“F*** Earth!” Elon Musk said, laughing. “Who cares about Earth?” Musk was laughing because he was joking: he cares a great deal about Earth. When he is not at SpaceX, he is running an electric car company. Elon Musk argues that we must put a million people on Mars if
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Apple announced its smartwatch this week. But how does it compare to the smartwatches by Motorola, Samsung and LG? Read…
The Mars One programme is offering civilians, including South Africans, the opportunity to create a human colony on Mars. Is this a revival of the golden age of discovery, when explorers left their homes to begin new civilisations? Or is it a “suicide mission” in which people die in space while we watch from
Most say the same thing. They came to the US either to avoid army conscription or apartheid itself in the late 1980s. They planned to stay for just a few years, but they stayed on. A quarter century later, this small generation of South African immigrants has risen to break through, en masse, into such key leadership roles that they’re changing the US. YouTube
As is customary at this time of the year, TechCentral is pleased to present its lists of who it considers the biggest technology newsmakers over the past 12 months, both internationally and in South Africa. We kick it off, as always, with the five people the publication’s editors believe
An object seen in the sky across South Africa on Sunday was a rocket and not a UFO as was widely believed, a satellite tracking expert said on Monday. “What happened was that at 6pm our time [on Sunday], a rocket, called Falcon, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and carrying
Mark Shuttleworth certainly isn’t afraid of taking the proverbial bull by the horns. After selling his South African Internet security business Thawte for US$575m at the height of the dot-com bubble, spending $20m and a year in training to become the first South African in space, and launching an operating system
For the better part of a decade, the US has been in a slump. Its unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, its growth rate even more stubbornly low. Its government is deadlocked, its debt is rising quickly and its populace is largely gloomy about the future. And yet, at least in one city, the optimism is palpable
South by Southwest (SxSw, or “South By” as those in the know refer to it) is now in its 20th year of existence, and more than ever the premier gathering for those who work in the interactive, digital arena. Running from March 8 to 17, it is being held in Austin
The rocket is 10 storeys tall. As we watch, it ignites and rises slowly skyward on a tongue of flame. A few hundred metres into the air it stops and slowly descends again, landing gracefully on the same launchpad it just left. Elon Musk smiles ecstatically at his audience, like a proud father at the birth of a