Dear Fellow Trend Curator,

From the emerging promise of 3D fixables to a legendary Hobo Handbook that may be the world's most secretive book, this week’s stories explore the power of fixability, secrecy, and restraint. An AI avatar of a murdered man raises big questions about the ethics of speaking on behalf of the deceased, an app shows who will protect consumers when the government refuses, and the underappreciated marketing strategy of doing nothing. Plus a book about late bloomers that celebrates those of us who don’t peak in our 20s.

Enjoy the stories this week and stay curious!

Rohit

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This Week’s Most Popular Videos …

Why 3D Fixables Could Create An Entirely New Sustainable Industry

Philips is beta testing a new platform that allows consumers to 3D print a replacement accessory for one of their electric shavers. Right now, it's just one accessory and it's only available in the Czech Republic - but the test is getting a lot of attention from product teams in a variety of sectors. The idea that companies could make accessories or offer small, hard-to-stock pieces directly for consumers to print at home or locally could be a game changer on many different levels.

The initiative could extend the useful shelf life of products, allowing us to gain more use from them. It could offer a new revenue model for local shops that could install high quality 3D printers for people to walk in and use to print their designs. Manufacturers could create new revenue streams from selling 3D designs for consumers to use instead of needing to order parts. One day, we could see an entire market and industry come up around these so-called 3D Fixables, and this could be just the start.

The Hobo Handbook May Be The World's Most Secretive Book

There is no way to buy a copy of the legendary Hobo Handbook.* Long rumored to be a "book" filled with advice from train hoppers on how to ride across America and Canada for free, the alternate title for the book is the "Crew Change Guide." As the title suggests, the book is filled with information about how to take advantage of that crew change moment when train personnel are likely to be distracted and sneaking aboard is easier.

"New editions trickle out each year, photocopied in public libraries and private offices around the country to keep up with the ever-changing train schedules."

The book was originally authored back in the 80s by a Vietnam veteran known only as Train Doc. Sworn to fiercely protect the secrecy of the book, the “Train Doc” has managed to build a community of similarly protective readers who have succeeded in largely keeping the guide off the web and unavailable digitally. Like other folk texts, the secret of the book adds to its legend and creates more intrigue as time passes.

The story of one writer's quest to become worthy of having the guide bestowed upon him by someone who already had it and what he learned makes for some fascinating reading. More than that, the very existence of the guide proves that even in a fully discovered and digital world, there can still be some secrets that a small group of people will stubbornly hold onto and protect. Even when giving up the secret would be a much better way to maximize followers on social media.

*Note - This is NOT the same book as the widely available Hobo Handbook by Josh Mack. 

Need AI To Provide Closure? That Might Be In All Of Our Futures …

If the dead could speak, what would they say? One family used AI to create an avatar version of a man who was killed in a tragic incidence of road rage, so that he could speak at the trial of the man who killed him. The family chose to use the avatar to offer forgiveness and honor the life of the man who was killed … but they could have had the avatar say anything else. The story sparked a lot of controversy because it raised some difficult questions about what we owe those who have died and whether it's ethical to literally put words into their mouths after they have left us.

The implications of this are more profound than just offering a voice in court. What if abandoned children could create an avatar of a deceased parent to offer them that explanation they never received in real life? Or for a spouse to have their departed partner retell a story or experience differently from how it actually happened. Memory itself could become fluid if avatars of the departed are used in this way. Yet the therapeutic benefits of giving people closure and helping the living to move on with their lives are undeniable too. What do you think about this? Hit reply and let me know.

When the Government Refuses To Protect Consumers, Tools Like This Can Fill the Gap

For over thirty years, the EPA’s Energy Star testing and certification program has helped consumers see how energy-efficient an appliance or electronic device is before buying. Recently the new EPA leadership has announced they will likely eliminate the program. It's one of many such eliminations of government entities created to help protect consumers that are happening now in the US. As these agencies are defunded, the natural question to ask is what (if anything) will replace them?

The example of a new app called SuppCo may offer one answer. The platform (currently in beta) is a tool developed to help track and rate various supplements based on their quality, efficacy and whether they actually contain the ingredients their labels promise. Regulation of the supplements industry has been notoriously lax or non-existent in the past and so a service like this is very much needed.

If it works, this model of having an independent third party group doing the testing on behalf of consumers to fill the transparency gap is something we may soon see in other sectors as well. In a world where the government no longer prioritizes protecting or informing citizens, it is increasingly clear that apps like this may be what takes their place.

Useless Rebranding and the Underappreciated Marketing Strategy of Doing Nothing

HBO rebranded to HBO Max, and then to Max ... and now back to HBO Max. Meanwhile Google is losing their longstanding "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and once again rainbow-izing their entire logo suite to make them even more indistinguishable from one another. Watching these ill-advised branding moves is enough to make anyone wonder why marketing teams need to spend so much time, money and creative energy unnecessarily reinventing things. There are, of course, examples of brilliant rebranding like what the team at Poppi did on the way to sell to PepsiCo for nearly $2B.

Unfortunately, for every win like that there are dozens (at least!) more examples of brands abandoning their equity, implementing new branding efforts and then quickly backtracking when they experience predictable backlash and failure. You may be thinking this is the intention in the first place. If you can manufacture some backlash and outrage, surely that’s a good thing to make a brand relevant again, right? Wrong.

The real challenge for marketing leadership, it seems, is having the discipline and vision to do nothing. The best marketing strategy might be to stop trying to fix something that was never broken to begin with.

The Non-Obvious Media Recommendation of the Week

Electric Literature

“Electric Literature is a nonprofit digital publisher with the mission to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. We are committed to publishing work that is intelligent and unpretentious, elevating new voices, and examining how literature and storytelling can help illuminate social justice issues and current events.”

Poetry, essays, book reviews, non-sensational listicles and unexpected book excerpts are all part of what you’ll find on this eclectic mix of articles and content known as Electric Literature. Some days I’ll visit and find relatively little that interests me. Other days, I won’t be able to stop browsing story after story. I love the inconsistency of this experience because it reminds me that the time I spend on the site is more a reflection of me than the content on the site at any given time. Perhaps you will have the same experience. Sometimes it’s nice to add a site to your reading list where you really don’t know what to expect or where it will lead you.

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week

Late Bloomers by Rich Karlgaard

From all the "30 under 30" lists to the stories of tech billionaires who made their fortunes in their early 20s it can seem like the world has become obsessed with those who find their successes early. In the world of sports, that makes sense as our physical abilities always fade as we get older. But for many of us, success comes later in life. Sometimes much later. I often talk about finally becoming an entrepreneur at age 40 and how I am grateful that I was able to be an employee working for someone else for the first two decades of my life. In Late Bloomers, author Rich Karlgaard explores why we spend so much time celebrating those who succeed early and not enough time congratulating those who don't win until later. Aside from making us all feel better if we do happen to be among the many who take more time to win, the book is a reminder of the virtues of patience and why winning early in life isn’t the only way to win.

About the Non-Obvious Book Selection of the Week:

Every week I will be featuring a new “non-obvious” book selection worth sharing. Titles featured here may be new or from the backlist, but the date of publication doesn’t really matter. My goal is to elevate great books that perhaps deserve a second look which you might have otherwise missed.

Even More Non-Obvious Stories …

Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

• Virtual Weddings Gain Popularity As People Get Married In Minecraft

• Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College

• The National Weather Service Is In Jeopardy Due To Budget Cuts

• Indian Filmmakers Are Embracing AI While Hollywood Is Playing It Safe

• Newark’s Air Traffic Control Crisis — What to Know About the Fix

• When Your Layoff Anxiety Won’t Go Away

• All About the “F Students Are Inventors” Viral Craze

How are these stories curated?