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Accessory maker Mechanism has released its first Switch 2 case, a $49 snap-on shell called the Basecase, after some delays. It works with the company's existing modular mount system, including the $19 Basegrip, and preserves access to the console's kickstand, ports, buttons and fan vents while clamping near the bottom USB-C port for a snugger fit.
Maurice Heumann spent three months and an estimated 600-700 billion AI tokens using Claude and Codex agents to decompile and rebuild the C++ source code of 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He reports 99% of the game's functions have been recreated, with 83% matching the original code, and says the game is now fully playable. Two earlier blog posts and a video of the project have since been taken down following a copyright report from the rights holder.
The Xbox Series S is cheaper than the Series X mainly because it lacks a disc drive, offers less storage, and uses significantly weaker hardware. The Series S has 512GB of base storage versus 1TB on the Series X, only 4 teraflops of processing power compared to 12, and caps out at 1440p resolution versus 4K on the Series X. Both consoles share similar CPU and GPU architecture but differ in clock speed, compute units, and RAM bandwidth, with the Series X outperforming across the board.
Anbernic has announced the RG DDS, a dual-screen handheld gaming device styled after the Nintendo 3DS, following up on last year's RG DS. The device pairs a 4.7-inch 1,200x720 main screen with a 4-inch 960x720 secondary screen, runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 chip, includes a 6,000mAh battery, an extra analog stick, a retractable stylus, and an unexplained dedicated AI button. Anbernic did not disclose pricing or a release date.
A project called Nanolathe has rebuilt Total Annihilation as a 2.5D RTS engine released under an MIT license, allowing anyone to study, modify or extend the code. It ships with three original demo missions playable directly in desktop Chrome, Edge or Safari using just a keyboard and mouse, with no installation or game files required.
Kuxiu has launched a Burgundy colorway of its D5 charging station, designed to match the burgundy iPhone 18 Pro. The D5 offers Qi2.2 25W wireless charging, a retractable Apple Watch puck, an AirPods charging mat, a built-in cooling fan, and a diagnostic display, and ships with a 45W brick and braided cable.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple will release a second-generation HomePod mini on October 30, alongside a refreshed Apple TV 4K, with the new HomeView smart home hub following in mid-November. The updated speaker is said to feature Apple's S10 chip, an N1 networking chip for Thread/Matter and Wi-Fi 7, Siri AI support, and new pink, green and blue color options.
BetterWispr is a new Apache 2.0-licensed dictation tool for macOS 14 and later that requires no subscription, account or API key. It runs speech-to-text locally using downloadable models or Apple's on-device speech recognition, letting users dictate into any text field via a hold-to-record shortcut like Option+Space.
The traditional 3-2-1 backup rule—three copies of data, on two different media types, with one copy stored offsite—is being reinterpreted by users as technology changes, with CDs largely abandoned in favor of external drives and cloud services like iCloud and Google Cloud. Reporting notes that cloud sync settings can sometimes delete files from the cloud when removed locally, and that offsite backups can still be vulnerable to ransomware if the storage device remains networked.
PopVax dosed the first participants in a Phase 1 trial of PVX-001, a broadly protective COVID-19 vaccine candidate, in Melbourne on 31 August 2026. The trial will enroll 36 healthy adults to test safety and immune response breadth; as of 6 October, 14 participants had been dosed with no serious adverse events reported. The vaccine uses PopVax's own protein design, mRNA-VLP architecture, and fridge-stable lipid nanoparticle delivery, built in-house over 4.5 years, and will be open-sourced once the trial concludes.
The open-source AnyPS5 project, which aims to run PS5 games natively on Windows and Linux PCs, has reached 100% coverage of the 1,166 AMD RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 shader instructions it tracks. The project works not by emulating the PS5 but by converting existing PS5 executables into native x86-64 Windows or Linux programs, replacing Sony's system libraries with native equivalents. The developers note that 'implemented' here only means the shader decoder recognizes each instruction, not that translation, rendering, or system libraries like networking are functional.
In the latest episode of 9to5Mac Overtime, hosts Jeff Benjamin and Fernando Silva discuss Apple's rumored 'Welcome Home' event and an anticipated smart home hub called HomePad, which reportedly combines a speaker with a display. They also cover newly surfaced iOS 27.2 code references pointing to third-party smart home products, including devices from LG.