Iterate Weekly - Issue 91

This week we look back at my favorite stories of 2022

Welcome to issue 91 of Iterate Weekly!

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

It’s nearly the end of the year, and I thought it would be fun to look back at some of my personal favorite stories of the past year. I’ll pick one favorite from each category and give a quick explanation of why it resonated with me.

I hope you’re all using the last week of the year to reflect and recharge. Here’s to a new year filled with excitement and growth. We’ll be back to regular programming next week.

Let’s jump into this week’s stories.

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🤖 Tech

Was the Metaverse as big of a topic as we thought it’d be this year? Probably not. While the buzz has definitely died down about the Metaverse, I still think the idea of paying for virtual land is fascinating. Will 2023 bring us closer to a world where we pay mortgages in the Metaverse? Are there other expensive digital things we’ll be buying that we haven’t considered yet?

Metaverse Mortgages - Issue 45 - February 8th, 2022

Photo courtesy of Decentraland

By this point, we all know that the Metaverse is the next big thing right? It will be the digital world that we all live in for better or worse? You’ll be a nobody if you don’t have a presence there? Have you considered where you’re going to live in this futuristic new world? Are you saving up for your Metaverse mortgage?

Back in November, a piece of digital land in the virtual world of Decentraland sold for $2.43 Million. That more than doubled the previous high-water mark for digital real estate. And I do not doubt that the current record will come crashing down soon after this writing. Let that sink in for a second. Think about the physical land that could be purchased for that same amount. Hell, you can even get a house already built on that land for that price if you’d like!

I’m not trying to be the grumpy old man who questions the validity of digital purchases in the Metaverse. After all, the piece of property in question is located in “the heart of the fashion street district,” so it has that going for it. In all seriousness, the location could prove highly lucrative for its owner, The Metaverse Group, who is looking to get into the world of digital fashion. Could they end up selling the virtual land for a profit in the future? Certainly.

As someone who just purchased a physical home in “the real world,” it’s hard to wrap my head around the process happening in the Metaverse. Will we have virtual real estate agents? Will we be in bidding wars with other people from all around the world (and I thought the housing market was competitive in the Bay Area)?

I feel like this may be more of a quandary for my daughter’s generation to worry about, but the future is coming very quickly. Do you see digital real estate purchases in your future? Is our society (banks, tax regulations, insurance) ready for them?

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🎓 Education/Productivity

I think we’ve seen a major shift in the concept of higher education this year. Due to economic issues and general displeasure with the college and university system, many high school graduates are looking at alternative options. All of the ongoing student loan payback debates in the US made this topic even more of a hot-button issue. This article really put this topic into perspective for me. I’m curious to see what new generational educational differences will develop in the future.

Gen-Z Doesn’t Care About College - Issue 64 - June 21, 2022

[Photo: Thirdman/Pexels]

It may not come as much of a surprise, but new research is proving that young adults considered to be in “Gen Z” are putting less of an importance on obtaining a 4-year college degree.

As of January 2022, only 51% of Gen Z teens are interested in pursuing a four-year degree, down from 71 percent in May 2020, according to a recent study by ECMC Group. And over two years, there was a 6.6% decline in total undergraduate enrollment between fall 2019 and fall 2021.

You could say that the pandemic has maybe tainted the experience of living crammed into communal dorm rooms for four years with exorbitant room & board costs. And this generation has seen their parents and older siblings deal with the ongoing burden of student loan debt. It’s a real problem that can get in the way of other financial goals.

Plus, Gen Z is considered the first age group to have grown up with the iPhone and almost instant access to information, including non-traditional education. Companies like Coursera, Khan Academy, and (to a lesser extent) my old company CreativeLive are giving students access to free or low-priced education that previous generations could only dream about.

It’ll be interesting to see how traditional 4-year institutions change and adapt to this new preference. I’m sure many will fail miserably to connect with this new generation, but the truly great schools will find their niche and do everything they can to remain desirable.

Anyone personally seen this shift in education firsthand?

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♻️ Health & Environment

This is a special 2-for-1 look back. 2022 was really the year that I became enthralled by the idea of micro-mobility. I’ve always loved interesting means of transportation, but this year I really gave a name to it. What really sent me down this rabbit hole was learning about the Aptera from a neighbor. It’s a solar-powered EV that certainly looks like it’s from the future. And then there is the fully-enclosed PEBL e-bike that looks more like something from the past. Maybe a combination of these two products is the Nimbus, a product that I’ve actually put down a deposit to buy. Whichever flavor of futuristic transport floats your boat, there is no doubt that this will be a huge movement in the coming year.

The Aptera EV & PEBL e-bike - Issue 71 - August 9, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Aptera Motors

This week I had a conversation with an excited neighbor about a new “car” he was looking to buy. It’s from a company called Aptera and it’s unlike any other vehicle I’ve ever seen.

The neighbor mentioned putting down a deposit for a new car that doesn’t really have a name yet. I guess they refer to it as the Aptera Vehicle on their website. But he touted it as the perfect mode of transportation. It’s an electric car that has solar panels that will easily charge up daily in his driveway in our mostly sunny Northern California climate. The panels alone can generate up to 40 miles of driving juice each day. You can do the math yourself, but depending on your daily mileage, you may never even need to plug this car in.

Naturally, I was intrigued. With the base model starting at $25,900, it’s actually far less than most electric vehicles. Of course, you’re betting on a new company based out of San Diego that hasn’t actually released any product before, so it’s natural to be skeptical.

And yes, you have a keen eye if you noticed only three wheels on the Aptera in the photo above. Can it still be considered a car? Well this is where things get confusing, but it’s officially classified as a motor cycle in the United States. And you would need to wear a helmet when riding it, but it has an enclosed cabin so you can ditch the helmet. There are 2 standard seats in the cockpit with plenty of cargo room in the back. And technically you can keep your dog in the back if you have the pet cargo net accessory. Oh, no you can never transport a child in the Aptera since it doesn’t have the proper safety requirements for car seats.

Hmm, so it’s not perfect but it’s still super exciting to see a vehicle like this come to market. A few months back, I’m pretty sure I saw one of the test models cruise past while I was walking my dog and I was really confused if it was legal or not. You can join my neighbor and plunk down as little as $100 to get yourself on the list to snag an actual product hopefully later this year or next. I’ll give them some time to work out the kinks and hopefully we can revisit this story in 2024.

Would you buy a 3-wheeled EV car/motorcycle hybrid like this?

PEBL - A micro-car e-bike

Photo Courtesy of Pebl

Of course I went down a bit of an alternative transportation rabbit hole after learning about the Aptera. If that is the future of transportation, are there other examples that don’t fit cleanly into the category of car or bike?

The Velomobile is an old concept that seems to be coming back to life. It’s not quite a car, but it’s more than just a bike. And I think the best example today comes from a company out of Massachusetts called Better Bike. Their line of PEBL e-bikes may look a little goofy, but I see them having a real niche in our complicated transportation market.

It’s a fully enclosed bike that lets you carry groceries, your kids, your pets, and whatever else you may want to transport around town. It is classified as an e-bike so you can use bike lanes and take it wherever you’d take your bike. But it’s ready for the elements and can be outfitted with all sorts of internal bells and whistles. It has headlights and tail lights with some models also having solar panels on the roof to power everything.

I love my e-bike, but it has its limitations. Mostly not being able to take my dog around. I’m lucky to not deal with too much inclement weather but having it be fully enclosed could be nice too. I’m able to do small grocery trips, but the PEBL could handle pretty much any grocery load I could think of.

With prices hovering around $10,000 USD, it’s not a cheap solution. But if you’re comparing it to a second car to run errands around town, it’s not too bad.

What do you think, would you buy a PEBL?

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🛍 Grab Bag

This year, I’ve recommended some amazing writers on Substack. And I’ve also highlighted several fun stories from the world of athletic aesthetics. It only feels appropriate to highlight the story of my favorite athletic aesthetics author Paul Lukas making the move to Substack. Even the “Grab Bag” section of this post is influenced by Paul’s Grab Bag section of his daily ticker writing. Sometimes, the most interesting stories don’t fit neatly into pre-fabricated categories. Here’s to more off-topic conversation that leads to new obscure knowledge in 2023!

Uni Watch on Substack - Issue 81 - October 18, 2022

Illustration Courtesy of Uni-Watch

In all honesty, Uni Watch may be the most-read website for me over the past decade. One because it’s excellent content, and two because it’s remained more or less exactly the same while other websites have come and gone. Yes, in its simplest terms it’s a website about sports uniforms. But it touches on some of the business side of sports (sponsor logos on uniforms are no good!) and design principles and art that sometimes spins outside of the sports UNI-verse.

Last year, I was pleased to see the creator of Uni Watch (Paul Lukas) branch out to create both a podcast and newsletter that was being distributed by Facebook/Meta’s Bulletin platform.

Sadly, the podcast was discontinued, and recently Meta announced that it was shutting down the Bulletin platform and forcing all of its creators to find new homes for their work.

Thankfully, Paul was able to find a new home right here on Substack!

There are free and paid options and he has transitioned all of the old content from Bulletin onto the new site. It is a Substack publication that I’ve added to my personal recommendation list. If you haven’t checked out that list, you can find it here.

You may not be as invested in the world of athletic aesthetics as I am, but you should absolutely poke around on the Uni Watch Substack page to see if anything catches your eye. Even if you’re not into sports; designers, historians, and generally inquisitive folks will find Paul’s writing captivating and undoubtedly learn something new.

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💬 Quote of the Week

It’s pretty difficult to select my favorite quote of the year. Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes they make me think, and sometimes I have a hard time believing that the persona actually said such a thing! I’m selecting this line from the late, great Bill Russell. As an NBA fan, maybe no one has had a greater impact on the league than Russel. But the quote is really fantastic no matter who it was attributed to. I strive to be consistent with my writing here. There may not be anything miraculous about the process, but it’s helped me learn and grow a ton this year. RIP Bill Russell

"Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved.”

-Bill Russell

📕Content Recommendation

There were many books or movies I could have chosen for this spot. I feel like I’ve read more good books this past year than seen good movies. So I figured I’d keep it to written text. I also was going to select Oliver Burkeman’s fantastic “Four Thousand Weeks” but that one technically was from the end of 2021 rather than 2022. So let’s go with “Stolen Focus” as a companion text for Burkeman’s book. We need to be better about protection our precious focus and eliminating distractions whenever possible. I thank you for deeming my publication worthy of your screen time this year. Let’s work toward an even more focus-filled 2023!

Stolen Focus - Issue 63 - June 14, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Crown Publishing

This week I’m recommending the book “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari.

It struck me as an incredibly important book to read if you spend any extended amount of time in front of a screen (which is basically all of us).

Hari breaks down the causes of our inability to pay attention as a modern society. Things like diet, sleep patterns, and (most importantly) the way our technology is programmed to be addictive, all play a role in this problem.

The book isn’t perfect. Hari hasn’t figured out solutions to a lot of these problems. He tried going off the grid for a summer and locking his phone in a timed lock box but still has his struggles. It’s not a book meant to solve the problem, it’s a book meant to alert you of the problem if you weren’t already aware.

I know it’s already been a popular non-fiction release lately, and I could see this being at the top of my “must-read” list for the year. If you can get your hands on a copy, I highly recommend reading it.

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Poll

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Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!

P.S. - Hey, it’s almost the end of the year! Could you use some help reviewing what worked for you this year and what could be better for 2023? Need some help building positive habits or ditching negative ones? Iterating on a new business idea and need some guidance? Or maybe you just want to say hello and pick my brain for a bit, that’s fine too! If you’d like to chat, feel free to book some time with me here!