Iterate Weekly - Issue 129
This week we're talking about California's right-to-repair act, college-educated workers fear they'll be obsolete, the Honda Motocampo, eBay's AI image listings, and Where Are Your Boys Tonight?
Welcome to issue 129 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
California passes Right-to-Repair act
Those of us who live in California will now join Minnesota and New York as the third state in America to pass a right-to-repair act.
What does that mean? The law will require companies to expand access to repair materials like parts, tools, documentation, and software for extended periods of time. The goal here is to empower consumers to fix their devices rather than just sending them straight to the landfill.
The onus will fall on companies to stand behind the repairable pieces of their product for three years if it costs between $50-$99.99. Products that cost $100 or more will need to be supported for seven years. And this will cover all products sold after July 1st, 2021.
The bill outlines three years for products costing $50 to $99.99 and seven years for products priced at $100 or more. The bill will cover electronics and appliances made and sold after July 1st, 2021.
This could have a major impact on tech manufacturers. For example, Apple who has historically been against right-to-repair regulations has started to change its tune. The new iPhone 15 will come equipped with the more universal (and more easily repairable or replaceable) USB-C connection rather than Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. The Titanium body of the new iPhone should also be easier to tear down and repair as well.
I’m not the most handy person when it comes to opening up my gadgets and tinkering around, but I am very much in favor of giving consumers the right to repair their own devices cheaply and easily. We can’t keep living in a world where we toss out our electronics every year to replace them with something marginally better. Let’s get the most out of our devices and repair them for as long as we can. I’m thrilled to see legislation like this in my state and have a feeling it will spread to other regions soon.
🎓 Education/Productivity/Work
College educated workers are afraid of becoming obsolete
For decades, college-educated knowledge workers seemed to be the slice of the workforce who had the least to worry about.
A recent Gallup Poll found 22% of American workers now fear AI could replace them, that number is up from just 15% in 2021. To make things even more frightening, some studies claim that up to 70% of worker hours are spent doing things that chatbots could theoretically do right now.
So this fear could have a major impact on how these workers vote and what actions they might take to impede the growth of AI. With this topic sure to be a major point on the campaign trail, it’ll be interesting to see how fear could stand in the way of innovation.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the fear. It’s fair to say that a lot of the work that I do on a daily basis could be replicated by an AI of some sort. That doesn’t mean that I’m looking over my shoulder at every turn. It seems like a natural evolution of the modern workforce where we’ll all need to adjust and find ways to co-exist with the chatbots and other new advances that are clearly on the way.
How about a poll?
♻️ Health & Environment
Is the new Honda scooter the answer to last mile travel?
I’ve found myself searching for the perfect short-distance micromobility device that can easily hitch a ride on all forms of public transportation. I’m talking about the holy grail of transit toys that can get you from point A to point B safely and efficiently but is also portable enough to bring on a train, a bus, and even the trunk of an Uber if needed. I want something faster than a regular acoustic bike, lighter and smaller than an e-bike, and safer and more comfortable than an electric kick scooter, OneWheel or skateboard. It should also look pretty cool too.
Could the Honda Motocompacto be the perfect answer?
Ok, sure, it looks like you’re riding on a folding picnic table, but there is something quirky about the aesthetic. This little beauty should be able to get you up to 15mph with its electric throttle assist. The battery range will obviously vary on a lot of factors, but I think you’re looking at about 12 miles of range in ideal conditions. It’s not super fast, and that range isn’t huge, but it could be plenty for a lot of people.
Maybe the best part is that it can easily fold up and be carried around by the handle or rolled on its wheels. I wish it were just a bit lighter, but at 40 pounds it can still be lifted up some stairs onto a bus or into an apartment. It can live in the trunk of your car to be called into action whenever you might need it. It’s dorky, it’s cool, it’s retro, it’s futuristic…all at the same time?
It’s actually a modern version of the classic Motocompo scooter that Honda sold in Japan only with purchase of one of its cars in the 80s. At a price of just under $900 USD, I actually think it’s kind of compelling. I have no doubt that we’ll a decent number of these things cruising around the Bay Area soon.
Yes, there are plenty of things to criticize here. You may hate the look or think it’s underpowered or overpriced. And you may be better off with just a standard foldable electric scooter that takes up less space on public transportation. But this seems like a more comfortable and safer option in my opinion. There also appears to be a bit of storage space inside of the folding area where you may be able to haul some light items. That’s a nice selling point that isn’t available with a standard kick scooter.
Will I get one of these things? I actually might try to give one a spin at a Honda dealer to see it for myself. That’s right, you should be able to go into a Honda dealer in the US to test ride and purchase one of these things just like you would with a car. It should be available in November of this year, and I’ll try to get my hands on one for a more in-depth review.
Anyone else willing to give the Motocompacto a shot?
🛍 Grab Bag
eBay wants to make it even easier to sell things
eBay is always looking for ways to make seeling products on their platform even easier. Now they are rolling out a new tool that can use AI to automatically generate a sales listing based on a photo.
Right now the “photo-to-listing” tool is only available in the eBay iOS app but the Android version is on its way soon. It should allow for sellers to save a ton of time when uploading new listings to the site.
All a user needs to do is snap a photo of the item to sell, and eBay’s AI engine will take it from there. It’s able to automatically remove background data from images and populate description text based on what’s already available online. It’s part of a plan by eBay to remove the so-called “cold start” required when adding a new item for sale.
I can see the benefit of something like this. Even though I’ve sold plenty of items on eBay over the years, it’s still a hassle. Even when similar items have been sold to use as a template, there are still many fields to fill out to make your listing competitive.
I’m sure there will be some hiccups with the technology as AI descriptions can always look a bit off. Personally, I love a well-written, personalized item description that gives some context to why the item is for sale and what its history has been.
Be on the lookout for any new eBay listings that might sound a bit off. But this seems like a sign of where online selling is going. Just consider it another aspect of our life where AI is here to stay.
💬 Quote of the Week
"We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away."
-Zhuangzi
📚Content Review
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?
This week I have a book recommendation for music fans out there. It’s called “Where Are Your Boys Tonight? The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008” by Chris Payne.
I’m really a sucker for any well-done oral history. It’s just a great storytelling technique that paints an accurate picture of a specific time and place. This era of music was a major part of my adolescence and young adulthood. But even as a fan of many of the bands profiled, I learned a ton about the origins and evolution of the emo/pop-punk/indie music scene.
If you’re of the age where bands like Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance were in regular rotation on your iPod, you’ll love this book.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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A folding picnic table, haha!
On the topic of AI generated content by eBay, did you notice the new AI generated video clip feature from Substack? Quite handy.