What’s your go-to way to get news? For the past year and half, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to read news. While I might just be too picky, the journey to find the right tools has been endlessly frustrating.

Content-wise, I like to read about topics that interest me 80% of the time, and dabble in matters outside of my interests for the remaining 20%. For example, while I’m not an avid international affairs follower, I am interested in keeping in touch with what’s happening in Hong Kong and Ukraine at the moment. But I don’t want to swim in them.

Looking back at the history of unexpected products, Apple Card is probably one of the most controversial from Apple—a company known for their gadgets and apps. But if you think of Apple not as a hardware or software company, but rather one that sells you experiences, an iPhone-integrated and a beautifully crafted titanium credit card makes a whole lot of sense.

I had the opportunity to go inside the Apple Park last weekend as a visitor. Ever since the park began its construction in 2013, many critics wrote about its architecture and impact on its surrounding community. My initial impressions were mixed. The park appeared to be a physical manifestation of the working culture at Apple. Of course, I have no working experience at Apple. Its corporate culture is something I’ve only heard about from friends and blogs. But when I looked at the campus design, I can’t help but feel a sense of intriguing contradiction. The entire ring is unified yet divided so you can only access the floors and sections you need to access. Unity and division, collaboration and competition, transparency and secrecy. These oxymorons defined the Apple Park for me, so I have always wanted to experience this place first-hand.

A quick overview of various photo sharing channels on iOS for my own clarity.

Let’s do a thought exercise together: do you prefer to call friends over audio or video? Why?

Now let’s say you are a frequent podcast listener. If I give you an hour of completely free time, would you sit down to listen to a podcast and do nothing else in the meantime? Why?

I think most people’s answers to both of the above questions will share one common theme: audio does not demand your full attention because you can multitask while listening. Our ability to do this but not with other media like video or text makes audio a particularly convenient medium to meet our modern obsession with efficiency. We can combine audio consumption with other semi-autonomous activities like driving or doing chores. This provides audio a unique platform to thrive.