The New Pixel Is Raising the Bar for Cheap Phones

LG: It’s an excellent article, Mike. I agree with, I have to share a little backstory, which is that Gilad called me last week and he said, “I’m thinking of writing an article about cargo pants. What do you think?” I whole heartedly encouraged him to do this. Most of the time when people call me and say, “I’m thinking of writing about X. Should I?” I’m like, “Yes,” even if it’s a terrible idea. So Gilad and I had a really thoughtful conversation about what would actually make cargo pants fashionable again, to which point I said, “In some ways they kind of are.” I’ve noticed women are embracing more baggy, loose, free-flowing pants, which is incredible. Women are obsessed with pockets generally. There’s like a funny tweet that went viral a few years ago where someone said, “It’s so cute when you tell a woman you like her dress. The first thing she says is, “Thanks. It has pockets,” which is true.

So we’re already sort of hip to this, but I did say to him, “The one person who could effectively bring cargo pants back in style just with the snap of her fingers is our boss.” He was like, “Who?” I think he thought I meant Gideon Lichfield. And I was like, “Anna Wintour,” our boss at Conde Nast. Gilad was like, “Oh, yeah.” So he wrote a well-crafted email to Anna Wintour asking her opinion on cargo pants and I regret to say that at time of this taping, she had not yet responded.

MC: That’s right. He did his due diligence as a reporter. Did not get a good comment.

LG: Yeah. He did not get a comment from Anna.

MC: But the story’s still great. He has other fashion experts, who are not Anna Wintour, who speak in the story and help make the argument.

LG: Yes. He literally found a man who wrote a thesis on cargo pants. I mean, it’s hilarious. Hasn’t he since has been asked to go on podcasts to talk about cargo pants? This is his new beat. Who needs national affairs and tech policy when you can write about cargo pants?

MC: Julian, you rock the cargoes. Right? Come on.

JC: I was going to say. What about a bag to carry all that stuff? That seems like a good option too.

LG: Oh, yeah. It’s like pants for your shoulders.

MC: Irrelevant to the conversation.

LG: No, I like this.

MC: Let’s keep the scope limited. Cargoes, yes? No? There is no but here.

JC: Do you have to wear the cargo pants with the zippers that convert them to shorts?

MC: No. The point is that these are fashionable. These are things that are going to look good, that are going to be modern and nice, not things that are still kind of goofy like the ones that are out there now.

JC: I’m all for people wearing what they want. I don’t necessarily think I would wear one, but maybe if someone made something new and stylish that managed to have big pockets, I’ll wear it.

MC: That’s right.

JC: We should have WIRED branded cargo pants.

LG: Ooh, yes. Get deeper into the merch business.

MC: OK. I’m going to pull the ripcord on this. Lauren, what is your recommendation?

LG: My recommendation is that you donate to women journalists in Afghanistan right now through a group called The International Women’s Media Foundation. Women journalists are some of the most at risk populations right now in Afghanistan for obvious reasons. It’s not just women journalists, of course. It’s the press in general and other media workers. So we’ll link to this in the show notes, but if you have the time and some money to spare and you want to help out, I recommend donating to the IWMF.

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