House of Representatives Passed Bill That Forces ByteDance to Sell TikTok or Face U.S. Ban in This Week's Tech Roundup
SpaceX’s Starship also successfully took flight.
You are reading your free article for this month.
Members-only
This week, the tech industry turned its focus to TikTok. The House of Representatives passed a bill that forces ByteDance to either sell the platform – currently boasting over 170 million users in the U.S. alone – or face a country-wide ban. SpaceX also made headlines with its first successful Starship launch.
Elsewhere, Alessandro Paluzzi uncovered Instagram’s latest internal prototype feature entitled “Spins” and PlayStation 5 unveiled an update that allows users to adjust power indicator brightness.
Below, Hypebeast has rounded up the top tech stories of the week so you can stay up to date on trends in the industry.
Instagram’s New Beta Feature Lets Users Put Their ‘Spin’ on a Reel
Rafael Henrique/Sopa Images/Lightrocket/Getty Images
News of Instagram’s latest feature surfaced. Dubbed “Spins,” the beta feature was discovered by Alessandro Paluzzi, who’s known for beating Instagram to the punch in revealing the app’s latest features.
Paluzzi shared screenshots of Spins on X. “Allow people to swap out text or audio in your Reel. For every spin added, you will reach their audience,” the text reads alongside a Spins toggle button.
Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that Spins is currently still an internal prototype.
SpaceX Successfully Launched Starship Rocket on Third Attempt
Chandan Khanna/Afp/Getty Images
The third time proved to be the charm for SpaceX.
On Thursday morning, the company launched its first successful starship rocket. The rocket took off from the SpaceX launch site near Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
The “super heavy” vehicle marked the largest rocket ever built, standing at 397 feet tall.
While the rocket didn’t make it to its intended touchdown in the Indian Ocean, the flight marked “the furthest and faster that Starship has ever flown.”
House of Representatives Passed Bill That Would Force ByteDance to Sell TikTok or Face U.S. Ban
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
On Wednesday, The House of Representatives passed a bill that would force ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban.
The bill will now head to the Senate where, according to The Washington Post, “some lawmakers have expressed concern it may run afoul of the Constitution by infringing on millions of Americans’ rights to free expression and by explicitly targeting a business operating in the United States.”
PlayStation 5 Update Allows Users To Adjust Power Indicator Brightness
Olly Curtis/Future Publishing/Getty Images
Sony revealed the latest PlayStation 5 update. After an initial beta period, the new update sees a handful of subtle changes arriving to the software.
The standout feature is the ability to adjust the brightness of the console’s power indicator – the LED light that stems from the little gap in between the interior and exterior.
Elsewhere, improved sound quality for DualSense and DualSense Edge wireless controllers. The controllers can emit higher volume sounds – both in-game and voice chat audio. Mic quality has also been improved to maximize voice chat clarity, tapping AI to filter out background noise.
