Ryan Cooper writing for The Week:

There is nothing wrong with traipsing into West Virginia to see what the people are thinking. But let us not be blinded to the broader reality.

Ryan Cooper writing for The Week:

There is nothing wrong with traipsing into West Virginia to see what the people are thinking. But let us not be blinded to the broader reality.

April Glaser for Slate:

As [Eric Schmidt] walks away from the internet leviathan he once shepherded, it’s worth reflecting on the web he helped to build, and the various discomforts it has erased. (Not for nothing did he once say that Google’s policy is to “get right up to the creepy line.”) It’s one where free services are powered by advertising and paid for with our data, a bargain that fundamentally reshaped our relationship with corporations, particularly (but not only) large internet companies. Google’s customers are advertisers. The people who use many of its most popular services are the products, with advertisers paying for access to our attention. YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, Maps, Search—all are free for the low price of your privacy.

April Glaser for Slate:

As [Eric Schmidt] walks away from the internet leviathan he once shepherded, it’s worth reflecting on the web he helped to build, and the various discomforts it has erased. (Not for nothing did he once say that Google’s policy is to “get right up to the creepy line.”) It’s one where free services are powered by advertising and paid for with our data, a bargain that fundamentally reshaped our relationship with corporations, particularly (but not only) large internet companies. Google’s customers are advertisers. The people who use many of its most popular services are the products, with advertisers paying for access to our attention. YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, Maps, Search—all are free for the low price of your privacy.

Marvel’s March solicitations were notably missing some books when they were released on Dec. 18, while other titles seemed to have oddly conclusive synopses and cover images attached to them. The news slowly trickled out from creative teams, rather than an official announcement from Marvel: Generation X, Gwenpool, Luke Cage, Iceman, Hawkeye and America were all confirmed to be canceled.

This is too bad. In particular, Kelly Thompson’s Hawkeye (which has featured Kate Bishop, not Clint Barton) has been consistently great.

Marvel’s March solicitations were notably missing some books when they were released on Dec. 18, while other titles seemed to have oddly conclusive synopses and cover images attached to them. The news slowly trickled out from creative teams, rather than an official announcement from Marvel: Generation X, Gwenpool, Luke Cage, Iceman, Hawkeye and America were all confirmed to be canceled.

This is too bad. In particular, Kelly Thompson’s Hawkeye (which has featured Kate Bishop, not Clint Barton) has been consistently great.

The Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona laughed as they spoke to each other while protesters implored them to change their minds and vote down the legislation.

Flakey and false hope.

The Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona laughed as they spoke to each other while protesters implored them to change their minds and vote down the legislation.

Flakey and false hope.

April Glaser for Slate:

In October, in what may have been an attempt to dodge new regulatory requirements, Facebook and Twitter both unveiled online transparency tools to help users know more about where their political ads are coming from. Facebook’s do-it-yourself approach included an initiative to show users all the ads that a particular Facebook page buys. Twitter’s plan included a new online dashboard that will ostensibly show who bought the ad, how long its been running, and how the ad was targeted. Neither tool appears to be live yet, though. Political ads on Twitter will also be marked with a special indicator to set it apart from other ads on the platform, the company said in a blog post.

I’m happy to see the FEC isn’t going to roll over for Facebook and Twitter. Sounds like things will be getting better and hopefully the final rules will incorporate clear indicators, disclaimers, and dashboards as well as an API for journalists and researchers.

Casual opinions of Apple seem to be reaching the negativity of many hardcore fans, if for different reasons.

Yet another example of Apple actually not being good at software and everyone else seems to be better at software than Apple is.... For all that Apple can make really beautiful devices – and used to make really beautiful operating systems – its software has never been all that great and ultimately a streaming service is a piece of software and they just don’t have the user experience people want.

– Felix Salmon, discussing Apple’s acquisition of Shazam on Slate Money, “May the Fox Be With You Edition”

This comment about Apple was offered up as a concluding remark with full approval from his co-hosts. It wasn’t even an argument buffered by recent high profile operating system bugs in iOS and macOS.

It was simply Apple doesn’t make very good software anymore full stop, no dissent, time for an ad read. If anything, the comment is less charitable than a typical ATP broadside.

Basically, public sentiment of Apple’s software quality really seems to be cratering, high customer sat notwithstanding.

I can’t imagine not using Apple software. I’d give up the hardware before the software. And maybe this is an inevitable result of being the de facto provider for a swath of the chattering class, but I hope someone at Apple is figuring out how to get back into everyone’s good graces and not just with the iMac Pro crowd.