Linked List: December 23, 2019

Monday, 23 December 2019

Stephen Coyle:

Looking to the AirPods first, there’s a very encouraging trend occurring. They drop from 274ms to 178ms going from the first to second generation, and the AirPods Pro take it down even further, to 144ms. While a 130ms reduction may not seem like a lot, the perceptual difference from this makes the AirPods Pro tantalisingly close to seamless.

Impressive. I definitely notice the improvement with keyboard clicks turned on.

Why Prague Flies the Tibetan Flag Over Their City Hall ★

Zdenek Hrib, mayor of Prague:

Yet this year, four of our best musical ensembles were in for an unpleasant surprise: China, which had invited them to visit the country, abruptly canceled their long-scheduled tours.

The reason for Beijing’s decision to rescind the invitations was clear. Since I was elected mayor of the Czech capital in 2018, I have worked to fulfill a promise to voters. I vowed during the campaign that I would return to our hallowed post-communist traditions of honoring democracy and human rights. By delivering on that promise, I and my government have prompted the ire of the Chinese Communist Party.

We have chosen to adorn our city hall with the Tibetan flag — which should not bother China at all, considering that its 1951 agreement with the Tibetan government grants the territory a broad degree of autonomy. Being a doctor, I have also publicly condemned the forced extraction of organs from members of the Muslim Uighur minority and other prisoners of the regime.

The Chinese are petty and petulant.

Hrib’s advice:

I am not advising against doing any business with China. Nor am I suggesting that we cut off all diplomatic ties; such an approach would be both extreme and counterproductive. I would, however, encourage our friends around the world to think twice and be cautious before getting into bed with such an unreliable and potentially risky counterpart.

More importantly, I encourage all of you not to surrender your values and personal integrity out of fear of blackmail and threats.

Jesper on the MacOS Podcasts App ★

Jesper, writing at Waffle:

Podcasts should be the optimal poster child for Catalyst because it exists on many platforms, and I think it could be made to work so much better by being responsive to ways in which a Mac is not an iOS device. But what upsets me is not a lack of polish as such, it’s that this was deemed anywhere near good enough to ship. It’s not a good podcasting app, it’s not a good Catalyst example, it’s not a good macOS citizen and it’s not even a good reincarnation of the Podcasts app. It’s just a mess.

Yet it’s probably the best Catalyst app.

Robocall Fines Rise to $10,000 Per Call Under Newly Passed Law ★

Makena Kelly, reporting for The Verge:

The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, or the TRACED Act, empowers the federal government with new abilities to go after illegal robocallers. Once TRACED is enacted, the Federal Communications Commission could fine robocallers up to $10,000 per call. It also would require major carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to deploy a new technology called STIR/SHAKEN into their networks, which will make it easier for consumers to know if they’re receiving a call from a spoofed number.

The House voted overwhelmingly to approve the measure earlier this month, and Thursday’s unanimous Senate vote means the bill only requires President Trump’s signature to become law. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) said that the bill should be signed into law within the “next week or so.”

There aren’t many issues with overwhelming bipartisan support these days. Fury at robocalls is one of them.

‘A Conversation With Rudy Giuliani Over Bloody Marys’ ★

Olivia Nuzzi, writing for New York:

The hostess led us through a hallway to the dining room. As Giuliani walked down the carpeted ramp, he fell over to his right and hit the wall. He kept on walking as if it hadn’t happened. “My God, it’s Rudy Giuliani,” I heard someone say. He nodded and waved at people he knew seated across the restaurant. He stopped to shake hands with an older man and his wife.

“I’d like some sparkling water. And I know you have wonderful Bloody Marys,” Giuliani told the waiter. “Yes, sir,” the waiter said, “and I know you love them.” Giuliani laughed. “You’re a good man!,” he said.

Just such a great little slice of life piece. Nuzzi is one of my favorite writers in politics today. Her piece two months ago from inside the Joe Biden campaign is another must-read.

What Dan Frommer Has Learned in the First Year of Running a Subscription Newsletter Business ★

Dan Frommer:

It’s been almost nine months since I started publishing The New Consumer.

Wrapping up my first calendar year, I wanted to share my experience so far of running a one-person, membership-funded publishing startup, and some thoughts about how this sort of thing fits into where the media business is going.

In short: This is working! And I’m excited about the future.

Glad to hear it’s working out, but I’m not surprised. Frommer is a good writer and a keenly insightful observer.

And readers love newsletters. Websites are getting harder and harder to read. Paywalls forget who you are on a seemingly weekly basis. Websites put interstitial popovers directly over the content you’re trying to read. Videos are set to autoplay. How many times are you supposed to tell the same goddamn website whether you’ll accept their fucking cookies? It’s like they’re purposefully making it hard to read. Newsletters have none of that. They’re just easy and fun to read. The web can and should be that way too, but all too often it’s not.