Iterate Weekly - Issue 101
This week we're looking at robot security guards, edutainment content, Luvly little cars, what time is it on the moon?, and we're watching "You People"!
Welcome to issue 101 of Iterate Weekly!
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Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖 Tech
Robot security guards are here!
Robocops are finally here!
At least we are starting to see an increase in the use of security robots to protect office spaces, and maybe soon our homes.
If you’ve spent anytime in a large office complex recently, maybe you saw them. They glide along roughly at the same pace as a human security guard would walk. They have cameras and perhaps a display to show exactly what they’re monitoring. They’re looking for suspicious just like their flesh and bone counterparts do.
And it makes a lot of financial sense too. According to a Forrester Research study, robot security guards could save a company $79,000 per year over hiring a human guard. That’s pretty significant. How do the robots compare in effectiveness? Well it certainly depends. Most of these robots are looking for things that seem different from the status quo. Things like an open door at an hour where that door is typically closed, or they can hear unusual sounds that may be coming from an intruder and then relay that message back to a human-staffed control center.
Don’t worry, yes there will still be real people monitoring these drones in most scenarios. It could put some traditional security guards out of a job, but there will always be a need for robot repairs and monitoring. And real conflicts will need a human to intervene. We’re not at the point where these machines are engaging in hand-to-hand combat or assailing criminals…yet.
What do you think? Would you feel just as safe with a robot security guard at your office? Do you see a future where these robots will make their way into home security too?
🎓 Education/Productivity/Work
Edutainment for short attention spans
It’s no secret that our attention spans seem to be shrinking. Even the premise of a 26-minute long educational television show may be too much.
Instead, we’re seeing a sharp increase in “edutainment”, in particular these are short-form educational videos popping up all across social media.
Call me old fashioned. I used to work in EdTech and produced content that feels extremely long-form when compared to the most popular offerings today. But even industry veterans like Bill Nye (he has over 9 million followers on TikTok!) are adapting to the quick pace of educational content. Bill was clearly ahead of his time crafting science videos for PBS that were typically shorter than 2-minutes back when that format was basically reserved for Sesame Street and other toddler programming. Maybe we just all learn best in bite-sized chunks?
The Future Party article references the terms “Tik Tok over textbooks” or “Hollywood meets Harvard” which I find incredibly interesting. Have we finally realized that it’s better to adjust the content to a form factor that’s more palatable to kids rather than to just keep hitting them over the head with more boring textbooks?
Kudos to educational content creators like Bill Nye who are figuring out this equation and really helping kids learn topics using a medium they are more comfortable with.
♻️ Health & Environment
Luvly is reshaping the automobile form factor
It’s time for another look at a “microcar” manufacturer that’s looking to upend the auto industry.
The company is called Luvly and their latest product is something that I would certainly consider buying if it made its way to the US. Its called the Luvly O and it attempts to be a super-efficient option to transport two people across urban landscapes. That’s the more official way of introducing it, but it’s probably better to just call it what it is. It’s a really cute car that has headlights that look like eyeballs!
I suppose it’s either an appearance that you love or hate. But jokes aside, it is extremely environmentally friendly. Sure, it’s powered by electricity rather an internal combustion engine, but it goes beyond that. The company has managed to make the shipping and distribution process so efficient that it is up to 80% lower than standard electric cars. That’s pretty impressive. It’s important to remember that not all EVs are equal when it comes to their environmental footprint. Smaller vehicles are usually the better bet for the earth.
And what are the specs? It can travel up to 100 km on a single charge, weighs less than 400 kg and has a trunk space of 269 litres. Not too shabby. Even better, those batteries are able to be swapped. So no need to install expensive home charging systems, you can just pull the battery out of the vehicle and bring it inside to charge in your home or office.
What do you think? Could the Luvly O work for your lifestyle?
🛍 Grab Bag
Does the moon really need its own time zone?
As if you didn’t have enough trouble wrapping your head around all the different time zones on earth, you may need to start checking what time it is on the moon.
Yep, some organizations are saying that the time has come to give the moon its own time zone.
I suppose it makes sense. We are starting to schedule more trips to the moon and we don’t want any of them to be late in taking off.
During a meeting at the European Space Agency's ESTEC technology center in the Netherlands last year, space organizations talked about the "importance and urgency of defining a common lunar reference time."
Lunar reference time has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? As it stands now, the organizations going to the moon are still using the time zone for wherever it is they are taking off from. But at some point as you leave the earth’s atmosphere you should probably be resetting your watch right? Do our terrestrial time zones extend directly above us for all infinity? No, that seems ridiculous. At some point it makes sense to enter into a new time zone be it lunar or otherwise.
I’m not well-versed in how this topic has been handled in science fiction over the years, but it’s becoming a reality for scientists on earth. And it sounds like once we figure out a system for time on the moon, we can establish some rules for future time conundrums with other planets.
What a time to be alive, am I right?
💬 Quote of the Week
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
-Dr. Seuss
🎥 Content Recommendation
You People
With the Academy Awards scheduled for this weekend, I could have given another prestigious Oscar pick. But instead, I’m going in another direction.
Recently, my wife and I watched “You People” on Netflix.
By no means is it worthy of award consideration, but yes I’m still recommending it! The positioning of the people in the poster photo above really tell you all you need to know. A couple plan to get married but their families have “many issues” with their union.
The cast is pretty incredible. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eddie Murphy, Jonah Hill, David Duchovny. So with those actors, you’d think it’d be a better movie. The writing isn’t always on-point but it tackles the difficult topic of race relations in a way that is introspective and self-aware. There are some really funny parts and plenty of scenes that are just uncomfortable to watch.
The music and interstitial cut scenes of life in Los Angeles are really well done and enough to justify watching it. I recommend giving it a shot.
POLL
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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