Iterate Weekly - Issue 143
This week we're enjoying the holiday break and re-examining some of my favorite stories of the year!
Welcome to issue 143 of Iterate Weekly.
Happy holidays! We’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to highlight some of my favorite stories from 2023.
Hope you’re all taking the proper time to recharge your batteries at the end of a busy year.
Thank you as always for reading!
🤖 Tech
Billionaires want to make the utopian city of the future (Issue 127 - September 5, 2023)
This story hits close to home and has been causing a lot of controversy recently.
A group of billionaires are looking to build a new city in a quiet corner of Northern California.
The lists of tech power players involved with this project is pretty impressive. It’s lead by former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek and also includes investments from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a16z’s Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon, and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs (wife of the late Steve Jobs).
Pushback on the development efforts are mostly coming from concerned citizens who are worried about what will happen to their relatively tranquil life in Solano County. Being about 60 miles north east of San Francisco, the county is typically considered the outer fringe of the Bay Area on the way to Sacramento. Could this become another viable location for those who have had enough of life in SF?
The group known as Flannery Associates has already bough up 52,000 acres of land for over $800 million. While most of the land is currently zoned as agriculture, the plan seems to be for a mixed use densely populated are in the future. It’s another shot to develop with a clean slate in a way to minimize some of the problems that already exist in other municipalities in the region.
It’s easy to tell the billionaires to just leave well enough alone but I’m pretty intrigued by this concept. No, it’s not great if farmers are getting displaced but there could be a lot of benefits to a new well-thought out community in a part of California that often gets forgotten. When it’s all laid out as they describe, it sounds pretty good doesn’t it?
“…a new city with tens of thousands of new homes, a large solar energy farm, orchards with over a million new trees, and over ten thousand acres of new parks and open space”
🎓 Education/Productivity/Work
Calculating the cost of worthless meetings (Issue 121 - July 25, 2023)
We’ve all found ourselves in pointless meetings from time to time. You know the ones that have no clear agenda or just don’t need so many people in attendance?
Well, Shopify has run some calculations to figure out exactly how much money is being spent on these waste of time gatherings of otherwise perfectly-capable minds.
In simplest terms, a 30-minute unproductive meeting costs about $1,600.
Shopify is surfacing this information in Google Calendar invites so you know roughly how much of the companies money is being eaten up in that quick brainstorm session or product demo. You’ll see an estimated based on the average salaries of those who are invited to the meeting and the tally will go up as you add more attendees.
It’s a brilliant way to steer people away from unnecessary meetings and I hope other companies follow suit. It seems like an easy enough calculation for other companies to set up within their own calendar invites.
While we’re at it, why don’t we start to calculate how much money is spent reading/replying to pointless emails. Please be mindful of the CC people!
♻️ Health/Environment/Electric Vehicles
Upway sells legit used e-bikes (Issue 103 - March 21, 2023)
Electric bike stories are getting a lot of play on these pages lately. Yes, I’m pretty high on people getting around on two electrified wheels but it’s true that e-bike prices can be pretty shocking.
That’s why I was pleased to see second-hand e-bike retailer Upway launch their business in the US recently.
Upway is based in France and has been selling refurbished electric bikes in Europe for several years. But the move to the US could really help get more people on the road atop much safer electric bikes.
Sure, you can still find a decent selection of e-bikes on Craigslist, eBay, and even local Facebook groups. But how much can you trust these purchases? Upway certifies all of their bikes after being inspected and repaired by their team of licensed mechanics. There are no worries about exploding batteries or faulty breaks. All of their bikes even arrive fully assembled! This is a big perk for those who are less “mechanically inclined” and don’t want to assemble their own bikes as is required with many discount direct-to-consumer brands.
Of course, we are talking about e-bikes here so you won’t see a whole lot of options below $1,000 USD. But if you’re looking for reputable brands that come with valid warranties at a discount (I’ve seen between 13-50% off MSRP) Upway is now a legitimate option for American cyclists. Note that you still will pay a $200 standard shipping fee for most bikes, but that is on par with other retailers.
If you’re looking for an (almost) new e-bike, Upway could be the spot!
🛍 Grab Bag
January is a great time to try Caveday (Issue 94 - January 17,2023)
You’ve heard me talk about Caveday before. If the name still sounds new to you, it’s a service that runs hyper-focused deep work sprints via Zoom.
I personally lead at least two of these sessions each week myself. And I really can’t recommend a better way to improve your productivity. In the caves (the term we use for each 1 or 3-hour work sprint) I’ve been leading recently, I’ve seen tons of first time Cavedwellers. And for good reason.
We know this is the time of year of new years resolutions and ambitious tasks that benefit from deep concentration. Plus, Caveday is always offering some great intro deals for you to try things out before committing to a monthly subsription.
Be sure to check it out if you’re looking for a way to get more work done with fewer distractions this year. I’d be happy to give anyone more info if you’d like and I hope to see you in one of my caves soon!
Anyone out there already using Caveday?
💬 Quote of the Week
"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
-Buddha
📚Content Review
Curbing Traffic (Issue 126 - August 29,2023)
A few weeks back I wrote about how much I enjoyed reading “Building the Cycling City” by Melissa and Chris Bruntlett.
Today, I’m suggesting you check out their second book called “Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in our Lives”
The book follows their journey as Canadian ex-pats living in The Netherlands as cycling supporters. But this book breaks down several different ways that cities can improve when a majority of the transportation takes place on foot or 2-wheels rather than 4-wheels.
Here’s one great example. Yes, we know that cars help contribute to poor air quality in cities, but they have a great chapter breaking down how cars have had an impact on noise pollution in cities as well. We’ve come to accept that cities are just noisy places, but they don’t really need to be. A majority of that noise comes from cars. Whether it’s the engines or the honking horns or the wheels interacting with the pavement. Another important note is the sound made my tires rolling on pavement. It’s louder than you may realize and the sound won’t be any quieter with an electric car.
If you have dreams of living in a perfect urban utopia where car traffic is limited and people of all ages are able to safely get around in more sustainable ways, this book is certainly for you.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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Congratulations on a great year of writing!