Simon Batt
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Humour Author and Freelance Writer.
Articles by Simon Batt
Someone used Claude to give GTA 2 a big graphical update, and you can play it too
GTA 2 gets a jaw-dropping RTX Remix upgrade with path-tracing and HD PBR cars. Built with Claude, it adds real glass, doors and dents, lighting tweaks, blood puddles, and voiceovers. Try GTA2 RTX Upgraded 1.1 on GitHub - requires your GTA2 copy, an RTX GPU, and RTX Remix. Well, it's just over two weeks until GTA 6 hits the gaming scene. Still, when you're waiting for something exciting, two weeks feels like an eternity. So, why not tide yourself over with an older GTA game?
Affinity is finally coming to Linux, although we don't know when it'll arrive just yet
Affinity is coming to Linux and is in active development, but there’s no ETA yet. Closed-source but mostly free, a powerful Photoshop alternative many prefer. I’ll use it more if a native Linux build arrives, even though there are some good open-source alternatives out there. If I want an image editor that has a similar power level to Photoshop without actually using Photoshop, I tend to reach for Affinity. It's a shame that it's not open-source, but it is free, which is definitely a huge plus.
The latest price hike for the 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 makes it 3x more expensive than at launch
The Pi 5 16GB price jumps to $385 due to a 16 GB DRAM shortage, over triple its launch price. Other Pi 5 models keep current prices; Foundation urges assessing if buying the 16GB is necessary. Foundation may cut 16GB Pi 5 price if DRAM costs fall, timing uncertain. The RAM crisis has not been kind to the Raspberry Pi. Over the past year or two, we've seen gradual price increases for the boards as the Foundation tries to keep the hardware costs covered.
Someone got ESP-NOW working on a 2009 Sony Walkman, and it even uses the original Wi-Fi chip
This 2009 Sony Walkman now runs ESP-NOW using its original WiFi chip, a non-invasive mod. It talks to ESP32 devices; the demo shows a shared aquarium using IMU data and synced local rendering. Project and code are on GitHub, a great chance to revive old Walkmans and experiment. It has been a good week for bringing new life into older tech. We saw someone turn an Amazon Echo Dot 3 into a Home Assistant satellite with Claude's help, and someone else turned a rotary phone into an AI assistant.
Someone revived two vintage wind meters from an airport tower using an ESP32-C6
Someone saved vintage airport wind meters and gave them a digital second life with an ESP32 They 3D printed a case and wired an ESP32 to the dials to take readings from personal weather data. Gets wind data via AcuRite Atlas → RTL-SDR → Raspberry Pi → WeeWX → MQTT, and falls back to weather reports. If you have some vintage hardware lying around and you're not sure what to do with it, always hand it over to a tinkerer.
Someone made a Godot-style game editor for the ESP32-S3
Jet Studio delivers a Godot-like editor for building and flashing 2D/3D games to the ESP32-S3. Demos hit high frame rates: a 2D shooter hit 85 FPS, an Outrun-style racer at 65 FPS, and a 3D physics test at 55 FPS. The editor has a scene tree, Inspector, 2D/3D views, gizmos, script editor, signals, AnimationPlayer, and build/flash tools. People have been making some really cool gaming projects for their ESP32s lately, but what if you want to make your own?
A KDE developer reveals Kwi, a GPU-accelerated terminal built on Ghostty's library
Konsole is nearly 30 years old; Kwi is a fresh, experimental terminal for KDE. Kwi uses Qt Quick GPU rendering and libghostty-vt, claiming 3-35x faster rendering than Konsole. It's an experiment, easy to embed in Qt Quick apps — not yet a Konsole replacement and still buggy. How old do you think Konsole is?
Someone used Claude to root an Amazon Echo Dot and turn it into a Home Assistant satellite
Turn Echo Dot 3 (2018) into a local Home Assistant voice satellite by replacing Amazon firmware. Solder a USB to the board to keep mic and wake-word engine but stop data going to Amazon. Supports many Echo models (see Echo Dot Assist GitHub); some 3rd-gen models and clock version won't work. We've seen people use Claude to break into all kinds of devices lately. The biggest news pieces include smart TVs, such as when someone got into Samsung's Tizen OS using Claude. But why stop at TVs?
KDE Plasma gets a ton of bug fixes as 6.8 begins landing on people's computers
Plasma 6.8 shipped on October 14, meaning daily drivers are now finding bugs that dodged beta testers. Community fixed regressions like wrong notification placement and cloned panel screen bugs. 6.8.2 fixed Discover crashes and Flatpak remote desktop crashes; some fixes move to 6.9. So, how's everyone liking KDE Plasma 6.8? It was released on October 14th, which means people who aren't on LTS branches have likely gotten it already.
Sam Altman says it's "quite terrible" that people use RAM in their PCs for AI during a shortage
AI demand is driving up RAM costs, making consumer sticks pricier. Altman implies underused PC RAM should be in cloud data centers for higher utilization in an interview. His remarks suggest a preference for cloud over consumer RAM, which shows a worrying trend if true. If you've been RAM shopping any time in the last year or so, you've probably noticed that memory costs quite a bit more than it used to.
Epic's Linux anti-cheat wants TPM 2.0 and a stack of settings, and you can check your own PC in about five minutes
When Windows 11 arrived on the block, people running Windows 10 with older hardware hit a brick wall. Windows 11 requires a CPU with TPM 2.0, and if yours didn't have it, you had to perform workarounds just to get it installed. The alternative was to move to Linux, where TPM 1.2 chips were supported, and still are. Add XDA on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover Unfortunately, it appears even Linux isn't totally free from TPM shenanigans.
Someone got Pokémon Pokopia running on a PS5 with Linux on it, and I don't know what to believe anymore
Pokemon Pokopia runs on a PS5 running Linux — a wild, layered port. Graphics are hit-or-miss: the early build shows shadowy characters. Decompiles and ports keep expanding what's possible — the sky seems to be the limit. Have you ever had those moments where you see something develop, and you think, "That's incredible, but there's no way someone can top that," only for someone to proceed to top that? Well, I had that exact thought when our gaming editor reported on people porting Super Mario Bros.
Collabora hits back at claims that Denmark ditched it, saying its problems were fixed long ago
Collabora says the reported split with Denmark was false, that it fixed pilot issues, and that collaboration continues. The company claims Collabora engineers resolved initial OOXML bugs at their own expense during the pilot. Collabora says testing paused after a government reshuffle and that the halt was not due to the software's quality. A week ago, we reported that the Danish government had reportedly cut ties with Collabora. Now, Collabora has released an official statement about the situation.
You, too, can build this adorable ESP32 PC monitor with a bear motif
Bear Byte is a cute 3D-printed ESP32-S3 gadget that shows PC stats so you don't have to keep Task Manager open. Wire-free Bluetooth link streams real-time CPU, GPU, RAM, temps, and network stats across four pages. Full DIY: Instructables guide, BOM, and 3D files let you print and build your own adorable monitor. Probably the most annoying part of using Task Manager is that it takes ages to load when you need it the most.
Someone turned a vintage rotary phone into an AI assistant, and so can you
Cheap vintage rotary phones make great shells for DIY projects - easy to find at flea markets or online. Drop a Raspberry Pi and USB sound card inside to turn it into a voice AI using Google Gemini 3.8 Live. Pick up the receiver and dial 1/2/3 for German, English, or Turkish - works with other rotary phones. If you're a tinkerer and have never gotten into modifying retro hardware, you should give it a try.
Two people used Claude to make a PS2 emulator that runs in your browser
Claude-assisted TabStationToo ports PCSX2 to run inside a Chrome browser tab. It runs locally, with no data uploaded; you must supply your own PS2 BIOS and ROMs. Not identical to native PCSX2 performance, but a compelling browser demo. We've seen a tidal wave of people decompiling games and recompiling them for different systems thanks to advances in AI coding. Some people have even found ways to recompile games to run in a browser, but what about running an emulator in a tab?
Someone turned their Boox Note Max into an e-ink calendar you can handwrite in
Jotcal turns an Android e-ink device (like Boox Note Max) into a glanceable handwritten calendar. Handwrite events directly; the native pen API ensures low latency; features an edit/undo chip, no forms or buttons. Grab Jotcal on Google Play, perfect as a fridge-facing family glanceable calendar. If you've seen my reporting for even a minute, you'll know I'm a huge fan of e-ink displays. So whenever someone finds another cool way to use e-ink devices around the house, I have to show it off.
Why Linux never needed defragging, while Windows relied on it for decades
If you used Windows back in the day, you probably remember whittling away the days watching the colorful defragmentation tool work away to help speed up your disk reads. And while the introduction of SSDs and automatic organization services in Windows has generally reduced the need to run the defragger (if at all), it's still a cool chapter in how we used our PCs back then.
After only two years, Microsoft removes Copilot from all smart TVs
Microsoft is ending Copilot support on all smart TVs, including LG models. LG TVs show a notice that Copilot features will stop functioning sometime in 2026. Microsoft is scaling back Copilot to focus on quality over rapid expansion.
The new MacBook Pro maxes out at $14,549: here's what else you could buy for that
Maxed MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR hits $14,549. That sum buys 347 Pi 5 kits or 382 WinRAR licenses. You could instead buy a used 2020 Toyota Camry for about $14,000. So, Apple just revealed a MacBook Pro. It's called the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, and if you max out all of its hardware—that's a 16-inch screen with 16 TB of storage, 128 GB of RAM, and an M5 Max chip, in case you're curious—you get an eye-watering bill of $14,549.00.
A researcher claims Samsung TVs use connected devices with mics to listen in on you
A researcher claims that Samsung TVs without mics access connected devices' mics and ship audio to Bixby. Evidence is anecdotal from one researcher; Samsung hasn't confirmed, and proof of exfiltration is lacking. If true, expect more reverse-engineering reports; meanwhile, treat claims with skepticism and await Samsung's comment. It seems people have been tinkering with their smart TVs a lot lately. Over the past few days, we've seen people using Claude Code to remove ads and add new home screens.
Those US-made laptops BlueChip is building may get Starlink-like antennas, too
Anduril and Qualcomm launch BlueChip laptops, with 90% of the cost using US and allied parts. BlueChip's replaceable top shell could house flat phased-array antennas for Starlink-like satellite links. Built for government, defense, and first responders; may bring satellite-ready consumer laptops later. In case you missed it, Anduril and Qualcomm announced earlier today that they were entering a partnership to create a range of laptops using US production lines.
Someone created a 90s-themed Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby TV guide using Claude
Nostalgex turns your Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby libraries into a 90s-style TV guide. It offers 130+ themed channels, seasonal blocks and a scrolling guide with posters and ratings. Try it in your browser or the App Store to browse your media libraries like it's on CRT. The newest AI trend appears to be siccing Claude onto TVs and having it decompile it to do all sort of things the user wants (although there are some reports claiming that Anthropic has added safeguards to prevent this).
Anduril and Qualcomm's BlueChip aim to bring laptop production onto US soil
Anduril and Qualcomm launch BlueChip to build laptops manufactured in the U.S. 90% of parts come from U.S. and allied suppliers; plan aims for a fully domestic supply chain by 2027. BlueChip laptops target government and critical industries; availability expected around 2027. As the US banks on its computer hardware capabilities, we're seeing companies bringing production lines over to America.
Someone set up Claude Code to scan the night sky for meteors and log them
Someone used Claude Code to auto-process 4K night-sky video and flag potential meteors. Retrained on approved detections, star false alarms fell from ~50% to 7% while catching ~90% of meteors. The open-source sky camera runs nightly, tosses junk, and texts the details of the best meteors. One of the main strengths of using something like Claude Code is that you can get it to do all the boring grunt work, leaving you with the fun parts.
Retailer claims Nintendo blocks physical reprints of Game-Key Card titles, but for "legit reasons"
Retailer claims Nintendo blocks later physical releases for Game-Key Card-only titles. Video Games Plus says the policy has "legit reasons" and may hopefully allow physical releases after sellouts. Nintendo says it's not planning to ditch physical games; GKC-only future remains unclear. Scrapping physical game copies for digital downloads has been a major point of discourse lately, especially when the news broke that Sony would cease PlayStation disc production in January 2028.
GPT-6.1 Terra brings more advanced computer agent use at a lower cost than Claude
GPT-6.1 Terra excels at multi-step computer tasks (Agent's Last Exam) and outperforms OpenAI models. It's close to Claude Opus 5.5 performance but far cheaper—$1.01 vs $8.82. Now available to Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Edu; 1M input tokens $1, 1M output tokens $5. It seems a big pattern with GPT-6 is offering better performance for cheaper.
Microsoft wants to cut up to 60,000 employees with one big employee buyout
Microsoft offers voluntary exit buyouts to up to 60,000 employees across multiple countries. The offer expands beyond level 70, letting lower-level staff access the Voluntary Exit Offer. Employees in AI, Copilot, CoreAI, Windows, Xbox, finance, and HR were targeted; some teams were only partly included. By now, it's no secret that the large tech companies are performing big layoffs.
Linus Torvalds is using AI to add to the Linux kernel, and his approach to the tech is the healthiest
This year was big for open-source projects and their stance on LLMs. Coding using AI agents has gotten so good that maintainers have had to draw the line on whether or not they allow LLM-generated code. Some projects outright ban AI for code or commit messages, while others allow it, usually with strict quality-control rules.
Someone synced their whole ebook library across five devices with a home server, and I'm jealous
This BookOrbit + KOReader project syncs an ebook library, progress, and highlights across five devices seamlessly. The library lives on a Linux BookOrbit server with unified covers and metadata. Handheld notes don't sync on Boox KOReader, but highlights push to Readwise automatically. If you're an avid e-reader fan, there's a good chance you've got more devices than you need (and I don't blame you).
Users report that Anthropic blocked Claude from reverse-engineering TVs
Users claim that Opus 5.5 guardrails blocked Claude from reverse-engineering smart TVs. It's an unverified anecdote: safeguards may be blocking TVs by mistake or targeting other risks. If true, people could turn to other or open-source LLMs to bypass Claude’s TV restrictions.
These ESP32 motorized faders are the coolest smart home light switches I've ever seen
This Motorized fader console turns on lights with tactile, switch-like clicks. It uses an ESP32-S3, and each slider directly controls bulb brightness. It also features a dial to select the room you wish to control, and four buttons for room presets. Smart home lights are really cool, but we often pay too much attention to what the bulb looks like or what it can do. But the humble light switch is sitting there, ripe for renovation.
Someone turned their monitor into a laser pointer firing range game using Claude Code
ScreenPlink turns your monitor into a laser-based shooting range using a webcam and laser pointer. Built with Claude Code, it's open-source on GitHub and supports single- or two-player modes. Requires only a webcam, a matte screen, and a laser trainer or pointer to play. People have been doing some really cool things lately by pointing their webcams at their screens. Just a few days ago, we saw someone breach their Samsung TV by letting Claude take photos of the screen while it was working.
Denmark ditches its plan to replace Microsoft Office with Collabora because it wasn't working with OOXML files
Denmark trialed Collabora to ditch Microsoft Office, but it failed to open some OOXML files. A 38-person trial was paused for elections and later canceled after persistent import issues. Proprietary OOXML format makes migration painful; as long as proprietary files remain, swaps won't be seamless. Some European countries are taking their first steps toward digital sovereignty by removing their dependency on foreign tech.
Your motherboard still has “useless” headers from the 1990s, and licensing agreements are to blame
If you take a long, hard look at your motherboard, you'll notice that it comes with some legacy ports on them, such as Serial (COM), Parallel (LPT), and PS/2 headers. It can be really tempting to assume they're there because the motherboard companies are lazy, but in fact, there's a good reason they're there. And the answer lies about three decades ago.
KDE Plasma 6.9 will finally give us Wayland picture-in-picture mode by default
Plasma 6.9 remembers open window sizes and positions per screen arrangement. Wayland picture-in-picture enabled; can permanently deny XWayland apps pointer/keyboard control. Hold Ctrl or Shift in Task Switcher to stop bouncing and select multiple items; many 6.8 bug fixes inbound. With KDE Plasma 6.8 now out, people are finding new and exciting ways to break the desktop environment in two. As such, the maintainers have gone into a big bug-fixing spree to ensure 6.8 is as good as it can be.
Knicks owner faces fan backlash after tricking MSG staff with a fake championship ring phishing test
Madison Square Garden sent a fake employee championship ring email as a phishing test, sparking outrage. Longtime staff weren't getting rings anyway, so the test felt needlessly cruel and misleading. Fans blasted MSG; critics say phishing tests are fine, but fans claim this crossed a line. Do you think you'd be able to spot a company-mandated phishing test if you saw one?
Someone actually got macOS 27 running on a Snapdragon X2 Elite, and it works surprisingly well
Snapintosh runs macOS 27 on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite (Asus Zenbook A16). It's glitchy now — Wi‑Fi, GPU, and performance need work, but it boots Apple's kernel. Repo shows EL2 hypervisor, platform hooks; gitignore hints the dev used Anthropic's Claude. The newest trend in AI is getting software running on hardware where it really shouldn't be. People have been having a blast porting games to other consoles and PCs, but one person is on a mission: to get macOS 27 running on a Snapdragon X2.
This adorable Raspberry Pi project prints the weather, puzzles, and stories for the family on receipts
Turn a Raspberry Pi + receipt printer into a daily family digest with weather, chores, and puzzles. The Printr app includes 55 customizable widgets: weather icons, Lichess chess puzzle, sudoku, crosswords, and notes, to name a few. It uses a Raspberry Pi 3B and Epson TM-T88V for scheduled or instant prints. If you ever wonder what someone would do with a receipt printer outside of business use, look no further than the tinkering community.
The eMudhra issue was so bad, it delayed Fedora 45 until November at the earliest
Fedora 45 delayed to Nov 3 due to four blockers, including compromised eMudhra certs. eMudhra issued trivially factorable private keys; Fedora must update intermediates before release. Other blockers: LVM autoactivation, Plasma Discover serving outdated RPMs, Stratis encrypted pool boot failure. If you haven't heard the news already, there was a major security concern with website certificates.
You, too, can build this ESP32 e-ink display that shows the planes flying over your home
The Overhead Tesserae module draws live nearby flights on e-ink dashboards. Illustrations are painted from credited photos; pick from 26 drawing styles or show photos. Plane icons scale by wingspan; the larger the wings, the bigger the icon. The tinkering community has been very interested in what's in the skies around them lately. We've seen plenty of airplane trackers, and we've seen lovely e-ink displays that draw any birds in the vicinity. But what if you combined the two?
Someone debloated their Samsung Tizen OS TV by pointing a camera at it for Claude to see
Claude tried to debloat an Android TV, but it was Samsung Tizen, a locked, non-ADB system. It used a local site to access the user's phone camera, snapping TV photos every 4s to monitor progress. After ~11 hours, Claude built an Apple TV-style UI, hid apps, and wiped the Samsung ad ID. With the newest AI trend of people vibe-coding ways to debloat their smart TV, one person was inspired and decided to try it on their own device.
LibreOffice was downloaded 9.4 million times over the last 8 weeks, with 2026's stats already beating 2025
LibreOffice hit 9.4M downloads in eight weeks, a notable surge from under 1M/week. Possible drivers: Publisher's end, Europe's push for digital sovereignty, and v26.8 features. 2026 downloads already surpass 2025 with ten weeks left—momentum could carry into 2027. Did you grab LibreOffice over the last eight weeks? If so, you helped The Document Foundation with a huge milestone. The foundation reported that it got 9.4 million downloads over an eight-week period, and 2026's stats already beat 2025.
You can now purchase officially refurbished Samsung Galaxy phone models from Amazon
Samsung Certified Re-Newed Galaxy S24 and S25 models are now available on Amazon. Select S24/S25 variants are listed on Amazon; not all models or colors are available. Each Certified Re-Newed phone includes a one-year manufacturer warranty and optional Samsung Care+. If you're on the hunt for a replacement for your phone, but you don't want to shell out new phone money for one, you can always grab a refurbished model.
Nvidia brings Underdog to the RTX Spark, making it easier to run AI models locally
Underdog brings local AI agents to RTX Spark laptops, using the Husky inference engine to run models without relying on the cloud. The desktop app makes it easier to interact with AI models and agents directly on your PC. Nvidia says new speculative decoding support with multi-token prediction (MTP) can speed up end-to-end agentic tasks by up to 1.4x on an RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPU. Back in mid-October, Nvidia's RTX Spark devices hit the shelves.
This project turns your ESP32 CYD into a pixel aquarium with ~100 species of life
Turn a $5 ESP32 'Cheap Yellow Display' into a self-running pixel aquarium that boots straight into the sim. It has a ~100-species reef roster, a touchable reef guide that records discoveries to LittleFS, and weighted spawns. It also sports big fauna (sharks, whale sharks, mantas), a movable tank camera, and a 12-hour clock. Do you have a bits box full of hardware collecting dust? Don't worry; so do I.
This ESP32 CYD project turns your display into a Flock camera scanner
SquachWatch turns an ESP32 CYD into a standalone WiFi/Bluetooth scanner for trackers. Detects Flock cameras, body cams, recording glasses, AirTags, drones, skimmers, and more. Runs standalone on USB, listens on 2.4GHz, and shares alerts via SquachMesh signals. With the rise of both Flock cameras and glasses that can record people, it has been a nightmare for the privacy-minded to get around in confidence.
Microsoft's rollback of Copilot continues as it scales it back from OneDrive's File Explorer options
Microsoft scales back agentic Copilot plans in Windows 11 after public pushback. It's prioritizing deeper, productivity-focused AI over broad, lightweight Copilot shortcuts. OneDrive File Explorer context menu loses quick Copilot actions; 'Ask Copilot' remains. A few years ago, Microsoft seemed to truly believe LLMs were the future of Windows 11.
Other Hobbies | XDA
My Home Assistant automations no longer rely on online services for my temperature-based automations
I'd pick a 10-year-old desktop running Linux over a new $300 Windows laptop every time
Someone hands you $300, with one caveat: you have to spend it on a computer. You get two choices: either a Linux desktop that was released back in 2016, or a Windows laptop that was released this year. Which one are you picking? Personally, I'm going with the Linux machine. And it's not just because I'm a huge Linux fanboy, either; once you see how far $300 gets you with a new Windows 11 machine, you may find it hard to justify sticking with Windows, too.
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