Author: Brett Venter

You might have heard that, despite some efforts on the part of Telkom, there’s a spectrum auction happening in SA. And the internet provider might be pleased about that. Telkom, along with ISP Rain, have both won a significant portion of the so-called “digital dividend” band. But it wasn’t cheap. For its two 10MHz sections of the 800MHz band, Telkom entered (and won) a bid of R1.5 billion. Rain secured three 10MHz chunks of its own — two in the 700MHz band, and one in the 2.6GHz band. It’s paying R1.15 billion for that access, so the company arguably got…

Loads of companies are excited about the so-called urban air mobility space. To people who don’t invest for a living, that means ‘flying taxis’. Everyone from AirBus to NASA to Honda is playing in the space. It shouldn’t be surprising that Phractyl, a South African company you’ve probably never heard of, is also working on something. The ‘something’ the company is developing is the Macrobat. And, as vertical takeoff and landing aircraft goes, it’s got one of the most expressive designs we’ve ever seen. It’s far more birdlike than other concepts we’ve seen, which basically try and turn a taxi…

Apple’s new Studio Display is a weird creature. And we’re weirdly fine with that. It’s as if the company took a 27in Retina display, stuck the internals for an iPad to the back of it, and then stuck it on a stand. It’s… honestly not a terrible idea. Apple’s tablets have been awesome for a while now. This might well seal the deal for some users unsure about the hardware. The Studio Display contains all of its internal components in the back, much like an iMac. But it’s much skinnier, and not quite as powerful as a full-fat desktop PC.…

Can Apple have a device win its own event? Probably. If there was a single clear winner, it’d have to be the Mac Studio. The combination of Californian necromancy, an actual pact with dark forces, and far too many hours in the electrical engineering bay, the Mac Studio is a small machine with a big heart. A very big heart. Specifically Apple’s newly-revealed M1 Ultra processor. There’s an M1 Max option in the offing, but it’s the Ultra you’ll want to keep your eyes on. If it does what Apple says it does, it’s a very exciting bit of tech…

It’s quite a night when, besides new colours for the iPhone 13, the most boring announcement from Apple is its most powerful iPad Air to date. It’s always the company’s most powerful iPad Air. Apple doesn’t take steps backwards. Except when it does. But it fixed that MacBook Pro mess, eventually. Let’s take a quick look at Cupertino’s best iPad Air ever, which only looks kinda lame because of the monsters that followed it out of the gate. All the high notes You probably think you know what’s coming to the iPad Air (2022) but you might have been expecting…

Samsung’s having a tough time this March. Following news that its Galaxy phones are throttling some apps, and promising a fix, someone’s kicked the company while it’s down. News has emerged that Samsung has suffered a considerable cyberattack. The proof of this is a 190GB data dump by hacking group Lapsus$. The group posted a teaser of the information scooped out of Samsung’s interior. It looks considerable. The company has since confirmed that the breach has taken place, saying that Galaxy source code was compromised. It appears that nothing else was, however. Samsung’s rough March The company said, in a…

Facebook, owned by Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook), is rolling out a new security feature for users. Facebook Protect is not really optional unless you plan to stop using the service, and it doesn’t really explain what it does. But it does force users to sign up for two-factor authentication (2FA), which is all you really need to secure your social media account. That, and don’t be a dumbass. According to the company, “Facebook Protect helps these high-target accounts adopt stronger security protections by simplifying security features like two-factor authentication. It also provides additional security protections for people’s…

Remember how Apple and Samsung and others made the call to stop shipping chargers with their high-end smartphones? It looks as though budget phones, like Samsung’s Galaxy A lineup, are next on the chopping block. Samsung Galaxy A13 and Galaxy A23 handsets won’t launch this year with the 25W charge block that was a common addition with all but Samsung’s highest-end phones. The reason for this isn’t given. The company’s product pages for the upcoming budget phones simply include a footnote. It says, “25W Super Fast Charging charger sold separately.” Galaxy A-holes (in your budget) 12 5G bands support on…

If we were to ask you what the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time was, you’d probably say, “People still use Kickstarter?” And then we’d say, “Yes, but it’s been a while since they’ve had a serious hit on their hands.” And then you’d say, “Fair enough.” But we still wouldn’t be any closer to an answer. Well, we’ll tell you. Before this week, the most successful Kickstarter was for the Pebble Time. Ancient history? Perhaps. But this E-Ink smartwatch precursor led directly to the Apple Watch on your arm. Not that it matters. The Pebble Time has been…

If the United Launch Alliance (ULA) has to retire the Atlas V rocket, then it’s going out on a good note. The ULA has shared a brief highlight video of its outgoing launch vehicle sending the GOES-T spacecraft into orbit earlier this month. It’s been trimmed down to a compact minute-and-thirty. You’ll burn through it before your boss spots you’re not working. But there’s loads of information packed into ninety seconds. Atlas V: Aging titan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSa739G2aXU The video shows the whole process of getting the Atlas V to the launchpad. It doesn’t quite begin with stacking the rocket. The 2,700kg…