TikTok might be (sort of) back for now, but that's not stopping other social media platforms from trying to horn in on its business. Bluesky is the latest, introducing a TikTok-like vertical video feature on mobile called Trending Videos, now available in the explore tab, the company announced in a post on its app.
"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 [to your home screen] or not. Bluesky is yours to customize," the company wrote.
I was able to access the feature on my Android phone by tapping "Search." In that screen, the Trending Videos (Beta)" section appeared prominently, and hitting "View more" brought up a number of short videos (many imported from TikTok). Swiping up brings up a succession of new videos à la TikTok, though Bluesky didn't say what algorithm it uses to suggest them. If you don't see the feature at first, just restart the app, Bluesky suggests.
In the same thread, the company shouted out other developers building TikTok rivals using the same AT Protocol used by Bluesky (Tik, Skylight, Bluescreen), most of which are still in closed testing.
X introduced its own vertical video feature almost simultaneously, as it also seeks to profit from TikTok's removal from US app stores. "An immersive new home for videos is rolling out to users in the US today," the platform announced in a post. Also announced in the last day or so is Edits, an Instagram video editing tool designed to challenge TikTok's CapCut.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-created-its-own-tiktok-like-feature-called-trending-videos-130056093.html?src=rss
Social media apps X and Bluesky are both rolling out dedicated video feeds, in apparent attempts to take advantage of the continued uncertainty around TikTok.
With X, there’s a new play button icon launching a continuous video feed looking very similar to TikTok, while Bluesky offers custom feeds for video which you can choose to pin …
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This weekend was quite the roller-coaster ride for TikTok. While some headlines report that TikTok is back and imply that the matter is resolved, that’s not entirely the case.
The app was removed from Apple’s App Store, as well as the app stores run by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. None of those companies have restored it …
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 yet
The 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 woes
Apple 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.
All 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 Intelligence
Bloomberg’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 diet
Rumors 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 Informationeven 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.
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 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.
“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 VergeUsers 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 home
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.
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Sometimes, the best gaming headset doesn’t need to be a “gaming headset” at all. While many people view these devices as their own niche, they’re ultimately still headphones, just with a boom mic and some fancy branding attached. While the general quality of dedicated headsets has improved over time, they still tend to cost more compared to a good pair of wired headphones (which, yes, still exist). If you need to chat with friends, you can always buy a microphone separately and get superior sound quality there as well.
That said, we understand that many people just want the convenience of a headset with a mic built right in. So after testing dozens of contenders over the past couple of years, we’ve rounded up a few commendable gaming headsets and headphones that work well for gaming. As you’ll see, the two aren’t quite the same thing. Whichever way you go, though, all of our picks should make your game time more enjoyable, no matter which platform you use, and whether you play competitively or just for fun.
What to look for in good gaming headphones
The HyperX Cloud Stinger 2.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Evaluating headphones is a particularly subjective exercise, so calling one pair the absolute “best” is something of a fool’s errand. At a certain point, whether you're an audiophile or not, everything becomes a matter of taste. For most, a headphone with a wide soundscape and strong imaging performance — i.e., the ability to position sounds correctly, so you can more precisely tell where footsteps and other game effects are coming from — will provide the most immersive gaming experience, the kind that makes you feel like your head is within a given scene.
For that, you want a high-quality pair of open-back headphones. That is to say, an over-ear pair whose ear cups do not completely seal off the ear from air and outside noise. These are inherently terrible at isolating you from external sound and preventing others from hearing what you’re playing, so if you often play games in a noisy environment, their benefits will be blunted. But in a quiet room, the best open-back pairs sound significantly wider and more precise than more common closed-back models.
More up for debate is how a good gaming headphone should sound. If you want something that’ll help you in competitive multiplayer games, you may prefer a headphone with a flatter sound signature, which'll keep a game’s mix from being overly boosted in one direction and is less likely to mask the smaller details of what’s happening around you. A slightly brighter sound, one that pushes the upper frequencies a tad, may also work. Open-back headphones almost never have huge sub-bass, so you rarely have to worry about low-end sounds muddying up the rest of the signature. In this light, the fact that an overwhelming amount of gaming headsets are closed-back and bass-heavy seems counterintuitive.
Lots of people love bass, though. And if you don't really care about competitive play, some extra low-end can add a touch of excitement to action scenes or rousing soundtracks. You still don’t want a pair that boosts the low-end too hard — as many gaming headsets do — but the point is that what makes a pair “immersive” to one person may sound dull to another.
Other gaming headsets we tested
The PlayStation Pulse Elite.
Jeff Dunn for Engadget
Note: This is a selection of noteworthy gaming headsets and headphones we’ve put through their paces, not a comprehensive list of everything we’ve ever tried.
PlayStation Pulse Elite (and Pulse Explore)
The PlayStation Pulse Elite is a reasonable alternative to the Turtle Beach Atlas Air for PS5 owners, as it allows you to change volume, swap between different EQ presets, adjust the game-to-chat mix and mute the mic right from the console’s native UI. It’s similar to the way AirPods integrate with iPhones. This pair also lets you connect to a second device over Bluetooth at the same time, and the planar magnetic drivers — a rarity for $150 headphones — do a decent job of reproducing smaller details. The sound profile as a whole is narrower and more uneven in the bass and treble than the Atlas Air, however, while the all-plastic design is comfortable but flimsy-feeling. It also doesn’t do much to block outside noise, despite being closed-back, and the control buttons are awkward to reach.
We also tested the in-ear version of these headphones, the PlayStation Pulse Explore, but found it too uncomfortable to wear over extended sessions. That one is limited to roughly five hours of battery life, too.
Astro A50 (Gen 5)
The Astro A50 (Gen 5) is effectively the same headset as the A50X, just without any HDMI ports on its base station. It costs $80 less, so it’s a worthy alternative to the Audeze Maxwell if you mainly play on one platform and want a superior microphone. But the ability to automatically switch between consoles is the thing that makes the A50X worth buying in the first place, so that convenience is still worth paying for if you game on multiple devices.
The Corsair Virtuoso Pro.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Corsair Virtuoso Pro
The $200 Corsair Virtuoso Pro is another one of the few dedicated gaming headsets with an open-back design. It has a relatively dark sound with mostly underemphasized treble and elevated upper-bass, though the highs are clearer here than they are on the Astro A40, and it still delivers a wider soundstage than most gaming headsets. We preferred this signature over Astro’s pair with some games, though in others it felt less balanced. The Virtuoso Pro’s mic is decidedly less muffled than the A40’s but still sounds fairly thin, so it’s merely decent compared to the wider headset market. Its headband adjustment mechanism feels cheap, too, and you can’t detach the mic without swapping cables out entirely. Its round, breathable ear cups and manageable weight do make it easy to wear, though, and it comes with a sturdy travel case for protection. Ultimately, it’s a decent buy, but it’s hard to justify over the more featured and easier-sounding Atlas Air.
HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless
The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless can last well over 300 hours at moderate volumes, which is remarkable and by far the best of any wireless model we’ve tested. It’s light and not too snug on the head, and its powerful bass lends a real sense of excitement to in-game action. But it blunts more detail than the Atlas Air, Maxwell and A50 X, and its mic isn’t as good. Several users have also reported latency issues when using the headset with HyperX’s Ngenuity software, and there’s no Xbox, Bluetooth or wired audio support. Still, if battery life is paramount, you may be able to look past all of that.
The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Logitech G Pro X 2 Lightspeed
If the Audeze Maxwell is out of stock, the Logitech G Pro X 2 Lightspeed is another quality wireless headset worth considering. It sounds better than the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless, with satisfying but more controlled bass and more accurate mids, and it’s lighter on the head than the Maxwell. Logitech rates its battery life at 50 hours, but we found it to last much longer at moderate volumes. However, similar to the Astro A50 X, a dip in the treble makes it sound darker and more veiled than the Maxwell, and it doesn’t have any HDMI-switching tricks to fall back on. Its mic also sounds less natural than those of the Maxwell, A50 X and Cloud Alpha Wireless. Plus, while it can connect over a USB dongle, Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable, it can’t pair to two devices at once like Audeze’s and Astro’s pairs. Our biggest issue is the price: Value-wise, it’s in something of a no man’s land at its MSRP of $250. It’s a fine choice if it dips below $200, though.
Razer BlackShark V2 Pro
The wireless Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is tremendously comfortable and has a good mic, but its boomy sound is less refined and detailed than the Audeze Maxwell. As a closed-back headset, it also lacks the width of the Atlas Air. There’s no support for wired audio either.
Logitech G535 Lightspeed
The Logitech G535 is an impressively light (0.52 pounds) and comfy wireless headset that’s often available for $100 or less. It has a relatively neutral sound signature: not flat, but not beholden to big, thumping bass. It can make details in the mids sound thin, and if anything it could use a little more sub-bass, but it’s an agreeable listen overall. However, its mic isn't especially full, and its 35-or-so-hour battery life is a significant drop from our top recommendations. It doesn’t work with Xbox’s wireless protocol or Bluetooth either, and it forces you to crank the volume to reach a listenable level. But if you don’t want to spend a ton on a wireless headset, it’s a fine value.
The Logitech G535 Lightspeed.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X
Xbox owners who want a more affordable wireless headset than the Audeze Maxwell could do worse than the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X. It’s another bass-forward pair, and its mic is comparable to that of the Cloud Alpha Wireless. It offers multiple connectivity options, including Bluetooth and a 3.5mm cable. While it's marketed for Xbox, it can also connect to PCs and PS5s. Its 30-ish-hour battery life is well short of the Maxwell and Cloud Alpha Wireless, however, and its uneven treble can cause things like in-game dialogue to sound masked in certain titles.
HyperX Cloud Alpha
The wired HyperX Cloud Alpha often goes for $80 or less, and at that price it’s a decent middle ground between the Cloud Stinger 2 and Astro A40 if you really want a closed-back gaming headset. It’s old, but its plush earpads and headband are comfy, and its detachable mic, while not superb, is still better than the one on the A40. Its treble is underemphasized, however, and again it sounds more “in your head” than Astro's pair.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is comfortable and has a noticeably clearer mic than the Astro A40. It also comes with a useful DAC that makes it easy to adjust the headset’s EQ and game-to-chat mix on the fly. However, its closed-back design can’t provide the same enveloping sense of width, and its default sound can sound piercing in the treble. Like the Virtuoso Pro, it’s also a bit too pricey, typically hovering in the $200 to $220 range.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is largely similar to its wired counterpart but adds a passable level of active noise cancellation. Being able to hot-swap battery packs and connect to multiple devices at once is also nice. It’s not as convenient for multi-console play as the Astro A50 X, though, and it usually costs more than the Audeze Maxwell, which sounds better, has a superior mic and lasts longer on a charge.
The Beyerdynamic MMX 200 (left) and HyperX Cloud III Wireless (right).
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Beyerdynamic MMX 200
The wireless Beyerdynamic MMX 200 locates in-game effects accurately, feels sturdy and has a great boom mic, but it sounds less articulate than the Audeze Maxwell, with heavily exaggerated bass and recessed lower-mids. There's no game-to-chat mix or custom EQ tools, which is tough for a $250 headset, and its 35-hour battery life is unremarkable. We also found its sweat-inducing ear cushions and headband to clamp down too tight for comfort. However, the built-in transparency mode is nice and the tight fit does a good job of isolating outside noise.
Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro
There’s nothing particularly bad about the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro: It uses the same drivers as the DT 900 Pro X, its velour earpads are comfy and its mic works well. It’s just hard to recommend spending $300 on a wired-only headset when the Audeze Maxwell offers wireless functionality and similarly excellent sound — with slightly less spiky treble and more even bass — for the same price. The MMX 300 Pro’s mic isn’t detachable either, and the closed-back design keeps it from sounding as wide as the DT 900 Pro X.
HyperX Cloud III Wireless
The HyperX Cloud III Wireless is comfy and can last up to 120 hours per charge but sounds less dynamic than the older Cloud Alpha Wireless, with weaker bass response. Like that pair, it also lacks a 3.5mm jack, Bluetooth audio support and Xbox compatibility. The Cloud Alpha Wireless still gets nearly three times the battery life, too, so it remains a better buy if you want a wireless headset for PC or PS5 in the $150 range.
Sennheiser HD 490 Pro
The Sennheiser HD 490 Pro are studio-focused open-back headphones that also work well for gaming. They come with two sets of ear pads, one that slightly elevates the bass and another that bumps the midrange, though they deliver impressive width and detail either way without pushing too hard in one direction. They’re a pleasure to wear over long stretches, both lighter than the DT 900 Pro X and less stiff than the HD 560S. That said, they cost $400 and their sound profile is more of a nice alternative to our top picks than something clearly more natural or resolving. Most people don’t need to pay the premium.
Recent updates
January 2025: We’ve looked over this guide to ensure our picks are still accurate and added notes on a few more headsets we’ve recently tested, including the PlayStation Pulse Elite, Astro A50 (Gen 5) and Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro.
November 2024: We've updated this guide with a new recommendation for the best dedicated gaming headset, the Turtle Beach Atlas Air, and reorganized our picks accordingly. We've also added notes on other gaming-friendly headphones we've tested, including the Sennheiser HD 490 Pro and Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, and removed a couple of write-ups on headsets that are no longer available.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-gaming-headset-130006477.html?src=rss
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Image: Bluesky / The Verge
