Author: Brett Venter

Russia and Ukraine, if you haven’t been paying attention for the last year, are in the middle of a substantial disagreement. That has had quite an effect on the former Soviet Union’s economy. Not so much the country’s earning potential — that seems to be doing better than expected (though that could and probably will change). But several international brands and services are no longer available in the country thanks to various sanctions. Those sanctions mean that the likes of Samsung and Apple have left the country. So have Intel, LG, Microsoft, Netflix, and many others. Heck, even McDonalds has…

Vodacom Business in Johannesburg today unveiled a new strategy that the company has named ‘Turn To Us’. The implications are apparent. The company wants South African businesses to turn to Vodacom to find solutions to problems they may face. It’s not hard to agree that South Africans face plenty of the latter and could do with more of the former. Turn To Us is not a product. It’s more of a statement of intent. The company wants South African businesses to partner with businesses of all sizes and shapes to tackle issues the country faces. It plans to do this…

A commercial humanoid robot is apparently the next target for several companies. Figure, a new startup, reckons it has what it takes to be the first to market with one. Its own creation is called Figure 01 and it doesn’t exist yet. But that’s more or less fine. Aside from Boston Dynamic’s Atlas, nor do any of the others. And Atlas has other things to its mind beyond turning up in stores. The company is making some seriously bold promises about what its to-be-created robot will be capable of. It will have, according to its creators, “the ability to think,…

Ford has only just had a patent revealed that would allow its cars to repossess themselves and now the company has announced Latitude AI. That’s a new subsidiary of the American automaker dedicated to “developing new automated driving technology with an initial focus on a hands-free, eyes-off driver assist system”. In other words, exactly the technology needed to make sure its cars can drive off if you don’t pay for them on time. That’s obviously not the whole point of Latitude AI but it does strike us as a little coincidental. It shouldn’t though. Last year a self-driving startup Ford…

Ford has figured out a use for self-driving cars that you can bet every other car manufacturer is about to develop in a hurry. The American automaker filed for a patent in 2021 that was published in late February. It describes a vehicle that’s able to up and bail on an owner that has stopped paying for it. The patent, called Systems and Methods to Repossess a Vehicle, deals with autonomous, semi-autonomous, and conventional vehicles. In the latter case, the company could “disable a functionality of a component… or may place the vehicle in a lockout condition.” That’s a remote…

Apple has managed to secure its largest-ever share of the world’s smartphone market, according to research done by Counterpoint. This was against a backdrop of generally falling smartphone sales but it doesn’t matter. It still counts. Usually, when words like “smartphone” and “market share” are thrown around, it’s because Samsung is (still) on top or was (briefly) dethroned. Performance tends to go the South Korean company’s way but it turns out that Q4 2022 was the exception. Whether it proves the rule remains to be seen. A good Apple quarter According to Counterpoint’s analysts, Apple secured 18% of the world’s…

In South Africa Tecno is known as a budget-focused smartphone maker. The last thing we were expecting to hear from the company is that it’s making a folding smartphone. But hey, everyone else is doing it. Might as well. The Chinese company’s first folding smartphone is the Phantom V Fold. In terms of form factor, it bears some resemblance to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold series of devices. It’s the same two-screen arrangement with the fold along the long edge. But it will, of course, be a cheaper purchase. Listen to Tecno That’s because Tecno is famous for creating phones that don’t…

Former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, has long been in favour of a decentralised social media platform. A service that Dorsey is involved with, Bluesky, may have started life as a Twitter division but it’s hoping to soon become its own platform. Its launch is edging nearer, with the app version of the social media protocol turning up on Apple’s App Store. Don’t get your hopes up too high just yet, though. The fledgling service is still in private beta, meaning that you’ll need an invitation in order to gain access. You can request one here, as it happens. But what’s…

Some companies are backing away from virtual and augmented reality. Others are running at it full tilt. You can count Xiaomi as one of the latter. The company certainly seems keen enough. The company’s new Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, set to be profiled at Mobile World Congress this year, uses the same chipset as Meta’s most recent VR headset. The company’s new augmented reality glasses prototype has already been unveiled. The company says that the glasses use a new magnesium-lithium alloy and carbon fiber in their construction, which allows it to come in at 126 grams. Xiaomi something new…

Atomic Heart is a surprisingly enthralling game. It’s an unusual collection of a very obvious set of influences – especially when it comes to gameplay, style and setting. If you’re a fan of the Bioshock series, Cyberpunk, Deus Ex, Fallout, Portal, and perhaps Wolfenstein, you should have this one on your radar. Developer Mundfish is based in Cyprus but is comprised of a team from various Eastern European countries, including Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Armenia, and Serbia (among others). This might be why this first-attempt title manages to nail its setting in 1955 (kinda) Russia — the good old USSR –…