Iterate Weekly - Issue 209
This week we're looking at Meta's new smart sunglasses, Nik's Minimalist Wallet, Tesla launches its robotaxi service, Vinyl Me Please, and "Stick"!
Welcome to issue 209 of Iterate Weekly.
Let’s jump into this week’s stories shall we?
Thank you as always for reading!
🖥️ Tech
Meta’s new smart sunglasses
Smart glasses really do appeal to me. And yet, I haven’t been compelled to pull the trigger on buying a pair yet.
Maybe I just needed another form factor to pique my interest. Perhaps the latest collaboration between Meta and Oakley could work for me?
I feel like I went through my Oakley sunglasses phase at the age of maybe twelve or thirteen. Since then, my solar spectacles of choice have been much more subdued. No, I don’t think I can pull off the orange color in the picture above, but I do see the benefit of having some smarts in your gafas de sol.
These specs are similar to the model that Meta has been selling with Ray Ban with a few notable differences. Maybe most importantly, the battery life on these should leave the Ray Ban models in the dust. You’ll also be able to record video at an impressive 3K instead of 1080p.
Are they still worth the $399-$499 price depending on the model? Probably not for most people. But I could see these being super useful on all of the sunny dog walks I go on. It’s also not a bad thing to use some FSA money on if you can swing a pair of prescription sunglasses.
🎓 Productivity/Work/Software/Gear
Nik’s Minimalist Wallet
I’ll be honest. This section of the post is always the most difficult for me.
You’ve probably noticed that I sometimes get generous with my topic titles. I used to prefer covering eduction and workplace stories here but the interesting ones are feeling fewer and fewer.
I like the idea of highlighting new software that I’ve been using in this space as well. But these days I mostly have my tried and true options with only a few interlopers every few months.
So I thought, why not make this section a bit more flexible? Why not highlight some specific products or gear that I’ve really been into lately?
In that spirit, I want to take a moment to tell you about Nik’s Minimalist Wallet. It comes from the fine folks at Tom Bihn in Seattle and it’s been the only wallet for me for many years. And yes, I do feel that wallets are largely becoming obsolete. I often pay for things with my phone. My driver’s license can now be shared on a phone app. I rarely carry cash. So what good is a wallet?
Maybe thats what makes Nik’s wallet so great. It truly is tiny and minimalist. You can easily forget that it’s in your pocket. But with the little carabiner clip loop on my version, I can attach it to a belt loop or hook so it doesn’t get lost. Until we are fully putting the concept of a wallet into hibernation, Nik has made the wallet for me.
Ok, now the bad news. I just double checked and it looks like Nik isn’t making this thing anymore. But Tom Bihn has been known to take some popular products out of retirement, so I’d suggest following their direction below if you’re interested in scoring one:
We've retired the Nik's Minimalist Wallet so we can focus our efforts on other projects. You can sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page to receive updates on what we're working on next!
RIP to the best wallet out there!
♻️ Health/Environment/EVs
Tesla launches robotaxi service to mixed reviews
Tesla has been talking about launching robotaxis for years. And now, the day has finally come.
The beleaguered EV brand finally started giving autonomous rides around Austin, Texas this week. And while it’s good to finally see these things on the road, its launch hasn’t been without its hiccups.
It’s a very small launch to be sure, with only about ten cars in operation. Even with the limited numbers, there have been reports of robotaxis driving erratically. One early adopter posted a video that showed the taxi suddenly jerking its wheel to cross the double yellow line. Another report alleged to see a Tesla robotaxi exceeding the posted speed limit.
These early rides also have extra human supervision to make sure that things run smoothly. So it seems like the incidents were sorted out by a human before things could get out of hand. Which is great.
Sure, it’s easy to poke fun at these early efforts but it will take time for Tesla to find its groove in the driverless livery space. Much closer to home, I’ve gotten very used to seeing Waymos driving around San Francisco and they’ve no become a fabric of the transportation landscape in the city. Let’s see if Tesla can soon claim the same in Austin.
🛍 Grab Bag
Vinyl Me Please gets a second chance
I first wrote about Vinyl Me Please way back in a November 2021 holiday gift guide.
For those who aren’t familiar, it’s a subscription service that sends you a vinyl record each month. I had been a member for quite a few years and was overall very pleased with the experience.
But Vinyl Me Please fell on some hard times. What had been a quirky little service that really took off during a pandemic when people couldn’t leave their homes to see live music, had turned into a shell of itself. Gone were the bespoke cocktail recipe pairings and exclusive artwork that accompanied the vinyl. Personally, I found things got too confusing when too many options were offered for your monthly delivery of music. It was nice to be surprised by something in a genre I wasn’t familiar with. Instead, it started to feel like more of a faceless website to buy music. And even in a largely digital streaming music world, we didn’t need another website to buy physical records.
Fast forward to today and Vinyl Me Please has been acquired in hopes of righting the ship. The new owners come from a similar service called VINYL and they believe that they have the know-how to turn around the tarnished brand.
Most notably, that means fulfilling all of the outstanding orders that never were delivered. And they’ll need to repair a severed customer service relationship that left customers frustratingly engaged with chatbots that couldn’t adequately solve problems.
It’s an uphill climb, but the premise of the service was always sound in my opinion. It felt like a special day when you saw the square-shaped VMP box show up at your doorstep. Let’s hope that the new owners can get things back on track. If they can, I won’t hesitate to renew my subscription.
💬 Quote of the Week
"If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god."
-Napoleon Bonaparte
📺 Content Review
Stick
What is it about Owen Wilson? Maybe it’s his unique nose. Maybe it’s his dry delivery and earnest demeanor. Maybe it’s that I have to stop and pause every time I say his name to make sure that I don’t mean his brother Luke (or rarely his much less famous but arguably much better looking brother Andrew).
Whatever it is, I just really enjoy nearly everything he does. And now I need to add “Stick” to that list.
In the latest comedy series on AppleTV+, Wilson plays a former elite golfer (nicknamed “Stick” of course) who is going through some stuff. Consider it a sorta opposite Happy Gilmore premise. He was an amazing golfer who had a breakdown and has fallen on hard times.
And in an attempt to rebound, he discovers a young golf prodigy who can hit the ball incidentally as hard as the aforementioned Gillmore. Maybe I’m just really excited for this upcoming Happy Gilmore sequel but Stick is a really fun watch. Marc Maron plays a great sidekick/former caddy for Stick. It has the comedy chops with enough sentimentality to also put it in the “Ted Lasso” realm. And that’s pretty high praise.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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