Bluesky Tests Trending Topics; Galaxy Ring 2 May Bow Soon; Why Apple Won’t Build a Search Engine; Next Gen Meta Ray-Bans May Get Small In-Lens Screen

As they press forward in building out an app strikingly similar to the old Twitter, Bluesky is now testing out a trending topics feature. Techcrunch.com reports that the feature showed up in beta on Christmas Day. It is available on both the desktop and mobile versions of the platform. Look for it on the right sidebar on the desktop, and on mobile, you can tap the search button to look for them. Threads rolled out trending to US users on March, and now is in Japan, but the Bluesky beta is available worldwide.

We may be seeing a Galaxy Ring 2 at Samsung’s January Unpacked event, in addition to the Galaxy S25 phones and perhaps new AR glasses. According to androidpolice.com, some ring improvements may include more size options, better sensors, smarter AI, and better battery life. If the Ring 2 does make an appearance, don’t expect it to be immediately available…the OG ring took several months to hit stores after being unveiled. If the Ring 2 gets a couple extra sizes, say 14 and 15… it would match ring leader Oura. 

One thing Apple has always relied on others for is a search engine…notably Google, which has paid a ton of money to be the default one on Apple devices…some $20 billion a year as revealed in legal actions. Why hasn’t Apple rolled their own? 9to5mac.com says Apples Eddy Cue has given 3 reasons why Cupertino won’t do that. Cue says first off, Apple is focused on other growth areas…he notes it would cost billions and take many years. Second, Cue points out the ongoing movement in AI, and says it would be economically risky to divert cash from that into a search engine. Finally, he says that to have a viable search engine, you have to build a platform to sell targeted advertising, which he notes isn’t a core business of Apple….and would go against Apples longstanding privacy commitments. 

The next iteration of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses may have a couple of nice adds…a ‘small in-lens’ screen and a wristband controller. Zdnet.com reports that the display would introduce an AR component to the glasses with a holographic interface while capturing your surroundings with a pass-through display that may be controllable with a wristband sensor. It’s a sensible step up from the current smart glasses model, which only allows for audio-based interactions and photo and video-taking. Right now, it looks like the earliest we may see these added features is 2027, but Meta has said that these are two of the most requested features. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.