Dear GoPro: You can do better than this.

The box pictured above holds the packaging associated with one very basic GoPro kit, specifically:

• GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition
• GoPro Battery BacPac
• GoPro Dual Battery Charger
• GoPro Wall Charger
• GoPro 3.5mm Mic Adapter

Here’s what all of that gear looks like outside of the packaging...

figure 1. Here’s every item contained within all of that packaging, shown at scale within the footprint of the box picured above.  

To the team at GoPro, your products are fantastic and have improved with each release, but your packaging is terribly excessive and unfriendly to the environment, which is particularly disappointing given the efforts you’ve made to associate your brand with the great outdoors. I had hoped you’d improve things with the new GoPro HERO4, but you haven’t.

I understand that shelf appeal is incredibly important, but Apple, an outfit that knows a thing or two about selling gadgets, has proven that it’s possible to do the right thing for the environment and connect with consumers and increase profits. Here’s a snippet from the company’s Environmental Report for the iPhone 6—a product that’s so popular, it has a measurable impact on the GDP of the United States:

The packaging for iPhone 6 is highly recyclable, and its retail box is made primarily from bio-based materials … In addition, the iPhone 6 packaging is extremely material efficient, allowing 50 percent more units to be transported in an airline shipping container compared to the first-generation iPhone.

So, not only is smaller, more material-efficient packaging better for the environment, it also means you can transport more devices per shipping container, thereby reducing costs (and generate less CO2 per unit, to boot). It’s all good!

I know that change can be hard, so how’s this for a start: Work with Amazon.com to create a “Frustration-Free” version of your packaging. I’m willing to bet that Amazon drives a reasonable percentage of your sales and, given that shelf appeal doesn’t matter when you’re buying online, it would be a great way to start reducing the environmental impact of your packaging without risking sell-through.

I hope you recognize that this post isn’t intended as a “hit piece.” I genuinely like your products and have bought several GoPro cameras over the past few months. But the excessiveness of your packaging has led me to actively seek out alternatives—even though switching would mean flushing my significant investment in GoPro accessories down the toilet. I would very much prefer to stick with your ecosystem, but I’m willing to take a hit to my wallet so that I can live my values.

If you agree that GoPro should reduce the environmental impact of their packaging, please let them know by Tweeting @GoPro with the hashtag #GoProCanDoBetter. They won’t change until they see that this is something customers and prospective customers care about.

Siri: Lovable sidekick or robot overlord?

Technology is often portrayed as ultimately robbing us of our humanity. The apocalyptic end-game portrayed in movies like The Terminator and The Matrix aligns with a broadly held fear of a future in which we’re subjugated by our robot overlords.

This darker view is certainly more popular than the perspective conveyed in Spike Jonze’s recent film, Her, in which an artificially intelligent operating system inspires our protagonist to re-connect with his innate humanity—a connection he struggled to find in his relationships with flesh-and-blood beings (BTW, if you’re interested in Her, don’t miss Christine Rosen’s fantastic analysis published in the January 09 edition of The Weekly Wonk).

Maybe I’m just a naive optimist, but I subscribe to the second view. I don’t believe that we’re destined to be enslaved by our technology; I don’t believe that the inevitable conclusion to a story that starts with the birth of true AI is humanity’s doom. Unfortunately, there aren’t many counter examples that are quite as compelling as a James Cameron joint, so I was very excited to come across this fantastic piece from today’s print edition of the New York Times: To Siri, With Love—How One Boy With Autism Became B.F.F.’s With Apple’s Siri.

Here’s a snippet:

Gus had never noticed Siri before, but when he discovered there was someone who would not just find information on his various obsessions but actually semi-discuss these subjects tirelessly, he was hooked...

For most of us, Siri is merely a momentary diversion. But for some, it’s more. My son’s practice conversation with Siri is translating into more facility with actual humans. Yesterday I had the longest conversation with him that I’ve ever had. Admittedly, it was about different species of turtles and whether I preferred the red-eared slider to the diamond-backed terrapin. This might not have been my choice of topic, but it was back and forth, and it followed a logical trajectory. I can promise you that for most of my beautiful son’s 13 years of existence, that has not been the case. 

Of course, this is what we in the geek community might describe as an edge case, but I think it nonetheless illustrates the very real potential for technology to do so much more than just compute. For some, the notion of having anything beyond a functional relationship with their tech will always seem alien. But for kids like Gus—by which I don’t mean kids with autism, but rather kids who’ve only known a world in which computing is ubiquitous—it’s the notion that technology must remain inert and lifeless that will be unfathomable.

Near the end of the Times piece, its author, Judith Newman, who is also Gus’s mom, makes a wonderful observation:

Somewhere along the line, I am learning that what gives my guy happiness is not necessarily the same as what gives me happiness. Right now, at his age, a time when humans can be a little overwhelming even for the average teenager, Siri makes Gus happy.

It’s the Guses of the world, now 13, who will define the next epoch of computing, and that’s why I believe I’m right to be hopeful about the future. He and others of his generation are growing up with the conviction that technology can and should enrich people’s lives—both functionally and emotionally. They’re also unburdened by the psychological baggage that us geezers haul around with us when it comes to tech.

Now, I don’t think this next generation’s more humanistic approach to computing will lead us all to instant nirvana. But I do think that it will mark an important and positive milestone in the evolution of our species, which is still in a period of technological adolescence. All that being said, this is just one interpretation of the human-computer relationship exemplified in Her and Newman’s piece for the Times. If you’re interested in a counterpoint, look no further than Jason Farago’s much darker analysis, in which he labels Her a horror film and calls it “the scariest movie of 2013.” While I don’t agree with his take, I did enjoy his argument. 

May the forest be with you.

After 25 years, the show that was more than a decade ahead of its time; that cleared the path for all of the darkly ambitious series to follow (e.g. X-Files, Lost, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, et al.); that proved that TV could be as engaging and immersive as film ... that show is rising from the ashes!

Showtime announced yesterday that Twin Peaks will be returning to TV in 2016 with a nine episode season. What has me so excited is that this isn’t your typical attempt at a tired Hollywood rehash. Instead, the show’s original creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, are driving this revival, with the duo writing all nine episodes and Lynch directing the full slate. Here’s a brief—and fittingly cryptic—video that accompanied the announcement...

Freed from the constraints of broadcast television, this new Twin Peaks has the potential to be dark, surreal and challenging to a degree that the original, which aired on ABC, simply couldn’t approach. Hinting at the delicious weirdness to come, Lynch and Frost were quoted as follows in Showtime’s statement:

“The mysterious and special world of Twin Peaks is pulling us back. We’re very excited. May the forest be with you.”

And it looks like original series star Kyle MacLachlan is on board to reprise his role as FBI agent, Dale Cooper:

Better fire up that percolator and find my black suit :-) #Twinpeaks

— Kyle MacLachlan (@Kyle_MacLachlan) October 6, 2014

If you’ve never seen Twin Peaks, both seasons of the original series are available on Netflix streaming. And, if it seems a bit stilted compared to contemporary TV, try to remember that the show debuted in 1990: the same year that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Beverly Hills, 90210 started their network runs (talk about throwbacks!).

Within the span of a few weeks, both Kicksology.net and Twin Peaks announce their returns from the void. Coincidence, or is it the owls?

Tokyo time-lapse

Experimenting with my GoPro and shot this very short time-lapse from my hotel room in Tokyo. Captured with a HERO3+ and cut together with Apple’s Final Cut Pro.

Beautiful street art in Rio

I had an opportunity to visit Rio de Janeiro earlier this month and was captivated by the beauty and expressiveness of the street art. Here’s just a small sampling of the work I encountered...