Nintendo Announces the Long-Awaited Switch 2 - DTNS 4937  ## Metadata - Author: [[Daily Tech News Show]] - Full Title: Nintendo Announces the Long-Awaited Switch 2 - DTNS 4937 - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/45be2714-c9cc-4f9b-949d-ded488723c7d ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Switch 2 Reveal** - Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 with a video showcasing its assembly. - The video features satisfying clicks and reveals several upgrades without specifying detailed specs. Transcript: Wind Wendell With what you need to know with a big story. The Nintendo Switch 2. It's suddenly becoming a lot more real with a video shared by Nintendo this morning that shows the new console pieced together bit by bit with what I would call personally an ASMR fans Dream soundtrack. It's very clicky and stuff. Without revealing any specifications, the video does show a number of upgrades, and I've got them all for you, so buckle up. The new console looks very similar to the original Nintendo Switch with a screen that is definitely larger than before. It kind of grows on screen. With the holistic design approach of the Switch series, as we've seen with the first one, that also means that the Joy-Cons are a bit larger as well to fit the body. And speaking of the Joy-Cons, they appear now to click into the base of the console instead of what you got on the first one where they slid into place. Leaks also suggest that magnets might be employed to get them to stay in place. So we'll look for that when it happens. A new unspecified button has appeared on the Joy-Con controller underneath the home button. We'll see what that means, but no word right now. The SL and SR shoulder buttons actually appear to be stretched out a bit further, which makes sense because they got a little larger, the Joy-Cons. There also appears to be a flat tabletop accessory, which is interesting that the Joy-Con sits in to turn it into what appears to be a mouse type controller. Some rumors had pointed to that. So, you know, they allude to it in the video. We'll see what that means going forward once we have more information. As for connectivity, the new console adds an additional USB-C port up to the top of the device right next to the headphone jack. And I'm imagining that probably makes charging while playing a bit more flexible. You can do it from the front or the back. The device also gets an updated U-shaped kickstand on the back. The dock, very familiar. It does get some updates, you know, rounded out the edges a little bit, also being larger to fit the increased size of the console. The new console, according to the video, is set to release sometime in 2025. The Nintendo site shows that more information will be shared on April 2nd in a Nintendo Direct presentation with a hands-on event scheduled in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas throughout The month of April. And finally, the video shows what appears to be a new Mario Kart game. I mean, it seems like it's going to be a new Mario Kart game. I don't know why they'd put Mario Kart on the screen if it wasn't for a new game on the new console, but maybe it's the old game because Nintendo has confirmed backwards compatibility With physical and digital Switch games mostly. The video does say that certain titles may not be supported. How ([Time 0:02:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b7ba9e32-2aed-411b-967b-dcb5d92c8b35)) - **Minimal Design Refresh** - The Switch 2's design refresh is surprisingly minimal, closely resembling the original Switch. - This deviates from typical gaming console redesigns, which usually feature significant visual changes. Transcript: Jason Howell Are you feeling about a Switch 2, Wynn? Were you a fan of the original? I was. I'm really looking forward to it. I think the original was released in 2017. And I really do think that it was an amazing introduction to both that hybrid handheld gaming and console, kind of like that dual purpose device. So I'm excited. I think the biggest thing that I think a lot of us that still enjoy the Switch is that it is seven years old, so a bit longer than two. So it does feel about time for the Nintendo Switch 2, especially to compete with all the other handhelds that have come out since 2017 that have kind of taken advantage of the space that That the switch og created so yeah i'm excited and yeah that click that click is extremely satisfying in the in the trailer that little just it's nice i mean if you're listening to that Wind Wendell Trailer and headphones it's it you either love it or hate it because some people just hate the asmr kind of like ultra crisp you know up sounds, that sort of stuff. I know my daughter would probably love that thing. I think what occurred to me when I was looking at the design refresh is how little of a refresh it actually is. And in the world of, which is not to say that there's not meaningful upgrades, it's definitely upgraded. But in the world of like gaming consoles, I always feel like we're so used to the next consoles looking so different from the previous ones to set themselves apart. And yet the switch to really, I mean by all accounts, according to the video looks, I mean could easily be confused with the original switch to someone who doesn't know these things really Well or hasn't played them before. They might not look at the new one and think, oh, that's the new Switch. I've got to have that. It's like they stayed so close to the design of the original. And I just, I don't know, am I wrong? Is that different from what we usually see in the video game world? ([Time 0:05:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cac3ef2a-5703-4113-b936-ede69d7139bb)) - **TikTok Ban Delay?** - The incoming administration might delay enforcing the TikTok ban with an executive order. - The outgoing administration seeks options to avoid a sudden TikTok shutdown despite the deadline. Transcript: Jason Howell The incoming presidential administration is exploring the use of an executive order to delay enforcement of a law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or facing nationwide ban in the U.S. By January 19th. This, of course, would happen only after the inauguration on January 20th. Meanwhile, the outgoing administration is looking into ways to keep TikTok operational despite the looming ban deadline. Officials share that they aren't looking to defer enforcement, but rather seek options to avoid a sudden shutdown, as many anticipate. ([Time 0:12:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/261b7472-8101-4156-ad0a-6a9bbcd157ff)) - **Red Note and Duolingo** - Red Note (Xiaohongshu) saw a massive influx of US users due to the potential TikTok ban, leading to a surge in downloads. - Duolingo capitalized on this trend by promoting its Mandarin courses to these "TikTok refugees." Transcript: Wind Wendell Yes. We changed our mind, but kind of sort of changed. Related to all of this is the migration that we talked about this week of users from TikTok to another Chinese social media app, Red Note. Censor Tower estimates US downloads of the app were up 200% year over year this week, 194% for the week before. So getting a lot of new users. A source close to Xiao Hongshu told Reuters, and by the way, that's the parent company, told Reuters the company had seen nearly three quarters of a million new users in just two recent Days. Red Note was so caught by surprising facts that they began scrambling to devise ways to moderate English language content on the platform and build translation tools. And speaking of translation tools, along those lines, Duolingo is reporting a sudden 216% increase in U.S. Users looking to learn Mandarin, attributed in large part to the influx of users. To Red Note, Duolingo has latched onto this trend to actually take into social media to promote its Mandarin courses and targeting, quote, TikTok refugees. Duolingo saw an increase of 36% in US App Store downloads just this month. And I don't know, pretty fascinating thing that I guess a lot of people probably didn't see that coming, that Red Note would suddenly be a playa, a contender. It's ([Time 0:13:25](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a1e454d4-3a0d-4730-8e9b-928e50c252c7)) - **Red Note's Transformation** - Tony Wang, a five-year Red Note user, discussed the app's shift from a niche platform to mainstream popularity due to the potential TikTok ban. - He noted the algorithm's effectiveness and expressed hope it can handle the influx of new users and content. Transcript: Wind Wendell Millions of TikTok users have been installing a Chinese app called Red Note in case TikTok goes away in the U.S. On Sunday, literally right around the corner. Tom Merritt sat down with someone who's been using the app for more than five years now about what it feels like to have all these new users from his perspective. Huyen Tue Dao I'm talking with Tony Wang, freelance producer and a friend of mine, Asian correspondent. Tony, is that cool? Yes, that is 100 accurate uh you how long have you been using red note um i would say about five years going on six years now okay and and when did it start referring to itself as red note um Tony Wang I got a a software update last week and it turned to red note and it was kind of it caught me off guard because when I downloaded the app way back when, I had to search for the app name in Chinese To get the app to show up in my search. Yeah. Yeah. Huyen Tue Dao So it was, it was under its Chinese name until this week when it suddenly became referred to as Red Note. And as I understand it, the Chinese name would translate more as Little Red Book, right? Tony Wang Yes, 100% directly. Yes. Huyen Tue Dao Okay. So just to give people a little idea of the background, you know, why did you download it five years ago? Tony Wang Oh, so my wife is Chinese as well, and she actually has been using it. The Little Red Book was created as a competitor to Instagram in China and actually been around since like 2013. Ah, okay. Yeah, so. Huyen Tue Dao So even though you're in the US, you were able to see more Chinese content because you can't use Instagram in China, right? Yes. Yeah. Tony Wang And go ahead. There's actually, there's actually some functionality that's not in the app that I wasn't able to access and use. And then I think that has been changed since then. So. Huyen Tue Dao Okay. So, so you're using this mostly as, as somewhat of a niche app, uh, you know, the way some people would use an app, uh, like Kakao talk or something like, isn't that maybe not used worldwide, But, but you can use it for a specific region or a specific purpose. Uh, and then I guess this week, suddenly somehow everyone decided that if TikTok was going to go away in the U.S., they would all start using Red Note. And Red Note must have been in on it because they changed the name to an English name. But the controls are not in English, right? Tony Wang You know, I'm not sure because I had to go in and actually change my user setting to English so I can go through and actually use the app. Yeah, it's been a really weird like turns of events right now. I mean, I saw Kevin Bacon yesterday on there and my first reaction was, is this the real Kevin Bacon? And then Pedro Pascal showed up. I was like, I'm so confused because I've been using this app mainly for either entertainment or oh actually there's a very small group i would say thousands of asian americans in america Using this and they actually talk about living their life in america as asian american and there's even like parents on there um a couple people i follow on there actually give out like Tips and deals on costco that they'll be like hey go check out these korean barbecue ribs at costco they're on sale this week and i was like oh this is awesome this is what asian americans Were using this this uh social media for and now it's kind of i'm not sure what's happening i mean i certainly hope it doesn't turn into tiktok where know, it draws attention from the government And then there's going to be some repercussion from there. Huyen Tue Dao Yeah, it's like you have a favorite bar and then suddenly it gets written up in the newspaper and a bunch of people show up and changes the nature of the bar, right? Yeah. Yeah. When did you start noticing people flooding in? Tony Wang Monday. Uh-huh. Huyen Tue Dao Monday was- Something must have happened over the weekend, I guess. Tony Wang Yes, yeah. I think once they, I'm pretty sure their developer noticed an influx of downloads from the U S and then they made some updates to that. Huyen Tue Dao Yeah. What, what kinds of, so, so you're a long time user and I think this is interesting because people like, like my wife has signed up now because everybody's signing up, uh, and she's seeing A lot of other people coming from TikTok because that's who she is, but what kinds of things are you seeing that's different from what you normally see? Tony Wang So I started using it. I got hooked to the platform because how good the algorithm was. And I compared it to Instagram. I compared it to TikTok. And there's something a little bit different about Red Note. I'm not sure what they're doing but it's more effective i think in that sense and so what i've seen now is because i clicked on two videos i clicked on pedro and i clicked on kevin now my my Feed is completely flushed 100 american content and it's so now it's it's like i'm not sure what it's doing to my algorithm but um i've already seen people um in china complaining about This influx i even saw a chinese creator on there ready to teach tiktok refugees chinese and that's just within 24 hours and i was just shocked at how fast everybody adapted to the platform Huyen Tue Dao Yeah that that is impressive uh how quickly people adapt uh neither one of us know where this is going whether this is a flash in the pan or or whether it becomes the new thing i know bite Dance would like everyone to go to LemonAid with a number eight. They've been advertising that on TikTok, but it seems like the TikTok users have their own mind and have gone to RedNote for now. As a user of RedNote, what would you like to see happen? Do you want everybody to just go away and it go back to normal? Would you like to see it just calm down? Are you okay with it changing? Tony Wang Do you feel about it i think we're probably past that point we're past the point of no return now and i think i'm hoping that the algorithm would be able to to cope with this influx of completely Huyen Tue Dao Different content and and people coming from different uh walks of life yeah you think you think it's probably here to stay and and hopefully they can balance things out yeah i mean the Tony Wang Only way i see this changing would be if um the red note ([Time 0:20:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4e1055df-9c14-4941-94bf-4bd171468b47)) - **Web Apps as a Solution?** - Consider using web apps to bypass app store restrictions. - This might be a solution for platforms facing distribution challenges, like TikTok's potential ban. Transcript: Wind Wendell All right, we end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today, Martin and Chip both had the same idea for TikTok. Here's Chip's version. Jason Howell Hey, DTNS crew, simple email here. Why doesn't TikTok just make a web app? Wouldn't that circumvent the law or would that still count as distribution? I know you're not legal experts, but it is something I haven't heard discussed much. Love the new format. Keep up the great work. Chip from Frigid Boston. Wind Wendell Yeah, I mean, that's a that's a good point. I mean, what we've been talking about, you know, up until now has been the fact that like, it's not as if the app suddenly stops working for anyone has it installed. It's just that you won't be able to get the app anymore, which tells me that there is no active blocking that I know of, of TikTok on like a network perspective. So that's true. Why not just load it up on a web page or, you know, launch it in a web app? I suppose that would work. Jason Howell Yeah. I, this is again, also just not my purview, but I also wonder whether that's, yeah, that could be something to that. I mean, similarly, there is content blocking, you know, like that, of course, whenever you get like a VPN ad on your favorite content of choice on the internet, you know, that's kind Of one of the reasons, one of like the purported usages is to kind of circumvent content blocks. And it doesn't seem like that's like an issue with TikTok. It's just literally distribution. So yeah, I mean, thing is like with a web app, I mean, that's a really good question. It's not a, it's not a small load, but it could be a solution. I don't know. ([Time 0:30:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/36625eea-e671-4ce9-b49a-d045552fc0cd))