According to Apple, wireless headphones like the AirPods do support spacial audio. No idea where the author got the information they wouldn't.
Apart from that, I get how an audio engineer would think that way, but for me, and I suppose most music listeners, what's important is that the sound is great. And personally I really like spacial audio.
Regarding your first question: there's only one edition that let's you turn off telemetry completely: Windows 10 Enterprise. You can set it to "Security" which means nothing but the following information is sent: "Information that’s required to help keep Windows, Windows Server, and System Center secure, including data about the Connected User Experiences and Telemetry component settings, the Malicious Software Removal Tool, and Windows Defender."
I can't remember the name, but a few years ago there was a website that did something similar. You could drag and add different elements and print it out afterwards. Must have been around 2006-2007, I used this quite often during my final year at college.
Some valid points there. The problem, for me at least and I guess many other people, is that the vast majority of my contacts uses WhatsApp.
I know this probably will never happen, but what I'd love to have is some kind of universal messaging app that connects to all services I want to use. Back in the late 90s there were plenty of internet messengers such as ICQ and Yahoo! Messenger, and IIRC it wasn't long before universal clients were developed.
While entertaining to read, I'm surprised the author didn't mention newer ThinkPads when explaining why modern laptops suck. If I'm happy with a 12 year old ThinkPad, the obvious first step when looking for a replacement would be to check out the current ThinkPads. And while I can't speak for the author, I for one love the current lineup.