Iterate Weekly - Issue 27
Amazon's robot is a total mess, Multiverse is here to bring back the apprenticeship, take more useful photos of your food, learn about new newsletters with The Sample, and get Bandsplained!
Welcome to issue 27 of Iterate Weekly!
Just a reminder that you can always reply to this email or leave a comment on the web version. I do read all of them and I appreciate the feedback, questions, and insights from all of you.
Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖Tech
Amazon’s Astro robot is a total mess
Amazon recently announced their new robot that’s designed to be the perfect automated companion for the busy modern household. It’ll sell for $999 (at launch, but then there will be a price bump to $1500) and hopes to be the first of many “home robots” that should become commonplace in the next decade. Let’s just say that poor Astro hasn’t been too warmly received.
Take a look at this thing. Is it the robot of your futuristic dreams or nightmares? It’s essentially just a Fire Tablet on wheels. The screen can display two evenly spaced apart circles that (poorly) attempt to give it a personality. It does have a camera that could be useful for video calls if you’re only 3 feet tall. The only somewhat interesting application in my mind is the ability to put things (a water bottle or small snack) on it and direct it to deliver them to members of your household. I have visions of a futuristic breakfast in bed with the help of my robotic Mrs. Doubtfire!
The intent is for it to be a roaming smart display that can always be there when you need it. Except for the fact that it can’t go up or down stairs or even navigate subtle gaps or changes in the height of the floor. Assuming you live in a small, perfectly flat, single-level dwelling, it could work for you! The claim that this could be a pseudo-babysitter for kids or elderly folks is just absurd.
But there are more disturbing reports out there that suggest this may be more than just a poorly designed product. Engineers who worked on the robot don’t seem to be very proud of their efforts. There have been reports of it voluntarily rolling down flights of stairs and struggling with basic navigation (the wheels seem cheaper and clunkier than any robot vacuums.)
The biggest concern is security. You’re essentially allowing a surveillance tracking robot into your house to let Amazon watch you 24 hours a day. I’m definitely not a surveillance conspiracy theory type. I love my smart devices and don’t typically worry about being listened to or watched. But this robot just feels different.
Would you let Astro (or its future automated brethren) into your home?
🎓Education
The Modern apprenticeship
Apprenticeship used to be an important part of the career of many. We’re not just talking blacksmiths here. Lots of professions encouraged or mandated some sort of apprenticeship or fellowship before letting people take over the reins of their own businesses.
In the last fifty years that has mostly died out. The career path has been to either go off to college or just set off on your own vocational path with little guidance. Apprenticeship was the bridge between the two worlds, and a company called Multiverse is looking to bring it back.
Multiverse recently announced a $130 million Series C round of funding to help rekindle the demand for apprenticeships around the US and UK. And again, we’re not just talking about traditional trades, there are a variety of professional industries that are working with Multiverse to fill roles. The apprentice is able to learn on the job while still earning a living wage.
And by no means is this limited to young people. Employees of all ages can benefit from the training and it’s the perfect solution for a career pivot. Kudos to Multiverse and let's hope we hear more stories about companies like this who offer alternatives to traditional career paths.
🩺Health
More effective food tracking
I’ve written about a lot of my quirky quantified-self traits. I’ve tracked my fasting hours with Zero. I regularly track my hydration using Hidrate. The Oura ring lets me know how I’m sleeping. Strava tracks my physical activity.
But I’ve never felt there was a good solution for proper food tracking. Gyroscope’s Food XRAY is looking to change that.
Gyroscope is a fascinating company that I’ve been following closely for a few years. They started as a dashboard for keeping track of all the data you’re receiving from your quantified self smart devices. But they’ve evolved to give you a more holistic picture of your health while employing coaching and trainer services to help people hit their goals.
Their latest Food XRAY service is looking to close that crucial gap of how to easily enter your food into your digital dashboards. The old way had us estimating portion sizes and calories or actually measuring every grain of food we put in our mouths. It’s just not practical. But XRAY allows you to just snap a photo of your plate, and Gyroscope will do the rest.
They literally have nutritionists manually looking at the photos to submit the nutrient values. While I’m sure there are bound to be some errors, they are accumulating a great database of food to help increase accuracy over time. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but am eager to give it a shot.
People are taking photos of their food anyway right? Why not get an accurate breakdown of the nutrients before you post it to social media?
🛍Grab Bag
Need more newsletters?
If you’re looking for other amazing newsletters like this to keep you informed and entertained each week, I highly recommend checking out “The Sample”.
I want to give a shout-out to Jacob who keeps the service going. All you do is answer a few questions about topics you’re interested in, and then they forward you new newsletters to check out. If you’re not into them you can just delete them. If you are into them, you can subscribe and keep receiving them.
It’s a really novel concept that is totally free. I’ve discovered some great new content through the service, and I highly recommend checking it out.
💬Quote of the Week
“We can’t create more time, but we can do less, delegate, or ask for help.” - Nedra Glover Tawwab
🎵Content Recommendation
Bandsplain Podcast
It took me a while to start using Spotify. If you want to know the details, I explained my streaming music journey here.
But Spotify does an amazing job of combining spoken word (podcasts) and music (full songs). Take for example the podcast Bandsplain. Note that it is exclusive to Spotify which can be a pain in the butt to hyperlink if you don’t have Spotify installed on your device.
Each Thursday, the podcast goes really deep (sometimes 2-3 hours) into a musical act with a cult following. They have the ability to play full songs from the discography rather than just quick snippets which is really nice.
The Green Day and Wilco episodes got me hooked. I haven’t found a better way to learn about, listen to, and love a new band or old favorite.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!