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Robot dogs are getting guns
A quadrupedal robot showcased during the Association of United States Army’s 2021 annual conference earlier this week came fitted with a gun. The Sword Defence Systems’ Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle (SPUR) is designed to be compatible with various robotic platforms. In this instance, it was mounted on one of Ghost Robotics’ Vision 60 units, a
Powerful and influential women in South Africa
Women are meant to be always celebrated as they are a great factor in the way we live, things we achieve and the choices we make in life. They somehow have that “make or break” effect on us and need to be celebrated and given flowers while they are still alive. Today we look at
Twitter putting ads in replies
Twitter is changing the way its users will see ads on the platform, with the new format displaying sponsored content in the middle of conversations. Announced by Bruce Falck, Twitter’s revenue product lead, the new format will display ads after the “first, third, or eighth reply under a Tweet”. The company is currently testing the
MTN to own R26.4 billion in tower company after New York Stock Exchange listing
Independent telecommunications company IHS Towers has announced its initial public offering (IPO) will be priced at $21.00 per share. South African mobile network operator MTN currently has a 29% stake in the company, which it estimated to be worth R30.5 billion in June 2021. IHS Towers is offering 18,000,000 shares to the public on the New York
Why SA is the best place for business in Africa
As in previous years, South Africa got the top spot in the Absa African Financial Markets Index (AFMI) due to the strength and depth of its financial markets and the effective legislation that boosts investment potential. However, in a presentation of the research results on Wednesday morning, the panel of experts from Absa disclosed that
Car prices skyrocket due to a global shortage of semiconductor chips
This phenomenon isn’t exclusive to South Africa, though. Across the world, car prices have soared due to a shortage of semiconductor chips. As a result of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, the shortage of these chips — as The Wall Street Journal reports — is due to a surge of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia (including Malaysia) where
Billionaire miner, Andrew Forrest sees next fortune in rush for clean energy
It took Andrew Forrest a little over a decade to build an iron ore empire to challenge the global majors. Now he’s set himself an equally ambitious timeline to create a global powerhouse in clean energy. The Perth-based billionaire, widely known as “Twiggy” in Australia, has been scouring the planet’s far-flung regions including Kyrgyzstan and
Listen to our Windows 11 and Microsoft Surface roundtable
On Tuesdays for the remainder of the year, The Verge’s flagship podcast The Vergecast will be featuring additional new episodes, with each focused on a specific topic usually discussed on our regular Friday shows. Today, we start our run with a discussion on the reviews we haven’t talked too much about yet on the show:
Fujifilm launches wide-format version of its Instax Link mobile printer
Fujifilm has announced a new mobile printer that uses its larger Instax Wide format film. The Instax Link Wide Smartphone Printer is a similar idea to the existing Instax Mini Link: hook up your phone over Bluetooth and use an app to edit and print your own Polaroid-style snapshots from your camera roll. Instax Wide film
Samsung announces Unpacked 2 event for Wednesday Oct 20th, right after Apple and Google
Samsung has just sent out invitations for an event it is holding online on Wednesday, October 20th at 7AM PT / 10AM ET. It’s called “Galaxy Unpacked Part 2,” which is possibly an indication that rather than all new Galaxy phones, we may be seeing iterations on existing ones. With Samsung’s announcement, we’ll now have
Icasa to challenge Telkom in court
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has vowed to fight the court case that Telkom filed to block the regulator from taking back emergency radio frequency spectrum. Telkom approached the North Gauteng High Court last week to file papers to interdict Icasa from taking back the temporary spectrum it assigned at the start of
Nokia TVs coming to South Africa
South African electronics company Ellies says it will launch Nokia Smart TVs and other TV products in the country before the end of the year. The products are made by StreamView, a company that designs, develops, and manufactures official Nokia-branded smart TVs, set-top boxes and related products for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Under the
Russian hackers now targeting high-profile Gmail accounts
Google is sending 10,000 USB security keys to users such as politicians and human rights activists which the company views to be at high risk, according to a blog post. The tech company warned more than 14,000 users to guard them against APT28 — also known as Fancy Bear — a Russian cyber espionage group
South Africa takes R3 billion loan for green energy
Pacific Investment Management Co. has agreed to lend a South African state development bank 3-billion rand ($210 million), the first deal in a United Nations program to fund green energy in Africa. The debt securities from Pimco, which manages $2.2 trillion in assets, will be used to refinance debt that South Africa’s Development Bank of
A robotics engineering student creates first USB-C charger iPhone X
Apple hasn’t created a USB-C iPhone despite years of rumors, but that hasn’t stopped a robotics engineering student from creating one. Ken Pillonel has placed a working USB-C port inside an iPhone X, allowing the phone to charge and transfer data over USB-C instead of Lightning. Pillonel has spent months on the project in his
Instagram app will now alert users when the service goes down
Instagram is testing a new feature that will alert users when the service is having major technical difficulties. The alert will appear as a notification in users’ Activity Feed when “people are confused and looking for answers,” says Instagram. In other words: when the app’s systems take a serious and prolonged nose-dive, as they did last week. It’s
Boeing Starliner test flight delayed until 2022
NASA has officially pushed back the launch of its Orbital Flight-Test 2 until next year, as it continues to work on an oxidizer isolation valve issue on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the agency announced. The agency said in a blog post that it’s continuing to assess potential launch windows for the mission: “The team currently is
Sources: Google launching a new Nest Hub in 2021 that uses Soli for sleep tracking
Google is planning to release a new Nest Hub in 2021, sources familiar with the matter tell 9to5Google. This upcoming Smart Display will feature sleep tracking powered by the company’s Soli radar technology. Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group first unveiled Soli in 2015, but it did not launch on a consumer device until 2019. The sensor
Google’s plans for Fuchsia OS teased in job listings
Google says “it’s time” to now bring its mysterious Fuchsia operating system to “additional smart devices and other form factors” beyond smart displays, according to a number of job listings first spotted by 9to5Google. Fuchsia is Google’s newest operating system which was released earlier this year for the company’s first-generation Nest Hub. There’s been a
Google Pixel 6 camera will get “Magic Eraser” and “Face Unblur”
Google’s next flagship Pixel smartphones will get security updates for five years and feature powerful new camera capabilities. That is according to leaked promotional product pages for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro from Carphone Warehouse, which was spotted by renowned smartphone leaker Evan Blass. The now-deleted pages confirmed some specifications and features that have been rumoured