Iterate Weekly - Issue 193

This week we're talking about Gemini 2.0, a decline in high school graduates, Rivian's charging outposts, Amazon's online car dealership, and "Walkable City"!

Welcome to issue 193 of Iterate Weekly.

Let’s jump into this week’s stories shall we?

Thank you as always for reading!

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🖥️ Tech

Google unveils Gemini 2.0

Image courtesy of Google

Google has just announced that Gemini 2.0 will be the new software behind its AI push.

I’ve used Gemini quite a bit since it launched. And it’s been a pleasant experience for the most part. The only major hiccups I’ve encountered are when trying to do some multimodal requests. It can be incredibly frustrating when Gemini is able to perfectly describe an image to you but it can’t send the image to a shared drive or your email inbox.

That should change with Gemini 2.0. There will be native image and audio generation along with plenty of other new features. Of course, I can’t really speak too much until I start testing things out for myself. Gemini 2.0 is rolling out to developers now and should slowly start making its way into all the versions of Gemini currently powered by the previous iteration.

Everything sounds great on a press release, but I’m hoping that this quote from Google CEO Sundar Pichai holds true.

“If Gemini 1.0 was about organizing and understanding information, Gemini 2.0 is about making it much more useful”

-Sundar Pichai

Well said, Sundar. Now let’s see if Google can actually deliver on this promise.

Anyone else using Gemini on a regular basis?

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🎓 Education/Productivity/Work

The number of high school graduates is on the decline

Image courtesy of C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP

Believe it or not, it looks like the rate of high school graduation will soon be on the decline in the United States.

It seems counterintuitive with many people taking a high school diploma for granted these days. But it’s a complex issue in our country.

The easiest explanation has to do with general birth rates going down. Fewer children have been born in the last twenty years, so there should naturally be fewer kids graduating from high school. That’s only part of the story though.

Students are taking alternative routes to adulthood and the workforce that may not be aligned with traditional high school. And graduation rates would need to be near 100% in order to keep up with the declining birth rate. The likely percentage of students to graduate should hover in the 80-85% range in the next few years.

The issue isn’t necessarily about graduating. It’s about being prepared for what lies beyond graduation. And with many sectors of the job market currently underserved, that will likely only increase in the near future.

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♻️ Health/Environment/EVs

Rivian’s charging outposts are amazing

Image courtesy of Rivian

I don’t own a Rivian vehicle but I love the way they are reimagining the EV-charging experience.

A few months back, they announced that they would be opening up a series of “Charging Outposts” in areas where you may not typically find many EV charging stations.

The first location popped up just outside of Yosemite and another just opened near Joshua Tree. While the unique locations are part of the story, I’m more intrigued by the vision for what a charging station should be.

It’s not quite a gas station but it also shouldn’t just be a barren parking lot with charging cables strewn about. Rivian is making these outposts a place where a family would love to hang out for 15-30 minutes (or more) while getting a quick charge. They’re offering clean bathrooms, some complimentary drinks and unique food for sale.

They’re also trying to incorporate some of the local culture by way of books and toys for kids. They even cater to drivers who have pets who need some exercise after a long drive. I suppose all of these same things could be offered by traditional gas stations, but we all know that just isn’t the case. Most stations look exactly like the previous one with sad decor, dirty toilets, and unhealthy food options.

I’m going to guess that these outposts become a major success for Rivian and we start to see other EV brands develop similar concepts.

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🛍 Grab Bag

Amazon’s online car dealership

Image courtesy of Amazon

Yes, you can finally buy a car on Amazon now!

Specifically, Amazon has launched their online partnership with Hyundai so you can browse and purchase your new vehicle from the comfort of your home.

As someone who had been car shopping recently, anything to make the process easier is welcomed. Right now you can only buy a Hyundai but it makes perfect sense for more brands to come on board soon.

Technically, you are still buying a car from a Hyundai dealer, Amazon is just the intermediary. So that isn’t all that revolutionary, but it’s still a step in the right direction. I’d be curious to check in next year to see what kind of sales numbers are flowing through Amazon Auto. Apparently they are offering some nice incentives via multi-thousand dollar Amazon gift cards for those who make a purchase. That’s something that traditional dealerships can’t really compete with.

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💬 Quote of the Week

"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific."

-Lily Tomlin

📕Content Review

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

Image courtesy of MacMillan Publishers

I’ve recently been reading “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time” by Jeff Speck.

Technically, I’m reading the ten year anniversary addition that has a new forward and some updated chapters that bring the pandemic, remote work, and some new wrinkles to the quest for ideal urbanism.

The main point here is that living in a place where you can easily walk or cycle to a majority of your destinations is wonderful. It undeniably is something that greatly contributes to someone’s quality of life.

Speck does a great job highlighting the obstacles that are in the way of making more cities walkable while also praising some of the “old cities” of the US who were built around walkability and public transportation before the invention of the automobile.

The sad reality is that outside of New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and a few other spots, much of the country just isn’t walkable. But this book really proposes some great ideas and should be required reading for anyone who considers themself an amateur urbanist (that includes me!).

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Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!

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