Iterate Weekly - Issue 119
This week we're looking at appointments for Apple's Vision Pro, LinkedIn is promoting skills, A bamboo electric cargo bike, General Mills rebrands classic snacks, and Pixar's Elemental!
Welcome to issue 119 of Iterate Weekly!
Hope you’re all doing well. This is just a friendly reminder that you can always reply directly to these messages or leave a comment on the Substack post. Feedback is highly encouraged and I’m happy to answer any and all questions that come up.
Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖 Tech
You may need an appointment to buy Apple’s Vision Pro
I’m pretty excited for the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro AR/VR headset. I really do think it’s going to become a new platform for developers to create some amazing new experiences.
But it looks like in order to get your hands on this new technology you’re going to have to do something that no really likes to do. You’re going to have to make an appointment.
Yes, this new piece of tech will cost $3,499 at launch and you can’t just have it sent to your house. You will need to make an in-person appointment at one of Apple’s experience centers which will only be major hubs like New York and Los Angeles (San Francisco too I’d hope?) to start.
It’s not unlike the initial experience for people purchasing the first generation of Apple Watch. And it makes sense when launching a new type of product that the average consumer may have many questions about. Although, with the high price tag, I’m not sure any “average consumers” will be buying the Vision Pro when it launches.
Apple will want to ensure a very premium experience for these early adopters. And in addition to getting properly fitted for the device, there will be an app to take some photos of your head to make sure everything is properly aligned.
As cool as I think this product looks, I’m pretty nervous about all of the logistics involved. I’m sure Apple has come up with all the solutions but it will be tricky to make sure that this thing is always fitting properly on your head without becoming uncomfortable. Custom lenses and precision measurements are great in theory, but I feel like some personalization and self-adjustments would be great.
It’s bad enough that you have to make an appointment to buy the thing, but then will you also need to make routine appointments to have the headset tweaked or your lenses adjusted? That just sounds like another level of complexity that I wouldn’t want to deal with.
We shall see in a few months when the Vision Pro becomes available first in the US before spreading to select countries soon after.
🎓 Education/Productivity/Work
LinkedIn wants you to get hired because of your actual skills
LinkedIn has always helped push the trends in hiring. They’re hoping to put a greater emphasis on the skills that a candidate possesses rather than where they went to school or the companies that they’ve previously worked for.
In an extremely competitive job market, skills-based hiring could be the wave of the future.
LinkedIn is helping companies match in-demand skills with candidates who likely possess them. While it isn’t always an exact science, it’s fairly easy to distill a job description down into tangible skills. And who better to help surface and promote these skills than LinkedIn?
This shift in hiring could prove be most helpful for non college graduates or those who have less traditional paths to their current jobs. While many technical skills are easy to test for in the interview process, it can still be a challenge for employers to properly gauge competence in “soft skills” like communication and team work. Sure, many of those skills are developed in academic settings, but it’s not the only way they’re acquired.
I’ve never been a huge user of LinkedIn but have always appreciated their vision on where the workforce is going. I’m eager to see if their bet on skills-based hiring will pay off.
♻️ Health & Environment
Meet the “My Boo” bamboo electric cargo bike
If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of electric bikes. I’m also a big fan of practical cargo bikes that can haul your dog, groceries, and children. And I’m also a sucker for anything made out of bamboo.
Behold, a bamboo electric cargo bike!
I love the looks of this thing, but I have to say that the naming and branding could use a little work. It comes from a company called “My Boo” and they’re calling this the Kumasi EP6 cargo bike. Granted, some things are lost in the Dutch translation, but it’s still a mouthful of a name for a bike.
While there is some environmental benefits to using bamboo over aluminum or steel in the body of this bike, I’d say you’re mostly buying it for the aesthetics. It comes with many of the typical components you’d find on an electric cargo bike. There is a Shimano Steps drive with a 630-Wh (watt hour) battery pack. It has a ten-gear transmission and Suntour front suspension fork which is actually not super common for a front-loader bike like this.
The bike doesn’t come cheap at just under $8,800 USD but that is in the ballpark of other similarly-specced cargo bikes. I do wish they could have figured out a way to cut the weight even more as it still weighs 97 pounds. But you really can’t put a price on the look of bamboo. You’ll definitely stand out from the crowd if you’re riding this around.
🛍 Grab Bag
General Mills rebrands their classic fruit snacks
If you’re of a certain age, fruit snacks from General Mills were a staple in your lunchbox during the 90s and 2000s. Whether you preferred Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Roll-Ups, or Gushers, General Mills had you covered. I loved the original Fruit Roll-Ups myself and then appreciated Gushers later on in life. Fruit by the Foot was probably my least favorite but still serviceable in a pinch.
Anyway, in case you haven’t seen them, General Mills is rebranding the products with a funky new aesthetic that harkens back to the 90s nostalgia that 30-somethings seem to lust for.
As a fan of elaborate product rebrandings and 90s nostalgia, this was right up my alley. No, I don’t see myself eating these products anytime soon. And no, I probably won’t even let my daughter try them either. But I still really dig the new packaging!
And who knew that the products were so specifically targeted?
Fruit Roll-Ups are marketed toward middle schoolers, Fruit by the Foot to those in the thick of high school, and Gushers to “later teens.”
I encourage you to check out the full story if you’re a design nerd like me. But the most important thing to know is that the culture of the 90s is back in a big way. A stroll down the snack aisle today is starting to feel eerily reminiscent of 1993. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…
💬 Quote of the Week
"It is not more vacation we need - it is more vocation."
-Eleanor Roosevelt
🎥Content Review
Elemental
You’ll notice that I’ve updated this section header to be called “Content Review” rather than “Content Recommendation.” It seems like a fair distinction. I don’t always want to be gushing about every book, movie, or tv show I consume. Most of them are pretty good. Others are worth examining but they don’t get my full stamp of approval.
Let’s take a look at the latest Disney Pixar film Elemental.
It seemed like the perfect summer film to take my daughter to see, you really can’t go wrong with a Pixar movie right? Well, at this point, Pixar has made enough films that I’d say that Elemental probably didn’t crack the top ten for me, maybe even not the top twenty.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a Pixar movie at heart. It shares a good message of inclusion and eventually celebrates the power of diversity in our culture. But it’s a bit clunky in the journey to get there. I found the story to be a little confusing and while I can understand what they were doing when labeling the fiery citizens as “Firish” people, it felt a little forced.
I’m curious to hear what other Pixar fans thought of this one. It doesn’t really have any star power with the main characters’ voices, and the soundtrack seemed lacking. I found the animation to be a little rough around the edges and I didn’t feel the same level of “Pixar polish” that other films have had. And yet, I was surprised to see that it’s actually done well at the box office and most of the reviews seem to be more favorable than mine so what do I know? For what it’s worth, my almost 4-year-old daughter mostly liked it but it didn’t cause the same stir for her as other Pixar films (most notably “Inside Out” and “Toy Story” as her favorites!)
Anyone else seem Elemental yet?
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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