TechEBlog -

Teaching Google’s Fruit Fly Brain to Play Balatro Results in MaleCNS Beating Ante 8

By Jackson Chung September 18, 2026

Google Research and HHMI Janelia’s FlyEM team released MaleCNS v1.0 earlier this month, a complete wiring diagram of an adult male fruit fly’s brain and ventral nerve cord. More than 166,000 neurons and about 125 million synapses sit in that public map, rebuilt from electron-microscope slices of a real Drosophila with machine-learning reconstruction. Hobbyists spent the next two weeks pointing those cells at DOOM, Beat Saber, Minecraft, a Rubik’s Cube, crypto tickers, and a parallel-parking drill. Then someone pointed them at Jimbo from Balatro.

Sixteen Stalls on One Truck, Tesla’s Accordion Supercharger Opens in Bavaria

By Bill Smith September 18, 2026

Tesla Charging posted the first Accordion Supercharger on September 15 and laid the plan out in one short clip. Factory work now covers the posts, the cabinet, the wiring, the cooling lines, and the concrete pads so a finished island leaves the plant instead of a pile of parts. Two of those eight-stall packages fit on a single truck, which means sixteen V4 stalls arrive in one run. Tesla says that package costs about 20 percent less to put in the ground than a conventional station and commissions as soon as utility power is tied in.

General Atomics’ Mojave STOL Turns a Korean Tank Trail Into a Runway

By Jackson Chung September 17, 2026

North of Seoul on September 16, a 29-foot uncrewed aircraft left a conventional Army runway, joined air operations over a live-fire range, then settled onto a rough maneuver trail normally reserved for tanks and artillery. Ground-station pilots sent it rolling again. It lifted off in less than 200 meters, resumed the sortie, and flew back to the 513th Aviation Battalion. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Hanwha Aerospace called the sequence the first battlefield short-field operation ever completed by a medium-altitude, long-endurance uncrewed aircraft. The Mojave STOL carried dual weapon rails loaded with four inert AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and wore South Korean markings for the Defense Drone Technology Exhibition at Seungjin Training Field in Pocheon-si. In a real fight, crews on that same trail could have refueled and rearmed it before sending it back up.

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.