Bit by Bit is a weekly column focusing on technical advances each and every week across multiple spaces. My name is Adam Conway, and I've been covering tech and following the cutting-edge for a decade. If there's something you're interested in and would like to see covered, you can reach out to me at [email protected].

Welcome to The Drive, a new weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space! I'll also highlight anything noteworthy from XDA reviews published in the week.

TikTok may already be back online but Bluesky and X are quickly jumping on the vertical video train. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge While TikTok is already crawling back online in the US, uncertainty around the video platform’s future has created an opportunity for Bluesky, X, and others to seize. Over the last few hours, both social media platforms introduced new features — including dedicated tabs and feeds for video content — that make it easier for users to discover and watch vertical videos in their apps. Yesterday, Instagram announced a new video-editing rival to CapCut — the video editor owned by TikTok’s parent ByteDance — just after it went offline in the US.“We had to get in on the video action too,” said Bluesky with the launch of customizable feeds for videos. Users can swipe up or down on these feeds to flip through videos and create targeted feeds that only pull video content from specific hashtags, such as this #BookSky feed that riffs on TikTok’s “BookTok” reading community.We had to get in on the video action too — Bluesky now has custom feeds for video!Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these or not. Bluesky is yours to customize.— Bluesky (@bsky.app) 2025-01-20T03:41:13.225Z“Like any other feed, you can choose to pin these or not,” the company said in its post. “Bluesky is yours to customize.”The update has added a new video feed under the search tab that provides a timeline of videos that are trending on the platform. Bluesky says that the ability to swipe through a video-only timeline is specific to custom feeds. Image: Bluesky / The Verge Users may need to refresh their Bluesky app a few times before the new trending videos tab appears. Bluesky also gave a shout-out to AT Protocol developers — the decentralized protocol that Bluesky relies on — who are using it to build video-only TikTok alternatives like Tik.Blue, Skylight.Social, and Bluescreen.Blue, which are currently in early development.X similarly started rolling out a new “Video Tab” to users in the US on Sunday, which appears as a circular play button in the app’s bottom navigation bar. “From there, you can explore a personalized feed of recommended videos reflecting the real-time nature of X across sports, entertainment, news and more,” X said in its announcement.you better not be making a dedicated video tab when I get homeme: pic.twitter.com/ZbmLBmSbDp— X (@X) January 20, 2025

Image: ByteDance TikTok has returned — at least partially — in the US following a nationwide ban, but other popular ByteDance-owned apps, such as the digital card game Marvel Snap, video editing app CapCut, and the social platform Lemon8, are still blocked. None of these apps, including TikTok, are currently available to download on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, either.Though many users expected CapCut and Lemon8 to be affected by the law banning TikTok, Marvel Snap’s ban took some by surprise — including its own developer. On Sunday morning, the game studio Second Dinner said in a post on X, “This outage is a surprise to us and wasn’t planned. MARVEL SNAP isn’t going anywhere.” Marvel Snap is published by Nuverse, a game developer owned by ByteDance. Screenshot: The Verge Users trying to open Marvel Snap, CapCut, and Lemon8 will see a message similar to the one TikTok displayed when it went dark on Saturday night. “A law banning CapCut has been enacted in the U.S,” the pop-up inside CapCut reads. “Unfortunately, that means you can’t use CapCut for now. Rest assured, we’re working to restore our service in the U.S. Please stay tuned!”TikTok, along with several other ByteDance-owned apps, shut down in the US just hours before the federal divest-or-ban law went into effect on January 19th. The ban also affects TikTok Studio, TikTok Shop Seller Center, Hypic, Lark - Team Collaboration, Lark - Rooms Display, Lark Rooms Controller, and Gauth: AI Study Companion.Both Google and Apple display notices to users trying to search for ByteDance-owned apps. While the Play Store says, “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements,” a banner on the App Store notes, “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in.” It’s still not clear when Marvel Snap, CapCut, or Lemon8 will start working again or when they’ll reappear in mobile app stores.

Canon’s Live Switcher Mobile app is free for iOS and iPadOS devices. | Screenshot: YouTube Canon has announced a new live streaming app that can wirelessly connect to, and switch between, video feeds from three mobile devices. It’s currently limited to iPhones and iPads running at least iOS and iPad0S 16. Android isn’t supported, but an even stranger omission is that Live Switcher Mobile isn’t compatible with any of Canon’s digital cameras — that functionality will be added “in the future,” according to an FAQ.The app is available for download now and can be used for free, but with some limitations. Video quality maxes out at 720p, the output is watermarked, and the app’s interface will occasionally be cluttered with ads — but those aren’t presented to viewers. For $17.99 per month (which is over $215 per year) output quality gets a bump to 1080p, while ads and the watermark are removed. There’s no option to increase the video resolution past HD. Image: Canon The mobile device serving as a live stream’s primary camera also provides the switching interface. One device running the app is designated as the host which provides the switching interface and serves as the primary camera. Up to two additional devices can be connected providing video feeds from alternate angles, or a live screen capture of a video game being played.Switching between feeds can be done manually, but if you’d like to avoid poking a device that’s serving as one of your cameras, the app can also be set to automatically switch between sources at set intervals of eight to 20 seconds. Multiple videos can be streamed simultaneously using a picture-in-picture effect, while text and image overlays can be added to personalize a livestream, add branding, or provide captioning.Canon says the app supports live streaming to YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms that support RTMP, but its comment display function is limited to those first two platforms.Although its functionality isn’t as robust as the free OBS Studio app that also allows mobile devices to be used as video sources, Canon’s Live Switcher Mobile is potentially an easier alternative for aspiring influencers just getting started with live streaming.It may currently be limited to mobile devices, but the company has confirmed the app “will support Canon’s digital camera connection in the future.” With that added functionality, and maybe a bump to 4K streaming capabilities, its steep price tag could be easier to justify for those looking for a highly portable streaming solution.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images At a victory rally the day before being sworn into the presidency, Donald Trump extolled his plan to “save TikTok” from the law that banned it through a joint venture with the US. On its face, the plan does not appear to comply with the law’s requirements for a qualified divestiture that TikTok’s service providers like Apple, Google, and Oracle could rely on to avoid hundreds of billions in potential fines. Even so, at least some of TikTok’s service providers seem to be relying on Trump’s flimsy promises, allowing TikTok to restore service to the app mid-day Sunday, on the first day of its ban.Trump is proposing a joint venture where the US government owns 50 percent of TikTok. That raises a host of its own First Amendment issues since any content moderation whatsoever might be considered a government act, and the Constitution prohibits the government (not private companies) from infringing on speech. It’s not entirely clear how Trump envisions this all playing out, but Trump says, essentially, that TikTok would have a “partner” in the US government, “and they’ll have a lot of bidders and the United States will do what we call a joint venture.” Trump claims there is “no risk” to the US because “we’re not putting up any money. All we’re doing is giving them the approval without which they don’t have anything. So, I don’t know, it sounds like that works.”Trump also reinforced the idea that the whole reason he likes TikTok is because he thinks it helped his campaign. He credited his 21-year-old staffer, nicknamed “TikTok Jack,” for helping him get on the app that helped him win over young voters.And though the stated purpose of forcing TikTok to divest from its parent company ByteDance (a move Trump himself first tried to do in his first term) was to remove a possible backdoor for the Chinese government to US data, he now says that “frankly, we have no choice, we have to save it — a lot of jobs. We don’t wanna give our business to China.”Here’s Trump’s full comments on TikTok during the rally:And as of today, TikTok is back. So, you know, I did a little TikTok thing we have a guy, TikTok Jack he’s a young kid, like 21 years old. And we hired this guy, and I went on TikTok; can you believe what I’ll do to win an election?And we went on TikTok and Republicans have never won the young vote, the youth vote. They win a lot of votes, but they never won the youth vote. We won the youth vote by 36 points. So I like TikTok. I like it. I had a slightly good experience wouldn’t you say?Romney lost it by 40 points not so long ago. We won it by 36 points. That’s a very big spread.But I said, we need to save TikTok, because we’re talking about a tremendous — who, who in this audience goes with TikTok? Many? Yeah, very popular. And frankly, we have no choice, we have to save it — a lot of jobs. We don’t wanna give our business to China, we don’t wanna give our business to other people. And I said, you know, TikTok without my approval — meaning the president’s approval because Congress gave the president the right to make a deal to whatever he wants and uh… they did that a long time ago when they have a different president. They didn’t know that I was gonna be at the president, I guess.So I said very simply, a joint venture. So, if TikTok is worth nothing, zero without an approval, you know you don’t approve, they’re out of business, they’re worth nothing.If you do approve, they’re worth like a trillion dollars, they’re worth some crazy number. So I said, I’ll approve, but let the United States of America own 50% of TikTok.I’m approving on behalf of the United States.So they’ll have a partner, the United States, and they’ll have a lot of bidders and the United States will do what we call a joint venture. And there’s no risk, we’re not putting up any money. All we’re doing is giving them the approval without which they don’t have anything. So, I don’t know, it sounds like that works. What do you think, good? So, whether you like TikTok or not, we’re gonna make a lot of money.

Nvidia’s RTX 5090 vs. RTX 4090. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card is arriving later this month, and we’ve managed to unbox one and compare its design to the RTX 4090. Just like our first look at the RTX 5090, this isn’t a review. Performance figures, benchmarks, and impressions beyond the hardware are coming later.The first thing that’s notable about the RTX 5090 is the packaging design has totally changed since the Founders Edition RTX 40-series. Nvidia has switched to housing the RTX 5090 inside a smaller bone-shaped gray cardboard shell that sits inside a much larger brown cardboard box. Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge A dog and his RTX 5090 bone. The outer box — which reads “Inspired by gamers. Enhanced by AI. Built by Nvidia.” — holds a new power adapter cable for the RTX 5090 that includes an updated version of the regular 12VHPWR connector. You’ll need to use four regular PCIe eight-pin power connectors with this adapter, or a new 12V-2x6 cable. The 12V-2x6 is almost identical to the existing 12VHPWR, as the new connector has shorter sensing pins and slightly longer conductor terminals. The slight variation means that existing 12VHPWR cables will work... Read the full story at The Verge.

Hey, PC enthusiasts, have you ever considered using 3D printing to customize your PC? It’s not just for modding your gaming rig; it can also help with maintenance and upgrades. 3D printing lets you create custom parts and accessories on the fly, experiment with new case designs, and even customize your whole system to suit your unique needs.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Rumors have been floating around for months that Apple might launch a brand-new iPhone model this year: the so-called iPhone Air, a new, super-thin iPhone that may mark the first big design shift for the line in many years. More than a facelift, the iPhone Air is a different strategy altogether, being neither a more affordable base model nor a feature-packed Pro phone. Instead, rumors describe a phone that’s aimed to please people who are willing to sacrifice some function for a sleeker, slimmer design. Basically, it’s the iPhone version of the original MacBook Air.Current rumors suggest the phone will debut as part of Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup this fall, giving it the name iPhone 17 Air. Of course, it’s not a done deal just yet. Apple could still change its plans or the rumors could turn out wrong. But enough reports have come out to suggest that something real is in the works. Here are all the rumors about the upcoming phone so far:The thinnest iPhone yetThe 17 Air will be very thin, but the rumor mill hasn’t totally settled on the exact number.Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted a 5.5mm phone in January, which would make it slightly thicker than the 5.1mm M4 iPad Pro that debuted last May. Two days later, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman reiterated a claim he’d made in December: that the new phone would be “about 2 millimeters thinner” than the 8.25mm iPhone 16 Pro. Supply chain analyst Jeff Pu has suggested it would be around 6mm.No matter who is closest, the 17 Air would be one of the thinnest Apple products ever, even more so than the iPhone 6, which currently holds the record for thinnest iPhone at 6.9mm — and was notably prone to bending. Encouragingly, Apple managed to make the M4 iPad Pro surprisingly sturdy.Battery woesApple is said to be working on novel ways to fit enough battery to meet its ultra-slim phone goal. A November 2023 rumor from ETNews said Apple was attempting to create a new, denser kind of battery that uses carbon nanotubes and a mix of materials like nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum for future devices.But in November 2024, Korean leaker yeux1122 posted that Apple is using standard battery tech. They said the company had sought to get thinner internals to enable both more battery capacity and a slimmer phone but failed. The Information wrote later that month that Apple was having trouble finding space for the battery, SIM card, and thermal materials inside, limiting how thin it can be.A more recent rumor from leaker Digital Chat Station suggested that both Apple’s phone and the also-rumored skinny Samsung Galaxy S25 will feature a 3,000 – 4,000mAh battery and measure somewhere between “5.xmm-6.xmm.” The iPhone 17 Air’s displayAll signs right now are pointing to every iPhone 17’s OLED display using the same LTPO panel tech found in current Pro models. That could mean both higher refresh rates and less power consumption, as it enables the screens to raise their refresh rates to 120Hz and then drop as low as 1Hz. That’s part of why Apple’s always-on display feature works without a significant battery cost.As for screen size, rumors generally agree it will measure about 6.6 inches. That’s a tad smaller than the 6.7-inch screen of the iPhone 16 Plus, which the 17 Air may be replacing this year. It’s expected that the phone will get a Dynamic Island with Face ID, like the rest of the flagship line.In-house chips and Apple IntelligenceBloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently said that Apple will outfit the iPhone 17 Air with in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, as well as its own bespoke cellular modem. That’ll be a first for the company, which has been trying for years to develop its own modem in an effort to ditch Qualcomm. Apple is apparently confident it’s done that now, and well enough to start putting it in phones, possibly starting with the iPhone SE 4 within the next few months. Apple will probably put a regular A19 chip in the 17 Air, reserving the A19 Pro chip for its Pro phones. The phone could also have 8GB of RAM and support Apple Intelligence AI features as a result. Camera dietRumors have been steadfast that the iPhone 17 Air will only have one camera on the back. Citing supply chain analyst Jeff Pu in October, MacRumors wrote that it will be a 48-megapixel shooter and that the phone will feature a 24-megapixel shooter for the front-facing selfie cam.How much will it cost?The iPhone 17 Air could be expensive despite lacking the fancy camera array of the Pro phones or the dual-camera setup of the base model. The Information even wrote that it could cost more than the $1,299 iPhone 16 Pro Max does now.Not every rumor agrees. The Wall Street Journal wrote in December that Apple is aiming for something cheaper than the Pro phones. That’d put it below $999, where the iPhone 16 Pro starts.Why is Apple making the iPhone 17 Air?Gurman reported in August that boosting sales is the big motivator for the Air redesign after years of Mini and Plus phone flops. Later, in his January 12th newsletter, he wrote that the company sees the Air strategy as “a tried-and-true winner” for getting sales. The Journal’s December story echoed that, saying Apple is trying growth with the iPhone 17 Air following its years of “largely incremental upgrades.” Although the iPhone still makes up about half of Apple’s revenue, the outlet wrote, its “last big wave of sales gains was in 2021,” thanks to carriers’ subsidies amid their 5G push.Apple has tried since 2020 to goose sales using four flagships, and the 17 Air approach is no different, CNBC wrote in November. Apple started with the iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max, then swapped out the Mini models for “Plus” phones starting with the iPhone 14. But the Mini and Plus models haven’t clicked with buyers. Most recently, the iPhone 16 Plus only made up 10 percent of Apple’s screen orders in 2023 and 16 percent of them last year, Ross Young of display research firm DSCC told the outlet. The Air could theoretically replace the Plus as a slightly higher-end option.Drumming up sales isn’t necessarily the whole story though, as Gurman also offered another explanation in January: Apple is using the phone as a testing ground for new technologies, including its in-house wireless and cell modem chips. But more than that, it’s a stepping stone toward the smaller tech needed to eventually build a folding iPhone.

If you have been a long-time Windows user, you are likely familiar with using the Command Prompt for your command-line interface (CLI) work. However, the utility you should be using is PowerShell. It is a far more powerful command line tool for Windows and beyond.

There are quite a few ways your typical home NAS differs from its enterprise counterpart, most of which have to do with how the NAS holds, processes, and distributes data. Unlike home users, businesses face far more advanced and taxing needs — managing multiple users, applications, and environments. To handle all this complexity, it is crucial for businesses to leverage all the tools at their disposal to maximize the potential of their NAS while ensuring quick accessibility, data safety, and readiness for any data crisis.

The Find N5 is about half as thick as an iPhone 16 Pro Max when opened up. | Image: Oppo Oppo’s upcoming Find N5 foldable phone is barely thicker than its own USB-C port when unfurled, according to photos released by the company. The flagship, which we’re expecting to be re-branded as the OnePlus Open 2 for its US release, will also feature best-in-class resistance to water.Oppo has been steadily teasing the Find N5 on Chinese social network Weibo for the past week. Find series product manager Zhou Yibao has now shared photos that highlight its size, adding that the obstacle to making it any thinner is now “the limit of the charging port.”The photos follow a video from last week, in which Zhou compares a hidden Find N5 to a series of everyday objects, demonstrating that it’s comparable in thickness to two Chinese yuan coins, a stack of four ID cards, or exactly 39 sticky notes.The company claims the Find N5 is the thinnest foldable yet. That title is currently held by the Honor Magic V3, which is 4.35mm thick when open, meaning the Find N5 must be close to 4mm. That explains why it looks about half the size of the 8.25mm iPhone 16 Pro Max it’s shown next to in the photos. For reference, a USB-C port is 2.6mm at minimum.In a separate post, Zhou teased the phone’s waterproofing, boasting that it’s IPX9-rated. That means it currently has no official dust protection (the ‘X’), but has been tested to withstand high-temperature and high-pressure jets of water. It’s also rated IPX8 for submersion in water, and IPX6 for lower temperature water jets. This month’s OnePlus 13 is IP69-rated, with dust protection as well.Oppo’s previous foldable, the Find N3 (the N4 was skipped because of the number’s association with death in China), eventually launched in the West as the OnePlus Open. If the same happens again, it should pose some serious competition for Samsung and Google’s current generation of foldables. We’ll find out more when the Find N5 launches in China next month.