Iterate Weekly - Issue 61
This week we're lounging with Poolsuite, capturing our thoughts with mymind, Gucci launches a fancy Oura Ring, eBay opens a physical shoe store, and the true story of a Nowhere Girl!
Welcome to issue 61 of Iterate Weekly!
Just a reminder that you can always reply to this email or leave a comment on the web version. I 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
Relive 1997 Tech with Poolsuite
We’re just returning from a holiday weekend in The United States and it’s also the unofficial start of summer. Why not ditch the serious tech news for a week in favor of something a little more fun?
Poolsuite is the perfect way to inject some summer fun and retro technology into your daily workflow. If you never had the pleasure of working on a desktop computer in 1997, this may be the next best thing!
What is it you may ask? Well that’s up for interpretation. They like to tongue-in-cheekily refer to themselves as a “leisure enhancer”. For our purposes, I think of it as a fun tab to have open while working.
Play some relaxing retro techno music as background sound in the Poolsuite FM player. Watch some retro video clips on Poolsuite TV. You can even order some physical merchandise to show off your love of all things retro leisure.
I admire the creativity and it’s a fun way to take a break during our summer work sessions.
🎓 Education/Productivity
mymind Brings Your Mind Online (without selling your data)
I’ve previously mentioned how much I admire the work that Ness Labs does. Recently, they interviewed the creator of productivity tool mymind.
mymind aims to be the place for you to store everything that you can’t remember in your physical brain. Think if it as a note-taking app, a database for photos, thoughts, ideas and inspiration. While this may not sound all that revolutionary, the selling point of mymind is that there literally is no selling point. Meaning, they don’t sell your data, serve you ads, or track any of the information that you store on their platform.
It isn’t designed to be a social network, or a habit-forming app that feeds off your lust for dopamine. It truly is meant to be a private extension of your brain. There are no folders or collections of information for you to worry about up-keeping. It will allow you to search and make associations naturally and unexpectedly just as your brain does.
I’m just starting to test out the product myself and hope to have a more thorough writeup soon. But if you’re searching for a new solution to organize your digital thoughts without worrying about being tracked or manipulated, mymind could be the perfect solution.
Note that there is no free version. They don’t sell your data or serve ads to make money, so all revenue comes from subscriptions. While it may be tough to open up your wallet, it’s actually refreshing for a tech platform to be so transparent about how they generate revenue.
What are you currently using to keep track of all your online notes? Does mymind look appealing?
♻️ Health & Environment
Oura Partners with Gucci
I have long been a fan of the Oura Ring. One of these smart tracking devices has been on my hand for the past two years. I find it to be the least intrusive and most accurate sleep tracker I’ve ever used (and I’ve tried a bunch of them).
But for the most part, the styles on these rings has been pretty subdued. There was black and silver options. Then they threw in a matte black “stealth” option and a gold version. Now, Oura is partnering with Gucci to offer something a bit more flashy.
The new ring is essentially the black version adorned with some gold stripes and Gucci logos. It also appears to be a perfectly round shape instead of the squared off or pointy top styles that Oura has used in the past. I’ll just say that the style is certainly not for me, but if it gets a more fashion-focused consumer to get into wearable tech, then I’m all for it.
Looks aside, this ring boasts a price tag ($950) that nearly triples the cost of the standard Oura ring. At that price, you need to be a pretty serious Gucci fan to choose it over a standard black or gold version. The relatively new Oura membership fee is baked into the cost of the ring, so that’s a plus.
Anyone who was on the fence about getting an Oura Ring now clicking “buy” after seeing the Gucci model?
🛍 Grab Bag
eBay Opens a Physical Sneaker Shop
eBay is known for being one of the world’s largest digital retailers. So why are they opening up a brick & mortar sneaker shop in Los Angeles?
Yeah, it may sound odd. Currently, you can buy any kind of shoes on eBay and have them shipped virtually anywhere. Why would you want to actually drag yourself down to the actual store to buy them in-person?
They’re calling the store “Wear ‘Em Out” and the hope is that sneaker heads will actually wear their prize purchases out of the store rather than keeping them boxed up and in their closets. In fact, if they do opt to wear them out, they’ll get an additional discount on their purchase.
Why would eBay get into something like this? Well there is the obvious marketing buzz behind it. Hell, it worked, I’m writing about it. But there is also something psychological going on here. Apparently most sneaker heads only wear about half of their sneakers, the remainder just stay boxed up until a possible future re-sale.
It behooves eBay to encourage more people to buy and wear their sneakers in hopes that they will continue to buy more of them after they’re worn out.
But hey, I’m not going to question the marketing tactics here. Let’s just look at the positive side and relive that magical feeling of walking out of a shop wearing a fly new pair of kicks!
When was the last time you walked into a shoe store, bought a pair and wore them out? I have to admit that it has been a long time for me.
💬 Quote of the Week
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
- Albert Einstein
📕Content Recommendation
Nowhere Girl
This week brings a book recommendation that came to my attention from a college alumni book club I belong to. We’re reading “Nowhere Girl - A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood” by Cheryl Diamond.
It’s a real-life story about a girl who grew up not knowing the truth about her secretive family. It was a childhood with frequent global moves on short notice. There was strict physical and psychological abuse that was well-intentioned yet still detrimental.
The book title stems from the idea of trying to figure out where you’re from if you’re born to parents who have forged passports and no known origin. Sadly, most governments of the world don’t think you’re real if there are no records of your parents existing.
The story is almost too spectacular to be real. It made me think of the family as a cross between Pixar’s The Incredibles and Natasha Romanov’s upbringing in Marvel’s Black Widow. Cheryl Diamond feels like a superhero, a secret agent, an Olympic athlete, and just an average girl in search of a home.
It’s definitely worth adding to your summer reading list.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!