Iterate Weekly - Issue 210
This week we're looking at the new "PixelSnap" charger, Fyxer.ai, ZET Mobil's e-cargo bike/car, Lucid's new brand ambassador, and "The Comfort Crisis"!
Welcome to issue 210 of Iterate Weekly!
I’m back after a bit of a mid-summer break but excited to get back into the routine of writing.
What have I been up to? Mostly being a dad and hosting some family who were visiting. On top of that, I’ve been feverishly working on some home improvements to capitalize on electrification incentives that are going away in the coming months. If you need any help choosing a heat pump or want to know about smart circuit breakers, I’m the guy to ask! I’ll likely have some more updates on this front soon.
Also, don’t be alarmed if the regular twice weekly cadence of posting remains a bit sporadic in the coming weeks. There may be some upcoming schedule changes as I look to offer some new content solely for paid subscribers.
Rest assured that there will still be plenty to read that isn’t behind the paywall, but the time is ripe for experimentation as I test out a few new content areas.
Thank you as always for reading!
🖥️ Tech
The “PixelSnap” charger is here
As an Android user, I don’t get envious of too many iPhone features.
But I’ll be damned if I haven’t always admired the ease in which my wife can magnetize her iPhone to a charger!
Yes, I’ve been able to replicate the sensation on my Pixel 9 Pro with a magnetized wireless charging case. But I don’t want to do that. I like to keep my phones mostly naked and the magsafe-style charging feature is one of the few reasons for me to reach for a case.
So I was very pleased to see the recent rumor that the new Pixel 10 line of phones will be able to wireless charge via magnet without a case.
Pixelsnap is kind of a stupid name, but I’ll take the feature anyway. The charger looks like a larger model of the charger used on the Pixel Watch 2 and 3. It’s super convenient to connect to a charger via magnets and it’s pretty sad that it took Google this long to make it happen on a Pixel device. But this should be the newer, slightly faster Qi2 charging standard. Since I’m typically using this style of charging for overnight sessions, I’m less concerned about the speed and more interested in the strength of the connection and how easily it will attach.
All of our questions should be answered when Google officially announces the new line of Pixel phones on August 20th!
🎓 Productivity/Work/Software/Gear
Fyxer.ai
This is just a quick mini-review of a piece of software I’ve been using a lot lately.
It’s called Fyxer.ai and it’s meant to simplify your emails by using…wait for it…the power of AI! And no, they aren’t paying me to talk about the product.
When you give Fyxer access to your email account, it will help organize each message into useful folders like “fyi” or “needs response”. Then it goes even further to help you draft responses to the messages. Like any AI, it gets better the more you use it.
The drafted responses still need a fair amount of editing for me to feel comfortable sending them, but they’re slowly getting there. And there is always the slight feeling of dread that an important email that needs a response may have inadvertently been filtered into the “fyi” folder.
And yes, I’d like to think I’m pretty good at crafting my own email responses, but this clearly feels like the future of email. Who knows if Fyxer will be the longterm answer? But if it isn’t them, it will be a piece of software that is very similar to this.
♻️ Health/Environment/EVs
ZET Mobil e-cargo bike/car thing
Whenever there is a new vehicle that doesn’t fit nicely into the category of “car” or “bike” you just know I have to write about it.
Sadly, this product from a German company will probably never find its way to the states. It’s called the Zet and they offer several models that I think would be perfect micromobility solutions no matter where you live
They are technically considered electric cargo bikes but come with many features more associated with proper automobiles. The family model shown above seems particularly useful for…families. Your kids can have their own dedicated backseat cargo compartment protected from the elements. It basically looks like a tiny car that you pedal.
Sure, the legality in the US would get super funky with one of these. While it would technically be considered an e-bike, it would make lots of people on bike paths angry. And this European model would have trouble cracking 15mph so it would probably feel unsafe on all but the slowest roadways.
I want this form factor to be the way that many American urban/suburban families get around! Maybe if an established e-bike company in the US (Tern, Specialized, Trek?) could put together something like this that could at least go 20mph it would take off?
🛍 Grab Bag
Timothée Chalamet is Lucid’s new brand ambassador
I’ve been closely following the journey of Lucid as an up-and-coming EV brand in America.
Before settling on a BMW iX, I was very intrigued by their Gravity SUV. Sadly, the timing didn’t work out and the deals on the iX were too good to pass up.
But would you be more likely to buy one of their vehicles if Timothée Chalamet was their pitchman? Because that is what’s happening!
It did seem like an odd fit to me at first. Technically, he is only a global brand ambassador. So I guess that could be very much a made up title. Will we see TV commercials with Timmy behind a Lucid Air or Lucid Gravity? I guess it’s possible. He does seem pretty comfortable with it in the photos above.
I think Lucid has a solid chance to become a mainstream brand in the US. They certainly need to ramp up production and ideally find some lower price points for the new versions in the coming years. But if they can latch onto any celebrity right now Chalamet isn’t a bad bet!
💬 Quote of the Week
"Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children."
-Sam Levenson
📕 Content Review
The Comfort Crisis
Recently, I finished reading the book “The Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter.
There were a few times in the early going where I considered stopping, but I’m glad I stuck with this one.
Easter goes on a hunting trip to Alaska and learns the benefits of getting uncomfortable in all sense of the word. I wasn’t all that interested in the hunting trip, but the interviews and deep dives peppered in around the trip made the story well worth it.
The chapter on getting comfortable with death was probably the most valuable and spoke volumes about the way Americans look at death versus other countries.
This book doesn’t make me want to go hunting in Alaska but it did reinforce the value of getting into nature as much as I possibly can on a daily basis.
If you’re feeling too comfortable in your life right now, it’s a great read.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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