Iterate Weekly - Issue 36
This week we order autonomous delivery from 7-Eleven, plan out our January habits, take our feet to the gym, relive elementary school memories in an art museum, and battle for holiday movie supremacy!
Welcome to issue 36 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
7-Eleven Robot Deliveries
As if 7-Eleven stores were not convenient enough, now they’ll be employing robots to deliver your Slurpees and Slim Jims!
Right now it will only be happening at one particular store in Mountain View, California but the plan is for this to eventually be available in other regions. Of course, that assumes that everything goes well in this test run and no autonomous vehicles go off the proverbial rails.
Autonomous Priuses (the plural of that word always looks odd to me) will be delivering the goods but rest assured that there will be a human guide riding along in case anything goes wrong. Deliveries will be made in 30 minutes or less which is great. But customers will need to get off their couch and walk out to the car in the street to retrieve their items. There will be no friendly human to cover the last few feet to your doorstep.
I love the idea of autonomous deliveries. I’ve seen a few small contraptions delivering things around San Francisco and Berkeley over the years and the novelty has not worn off on me. It’s great to see a larger company like 7-Eleven getting into the mix. I may even have to make the drive down to Mountain View to test it out myself the next time I’m in need of a Big Gulp!
🎓Education
Caveday Habit Challenge
This story is a shout-out to a fantastic community that I am a part of. It’s called Caveday and it really is the best way to improve your productivity and eliminate distractions. I’ve been a “Cave Guide” with them for almost a year and it’s an amazing experience to lead focused work sessions with folks all around the world.
In January, they are launching a Habit Challenge. We all know that the new year is the time when everyone decides to take on new projects or develop a new habit that will help them achieve a goal. The Caveday folks are setting up a program where there will be 30-minute daily accountability sprints from January 3rd until the end of the month.
It’s a great way to keep on track if there is something you want to accomplish in the new year. I will definitely be involved with the challenge and am narrowing down a few different projects that would be a good fit.
Hope to see you there!
🩺Health & Nutrition
Stoic - A “gym for your feet”
I’ve talked about the folks at Monkii before. They make some of the most innovative and fun workout equipment that I’ve ever used. Even before the pandemic, I swore off gym memberships and opted to just run and workout outdoors using their products.
All of their items start out as Kickstarter projects. Which is good and bad right? On one hand, it lets them test things out with fewer risks since they receive the backer money up-front. It also gives the consumer a steep discount on items before they find their true retail price.
But if you’ve backed any projects (especially in the last 2 years) you know that campaigns are often delayed or overpromised and undelivered. I’ve been waiting a long time to receive their latest project and it finally came in this week. It’s called Stoic and it claims to be a “gym for your feet”
I’ve long been a fan of standing desks, and this is the perfect companion. I’m standing on it now as I type this and it feels wonderful. The surfaces are designed to mimic the feeling of walking in nature. One side feels like rounded stones in a river bed, while the other side has sticks, acorns, and the types of things you’d find on a forest floor.
It may sound odd to want to stand on these things all day, but the variety of surfaces is so much better than just standing on a hard surface or even a flat, cushioned standing mat. I’m still testing out all the different accessories and there will soon be an accompanying app update to guide your workouts for your feet.
It really is a clever product and if you’re the type who stands all day, you should absolutely give it a try!
🛍Grab Bag
Jack Shainman - “The School”
Here’s a fun fact. The school where I attended 3rd grade, is now a really incredible art museum.
If you find yourself in the town of Kinderhook, New York anytime soon, I highly recommend checking out “The School” a gallery by Jack Shainman.
The hours can be a little tricky (it currently only opens on Saturdays) but it’s the perfect weekend activity during the doldrums of winter. There are sculptures located on the front green and rear field (where the old playground used to reside). The gym has been cleverly repurposed to show a variety of different hanging installations. I can still see the window where we used to return our empty lunch trays in the cafeteria, but now it’s just part of a stark-white background wall between exhibits. Even the boys and girls bathrooms are still intact but now redone with a chic modern aesthetic.
It’s a bit surreal, but it’s much less creepy than wandering around an actual operating elementary school each time I’m looking for a trip down memory lane.
Exhibitions rotate regularly. Every time I find myself in town I stop by. The Basquiat x Warhol and Feedback projects have been two of my favorites.
💬Quote of the Week
“Remove the conflict between your desires and your duties, peace will come.” - Wasif Ali Wasif
📺Content Recommendation
Business Wars - Christmas Movie Wars
I really love Wondery’s “Business Wars” podcast. I’ve previously mentioned some of their other series but ‘tis the season to recommend another one.
Right now they are releasing episodes documenting the “Christmas Movie Wars”. Yes, this is the story of how Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix are battling to achieve dominance in the holiday movie space.
You can admit to watching a cheesy holiday movie every now and again. This is a safe space. I find the formulaic plotlines and character archetypes to be fascinating. It seems like every male lead used to work on a Christmas tree lot as a teen. Every over-achieving leading lady is racing against the clock to secure that big work promotion before the holiday party (side note - have you ever been at a company holiday party where a bunch of promotions are announced? It seems like an odd venue for it, but not in these movies!).
Wondery documents how these companies perfected these movies. Hallmark and Lifetime tend to make a huge portion of their revenue in the month of December each year. These movies may be low-budget but they bring in major profits for the channels.
Whether you’re a longtime Candace Cameron Bure fan or you’re just curious to learn how the studios scout out the perfect holiday main street locations, this podcast is a fascinating listen for the holidays.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!