ITK Daily | October 4

Happy Tuesday.

To be ITK, know this:

Nobel Prize for Physics was won by lain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger for their work on quantum mechanics.

AFP: EU lawmakers pass law for single charger for all smartphones from 2024

Politicians to Apple designers... We don't care about your design aesthetics, people are sick of needing and buying so many freaking chargers.

USB-C for all.

UK employment data: Currently on out-of-work benefits: 5.3 million in total

+ 5.3 million amounts to 13 percent of the UK working-age population, rising to 20 percent in Manchester and Birmingham and 25 percent in Blackpool.

You can see why Team Truss wants to execute pro-growth policies.

US Congress with a booming bounce:

+ A whopping 23% in the US approve, and 75% disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job

+ Approval rose five points between July and August polls, to 22%

+ Increase owed to Democrats' sharply higher approval of Congress

HT Gallup

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time since 2017, prompting a rare public safety warning from Tokyo Tuesday.

Trends are bad, events are worse, but ‘trevents’ may surprise us: We exaggerate the importance of breaking news but we also project illusions about the future. History really gets made in between the short and long runs. Niall Ferguson

+ “Journalism by its very nature hides progress because it presents sudden events rather than gradual trends … the press is an availability machine. It includes the worst things to happen on Earth at any given time.” -- Steven Pinker

China’s demographic crisis looms over Xi Jinping’s third term: The world’s most populous country will start shrinking this year, weakening the government’s economic tools. FT

+ China’s president Xi Jinping is poised to secure an unprecedented third term as leader at a congress of his Communist party this month, but behind the political theatre, a broader shift is playing out.

+ Demographers predict the world’s most populous country will start to shrink in 2022, a turning point with profound ramifications for its future.

+ While Xi is clearly in the political ascendancy, the economic tools at his disposal are increasingly constrained by a property sector meltdown, the damage to consumer confidence caused by successive coronavirus lockdowns, and local government fiscal shortfalls.

Prospect of 'Chairman Xi' fuels debate as China party congress nears: Potential shift to Mao-esque rule from collective leadership alarms many members. Nikkei

+ Debate is heating up over whether the Mao-era title of "chairman" will be revived for President Xi Jinping, a change that could position him to lead for life but remains deeply controversial.

+ The title of "chairman" abolished under Deng Xiaoping on the grounds that it encouraged Mao's consolidation of power and the cult of personality surrounding him, ultimately contributing to the Cultural Revolution.

+ Xi has already pivoted from Deng's "reform and opening-up" economic policy with his own "common prosperity" push.

+ Xi concurrently holds the posts of general secretary of the Communist Party, president of China, and head of the armed forces as chairman of the Central Military Commission.

+ A September column in Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily argued that Xi is essentially chairman in all but name, noting that his power exceeds Deng's.

US crafts new rules aimed at curbing China’s advanced computing WP

+ The Commerce Department expected to release new rules this week.

+ The use of the so-called foreign direct product rule will prevent companies anywhere in the world from selling certain advanced computing chips to Chinese buyers without a U.S. government license if the companies use American technology to make the chips.

+ “What they’re doing is a stark departure from 30 years of policy,” said Eric Sayers, managing director at Beacon Global Strategies, a national security consulting firm. “It’s a form of technology containment. Not just to stay ahead of China, but to degrade their ability to try to catch up with us.”

+ Restrictions on China’s largest chip makers could have a significant impact, said Dan Wang, technology analyst at Shanghai-based research firm Gavekal Dragonomics. “They would hurt these companies and their customers, which include leading Chinese electronics makers and internet platforms,” he said.

Brazil braces for ‘white-knuckle race’ between Bolsonaro and Lula: President Jair Bolsonaro had once looked doomed in the country’s high-stakes election. But now, in a runoff, the right-wing incumbent has a path to re-election. NYT

+ On October 30, Bolsonaro will face a leftist challenger, the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in a runoff election to lead Latin America’s largest nation.

+ Lula won the first round with 57m votes, or 48% of the total to Bolsonaro’s 43%. But Bolsonaro’s unexpectedly high share – pollsters had tipped him to claim 36% or 37% – has shattered predictions that re-election is beyond his reach in the 30 October runoff against Lula.

+ “Lula is still the favorite, but you can totally imagine this becoming a Bolsonaro victory,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a Brazilian political scientist. “If you add up all the numbers of the third-party candidates, there are sufficient votes out there.”

+ Nearly 10 million people cast ballots on Sunday for candidates who are now out of the contest, with roughly a third of those votes going to a center-left candidate and two-thirds to center-right candidates.

Labour are ‘very clearly the favorites’ to win the next UK election, pollster Sir John Curtice said.

BREAKING: Elon Musk says Twitter deal at original price is a go.

So, Elon Musk. The negative feedback on geopolitics moves the Twitter deal forward?

+ Twitter resumes trading, extends gain, up 15%

I uncovered an army of fake men on Hinge: They had gleaming teeth, perfect hair, and selfies with baby animals. But could they pass the Turing test? Lauren Goode

+ Hinge surely is not the only dating app riddled with digital fakes. The potential for romance makes people more vulnerable than in other digital contexts.

+ As I write this, I’ve just cycled through 15 profiles in the app—at least four have signs of being fake. Their photos are too polished, their profile descriptions totally nonsensical.

Crypto scams: A recent US Federal Trade Commission report said that more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1 billion in crypto scams since 2021 and labeled social media apps and cryptocurrencies “a combustible combination for fraud.”

The next big battle between 谷歌 and 苹果 is for the soul of your car: In the future, your choice of smartphone ecosystem—Android or iPhone—could determine which make and model of the car you choose. Christopher Mims

+ A few years from now, in addition to deciding your next vehicle’s make and model, you may have another tough choice: the Google model or the Apple one?

+ Now that cars, especially electric ones, are becoming something like smartphones on wheels, some of the dynamics that played out in the early days of the mobile industry are playing out in the auto industry.

+ For the car companies involved, which face the nearly impossible challenge of producing software on par with what tech companies offer, working with Silicon Valley can address consumer desires while also staving off competition from companies like Tesla.

+ Apple hasn’t announced an equivalent of Android Automotive—that is, software that automakers can license to run on their vehicles, whether or not an iPhone is connected to them.

+ “The automotive industry is very conservative,” says Mr. Trefz, a veteran of decades of designing hardware and software-based systems that control cars. “So if someone says, ‘This is going to happen in the next five years,’ it’s probably more like 20.”

Apple Music says there are now 100 million songs in its catalog. That is 20 million more than Spotify.

Amazing.

But it's all a bit useless.

I am still listening to this tune from '91 on heavy rotation.

SZA on deadlines:

+ “I don't have any deadlines, because at the end of the day, when my s*** comes out, it comes out.” -- SZA, whose second album will come out when it comes out.

I have the same ethos for my book.

Meta will shut its office at 225 Park Avenue South in Manhattan after scaling down expansion plans in NYC.

Metaverse > Manhattan

+ “I always think it’s important that people understand what something is,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told Dutch publication Bright (via Google Translate). “And I’m really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is.”

Gucci names new metaverse and Vault CEO: Drapers reports Gucci has named Robert Triefus as CEO for the luxury house's metaverse and Vault ventures.

Top 10 fashion brands embracing the metaverse:

1. Gucci

2. Louis Vuitton

3. Balenciaga

4. Nike

5. Burberry

6. Givenchy

7. JW Anderson

8. Tommy Hilfiger

9. Dolce + Gabbana

10. Dior

HT ProjectPractical

Peloton Interactive will put bikes in all 5,400 Hilton-owned hotels in the US.

RIP: Loretta Lynn

The Matrix's red pill or blue pill — which is better? Is it better to free your mind? Or live in blissful ignorance? Wired

The latest Anthony Bourdain biography is already controversial: The biography, Down and Out in Paradise, is being criticized by some of the late chef’s friends and family for being inaccurate. Bon Appetit

+ Author and journalist Charles Leerhsen based the book on more than 80 interviews and documents, texts, and email exchanges sourced from Bourdain’s laptop.

+ The chef’s brother, Christopher Bourdain, called the biography a hurtful, defamatory fiction, The New York Times report says.

US women's soccer probe uncovers 'systemic' abuse and sexual misconduct: Le Monde reports an independent investigation into the scandals that erupted in the US National Women's Soccer League last season found emotional abuse and sexual misconduct were systemic in the sport.

The National: Saudi Arabia wins bid to host 2029 Asian Winter Games at $500 billion Neom smart city

Saudi Arabia = Near Arctic

Could Eli Manning's Chad Powers become the next Ted Lasso? Ad Age reports Hollywood is interested in the character after Manning disguised himself as a walk-on quarterback trying out at Penn State.

Eliud Kipchoge had an unexpected hand in his record-setting runs: Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s greatest marathoner, has an unlikely partner in his world-record-setting marathon runs, a course volunteer who is responsible for handing him nutrition. NYT

+ A botched handoff could be the difference between history and disappointment, which is why Kipchoge’s team sought out the services of the bottle-passing maestro now known as “Bottle Claus.”

+ “Bottle Claus! Never has so much fuss been made about a man giving a drink to another man,” a commentator on live television said.

+ Claus-Henning Schulke manages the team of 34 volunteers who help elite athletes access their nutrition during the Berlin race.

+ Watch Schulke in action.

+ “Fuel is a major limiter of performance in the marathon,” said Sara Hall, a professional runner who owns the third-fastest marathon time ever for an American woman.

Ukraine in joint bid for 2030 World Cup: The Times reports President Zelensky has given permission for Ukraine to join Spain and Portugal in a move to host the tournament.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

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