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The Comfortable-Typing Edition Sunday, November 25, 2018

Compared: 13-inch MacBook Air Versus 13-inch MacBook Pro, by Max Yuryev, AppleInsider

Interestingly, at their tallest points, the Air is thicker than the Pro, but the front edge is quite a bit thinner. Because of this, the Air's keyboard slopes downward for a much more comfortable typing experience. The Pro also has sharp edges that can sometimes dig into your wrist when typing.

Do You Have A Moral Duty To Leave Facebook?, by S. Matthew Liao, New York Times

In moral philosophy, it is common to draw a distinction between duties to oneself and duties to others. From a self-regarding perspective, there are numerous reasons one might have a duty to leave Facebook. For one thing, Facebook can be time-consuming and addictive, to no fruitful end. In addition, as researchers have demonstrated, Facebook use can worsen depression and anxiety. Someone who finds himself mindlessly and compulsively scrolling through Facebook, or who is constantly comparing himself unfavorably with his Facebook friends, might therefore have a duty of self-care to get off Facebook.

From the perspective of one’s duties to others, the possibility of a duty to leave Facebook arises once one recognizes that Facebook has played a significant role in undermining democratic values around the world.

How Guy Raz Built ‘How I Built This’, by Nellie Bowles, New York Times

By creating a safe space for entrepreneurs to share their stories of ascent, Mr. Raz has become one of the most popular podcasters in history. That history is short, but in this new land of aural opportunity, Mr. Raz, 44, has a claim to be king. According to NPR, where he works on contract, he is the only person to ever have three shows simultaneously in Apple’s top 20 podcasts. In addition to How I Built This, Mr. Raz hosts the TED Radio Hour and the children’s series Wow in the World. Another show, The Rewind With Guy Raz, just started on Spotify, and spring 2019 will bring Wisdom From the Top, a podcast about leadership.

The jewel in Mr. Raz’s earbud empire remains How I Built This. Produced by NPR, the series began in September 2016 with Mr. Raz interviewing the Spanx founder Sara Blakely, setting the tone that it would be about business without being stodgy.

A Dying Mall Near Apple’s Headquarters Is Turning Into A Fight Over Silicon Valley’s Soul, by Roland Li, San Francisco Chronicle

The 1976 mall was home to the retail giants of the 20th century: Macy’s, Sears and J.C. Penney, which all closed their stores in the last three years as foot traffic dwindled and shoppers shifted online. Today, Vallco is a cavernous, mostly empty space of 1.2 million square feet, with a handful of survivors such as Dynasty Seafood Restaurant and the Bay Club hanging on. On the other side of Interstate 280 is Apple’s new $5 billion headquarters, which includes a sleek visitor center and shop.

Since 2014, developer Sand Hill Property Co. has sought to transform the mall into nearly 2 million square feet of office space, more than 2,400 housing units and a 400,000-square-foot retail center.

Thousands of Cupertino residents have fought back. In 2016, Sand Hill Property submitted a ballot measure to win support for one version of the project, while opponents had a measure that banned office space and housing on the site and kept the retail size the same. Both measures were rejected by voters, throwing the project into limbo.