Ben Thompson on MLS and AppleTV. âWhat is notable about this approach is that it is a bet against bundling; individual subscriptions are very hard to square with a bundle â how do you apportion the revenue? ⌠Just because a bundle is better in theory doesnât mean it will happen in practice: while I think any particular ecosystem, particularly the sports ecosystem, which is chock full of casual fans, would be worse off in an atomized world of individual subscriptions (instead of a bundle), we might end up there anyways, and Apple now has a head start in defining what that could look like.â
The Athletic has a deep dive on everything MLS and Apple, including this illuminating quote from MLSâ Gary Stevenson about the opportunity for Apple to dramatically improve the storytelling around MLS. âImagine if we sign a star player from Colombia. Immediately, immediately, we have the ability to serve content to those fans in Colombia of that particular player in the Apple global distribution system, whether itâs Apple News, Apple Health and Fitness, Apple Watches, Apple Music, all of those different areas we expect to be integrated in and go forward with with Apple. So, to me, when you think about what are the intangibles here and why does this really make the most sense, it makes the most sense because we have that ability to distribute content.â
Nate Rogers at The Ringer on Kate Bush burning up the charts. âIn previous eras, it was much harder to account for a populationâs broad listening habits outside of the physical, new music they purchased in record stores; these days, streaming charts offer a more nuanced window into the day-to-day reality of what people play in their homes, cars, offices, etc.â
Robin Sloan: Specifying Spring â83. âSpring â83 is a protocol for the transmission and display of something I am calling a âboardâ, which is an HTML fragment, limited to 2217 bytes, unable to execute JavaScript or load external resources, but otherwise unrestricted. ⌠ I recommend this kind of project, this flavor of puzzle, to anyone who feels tangled up by the present state of the internet. Protocol design is a form of investigation and critique.â Need to dig in to this.