What’s In This Issue?
Is Now Finally the Tipping Point for the Right To Repair Movement?
I remember an old Sony DVD player I had once that suddenly stopped working. The display flashed something called a "C:13" error. Google searches revealed message boards highlighting the coincidence that this error code often seemed to appear in the 13th month of ownership of a product ... right after the 1 year warranty expires. I hope that part was a joke - but an increasingly number of the digital products we use do seem to have a planned obsolescence built in. The "Right to Repair" movement has long sought to change this and the pandemic combined with a new administration in the US may finally be giving this long overdue cause the push it needs.
Nivea Releases Research on a New Epidemic: Touch Depravation
It might seem like hard times for a brand whose tagline is all about the power of touch ... but Nivea is leaning into this challenge by releasing two global reports that explore the state human touch pre- and post-pandemic. The conclusion, unsurprisingly, is that humans need touch, and Nivea is cleverly taking this obvious finding and using it as fuel for their new "Care for Human Touch" project that will fund non-profits that help people use touch to combat loneliness and help younger and older people in particular to feel more connected to the other people around them.
How To Get a Limited Edition "Martian" Passport Stamp
If you are like me and desperately missing international travel, this story won't help. To commemorate the UAE Mars Mission reaching orbit this week, the United Arab Emirates released a new passport stamp that uses special "Martian ink" made from volcanic basalt rocks that lend Mars its recognizable rusty color and are also easily found in the UAE. Countries have used postage stamps for years in this way to celebrate national victories, but this idea to use the immigration stamp people get when arriving in the country as a collectible experience was a new and non-obvious idea worth sharing.
