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.

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.)

Chris Welch, at The Verge:

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?)

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.”

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.

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.

“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.

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!

Nikkei:

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.