Morning Brief

1. Sony to Stop Shipping Blu-ray Recorders
2. AYANEO NEXT 2 Launches Crowdfunding Campaign
3. Razer Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition Opens for Pre-Orders
4. Microsoft to Update Windows Secure Boot Certificates
5. Baidu Baike Launches International Version, BaiduWiki
6. NIO Recalls Certain ES8, ES6, and EC6 Pure Electric Vehicles
7. Apple Ends Support for Legacy HomeKit Architecture
8. ChatGPT Begins Testing Ads
9. Alibaba Releases Qwen-Image-2.0 Image Model
10. Tencent Hunyuan Open-Sources Ultra-Lightweight On-Device Model HY-1.8B-2Bit
11. Rumors You Can Just Glance At

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Sony to Stop Shipping Blu-ray Recorders

On February 10, Sony announced on its Japanese official website that it will stop shipping all Blu-ray recorder products and clearly stated that no successor models are planned in the future. The discontinued lineup includes recent mainstream models such as the BDZ-ZW1900 and BDZ-FBT4200, marking the formal end of Sony’s home recording hardware ecosystem.

Previously, Sony had already ceased production of Blu-ray recordable discs in February 2025, while competitor Panasonic exited the market for recording-specific optical discs in 2023. As streaming services have driven down demand for physical media, Panasonic is now the only company worldwide still maintaining the development and production of Blu-ray recording equipment. Source

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AYANEO NEXT 2 Launches Crowdfunding Campaign

On February 10, AYANEO officially launched global pre-orders for its Windows 11 handheld NEXT 2 on Indiegogo. The device features a 9.06-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2400×1504, supports an adjustable refresh rate from 60Hz to 165Hz, and reaches a peak brightness of 1,155 nits. Processor options include AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (8-core) and Max+ 395 (16-core) Strix Halo variants, with configurations offering up to 128GB of LPDDR5x memory and 2TB of storage. It also includes a 116.1Wh battery and a dual-fan cooling system.

In terms of controls, the AYANEO NEXT 2 integrates adjustable-torque TMR joysticks, Hall-effect linear triggers, dual smart touchpads, and a floating eight-way D-pad. The device weighs 1,426 grams. The Polar Black colorway is the first to enter crowdfunding, with early-bird pricing starting at USD 1,799 and topping out at USD 3,499 for the highest configuration. Shipments are expected to begin in June 2026. Source

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Razer Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition Opens for Pre-Orders

On February 10, Razer officially opened limited pre-orders for the Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition. Only 1,337 units will be produced worldwide, each with an individual serial number, and priced at USD 1,337.

This commemorative reissue retains the classic ambidextrous symmetrical design of the original model. Internally, it is equipped with a 45,000 DPI optical sensor (Focus Pro 45K Gen-2), Gen-4 optical switches, and wireless connectivity with an 8,000Hz polling rate. It features PU leather button surfaces and a nine-zone Chroma RGB underglow. The package includes a dedicated wireless charging dock (Mouse Dock Pro), glass mouse feet, and an LED-lit display case showcasing the mouse’s internal components in a disassembled layout. Pre-orders in the United States begin at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on February 10, while Asia and Europe will open at 8:00 a.m. local time on February 11. Source

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Microsoft to Update Windows Secure Boot Certificates

On February 10, Microsoft began a phased update of Secure Boot digital certificates for Windows 11 and for Windows 10 users enrolled in the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. The update is intended to replace the original certificates introduced in 2011, which are set to expire in June 2026, ensuring that devices can continue to verify the legitimacy of Windows bootloaders, firmware drivers, and third-party boot programs during startup. The change affects more than one billion Windows devices worldwide. Devices that fail to complete the update before expiration may not only be unable to ensure system security or receive future boot-level vulnerability patches, but may also encounter issues with anti-cheat software that relies on mandatory Secure Boot verification. Microsoft stated that most devices manufactured after 2024 already come preinstalled with the new certificates, while other compliant devices can obtain them automatically via Windows Update. Certain specific models may require firmware updates provided by OEMs to complete the transition. Source

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Baidu Baike Launches International Version, BaiduWiki

On February 10, Baidu Baike officially launched its international edition, BaiduWiki, initially supporting five languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese. This version leverages multiple AI agent models to translate Chinese-language content with established strengths into multiple languages, covering features such as video, text-and-image entries, and relationships between people. Currently, one million entries have gone live. Source

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NIO Recalls Certain ES8, ES6, and EC6 Pure Electric Vehicles

According to information from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, Shanghai NIO Automobile Co., Ltd. (NIO) has recently filed a recall with the authority, covering a total of 246,229 ES8, ES6, and EC6 pure electric vehicles produced between March 16, 2018, and January 16, 2023. Vehicles within the scope of the recall may, due to a software defect, experience brief black screens on the instrument cluster and center display under specific conditions, resulting in the loss of speed display, fault warnings, and defogging/defrosting functions. To address this safety risk, the company will push system updates free of charge via over-the-air (OTA) updates, including Aspen 3.5.6, Alder 2.1.0, or later versions. Vehicles that cannot be updated via OTA will be contacted by service centers for in-store handling, while vehicles that have already been updated to subsequent optimized versions do not require further action. Source

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Apple Ends Support for Legacy HomeKit Architecture

On February 10, 2026, Apple officially ended support for the original HomeKit architecture. As a result, smart home devices that have not been upgraded to the new Apple Home may no longer function properly in the Home app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.

The new HomeKit architecture is based on a low-level overhaul introduced with iOS 16.4 in 2023, aiming to improve performance and reliability while adding compatibility with the Matter standard. It requires controllers to run iOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, watchOS 9.2, or later. At the same time, support for using an iPad as a Home Hub has been removed, and users must instead rely on a HomePod or Apple TV for remote control and automation tasks. Source

ChatGPT Begins Testing Ads

On February 9, OpenAI announced that it has begun testing advertising for ChatGPT in the U.S. market, targeting users of the free version of ChatGPT as well as those on the USD 8-per-month ChatGPT Go subscription plan. Ads are matched based on conversation topics, user history, and interaction preferences (for example, grocery delivery services linked to recipe searches). An exclusion zone is enforced for users under 18, and ads are strictly prohibited near sensitive topics such as health, politics, and mental health. From a technical standpoint, ads will be clearly separated from native content through explicit sponsorship labels. OpenAI states that ads do not affect generation results and that no private conversation data is shared with advertisers.

It is worth noting that after the ad plan was announced earlier, Anthropic publicly mocked it in a Super Bowl advertisement. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later issued a public rebuttal, accusing competitors of being “dishonest.” Source

Alibaba Releases Qwen-Image-2.0 Image Model

On February 10, Alibaba released Qwen-Image-2.0, a foundation model that integrates image generation and editing. The model supports ultra-long text inputs of over 1K tokens and high-resolution outputs up to 2K. In AI Arena evaluations, it scored 1029 in image generation (third globally) and 1034 in image editing (second only to Nano Banana Pro). In terms of technical capabilities, Qwen-Image-2.0 supports precise rendering of Chinese characters across varying text lengths, complex diagram generation for PPTs and academic papers, and multi-panel comic creation. It also allows users to upload multiple images for nine-grid selfie compositions or creative style rewrites.

Alibaba Cloud Bailian has opened an API preview, and users can try the model for free via the Qwen Chat official website. Source

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Tencent Hunyuan Open-Sources Ultra-Lightweight On-Device Model HY-1.8B-2Bit

On February 10, Tencent Hunyuan introduced HY-1.8B-2Bit, an ultra-lightweight AI model designed for consumer-grade hardware scenarios. The model is based on the industry’s first production-ready 2-bit on-device quantization scheme. It is produced from HY-1.8B-Instruct through quantization-aware training (QAT), with an effective parameter size of just 0.3B, storage usage of approximately 300MB (under bf16 pseudo-quantized weights), and runtime memory usage of about 600MB. In terms of technical specifications, the model supports switching between long and short chains of thought depending on task complexity, and delivers a 2–3× generation speed increase over the original full-precision model on mobile platforms such as the Dimensity 9500 and MacBook M4 (with Arm SME2 support).

The HY-1.8B-2Bit model weights have now been open-sourced on Hugging Face and GitHub in formats including GGUF-int2. Source

Rumors You Can Just Glance At

• According to the latest video released by AYANEO, its slide-up gaming phone Pocket Play will feature a 6.8-inch FHD+ (2400×1080) OLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate, powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 processor, paired with LPDDR5 memory and UFS 4.0 storage. The device is said to include a 5,000mAh battery with fast charging support, as well as a 50MP main camera and a 16MP ultra-wide camera. However, pricing and an official release date have not yet been disclosed. Source
• Citing test data from the Hardware Canucks channel, WCCFTech reports that Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite processor has surpassed Apple’s M5 chip in early multi-core and productivity benchmarks, although its single-core performance under peak power conditions still lags behind. Source
• According to information shared by well-known leaker billbil-kun, the Sony WF-1000XM6 will be equipped with a new QN3e processor offering triple the processing speed of the previous WF-1000XM5. It will integrate a total of eight microphones to enhance active noise cancellation (ANC), along with new speaker units, an improved DAC, and an enhanced amplifier. On the software side, the equalizer will be upgraded from five to ten adjustable bands. Source