the Health Professions Council of South Africa that will let South Africans…