The slowing of the podcast boom has been beaten to death elsewhere, but Janan Ganesh touches on one important reason why: most podcasts miss the point of podcasts. He writes: "Five hours of podcasts wash over me and leave no mental residue. I wonder about the 'stickiness' of knowledge that you don’t have to fight for." Podcasts are for pretending you're hanging out, not for pretending you're getting smarter. Post-script: I haven't missed a Ganesh column in years. (FT)
On the subject of not getting smarter, here's the argument that TikTok is a weapons-grade stupidity machine making the US incapable of resisting a rising superpower. (The Prism)
Insane details about Apple's upcoming AR/VR headset, including choosing items with your eyes and clicking with your thumb and forefinger. (Bloomberg)
It got overshadowed on the site on Wednesday though by this anti-aging guy who microdoses Lithium. (Bloomberg)
It's the "fancy pantry!" The "shoppy shop!" And, for me, it's "not my problem!" Good luck with these, though. I'm sure they're fun! (Grub Street)
About to be trending: the book When We Cease To Understand The World by Benajamin Labatut, which has come up several times in conversations and my media diet this week. (Img)
The Doodles bought the animation studio that makes ancillary content for "Rick and Morty." Smart. (Twitter)
Apparently on TikTok people will watch TV show and movies but because they can't pay attention they have to have a scrolling video game next to the content. (Twitter) (Twitter)
Ted Sarandos sounds very defensive about how no one watches anything on Netflix after it's five minutes old. (Bloomberg)
Excellent Ross Douthat piece on money, status, anxiety and ambition with “Fleishman Is in Trouble” as the backdrop. (NYT)
Apple TV+ showing their strategy a bit with this otherwise very slick Timothée Chalamet spot: "No one knows any of the stuff that's on our streaming service." (YouTube)
Speaking of, how many minutes was Harrison Ford willing to spend at this shoot? Five? Ten? (Img)
They've been writing the exact same men's style article for 15 years now. (NYT)