TechEBlog -

Toyota’s DKR GR FC Hilux Is a Fuel-Cell Pickup That Will Race in the Dakar Rally on Water Alone

By Bill Smith September 17, 2026

Gazoo Racing is sending a Hilux into the 2027 Dakar Rally that will never touch gasoline. Called the DKR GR FC Hilux, the truck keeps the tubular chassis, short wheelbase, high fenders and long-travel suspension of the GR DKR Hilux EVO T1+ that has already won the event four times, then pulls the twin-turbo V6 and puts a Toyota fuel cell in its place. Hydrogen and oxygen meet in the stack, electricity feeds the motors, and the only thing leaving the tailpipe is water. That is the entire plan for 13 timed stages and 1,000 competitive kilometers across Saudi sand, rock and dry riverbeds from January 1 to 15, 2027.

Plaion’s Neo Geo AES+ Slips to September 2027 After Tokyo Game Show Finally Hands You the Hardware

By Bill Smith September 17, 2026

Photo credit: BFBulletin
Plaion Replai pushed the worldwide launch of Neo Geo AES+ from November 12, 2026 to Thursday, September 16, 2027, blaming a mix of unexpectedly high demand and a global squeeze on memory chips driven by AI infrastructure. Official wording is blunt: the company cannot build enough units for a proper worldwide launch this year, and shipping a thin November batch would have meant instant sell-outs and secondary-market chaos. Commercial director Ben Jones said Plaion looked at every way to keep the original timetable, then chose extra time to lock down more chips and expand factories rather than shortchange the people already in line.

Bose SoundLink Micro (2nd Gen) Finally Earns a Permanent Spot in the Bag

By Jackson Chung September 17, 2026

Eight years after the first SoundLink Micro, Bose shipped a second version that fixes the parts people actually complained about. The SoundLink Micro (2nd Gen), priced at $99 (was $129), still sits in a palm, still clips to a strap, and still looks like a rubberized river stone with a metal grille. Size is about 4.1 by 4.1 by 1.7 inches and the weight is just over 11 ounces. That is a little larger and heavier than the 2017 original, and you feel the extra bulk only if you compare them side by side.

Figure’s Helix 2.5 Goes to Work in 30 Homes It Has Never Entered

By Jackson Chung September 17, 2026

Figure rented thirty Bay Area houses, reset the rooms, and sent in a humanoid that had never walked those floors. Helix 2.5, the newest neural network from the company, arrived with no extra practice on those couches, those beds, or those towels. Staff left living rooms scattered with toys, towels in a heap, and beds undone, then asked the robot to finish three jobs on its own: gather every toy into a basket, fold towels and put them away, and make the bed.

BMW iX5 Hydrogen Leaves Camouflage Behind and Heads for the Factory Floor

By Bill Smith September 17, 2026

BMW rolled uncamouflaged iX5 Hydrogen prototypes into public view this month and followed them with a new video of the hardware, a pairing that finally makes the project look like a car headed for customers instead of another closed-door experiment. Officials in Munich said the current fleet is running a full validation program while the third-generation fuel cell system enters a fresh assembly phase, and Plant Steyr in Austria is already taking delivery of test benches and production gear. Those three tracks running at once is the point. BMW wants the first hydrogen model it will actually sell to leave the development loop with factory processes already practiced, not invented after the last prototype is signed off.