Daily Authority: ???? Long live micro-USB

???? Good morning and welcome to Tuesday’s Daily Authority. I’m just back from vacation and have been enjoying playing Plague Tale: Requiem on my week off — those rats are terrifying, though!

Though USB-C has been around for several years now, we were curious whether any of our readers still owned devices using micro-USB connectivity. Over 11,450 of you voted in our poll, and the results were eye-opening…

• The accessories space dominated our poll results, with gaming controllers, e-readers, headphones, power banks, Bluetooth speakers, and more all earning a mention.
• But it might surprise you to know that some folks are still using smartphones with micro-USB ports. In fact, 13% of our poll takers said they still have a smartphone that uses the standard, even though USB-C ports have been widely adopted in the industry.
• In total, 46% of you said you own an accessory with a micro-USB port, so it’s clear the standard isn’t going anywhere fast.

Power banks, PS4, and more

• Among the devices mentioned in the poll results comments were PlayStation 4 and Xbox controllers, TV keyboards, headphones, rechargeable lights, dashcams, power banks, and Raspberry Pis.
• Elsewhere, 17% of you said you have at least two or more of the micro-USB devices mentioned in the poll, while 12% own and use a tablet or e-reader with a micro-USB port.
• Only 13% of respondents aren’t using any micro-USB devices whatsoever.
• Though devices such as the latest Kindle and the PS5 have made the move to USB-C, there are still plenty of devices with micro-USB ports out there.
• In our house, I counted four devices with micro-USB connectivity: My PS4, my trusty Kindle Paperwhite — though I’m eyeing a new Paperwhite this Black Friday — a mini-keyboard for my TV, and a camera charger.

If you’re bored with all the recent Twitter drama, you should check out CrowTok. Yes, this is a thing.

• This small TikTok niche is extremely active, and as well as featuring videos of people feeding crows and other birds, seeks to explore the relationships that corvids have with humans.
• The family of birds known as Corvids includes crows, magpies, and ravens.
• Crows aren’t the only birds that are smart, but Cornell ornithologist Kevin McGowan believes their intelligence resonates deeply with us as they’re good at many of the things we humans excel at.
• For example, did you know crows can recognize human faces and can also associate them with danger or kindness, passing this information on to their pals? Yes, that might also mean they’re capable of plotting revenge, so be kind to your neighborhood birds…
• Crows can also think about their own thoughts, which might explain why you often see them sitting in the road, staring into space.

New to TikTok? We’ve got a handy guide for how to create TikTok videos that’ll get you started on the platform.

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor.