Author: Brett Venter

NASA’s X-series aircraft are always technological testbeds, and the X-70 Fractal is no different. Okay, it’s slightly different. The American space agency chose to use generative AI to create the only known image of the aircraft, which accompanied the official announcement. The stated aim of the experimental plane, whatever it actually looks like, is to “explore aircraft maneuverability in ways never before demonstrated in crewed flight.” That makes it obvious there will be humans on board, but the apparently modular design of the craft means it’ll have several (so far unstated) uses. X70 Fractal patterns NASA administrator Jared Isaacman called…

There are several ways to make a compact camera, but we’ve never seen anything like Lutra’s HOA A1 unit. Visually, it looks like an empty Polaroid with a large circular sensor module situated in the middle. Functionally? It’s a pretty standard camera, except the entire body acts as the viewfinder. This is possible because Lutra has removed most of the body, leaving a large transparent space you look through to frame a shot. The company has several reasons for this, like the photographer making eye contact with a subject and other hippie sentiments, but mostly it’s because it looks unique.…

Meta started testing AI-powered age detection for Instagram way back in 2022. It’s been through a few refinements since then, and now it’s ready to go global, according to the company. The first affected users, of course, were Americans. Later this month, AI-based age verification will “place millions more teens in Teen Account protections” on the platform. The company’s explainer will be shown in video format to American adults (and presumably teens), detailing how the process works and what the new mandatory teen accounts entail.  Appropriate Instagram The company launched Teen Accounts, which place restrictions on younger users, in several…

Everyone else is doing it. Why not Samsung? The South Korean tech maker is reportedly testing a paid subscription for its Galaxy AI features. What’s more, the approximate pricing for this test is also known. It’s not like we haven’t seen this coming. The company hinted at it in an update to its terms of service last year. Now, it seems that an AI Premium subscription is in testing for the brand’s Galaxy smartphones. The upside, at least for the testers, is that they’ll get their cash back after the test period is over. Everyone else, though? They probably won’t…

One reason Huawei was largely kicked out of the American computing supply chain was the accusation that it used its hardware as a spying vector. Whether that’s true or not, the company has taken note of those risks. The result? The Qingyun HM650 desktop computer. Making a desktop computer isn’t hard. Anyone moderately handy with a screwdriver can assemble one. Building one from components from a single country is a bit tougher. That’s just what Huawei claims it has done with the HM650 desktop computer, right down to its HarmonyOS operating system. Just a Qingyun Everything inside the computer, from…

BYD’s Yangwang U9 Extreme has just set a new high-speed record for a production car, so it’s a perfect time for the brand’s Altior electric limousine to turn up. After all, everyone’s already looking in Yangwang’s direction. The company debuted its luxury EV in the UAE over the weekend, and it’s a pricey one. Which makes sense, since BYD will only make 399 of them. If you’re wealthy enough to afford a permanent driver, you can probably afford to lay down a deposit. The BYD Yangwang Altior demands a R741,000 (¥300,000) down payment, with an expected total of R5.13 million…

Meta famously loves to scoop up its users’ information, putting it towards… various purposes. There’s no reason to expect that Waddle World, a cutesy “AI pet journal” app, won’t be put to similar use. The social media platform has launched the app in the Philippines (so far), on both Android and iOS. Meta hasn’t made an official announcement about the journalling app yet. That, and its limited reach, suggests that it’s just a test for now. To see what it can get away with. The company did something similar with Storykit, a children’s bedtime app, earlier this year. That one…

Motor vehicles are bound to get ever smarter. Mercedes-Benz has a couple of ideas in that direction, mostly concerning the under-exploited front and rear windscreens in its cars. There’s also a bit about making EV charging speedier, but that just sort of… sits there. Replacing the glass in a motor vehicle with something more exciting, though? That’s something we can get behind. Merc reckons it can spruce up a car’s rear and side windows with something a bit more informative using the power of miniLED overlays. Mercedes-Benz the rules MiniLED may be repurposed to convert a rear windscreen “to show…

Sony’s original MDR-3 headphones launched way back in 1979. 47 years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but that’s what the MDR-3R headphones, newly announced by the Japanese company, provide. And, in keeping with the retro aesthetic, there’s also a Stranger Things collaboration in the works. More likely, Sony’s updated headphones will be used for (inaccurate) Patrick Bateman cosplay… or by serious audio nerds. The lightweight on-ears should prove very usable by the rank and file as well — especially when paired with one of Sony’s Walkman reissues. You’re a MDR-3R? Sony has preserved the original design,…

It seems like every few months there’s a new Reno smartphone from Oppo. The newest in South Africa is the Oppo Reno 16 F, an upper-midrange device that’ll deliver everything you could want from a smartphone for about seventeen grand. But since you can nab either the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE or the full Galaxy S26 for just a thousand rand more, you might want to think about how hard you’d like to put an Oppo phone in your pocket. There’s one very unique feature in this one that we’re quite impressed with, but it won’t make a lick of…