Iterate Weekly - Issue 184
This week we're talking about Zoom meeting deep fakes, building an AI toolkit, solar powered truck beds, smart bike helmets and "60 Songs That Explain the 90s: The 2000s!"
Welcome to issue 184 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.
Thank you as always for reading!
Send your own deep fake to a Zoom meeting
Maybe the days of being physically present for a meeting are long gone. But what if you didn’t even have to be virtually present for a meeting anymore?
Just set up an AI avatar in Zoom and let them attend meetings for you!
It might sound crazy, but it’s possible. You’ll soon be able to send a personal avatar to a meeting in your place and they can give a recorded message as to why you’re not attending or just nod along like you’d be doing anyway.
Sure, it could come off as lazy or impersonal but just think of all the meetings you’ve attended where you’ve either said nothing at all or some version of the same canned response you give every week. Why not just send an avatar in your place and do something better with your time? Hell, would your colleagues even notice?
Yes, this is a slippery slope where you may not know who is actually attending your meetings in the future. But I’m actually excited to see if this technology takes off. We’ve already figured out how to do so much work asynchronously and sending AI avatars to real-time meetings might be the last way to unlock more autonomy in your work schedule.
🎓 Education/Productivity/Work
Building an AI Toolkit
Keeping with the theme of technology in the workplace, I loved Jeremy Caplan’s recent post about his AI Toolkit on the amazing
publication. If you’re not already reading his work, you absolutely should be.
Jeremy has a conversation with Nikita Roy of
about some the best ways to use AI to enhance your productivity.If you’re like me and are constantly looking for new, more efficient ways to integrate AI into your workflows without driving yourself crazy, go take a listen to their conversation.
♻️ Health/Environment/EVs
Solar powered bed covers for EV trucks
If you’re going to be driving an electric vehicle, you should be able to generate power via solar panels.
It may seem obvious, but it’s actually a really difficult task to pull off. While most cars and trucks spend plenty of time in direct sunlight, it can be tough to capture enough rays to make a difference. And let’s face it, solar panels can be kinda ugly when they’re just plopped onto a roof of a car.
So how about making a solar panel cover for the bed of an electric pickup truck?
It sounds like a fantastic idea to me, and the Rivian R1T pictured above actually looks pretty good with its solar paneled tonneau cover. The question is how much juice can you actually generate with something like this? No, you probably can’t forgo other charging methods entirely with a vehicle like the R1T but the company behind the product Worksport, claim they can generate up to 650 watts. Not too shabby!
The cover is also foldable so it can easily be stored when you’re hauling gear back there. This is the ultimate solution to power a campsite or worksite. And for anyone who likes to go far off the grid on their adventures, it seems like a no-brainer purchase.
🛍 Grab Bag
Smart bike helmets
Bike helmets. They’re pretty necessary (at least in the US) but not all that fun.
They can be heavy, uncomfortable, ugly, or all three. So when the MIPS system in my helmet recently broke and I was in need of a replacement, I wasn’t sure where to look.
Should I just get a simple replacement or should I really shell out some cash for one of these so-called new “smart helmets”? You know I’m a sucker for any piece of equipment that gets “smart” thrown in front of it, so of course I ordered a Lumos Ultra e-bike helmet.
I’m still waiting for the little beauty to arrive so I don’t have a full review quite yet. But I felt it was worth investing in a helmet that has been rated for higher-speed e-bike accidents as well as one with integrated lights. The Lumos system lets you customized the helmet lights via an app where you can also connect turn signals and brake lights. It’s a pretty comprehensive system to make you as visible as possible when riding around.
Also worth noting that I went with the white model of helmet. While it may not look as slick as some of the other colors, (a very subjective statement I know) a quick bit of research confirmed my suspicion that white tends to the most visible helmet color on the road.
Anything to make me more visible to cars on the road is a win in my book. Sure, the Lumos lids are way more pricey than a basic helmet. And no matter how much you spend a helmet, it becomes worthless after one fall. But despite these things, it seems like a wise investment for someone who spends as much time on an e-bike as I do.
I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on this one after I’ve tested it out for a few weeks.
💬 Quote of the Week
"A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them."
-Ninon de L'Enclos
🎧Content Review
60 Songs That Explain the 90s: The 2000s
Way way back in Iterate Weekly Issue 10 I first talked about how much I loved the “60 Songs That Explain the 90s” podcast with Rob Harvilla.
Now over three years later I come to you recommending the continuation/sequel podcast. It has an extremely catchy title.
“60 Songs That Explain the 90s: The 2000s”
Yep, after blowing past the initial 60 songs, music journalist Rob Harvilla is extending this project again. How could he not? These episodes are so entertaining.
If you haven’t already figured it out, he’s applying the same principles to a new group of songs but these ones are coming from…the 2000s (don’t call them the aughts).
The first episode that looks at The Killers and the “return of rock” in the early 2000s really brought me back in time. It’s informative, it’s nostalgic, it’s funny. It’s absolutely worth listening to.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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