This is a great idea. Giving kids tools to consume media critically is probably among the most important things we can do as a society.
The Nordic country is testing new ways to teach students about propaganda. Here’s what other countries can learn from its success.
Speaking of new monitors, Jeremy Gray at DPReview has another interesting one:
Hot on the heels of Samsung's new 27" 5K ViewFinity S9 monitor, Dell is joining the fray and coming after Apple's high-end Pro Display XDR display with its new 6K UltraSharp 32 monitor.
The real question here will be price. I'd love a reasonably-priced, 32" Retina resolution monitor. (Is it too much to ask that it not be hideous looking, though? It's like they tried to make it ugly.)
Samsung announced its ViewFinity S9 monitor earlier this week. With a 5K (5120 x 2880) resolution and stylish aluminum enclosure, it seems like Samsung is trying to square off with Apple’s Studio Display — likely for a lower price — and LG’s high-resolution monitors. I had a chance to check out the ViewFinity S9 up close at Samsung’s First Look event here at CES 2023, and my first impressions were quite positive.
I'm happy to see another entrant to the retina display market, even if it does appear to be mostly "me too" to the Apple Studio Display. Especially welcome is the built-in VESA mount and extra ports. If Samsung manages to get this thing closer to $1,000 than $2,000, they've got a compelling product on their hands.
But do keep in mind that the ViewFinity will come loaded with the same software that runs on Samsung’s TVs and Smart Monitor, so you’ll get direct access to streaming apps plus productivity software like Google Meet. Some will view that as a bonus; others might have preferred that the ViewFinity was just a standard, dumb monitor.
Count me in the latter group. I'm going to connect this thing to, you know, a computer; I don't need or want the monitor to have its own operating system or apps. With Samsung (and other manufacturers) watching and monetizing your habits, I especially don't want one of their systems involved in my computing.
(Yes, I know that the Apple display also has its own OS. Apple's OS is not for end user apps like a TV, so it's a different beast altogether. Still, I think that's overkill, too, and I'd rather that it didn't have one either. Why can't we have a nice, dumb monitor to plug our smarts into?)
It looks the part of a high-end 5K monitor, but what will it cost?
This is a massive, exceptional review of the new camera in the iPhone 14 Pro.
"But above all, I found a soul in the images from this new, 48-megapixel RAW mode that just made me elated. This is huge — and that’s not just the file size I am talking about. This camera can make beautiful photos, period, full stop. Photos that aren’t good for an iPhone. Photos that are great."
When the iPhone was first introduced, it packed in quite a few innovations. At a now-legendary keynote, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was launching a widescreen iPod, a phone and an internet communications device. These three devices were not separate new products, he revealed — they were all functions of a
I thought that the previous generation 2-series might be the last with a six-cylinder and a six-speed, but there's one car in the new gen that does. Sounds like this one is the last, though:
It’s also likely to be the last non-hybrid M model ever, according to previous statements by M boss Frank Van Meel.
Camouflaged pictures of the new M2 have been around for a while now, and much to the chagrin of many, it looked like it was going to continue the wildly aggressive styling trends of its bigger siblings. Now, thanks to an announcement made by BMW on Tuesday, we know that it’s definitely got hyper-aggressive styling, but it’s also got a lot else going for it.
The incredible—and incredibly swift—turn of events has Syed a free man. Amazing.
Unfortunately:
Serial won’t be covering Adnan’s case anymore, or the now-unsolved case of Hae Min Lee’s murder. But we know many other capable reporters will be, and so we’ll be watching and reading and listening.
A podcast from the creators of This American Life. One story. Told week by week. Hosted by Sarah Koenig.
"It’s Baltimore, 2022. Adnan Syed has spent the last 23 years incarcerated, serving a life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee, a crime he says he didn’t commit. He has exhausted every legal avenue for relief, including a petition to the United States Supreme Court. But then, a prosecutor in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office stumbles upon two handwritten notes in Adnan’s case file, and that changes everything."
The description for the first episode back in 2014 began, "It's Baltimore, 1999". It's an amazing thing that this story has been unfolding for so long, and a podcast has let us feel like we're part of it. It all came back today with the simple, haunting intro music that I forgot I loved. As I said yesterday, the fact that the podcast can add another episode almost eight years after its last (now just previous, I guess) episode is incredible. I hope we get more, once Adnan is willing and able.
In 2022, a prosecutor in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office stumbled upon two handwritten notes in Adnan’s case file. They changed everything.
Amazing! So many years after Serial brought this case so much attention, there's finally some progress on Syed's case. I don't know if he's innocent, but there was enough questionable going on with the case to at least justify a retrial.
And how awesome is podcasting that this many years later, there will be a new episode tomorrow!
Mr. Syed, 41, had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of his high school classmate Hae Min Lee. The judge gave prosecutors 30 days to proceed with a new trial or drop the case.
Japanese camera maker Nikon will withdraw from the development of single-lens reflex cameras and shift toward digital offerings amid intensifying competition from smartphone cameras, Nikkei has learned.
An earlier version of this article said that Canon was also stopping DSLR development, but that was removed in a later update; still, it's inevitable that they will follow suit.
The article attributes the change to "smartphone cameras", and while those have certainly changed the face of the camera market more than anything else in decades, this change is likely more due to mirrorless formats taking over the professional market, as the title suggests. Mirrorless cameras---especially now that Nikon (and Canon) have finally put in full-throated efforts---have advanced to the point where their benefits to pros outweigh the few remaining cons.
Smartphones push Japan maker to drop once-coveted single-lens reflex models
John Gruber, writing at Daring Fireball:
The M2 13-inch MacBook Air should not be thought of as version 2 of an Apple silicon MacBook Air. It’s more like version — I don’t know — 40 of what Apple thinks a standard Mac laptop should be. Apple silicon is what’s been missing — no-compromise chips that enable Apple to make the laptops they’ve always wanted to make. It’s taken decades of iterative refinement to get to this point: a nearly perfect laptop for nearly everyone.
As an owner of the M1 Macbook Air (I'm writing this on it), I can only say that if the new M2 version weren't out, this would be the "nearly perfect laptop for nearly everyone", so I have no problem believing this about the M2. The Verge in particular, has been making hay of minor quibbles, throwing doubt on the amazing achievement these laptops represent.
If I were to make the MBA a better laptop for me, I'd upgrade the screen to the excellent one on the new MacBook Pros and give an option for built-in, always-on 5 G, both things that keep me using an iPad as frequently as I do. As Gruber notes, the 12.9" iPad Pro with the excellent screen is quite chunky compared to the MacBook Air, so I'm always choosing which to use while on the go, and I tend towards the iPad Pro. I'd love for the MacBook Air to be that complete machine instead.
It’s taken decades of iterative refinement to get to this point — a nearly perfect laptop for nearly everyone.
Alex Castro, writing at The Verge:
…rather than prioritize posts from accounts people follow, Facebook’s main feed will, like TikTok, start heavily recommending posts regardless of where they come from.
This is the exact opposite of what I want from social platforms. I’m interested in what my friends and groups centered around my interests are posting about. I couldn’t care less about the latest memes or what some influencers are saying. This change is as unwelcome as was moving away from reverse chronological order to an algorithmic feed, based on engagement.
I’m still a user of an RSS reader, and would encourage anyone who hates these kinds of changes as much as I do to use applications like a reader to control your consumption, rather than be subject to the whims of platforms like these.
Get ready for more random videos in your feed.
Mike Wilk & John Watson at The Radavist have a fantastic account of the Yeti C-26 and the early days of mountain bike racing.
The late 80s and well into the 90s marked a sea change in mountain bike design. Suddenly bikes that were designed to ride fire roads and trails with no real intention were being hurdled down mountains at breakneck speeds. Competition between the brands within the burgeoning sport was fierce, and the race to produce lightweight racing bikes had begun. Perhaps the most infamous of these experimentations is the Yeti C-26, and today, we have some juicy photos of Juli Furtado's C-26 WC race machine…
Haribo gummy bears have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Smithsonian Magazine has an article with more than you ever needed to know about the candy and the brand.
Scott Kelby, writing on Lightroom Killer Tips, has an article titled "Why I Don't Convert My Raw Images To DNG".
In my case, I'd mostly stopped converting raw images to DNG, after a short time of converting everything. However, I have been converting Sony images to DNG recently, mostly for the storage size benefits. I'm not worried about losing the ability to use first-party converters/editors, as I don't use them in my workflow, but the lack of losslessly compressed raw files for Sony means that converting to DNG can be a big space saver, on the order of 20%. When you're talking about hundreds of gigabytes, it can add up quickly, and there's not really much of a downside from my perspective.
Before, before we take this Genie out of the bottle, just a quick heads up: I am super excited to be one of the speakers again at the 8th Annual B&H Photo OPTIC conference (called OPTIC 2022 – It’s a conference for outdoor, wildlife, travel photography, and post-processing), and after a couple of years of doing it virtually, this year they are doing a hybrid event where it’s your choice – you can go and be there live in person as it happens at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, or you can catch…