Iterate Weekly - Issue 83
This week we look at the Nimbus One EV, lying on LinkedIn, houseplants as air purifiers, Thursday Night Football with Lebron, and How to Not Always Be Working!
Welcome to issue 83 of Iterate Weekly!
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Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖 Tech
Is the Nimbus One the logical next iteration of transportation?
I’ve been wanting to write about the Nimbus One EV for quite a while now but didn’t know where it would be appropriate. Yes, this is a story about technology, it also has an environmental angle. I’m also seeing it as a major marketing and business opportunity to get a new product to market and essentially define a category of vehicle.
The Nimbus One is the first product to be launched by parent company Nimbus EV. It isn’t quite a car, it’s sort of like a motorcycle, or maybe a super-charged electric bike without pedals. It has three wheels and most easily fits into a category called “autocycle”. It’s fully-electric and can be charged up from a standard plug without any additional hookups needed. This first model even has removable battery packs that can be hot-swapped as needed. The top speed of this model is 50mph meaning it isn’t exactly highway ready. A future model dubbed the One S claims to be able to hit 70mph for suitable freeway access.
It seems like a vehicle like this is exactly what we need right now in our quest to curb carbon emissions and use smaller, more efficient vehicles for most of our daily errands. The Nimbus does fit two passengers (albeit snuggly) with a decent amount of room for additional cargo on a rear rack. They even claim that a child seat can be installed in the rear seat which I found interesting. Many small vehicles like this are not certified for child safety or suggest against bringing your kid along.
For a price tag of just under $10K USD, it actually seems like a pretty compelling package. But as I said, this is a new company with a new product in essentially a new segment of transportation. Will they be able to deliver on these promises? All early signs have been positive thus far. Right now you can make a $100 down payment to reserve your Nimbus One or One S. They hope to begin shipping the first models in the Fall of 2023 with the slightly more expensive ($13K) and powerful One S model coming in early 2024.
I haven’t put down a deposit yet, but the One S is very tempting for California driving. It’s small enough to lane split through the almost daily traffic gridlocks and city streets, but with a top speed of 70mph it can still cruise the freeway when traffic subsides. I’d probably still opt for an e-bike for many of the in-town errands, but for almost a 3rd less money than the cheapest EV cars, I think Nimbus can gain some traction in the industry.
Would you be willing to buy an autocycle like the Nimbus One?
🎓 Education/Productivity
Is everyone lying on LinkedIn?
Here’s an interesting story from The Future Party about LinkedIn’s issue of user profiles that may not be entirely telling the truth.
It never occurred to me that no one is really policing the claims that people make on LinkedIn. In most cases, it’ll become evident during a job interview if you fabricated past experiences, but what if people just become really good at lying on their profiles?
LinkedIn may be compelled to create some sort of verification system along the lines of the Twitter Blue Check. Of course this will be a pretty complicated and expensive thing to enforce. A recent survey found that 34% of LinkedIn’s 850 million users contain “inaccurate or misleading information,” including false employment and education history, degrees earned, and certifications they’ve received. This comes from data collected from verification site ZippedScript.
How is your profile looking? Any claims that you may want to re-evaluate?
♻️ Health & Environment
Using houseplants as air purifiers
As air quality in much of the world continues to deteriorate, air purifiers are becoming more of a necessity. I’ve personally purchased several purifiers over the past few years to combat bad air quality due to wildfire smoke.
So it’s exciting to see that a new company called Neoplants are engineering houseplants to be more efficient air purifiers.
Neoplants is a French startup of bioengineers who are genetically modifying traditional houseplants so they can absorb more airborne pollutants. There is a lot of science involved here, but the basic premise is to engineer a plant that is better at capturing VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that many air purifiers struggle to absorb.
Their first product is called the Neo P1 and will cost $179 at launch (in line with the cost of other premium air purifiers). The package will include the plant itself, a plant pot with a basket inside designed for maximum air intake and three months of microbiome to keep it healthy.
In theory, this all seems great. But at the end of the day this is still just a plant. A plant that could potentially die or my cat could eat it. It might look prettier and make less noise than an air purifier, but I’m a little skeptical about is longevity. But it’s an impressive technological feet to engineer a plant that is able to remove these harmful compounds from the air and still look like a perfectly ordinary houseplant.
Would you be willing to give Neoplants a try?
🛍 Grab Bag
Thursday Night Football with Lebron
Thursday night is becoming a very lucrative time slot for the NFL. This season, Amazon has exclusive rights to broadcast the Thursday night game on its Prime Video platform. Amazon’s pre and post game coverage has been particularly entertaining in my humble opinion. But now there looks to be a new voice during NFL games on Thursday.
The idea of “alternate streams” during live sporting events seems to be gathering momentum. Last year I mentioned how much I enjoyed the silly Nickelodeon streams that attempt to make the NFL more enjoyable for kids. Now Lebron’s stream could make a boring Thursday night game far more palatable for NBA fans.
Amazon claims that they have some exclusive split screen technology to make the broadcasts easy to enjoy. The expectation is that there will be more pop-culture interview style content on the feed rather than strictly talking about their thoughts on the game.
I always give these secondary feeds a shot when they first come out. The “Manningcast” with Peyton and Eli has probably been the best example of this approach finding success. I think it’s important for the collaborators to have chemistry for these things to work best (obviously as brothers Peyton and Eli Manning do and presumably so will James, Maverick Carter and the rest of “The Shop” cast).
I’m all for more options in the way we consume sports and I’m looking forward to seeing what Lebron brings to the broadcast.
Anyone else prefer these secondary broadcasts over the main feed?
💬 Quote of the Week
"Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see."
-Edgar Allen Poe
📕Content Recommendation
How to Not Always Be Working
Yes, the title of my recommendation this week is “How To Not Always Be Working” but it’s an engaging read that goes beyond that blunt declaration.
Author Marlee Grace dives into what our work is and isn’t. It may sound silly, but she poses thoughtful questions that help to define important aspects of work. The lines between “work” and “life” have gotten especially blurry over the past few years for many people. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, but it’s important to evaluate where you are on the work/life spectrum every now and again.
Grace certainly comes to this question from the angle of being a creative entrepreneur but she delivers sound advice no matter what your vocation may be. There are plenty of actionable takeaways that you can help you get out of any “work ruts” in no time at all.
And if you’re looking for more of Marlee Grace’s work, she is active on Substack. Her Monday Monday publication was recently featured in a Substack Grow interview and it’s certainly worth checking out.
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Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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I work for a real estate developer. We have been giving plants with air purifying properties in a lot of our projects.
A modified plant with enhanced air purifying attributes sounds great - however paying $179 for a houseplant and some accessories feels like a lot of money!