The Daily Valet. - 8/28/20, Friday

✔️ Do You Hear That?

August 28, 2020

Friday, August 28th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Feel free to shoot me a message or send me an audio clip.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today's edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Hear That?

Audio messages might soon replace texts and DMs

Everything comes back around, right? We gave up talking on the phone for the ease of texting. Now voice memos and audio messages are becoming the new norm. And Mashable says get used to it.

Culture writer Nicole Gallucci endorses them: “When I'm feeling too lazy to type, have a lot to say, or feel as though my actual voice will lend important emphasis or clarification to a message, sending an audio clip truly comes in handy.”

Sure, voice messages aren't always as practical as regular text messages. But they serve several unique purposes, and it's time we normalize sending them, she says.

Of course, some people might argue that sending voice messages back and forth is similar to having a phone call, but it's a very different experience. While voice messages allow you to year your contacts speak, they're more like using a walkie talkie than having a phone call.

And they're likely going to start showing up anywhere you can send text messages. Similar voice messages in the direct messages of Twitter are likely to become a part of social media app soon, reports Digital Information World.

What do you think? For me, it's an intimacy thing. I'll send a voice text to a very close friend or family member. But not to an acquaintance. And it feels oddly intimate for a work colleague. But maybe that's just because I hate the sound of my recorded voice.

↦ FYI: It's important to remember that audio messages, like voice tweets, have an accessibility problem. Their lack of captioning means that the feature isolates people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

President Trump Accepts the GOP Nomination

Trump casts first term as a success despite collision of crises

President Trump addressed the Republican National Convention from the White House on Thursday. Unfortunately, the audience—packed shoulder to shoulder, many unmasked—largely ignored precautions meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

By delivering his acceptance speech from the South Lawn of the White House, Trump once again outraged critics and delighted supporters by trampling traditional protocol.

As for the speech—one of the longest convention acceptance speeches ever delivered—Trump delivered a scathing and wholesale attack on Democrat Joe Biden and, according to the Washington Post, defended his stewardship of a nation buffeted by historic crises on Thursday night, appealing to voters for a second term in an election he said would either preserve or destroy the “American way of life.”

Ivanka Trump introduced her father, as someone with “strong convictions,” conceding that “my dad’s communication style is not to everyone’s taste.” She added that the President’s tweets “can feel a bit unfiltered,” but “the results speak for themselves.” I guess we could debate to what results she might be referring.

↦ Fact Check: News analysts clarify or refute the remarks by the President and Ivanka Trump.

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Amazon Unveils a Tracker Wristband

The new wearable device tracks your health and the energy in your voice

Amazon introduced a wristband for health and fitness tracking Thursday called Halo—alongside a subscription service and smartphone app.

This is a space that's currently dominated by the Apple Watch and devices from Fitbit, of course. The Halo builds on those popular trackers with features that have never been seen in a mainstream wearable device, according to CNBC.

In addition to the now-standard heart rate and sleep tracking, Amazon says that it can measure a user’s emotional state by listening to the tone of their voice and provide a three-dimensional rendering of their body with an estimated body fat percentage.

The membership also includes a more holistic health approach with science-backed experiments and challenges from experts like the Mayo Clinic, SWEAT and Headspace. It's an interesting concept. And really, at this point, what's a little more of my data going into Amazon's supercomputer?

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Interested in a Remote-Work Visa?

Your new WFH locale could be much more scenic

A majority of office workers don't (or can't) plan on returning to their workplaces for a while. Which means there are suddenly a whole lot more people qualifying as "digital nomads."

According to the Wall Street Journal, a handful of countries and resorts are inviting peoplecome and work from their scenic surroundings. The Barbados Welcome Stamp allows you to live and work in the Caribbean country tax-free for one year. It's not cheap—it costs $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families—but allows for unlimited exit and re-entry, as well as free public school access for visa-holders’ children.

Within weeks of Barbados’s visa announcement, a handful of other countries rolled out similar plans, reports Skift. It sounds appealing, but if your surroundings are that beautiful, will you even make time for that dreaded Zoom call at 3 pm?

↦ Interested? Outsite rounded up the best visa options available for digital nomads today.

In Other News

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