WorldCAD Access

What's happening with Vectorworks 2023

Shipping in September

 

Perhaps the biggest -- and saddest -- surprise from yesterday's interview with Vectorworks CEO Dr Biplab Sarkar is the news that the company is switching to selling only subscriptions to customers, as of January 2023, in English-speaking countries. If you have a permanent license, it'll keep working as long as your computer's operating systems supports it, either on Windows or MacOS. 

When I suggested that permanent licenses are an advantageous marketing tactic, Mr Sarkar agreed that Vectorworks also used to promote that, but that it is easier on their back office system to deal with just one kind of license, and more updates more frequently, such as bug fixes and function updates. As well, "everyone else is moving to subscriptions" -- something I would disagree with.

The emphasis in Vectorworks 2023 is on reliability and performance. Also, it is the release in which several multi-year projects came to fruition, such as manipulating digital terrains for placing buildings; creating customized graphics legends by a single, multi-option command; and better rendering options, such as environment lighting and reflections. 

Ralph Grabowski: Tell me more about the new (I think it is new) graphics engine -- Vectorworks Graphics Module (VGM) -- that your Web page says is 6x faster and uses 80% less memory.

Biplab Sarkar: It is not new but we have been improving it. OpenGL has become obsolete, and so we use the latest DirectX on Windows and Metal on OS X.

We improved the performance for updating sections. Calculations and processing were moved to background threads, so that users can continue working in Vectorworks while section viewports are being updated. Caching for section calculations was optimized to reduce the memory foot.

 

Grabowski: How is the coordination campaign going between Nemetschek's subsidiaries?

Sarkar: Vectorworks has links to some Nemetschek products, like Maxon whose Cinema 4D and Redshift rendering libraries are built into Vectorworks.

 We have been working very closely with Solibri for model checking. This year we improved BCF [BIM Collaboration Format for transferring XML-formatted issue management data between programs], and added a BCF API. To communicate with other Nemetschek brands, we use IFC [industry foundation classes].

 

Grabowski: How dependent is Vectorworks on ODA [open design alliance] for advances in Revit and IFC compatibility, and how far does Vectorworks see itself going in Revit compatibility?

Sarkar: We are going in lockstep with them, so we support new entities as they come along, such as hardscape and landscape areas which are Revit floor objects. We are mapping them one-to-one, depending on the properties of these objects. We also create site models or site modifiers from Revit topography elements. 

We are working closely with the ODA on the Revit stuff; it has taken three to four years to develop, and some things are still not supported by the ODA like stairs and rooms, and objects inside Revit families. We also work with them on Civil 3D.

 

Grabowski: ODA announced new MCAD initiative; is Vectorworks interested in it? For instance, for placing an MCAD product inside a building.

Sarkar: We can already place mechanical models in buildings since we are based on Parasolid, and we import STEP, IGES, and so on.

 

Grabowski: Are you the only architectural package using Parasolid as the modeling kernel?

Sarkar: Microstation also uses Parasolid.

 

Grabowski: The tag line on your Vectorworks 2023 landing page reads, "The Ultimate Software From Sketch To BIM," but aren't point clouds the new starting point?

Sarkar: We have good support for point clouds. We use an open source library inside Vectorworks. Customers like the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC make point-cloud scans to see how new exhibits would fit before they showcase them,  We can import point clouds in chunks to over come size limitations. 

https://www.vectorworks.net/2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Tech Companies Sell Complex Ideas

CAD isn't a cell phone, yet

 

In his DeZign Stuff blog, Matt Lombard explains why we can't understand the marketing jargon of some CAD vendors (*koff*Dassault*koff*). The tl;dr explanation is that these companies aren't marketing to end-users but to upper management. Read his article here, please: https://dezignstuff.com/why-technology-companies-have-a-hard-time-selling-complex-ideas.

It’s certainly always fascinating for me to watch the blank looks of Solidworks users at Solidworks World 3dexperience World as Dassault execs ask in vain for applause for their high-level pronouncements. If they were politicians, they might be tempted to ask for a better class of attendee.

Mr Lombard mentions how terminals-attached-to-mainframes fell away quickly in the face of a computer on every desktop, but I also recall the brief rage for all-in-one software (LibreOffice is a vestige of the era). He notes that we want individual tools that work best for us. For instance, I use PaintShop Pro v6.0.2 from 2000, Atlantis which no one has ever heard of for word processing, long-abandoned-by-Qualcomm Eudora for my email and reminders, and if I am forced to use Word then Word 2007.

He talks about being us having become accustomed to subscriptions by being locked into monthly cell phone plans, although here I argue that we can switch carriers for cheaper plans, as the underlying system is identical <-- this is key. I suppose the work done by the ODA in making Revit files and libraries available in any CAD package is step towards a similar arrangement, though one that is taking years to complete.

ODA plans the same for proprietary MCAD systems — Solidworks, Catia, Inventor, NX are first on the list — but this too is years down the line for fruition. 

We have come a long way from the 1980s, when we were so isolated in our CAD islands that we actually asked why would anyone want to translate a CAD file, to wondering today why any CAD file isn't available to any CAD package -- even as CAD vendors try their darnest to lock us in financially.

So, all I can advise is to stick with the old software packages; the software industry is so mature now that new functions are more akin to fishsticks than freshly-caught salmon.

 

 

 

 

Twitteratti dunk on Zukerberg's interpretation of France

Non, non

 

When Facebook-Meta yesterday expanded its metaverse with cartoon versions of France's Eiffel tower and Spain's Basílica de la Sagrada Família, people pounced. Here I collected some of the best tweets:

 

@ordinarytings: Mark Zuckerberg launches Horizon Worlds in France and Spain with an eye-gougingly ugly VR selfie. Meta's metaverse ploy is surely dying in the dark.

Steve Kovach (@stevekovach): This literally cost $10 billion.

Michael Gartenberg (@gartenberg): There's a reason why people call Zuckerberg a two dimensional character.

Robert Evans (@iwriteok): Tragic that every airline and tourist economy in the world is about to collapse now that Facebook has utterly eliminated the need to travel.

Emerson T. Brooking (@etbrooking): 5000 newspapers died for this.

Cheryl Platz (@funnygodmother): I'm not going to dunk on the visuals, but the discourse raises a point I think gets missed a lot. What human need is Meta hoping their platform improves upon? It's obviously not “actual reality.” Second Life can be whimsical and lets people transcend. This isn't aspirational.

@dosmeow: Nothing will ever be the same.

 

forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/08/17/does-mark-zuckerberg-not-understand-how-bad-his-metaverse-looks/

Dassault Explains Solidworks’ Q2 Drop in Sales

Not all China's fault

 

Sales of Solidworks fell in Q2 of 2022, which is an unusual event for Dassault Systemes. Here to explain it is an executive from Dassault, who spoke during the company’s quarterly conference call with financial analysts. The text has been edited for clarity and brevity.

- - -

Q: Was the Q2 drop in new Solidworks CAD licenses due mostly due to China?

A: Yes, you're right.

But something [else] happened this year, as you may know we increased prices. It was aligned in some countries with the level of inflation. Many of our resellers anticipated the price increase effective April 1 [to sell more in Q1 than Q2].

To give you an order of magnitude for Q1, we were a little bit more than 20,000 units. And for Q2, we are roughly 17,000 to 18,000 units.

 

Q: Could you update us on how 3dExperience Works adoption is going within the Solidworks space? How are you seeing the average seats-per-customer adoption versus the three-to-four average number of seats [per customer] for Solidworks itself?

A: The vast majority of the customers have between two to three seats of Solidworks. And when we deploy the 3dExperience Works family, depending the product line we have different ratios:

When you look at Enovia Works [PLM software], usually the ratio is roughly three times -- between three to four times bigger. If you have two seats at the end, you have ten seats for the end of the awards. That's in average.

For simulation work, I would say it's probably once -- if you have three or two, you have only one. So the penetration rate is less.

And if we are speaking about the manufacturing side and specifically to the Delmia Works [factory simulation software], this is really where we have an expansion in terms of number of users. Because remember that with Delmia Works, we are targeting a company in the range of not bigger than €200 million in revenue. Having at least two manufacturing sites and usually you have between 30 to 40 people to be equipped, which gives you a sense of ratio between three to 30, if not 15. So this is how we multiply the footprint inside the Solidworks installed base leveraging the Works family.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4526023-dassault-systemes-se-dasty-management-on-q2-2022-results-earnings-call-transcript

How my Dell Inspiron is doing, 16 months later

Quirks and good stuff

 

I'm pleased to report that for the most part, the Inspiron 7405 2n1 laptop I bought 16 months ago for $1,100 has been proving its worth. "Inspiron" is the third level of laptop, so not top-end. Dell's caste system is XPS at the top end, followed by Latitude, then Inspiron.

"2n1" means it has the 360-degree hinge, so it can transform into a tablet. I got mine in the dark-brown color, which looks pretty nice and is pretty different from everyone else's.

Basic specs are...

• 14" touch screen with narrow bezels
• 2.0HGz - 4.2GHz 8-core Radeon 7 CPU with Radeon graphics
• 16GB RAM and 512GB solid-state drive
• Backlit keyboard
• 1 USB-C port, 2 USB-A ports, full-size HDMI, full-size SD card slot, 3.5mm audio
• Privacy shutter over the Webcam and fingerprint reader on the power button

There are, however, a few quirks that I have to live with. So, here are the bad bits and the good bits.

 

The Bad Quirks

Sometimes, when I wake up the laptop while an external monitor is plugged in, the Dell shows nothing on the laptop's built-in screen. I found a workaround: I press Windows+P to see that Project mode has been set to Second-screen Only; change it to Extend.

When I plug in headphones while music or video is playing, sound continues on the built-in speakers. I found a workaround: plug in the headphones before starting the music or movie program.

For a time, the laptop would not connect to my WiFi. I finally realized the problem was CloudFlare Warp app, which is supposed to keep DNS queries private. I still run the app (to modify the DNS lookup to 1.1.1.1), but keep Warp mode turned off.

Minor irritant: the full-size SD slot is very shallow, meaning that when I plug in an SD card, most of it sticks out, instead of being flush with the body, as with other laptops.

It seems that any laptop I buy promising a dozen hours of battery use lasts 4.5 hours. No more, no less. This one is no different, too.

I would have liked a second USB-C port, and that the laptop be powered by USB-C, the advantage being that the power could then be plugged in on either side, as with my Acer Chromebook.

 

The Good Stuff

When I opened the insides of this laptop in anticipation of replacing the 512GB SSD with a 2TB one, I found to my delight that Dell gave it a second RAM slot. It is amazing in this day that there still is a thin laptop that uses slots for RAM, instead of soldering it in. This meant I could add a second stick of 16GB RAM, maxing out the computer with 32GB RAM. Frankly, I don't notice a difference with the mega-amount of memory, except that one installer program got confused and used all 32GB for itself, making the computer grind to a crawl.

The keyboard on this thin laptop is good enough for me. It has that extra bit of travel that lets me type as fast as I can, unlike some other brands of thin laptops. Also, the keys are black; crucial, as I found an earlier laptop (HP Spectre) with silver keys meant I could barely read the pale letters on the keycaps.

Having many cores in a computer is, for the most part, useless. Most software can use only 1 core, because of how software works. My laptop does come into its own when ripping DVDs, however, where all 8 cores are employed: a 2-hour movie is converted to MP4 format in 20 minutes. For CAD users, having multiple cores is useful in renderings, loading large drawings, and a very few other common tasks.

When you buy something from Dell direct, they give you a 3% credit towards another item, with which I bought their super sexy WM615 mouse (see figure at left0>

I subsequently upgraded the laptop to the Pro version of Windows 10 to get access to the Sandbox function, which lets me test dodgey software without worrying about its impact on the rest of my computer.

The 3.5mm audio port handles all kinds of input. Dell includes a utility that opens up when I plug something in, asking me what it is, so that the audio is treated correctly (see figure at right). This is important for distinguishing between mic-in and line-in, which deal with different voltages and so distortion occurs or does not occur.

While Dell charges more for its "better" laptops, like XPS, I have a sneaking suspicion that there is little difference. I've reading reviews of XPS models and wonder how they are better than this lesser Inspiron. The primary difference is that the bottom of mine is plastic, instead of metal, which is an advantage, because it is not as cold or as hot on my lap.

The innards of Dell's various models are likely (I am guessing) identical to minimize the cost created by product differentiation. (I learned that with an earlier Lenovo that barely lasted a year, that the second-gen model I had bought was identical inside to the prior first-gen model; just the labeling on the outside changed.)

PTC Feels Good Leaving China

PTC ceo James Heppelmann explains how his company came to have a lowered profile in China. He was responding to a question during PTC's quarterly conference call with financial analysts. I’ve edited the text slightly for clarity. The original transcript can be read at Seeking Alpha: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4526704-ptc-inc-ptc-ceo-jim-heppelmann-on-q3-2022-results-earnings-call-transcript.

- - -

James Heppelmann: I think the key thing in China to know, if you don’t know this now, is it’s now 5% of our business. So we have very little exposure. It had previously been as high as 7% or 8%.

But when President Trump was in the office, he went to war, as you know, with our largest customer, which was Huawei. By the time the dust settled on that, Huawei was Dassault’s customer. [Dassault Systemes is headquartered in France.] [Chinese firms] pretty much got the message not to do business with American companies. That hurt us in China, generally. A large amount of the Chinese manufacturing market is state-owned. And having watched what Trump was doing with Huawei, [working with] an American supplier like us that was not helpful.

But you know good news is, we’re down to 5% exposure. And China’s not that material to PTC, which I actually feel kind of good about right now, given the scariness and the outlook of what might happen there in the coming years.

 

 

The Twitteratti snarks on Facebook's revenue decline

Even Walmart is down this quarter

 

@devilslayer1802: This is the first time EVER Facebook has had a quarter year-on-year revenue decline.

 

Anthony DeRosa / @anthony: Facebook parent Meta posted its biggest drop in daily users and its first decline in revenue as the company struggles to adjust to macroeconomic forces and growing competition from rival TikTok.

 

@infographx: Gen Z is literally ditching all the other social apps, except TikTok.

 

Chaotic Goode / @laurengoode: “Meta shares have lost about half their value since beginning of the year, underscoring investor concern about the health of the co's advertising business. That unit has been hurt by Apple's iOS privacy update, and by a weakening economy” [- CNBC]. Also, TikTok?

James Czerniawski / @jamescz19: Man that Meta Monopoly theory is something else:
1) lose over $500bn in stock value? ✅
+ 2) lose DAUs [daily average users]? ✅
+ 3) try to copycat your competition? ✅ (whoa now I thought this was a monopoly!)
= 4) Dominating the market?  ❌ Far from it!

 

Facebook and Advertising

@naxuu: It's hilarious to me that a seemingly innocuous [Apple] iOS update -- allowing [iPhone] users to do a single-click opt-in or -out of data collection/tracking/analysis by apps -- single-highhandedly torpedoed $10 billion and counting in Facebook's ad revenue.

 

Daniel Grey / @curiousgrey8801: The company is paying the price for poor strategy & lack of consumer trust. You can change the name and all, but right now you can't change the trust. Advertisers know that.

 

@jgb00m: Oh hear me out, people are realizing that FB [Facebook] marketing has a relatively low return compared to other channels. And FB is a poisoned swamp.

 

Michael St James / @michaelstjames: Anyone who has to buy advertising on FB business (and IG [Instragram]) and has been consistently ripped off with no recourse, had pixel issues, befuddling conversion numbers in flux, knew this was coming.

 

Facebook and AI-generated Feeds

Kurt Wagner / @KurtWagner8: Interesting comment from Mark Zuckerberg just now on Meta's earnings call: Roughly 15% of content in FB feed, and a little more than that in the IG feed, are from accounts that people don’t follow. He expects those numbers to double.

 

Philip Michaels / @philipmichaels: Bold move of a CEO to tell you that his product is about to get much worse.

 

Chaotic Goode / @LaurenGoode: The real future of Facebook, erm sorry, Meta apps

It's fascinating to think about Meta focusing on getting you to watch endless videos of randos [random people you do not know] in order to fund its vision for the meta-spectacular future. A real move away from the "connect with family and friends" mantra of the past.

 

@jerrycap: The biggest difference is Amazon didn't change their name to Alexa

 

Marc Whittington / @mwhittington13: What strikes me about all of these Insta/FB quotes from Zuck/[head of Instagram Adam] Mosseri is that they seem to attribute the growth in video to user desire or some phantom phenomenon when, in fact, *their [Insta/FB's] choices* and algorithms are the sole things driving those numbers higher.

 

Facebook and VR

@saranormous: $2.8 billion of loss (spend) for Meta's Reality Labs in Q2 [second financial quarter]. That's an entire AR/VR [augmented reality/virtual reality] ecosystem's worth of startup funding. I think of that as 300x Series A financings [initial funding for a new company], or more than 3 per day for every day in the quarter!

 

Dave Lee / @daveleeft: It wasn't long ago that Groups was Facebook's focus. Not a single mention today. Remember when you used to upload photos? Leave messages on walls? Play games with people? It's almost all gone. This isn't nostalgia -- it's Facebook fundamentally changing what it is.

 

Dave Lee / @daveleeft: My main thought on Meta/Facebook today with the push to Reels. What motivation is there for the *regular* user to *post* anything today? Not performers, or influencers, just a regular user. What utility does Facebook have?

 

Alex Heath / @alexeheath: The future of social media is looking less... social

 

Eric Boehm / @ericboehm87: By the time Congress gets around to breaking up Facebook, the market will have already killed it and rifled through its pockets for loose change.

 

[Disclosure: I do not have a Facebook account.]

 

The State of the Smartphone

Peaked and plateaued

 

I was thinking the other day that I should get a spare smartphone, just in case mine gets crushed, disabled, or lost. I’d want to be back in business the same day.

Looking around for a spare, I came to the realization that smartphones had peaked back in 2019. That year, CPU speed plateaued at just under 3GHz. Since then the emphasis has been on non-phone functions like cameras, software that processes photographs, and screens that fold.

I got the idea for a modern spare from reading about the low launch price for the newest phone from Infinix: US$199 (after coupon), instead of $460. 

The specs were decent, especially at $200, except that I was surprised that the speed was only 2GHz (specs here.) I ordered it, but then a few days later canceled the order, because it would take too long to ship.

 

The Old Phones

GSM Arena is a remarkable site that holds the specs for over 5,000 phones. It lets you search for the kind of phone you want through dozens of options. I used it to find a phone I wanted:

• Close to 3GHz speed
• Optical zoom camera, along with wide angle
• Headphone jack
• Dual SIM
• Slot for microSD card

The filters return 13 results. One of the phones suggested was the LG V50 ThinQ (full specs here). Now, take note that my wife’s “new” phone that I got her last year is a three-year-old PlusOne model. My current phone is a three-year-old ASUS Zenfone 6. And so you might guess that this LG is... three years old.

As a bonus, it has better specs than the Infinix at the same price. Being old brings down the price dramatically: this LG was $1,000 at launch. Never mind that LG no longer makes smartphones. All that matters in the smartphone universe is that Google still operates its app store.

Yah, so don't go gawking at the tech media's orgasms over the latest phones; check out the mature ones. 

PS: The good thing about smartphone CPU speeds plateauing is that software can no longer be written that takes advantage of faster phones, thereby obsoleting older ones.

 

Canada proves the folly of single-source tech

Rogers goes oopsie

 

In July, the entire Rogers system collapsed for a day. Rogers in Canada forms an oligopoly in communications services, along with Telus and Bell -- landline telephone, cell phone, cable tv, Internet access, and commercial data flows. People who were signed up with Rogers could not phone 911 to access emergency services or get work done remotely or text their friends. The outage impacted the economy, as stores could process no debit card transactions and in some cases not process credit cards either. Some hospitals were reduced to contacting staff by announcements made through local AM radio stations, hoping people were listening.

The problem was caused -- as is not uncommon these days -- by a faulty software update. Landlines were affected, because Rogers runs all communications over IP (Internet protocol) networks; it's cheaper that way. As a result of the debacle, the company promised to split cell/Internet traffic from landline traffic, and government has told debit/credit card services to run on two providers.

Tracking service status shows the other big causes for disconnects include wires cut by digging equipment and hardware upgrades. Here is the map of Telus outages as I write this blog:

It is not uncommon for people to have all their communications handled by one supplier. My dad, for instance, has his telephone, Internet, and cable tv bundled through Telus (he does not have a cell phone) provided through the old folks home in which he lives. People are told bundling makes makes the overall cost cheaper. I get regularly harassed by my Internet provider, Telus, to also take on their home security and medical monitoring services. 

We fared better than many, because we split services between providers:

• Internet - Telus over fiber optic, with a 5G cell modem backup when cables get cut
• Home phone - Rogers over 5G cell connection
• Cell phone - Freedom Mobility(a local provider) over 4G cell connection 
• Cable tv - we don't watch tv, so no concern here

When our home phone stopped working, we had the cell phone as back up. I've also used my cell phone as backup when the Internet connection has stopped in the past.

To rely on a single provider for all of your tech
is as foolish as relying on a single grocery store. 

As for the cheaper price from bundling, that is a myth. I negotiated a lifelong discount with Telus when they forced me from copper to fibre. I was an early adopter of Internet-based home phones, and so I pay about 4x less than I would with the default home phone provider (Telus) for our area. I got my wife and I on a dirt cheap cell phone plans from Freedom Mobility -- unlimited phone calls throughout Canada, unlimited texting internationally, and unlimited data for about $17/month. And we have never had cable tv.

PS: Keep a hoard of cash at home for days when systems fail.

 

Life of Pei

Encore

 

Carl Pei is the antithesis of Steve Jobs. Both are/were brilliant at marketing, but whereas Jobs told his customers what they would get from Apple, Pei asked them, nicely. He did such a good job at guerrilla marketing that to this day there still are tech journalists who think of OnePlus as a plucky indie smartphone shop. It's not.

OnePlus is a brand of Chinese giant BKK Electronics, which sells smartphones and other electronics under brand names like Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Imoo, and iQOO. Combined, it is the second largest seller of phones in the world, after Samsung.

(As I write this, BKK stands accused by the government of India of evading paying nearly half a billion dollars of import taxes on Oppo, Vivo, Realme, and OnePlus products.)

OnePlus brand co-founders Pete Lau and Pei created a wonderful myth of an independent phone design firm that makes exceptional phones at reasonable prices under the tagline "Never Settle." Today, its official corporate history perpetuates the myth, stating that in 2013 it "Quickly gained attention before launching a product with focus on community/forums."

I am not being cynical here. People desire community; we were designed to be together. Lau and Pei tapped into that need, unlike anything since the early days of the iPhone. What I am cynical about is he tech media perpetuating the myth, widely reporting each news snippet, no matter how unimpressive, that the firm artfully released. I suppose the tech media needed something in which to fervently believe, too.

Over the years, OnePlus phones became boring me-too products that steadily went up in price.  (My wife has the OnePlus 7, which I consider adequate.) Perhaps this was BKK's plan along, or maybe it was just inevitable that smartphones collectively became me-toos at sky-high prices. Once the price broke $1,000, the spell was broken, and OnePlus lost its golden luster.

 

Nothing on Launch

Carl Pei was smart enough to leave the corporate confines of a BKK and start over.

To keep up interest, he launched earphones, which I bought, because they look more cool than any one else's (especially from the uniform dullness of those designed by Apple), and the right one has a red dot missing from everyone else.

Tuesday was the day he launched his new smartphone with its eye catching back made of strings of LEDs that can be programmed.

The launch initially failed as a voice stuttered in slow motion and the YouTube feed froze for several minutes. During this short time, the number of viewers fell from 16,000 to 8,000.

When the pre-recorded video sprang to life, the number of viewers jumped quickly to 80,000.

The launch video was classic Pei, just talking one-on-one with you, explaining in his casual manner how this new phone really is designed with just you in mind.

Later, however, after he walked over to the Nothing office, the spell was broken as he entered the "we're so excited" zone preferred by marketing people today.

 

Essential the Future

I fear, however, that Nothing will go the way of Essential, the new phone firm launched by the inventor of Android, that collapsed under its weight of hype and design overreach.

Nothing is the opposite. It has a flashy design, literally, but not much more going for it. The specs are middling, the battery gets through a day, the cameras are normal for today, and the distribution is limited (none in North America, officially). Same for the earphones: flashy design (did I say I loved it?), but only acceptable tone.

Pei admitted as much when he said his firm wasn't doing anything special when it came to Android apps, because the ones out there are already pretty good. He's offering a couple of new apps, one for turning on your Tesla's air conditioning remotely and another that controls the earphones -- oh wait, any Android user has access to it. 

With 1.5 billion cell phones sold last year, I suppose Nothing doesn't need to make a big dent to survive. But I don't think its product differentiation is sufficient. Nevertheless, I admire what Pei has pulled off.

 

 

 

Achieving my three goals

Three out of three

 

In my late teens or early 20s, I came up with three goals, as I looked ahead to my life post-university. Maybe it was because goals and such were trendy at the time, but after some reflection it came to me that my three goals were

• Become a millionaire (a.k.a. be independently wealthy)
• Own my own radio station
• Be the world's best-known transportation engineer

Disparate yes, but reflecting my state in the late 1970s. At the time, I aimed to become a transportation engineer, and so was working my way through engineering at the University of British Columbia. Also at the time, I was obsessed with music and radio stations.

Did I attain them? Each in its own way, yes:

• Being a millionaire today is trivial compared to 45 years ago. After all, anyone who owns a house in a Canadian city is de facto a millionaire.
• I own my own technical publishing company, upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd.
• And I am, all modesty aside, one of the best known CAD writers in the world.

 

Impact

I think the more interesting question is, "Did these goals impact me?" After all, anyone hearing my disconnected goals might scoff at them. Looking back, I see that the goals affected the many minor and few major decisions I made along the way. Here are some of these major decisions:

Spend and borrow money, or save and invest funds? If I aimed to have a net worth of a million, I'd need to save like the dickens and optimize my investments. Fortunately, I suffer from being a cheap prick, and so for me saving is pleasurable.

Be employed, or self-employed? If I aimed to own my own company, then I could not work for others, so I had to decide to quit my job. I am fortunate to have a streak of independence, and so working for myself is wonderful.

Just show up for work, or figure out how to do things better? I was keen as a transpiration engineer and developed new ways of analyzing traffic data. But I came to realize that engineering is very conservative (for good reason) and so I would make no headway there. My fascination with computers, combined with my love of writing and my engineering background, detoured me to a field where I could have an impact, one that was begging for newer and better ways to do things -- computer-aided design.

 

Drawbacks

I can write all this easily, given that I attained the three goals. A harder question is, "Were there drawbacks to the three goals?" Yes, which I can see by looking back over the 45 years:

Being obsessed with saving was an obsession I needed to overcome. For me, the turning point came on a driving vacation one summer when we stopped at the glass house (made of embalming fluid bottles). The kids were excited to tour it, but I declined going in to save the price of one admission. As I waited outside, I realized I had gone too far in being cheap.

Quitting a regular paychque and depending on the good will of others was scary, especially when I was responsible for a family of five. I sometime shudder to think if things had not gone well and my family suffered as a result of my need to be independent. That, fortunately, never happened.

Demanding high quality of work can mean disdain for others who don't live up to my expectations. In personal lives, I understand that everyone operates at a different level (even I am lazy about some things), but professionally I continue to have high requirements.

 

Assistance

Goals are easier to achieve with the assistance of a life partner who shares them in one way or another -- rather than being in conflict. My wife is also a saver. She was nervous for about the first decade of my self-employment, but nevertheless supported me, because she saw the advantages. And she also is keen to do a good job in all areas of life.

In the end, it was not so much the specificity of the goals that mattered as having goals to guide me through my working life: to become independently wealthy, to be independent, and to have an impact on the world.

 

PS: I did work as a d.j. for a few months at the UBC campus radio station, the late Friday night shift. I loved it.

 

Scanning Old Film Slides

Slide'n scan

 

After I bought my own 35mm SLR camera in 1976 (a Minolta XE-7), I made the fortuitous discovery that our local major pharmacy chain sold 24-exposure slide film for just $3, processing included. That was so cheap that I went on a photography binge with my new camera, and to this day I have a filing cabinet box filled with plastic boxes holding 24 and 36 slides.

How to digitize them? While my kids were still young, I paid them 10 cents a slide to run them through an Epson flatbed scanner. It could hold six at a time, and its software cleverly segregated the scan of six slides into six files. They processed about 260 that way. Still lots more to go.

Recently I saw a small scanner from Kodak (Slide N Scan, about $200), through which you feed slides manually. It has a 5"preview screen. I bought it, got it, and it works quite well. Here are the specs:

Left to right: Slides that have been scanned, a slide in the scanner, stack of slides to be scanned

 

Powered by a USB-C connection. I connect it to my computer, which powers the scanner and then later transfers the scanned slides from the scanner's SD card to the computer's disk drive.

14-megapixel resolution. It offers a 22-megapixel option, but this is interpolated and so makes the scans blurrier. Stick with 14, which is 4320x2880 pixels. Slides are scanned to JPEG files, ranging from 1 to 5MB in size, depending on the amount of detail in the images -- most are around 2MB.

Scanned slide, zoomed in by 3x

Takes a 32GB SD memory card, not included. I am disappointed the unit does not scan directly to the computer. Instead, a multi-step process is required:

1. Scan a box of slides.
2. Access the USB Upload option on the scanner
3. On the computer, create a new folder 
4. Copy the scan files (IMAG0001.JPG, etc) from the scanner's memory card to the new folder
5. Erase the scan files from the scanner's memory card

It's a lot of steps, but after a while I found I got into a rhythm. 

Handles 35mm slides, as well as 35mm, 126, and 110 negatives. Includes an adapter for each. 

Other functions include Gallery (lets you view saved files and display them on a larger screen with the included HDMI cable); R, G, and B color adjustments and brightness. I find I rather let a program like Picasa handle the adjustments; and a delete button to remove the current image from the memory card.

It takes about 1.5 second to scan a slide. I use a blank slide to shove the last side through the holder, or you can just tilt the scanner sideways and let gravity help you. Put vertical slides in sideways so that the tops and bottoms don't get cropped; change their rotation later on your computer.

 

Benchmarking the M1 vs Pentium

Slowing, slower

 

There was a lot of hype generated by Apple's marketing department and echo'ed by the in-love-with-Apple tech media over its  new in-house CPU, the M1. The specs were so amazing that excitement ran high over what subsequent CPUs would be able to do, M2, et al. To infinity and beyond, to quote a cartoon character.

I was relieved to hear it would be amazing. The first Mac mini I bought was pretty good. (See figure at left.) It still had all the accouterments that Apple, in its need for every higher profits, stripped out of subsequent models: DVD drive, remote control, SD card slot, upgradeable RAM, separate headphone and mic jacks, and so on. Sadly, I ruined it trying to replace its hard disk drive with a solid state drive.  No prob, I can just buy a newer one. What a disaster. I spent too much time trying to figure out why it was so dog slow. Launching a program typically takes minutes. I came to hate that spinning rainbow disc. No prob, I can just buy a newer one.

The newer one was a brand-new M1-powered Mac mini. Well, not brand-new. I saved $200 by buying a returned one, and I think I know why the unhappy original owner returned it. In another blog entry (Updated: Solved: Why the new Mac Mini Won't Work With an Ultrawide Monitor) I write about how it took me two days to get it connected to a monitor, any monitor. First, a regular 1080 HD one (the M1 Mac mini overscanned, making access to the GUI elements that surround the MacOS desktop inaccessible), then with my then-new Dell 3440x1440 widescreen monitor (the correct resolution was hidden in MacOS's Display dialog box). As Management Speak (@managerspeak) so eloquently put it, "The problem is that you are running the latest technology."

While I appreciated the M1 running at what was now a normal speed, as compared to the dog-slow earlier model, I was puzzled that it ran at a normal speed -- not blindingly fast, as the over-enthusiastic tech media had promised me. Indeed, I got into an email discussion with one Mac enthusiast who said, "But look at the amazing specs! And think about the future!" Ya, that is a problem: never rely on the future, especially when it comes to Apple.

 

Slower Second Gen

Which is why it may have come as a bit of shocker to MacAddicts to learn of the result of an independent benchmark showing a brand-new M2-equipped Mac slower than its M1 predecessor:

SSD benchmarks show 256GB 13" MacBook Pro with M2 has ~50% slower read and ~30% slower write than the previous gen 256GB MacBook Pro with M1.

Note that the problem is specific to the 256GB model. Vadim Yuryev figured out why: that particular SSD has but a single controller chip. This means it reads data half as fast as it ought to.

There is a standard among SSD drives that is easy enough to memorize:

• 128GB - single data controller
• 256GB - two controllers - handles twice as much data at a time
• 512GB - four controllers - handles four times as much data at a time

So, you never want to get a 128GB SSD, and in the case of Apple, a 256GB one. The reason for SSD is speed, and so there is no point spending $$$ on a hobbled product. Why would Apple hobble a MacBook Pro, whose very name implies speed? Two possible reasons:

Cheapness. Apple went cheap to fill its McScrooge-like coffers to even more overflowing. We saw that with the gradual removal of features from Mac minis.

Greed. Apple hobbled the cheaper model in order to upsell prospective customers to more expensive models.

 

How Slow is the M1 in CAD?

So this brings us to the M1. Is it really blindingly fast, or is it just Apple marketing that is blinding us? I noticed that it didn't feel particularly fast, and so decided to run a benchmark that would work similarly on a Windows and MacOS computer: launching Graebert's Ares 2020 desktop CAD software (see figure at left), which on both operating systems is essentially the identical program. 

(Normally, I do not care about formal benchmarks. My benchmark is entirely subjective: I should not have to wait for my computer. Anything slower is unwanted, anything faster is unnecessary. Which is why I continue to use a desktop computer that I bought in 2010, and over the years upgraded it, such as maxing out the RAM and replacing the main hard drive with a 1TB SSD.)

The result (time to launch ARES 2020):

• 12-year-old Pentium CU running Windows 7  -- 1 min 11 secs
• 1-year-old M1 CPU in a Mac mini  -- 1 min 01 secs

So, the M1 is no speed demon: its 11-year newer technology is only 16% faster, which in my book is nearly imperceptible.

 

 

Solving Eudora's June 2022 problem with GMail

Double authentication

 

Google in June 2022 increased the security level needed to access its Gmail service, and as a result some Eudora email users can no longer access their accounts that run through Gmail, such as the Telus and Shaw ISPs in Canada. The error message may read similar to this one:

ERR [AUTH] Username and password not accepted.

The error message tells us that Eudora has a problem with authenticating who you are to Gmail, and that the username and password are unacceptable to Google. Google had been warning that this would be occurring, but it is not always easy to understand the implications to changes to the Internet's infrastructure.

To prove to Google who you are, you need to enter into Eudora a password generated by Google just once. Google calls the password it generates an “app password.” It is 16 letters long, and lets Google know that you are giving Eudora permission to access your Gmail account. There are two stages to fixing the problem: first, increase your security level with Google by turning on two-step authentication, and then decrease it.

 

Stage 1: Add Two-Step Authentication to Your Google Account

If you do not already have two-step authentication turned on, or if you don't know whether you have it turned on, then follow these steps:

1. Open your Web browser, and go to https://myaccount.google.com/

2. Enter your Google password, should you be asked for it.

3. On the left side, click Security.

4. Under Signing in to Google, look for 2-step Verification:

• If it is on, then there is a blue check mark
• If it is off, then click 2-step Verification. Google will ask for your password, and then you turn on 2-step verification.

TIP     Two-step authentication means that Google will confirm who you are by asking you in a second way. Most commonly, it will send you a notification on another one of your devices, such as your Android phone. You can choose which device to send the notification to, and whether the notification should be sent only once when accessing your account on a new device, like a friend's computer. I recommend the once-only option. 

With the security level of your Google account increased, Google now allows you to decrease it for Eudora.

 

Stage 2: Obtain a Temporary Google-generated Password

With two-step authentication set up, the second part to getting Eudora working with GMail again is to obtain a one-time password that Google generates. This lets Google know that it is okay for your email software to access your Gmail account. Follow these steps:

1. Staying in Google Account's Security page, click App Passwords

2. You will need to enter your Google password to prove to Google you are who you are.

3. Click Next.

4. In the App passwords page:

a. Under Select App, choose Mail

b. Under Select Device, choose a device, such as Windows Computer

c. Click Generate

5. In the Generated app Password dialog box, an app password appears. Copy it.

     Notice that Google immediately sends you a warning email /and/or message to your phone about the security change made to your account. Click Yes, It Was Me. This is two-factor authentication at work.

6. Start Eudora, and when it asks for a password, enter the one Google generated for you. 

 

I don't like Bluetooth earbuds but this Soundcore model I do like

Life A2 NC

 

My ears are not suited to earbuds. The internal shape of them causes earbuds to slowly slide out. So I look for models with earwings to fit behind my ears' antitargus, which keeps earbuds in place. But this style of headphone is rare.

I don't like Bluetooth headphones. The BT spec requires added compression to the music being wirelessly transmitted over the relatively slow data link. And it's always more annoying to connect a Bluetooth headphone than just plugging in a wired one, whether to the audio or USB-C connectors. Nevertheless, going wireless is convenient in some cases. 

One of the very few companies making Bluetooth headphones with earwings is Soundcore, a division of Anker. On a whim I tried the Life A1 NC model, which goes for US$60, and I was impressed.  You can see the earwings at the top; the sides (with the logo) are touch sensitive: tap them to pause/play, change the volume, and so on. The touch controls can be annoying, because when I press an earphone more firmly into my ear, it activates a command. (I bought a newer release of these earbuds, Liberty 2 Pro+, which I don't like as much, but they use a physical button on each earbud to control things.)

Included with the box are three sizes of earwings and five sizes of ear canal plugs. 

 

Soundcore App

These earbuds are strong on bass, so it's good that the Soundcore app lets you adjust equalization of the earbuds, as well as noise reduction and touch controls. The app handles all Soundcore products you might own.

Because the equalization is set in the earbud, every sound source -- streaming radio, MP3 playback, and so on -- uses a single equalization, which I like, because it saves twiddling. Once I got the equalization right (I like less treble), the sound was fab. The app includes 22 preset equalizations (I use "Deep") and I could create lots of custom ones, should I be bothered to do so. 

Click the screen grabs for a larger, clearer version of each image

The app gives you five kinds of noise reduction:

• Noise cancellation: transport (cancels low frequencies), indoor (less voice), and outdoor (less ambient noise)
• Transparency mode: fully transparent, and vocal mode (lets voices through)
• Normal (no noise reduction)

I found Transport mode useful for reducing the droning when working in a school gym with a noisy fan heating system. The app includes a widget so that I can switch noise reduction directly from the Android phone's home screen.

For the touch button, I can set it for

• play-pause
• volume up-down
• next-previous track
• toggle voice assistance, or
• change ambient noise reduction mode

I could assign four of these -- to double-tap, hold for two seconds, and separately for left and right sides -- but that's too much to remember. If I need to "pause" the music, I just pull the earbud out of my ear. The music actually doesn't pause (unlike another set of earbuds, which did, and which I found annoying).

These earbuds worked well for taking phone calls: after two rings, the phone is answered automatically. When the other person hangs up, the music resume automatically.

 

Carrying Case Charger

The carrying case is a charger and has a rounded shape that fits nicely into my hand. The three white LEDs show the amount of charge remaining in the charger; it contains its own battery that allows me to recharge the headphones on the go. 

Soundcore claims the batteries in the earbuds run for 7 hours, and that the carrying case can recharge the earbuds enough times for total listening time of 35 hours. I have worn them for 5 hours without the batteries running out. If you need the earbuds to really last a long time, use only one at a time; they automatically go into mono mode when only one earbud is removed from the case.

The carrying case is charged with a USB-C connector, and Soundcore claims that 10 minutes recharges it to run another 1.5 hours. I didn't test this, but given that all three components have small batteries, recharging would be quick.

 

Downsides

I have a couple of complaints about these. The earbuds are not clearly marked Left and Right, and putting them back into the case is always a confusing process, I find.

 

Conclusion

Nevertheless, the technology in this kind of earbud is remarkable: packed inside each earbud is

• Bluetooth receiver (from phone)
• Bluetooth transmitter (back to phone, such as reporting the battery level)
• Battery that lasts up to seven hours
• Touch sensitive panel
• LED for reporting Bluetooth connection status
• Multiple microphones to hear outside sound and your voice for phone calls
• Noise reduction circuitry
• Charging connectors
• DAC chip to covert digital signal to analog sound
• Flash RAM to remember the settings
• Oh, and the earphone part -- that's all important!

I have found that I do not need to spend Apple level of $$$ or have little dangly things on earbuds. Great-sounding headphones and earbuds these days tend to cost about $40-$80. 

https://us.soundcore.com/collections/true-wireless/products/life-a2-nc

 

How to Decode Android WiFi Password QR Codes

Plain as day

 

I was faced with the problem of my Windows laptop not connecting to a relative's WiFi. He had given me the password to my Android phone through QR code, and that worked. But when I typed in the password he gave me into my Windows laptop, the router refused to allow it.

Andorid normally hides WiFi passwords with texts that reads "(unchanged)". I wondered if I could get the password from the QR code, translating the array of small squares into English. I could. Here's how.

This method uses a second Android phone:

1. On the Android phone that successfully connected to the WiFi, display the QR code of the password. I have found that different variants of Android put the code in different places. Here is one location: Settings > Network & Internet > WiFi > tap the gear icon, and then the QR code is displayed. On another Android, I found I needed to scroll down the list of WiFi networks and tap on an item labelled QR Code.
   
   
   
2. With a second Android, open an app that reads QR codes. This is a stand-alone app that you download from Google's Play store.
   
   
3. The app prompts you to point the phone camera at the QR code.
   
   
   
4. After a moment, the app displays the human-readable version of the WiFi router's SSID, password, and security type.

Spatial's 3D Insider's Summit conference 2022

Live from Munich

 

Alright, here we are in Munich, my first trip overseas in 2.5 years. For a decade or two, it was normal for me to commute to Europe and other fascinating places in the world several times a year. Heck, I timed my shopping trips in Europe to replenish those things that aren't available or are more expensive in North America.

So, I am in Munich for the Dassault Systems Spatial conference, while most of the rest of the CAD media is in Detroit. Dassault Systemes (Spatial) and arch-rival Siemens planned conferences for the same day, coincidence, I am sure. Both CAD vendors announced a date, but not the location, with things being up in the air so much. In-person Solidworks World (er, 3Dexperience World) was, after all, cancelled with just a few weeks to go.

As it was,  Spatial announced Munich first, and so I booked the trip; Siemens announced Detroit with just four weeks notice, and so this morning I am not in Michigan. Roopinder Tara reports from Detroit on his CAD Insider blog: thecadinsider.com/2022/04/back-in-the-circuit.html.

The two conferences are very different. The Siemens one is specifically directed at the CAD media and analysts, and so those guys and gals have their airfare and hotel paid for by Siemens. The Spatial one is directed at programmers and customers; I may be the only media person here. Disclosure: Spatial paid my hotel and provided all participants some corporate gifts (like a blank book and pen), one of which I am still trying to figure out. (It's round and white and plastic.)

This Spatial event is broadcast live online at info.spatial.com/2022-insiders-summit-broadcast-registration. The sessions are being recorded for later viewing.

 

The Importance of Spatial, ODA, et al

I consider the conferences put on by Spatial, Open Design Alliance, and similar firms to be the most important in the industry. These are the companies that determine the future of the CAD software we all use. They write the code that undergirds functions like data translation, solids and surface modeling, constraints, rendering, and even some aspects of the user interface.

By attending this conference, I learn what is in the pipeline for you.

 

Overview of Spatial Products
Spatial makes two lines of products based on two kernels, ACIS and CGM. ACIS was the first solid modeler licensed on the market, going back to the 1980s, and it continues to be the basis of CAD programs like BricsCAD and IronCAD. CGM is the kernel used by CAD software from Dassault Systemes, and Spatial has the job of licensing it to other CAD vendors. From what I know, CGM is not [updated] as popular as ACIS outside of Dassault, but [updated] is much more powerful than ACIS, and so some features of CGM, like polyhedral modeling, are being ported to ACIS.

The primary competitor to ACIS is Siemens with its Parasolid kernel. It is my understanding that Parasolid is more commonly used than ACIS. There are some oddities in the industry. IronCAD uses both ACIS and Parasolid. Solidworks, a Dassault program, uses Parasolid. Autodesk uses ShapeManager, which is based on ACIS but developed independently.

The theme for this 2022 Spatial conference is "being a trusted partner." Spatial plans to do that thru three phases:

1. Trusted partner thru ALM -- application lifecycle management -- applications that become decades old (think AutoCAD turning 40 next year).
2. Workflow-based solutions
3. Expertise available in different flavors

"We are expert in geometry; it's what we do. But we have to make sure we match your workflows." To so this, Spatial relooked at what it means to provide expertise. For instance, it improved its definition of "done" to mean the product is ready to use by customers. Spatial now provides dedicated people in a variety of locations in the world to support customers. Finally, Spatial tries to make sure that updates are meaningful across all APIs (application programming interfaces).

"We are very excited about the future, about all the problems to solve."

 

Despite what this photo seems to show, the room is in fact mostly full.

 

Overview of Spatial's Portfolio

Spatial has

• 3D modelers
• 3D InterOp
• 3D Precise mesh
• Bridges to HOOPS (from 3D Tech Soft)

In addition to porting polyhedral modeling from CGM to ACIS, Spatial is considering move feature recognition to ACIS, as well. This came about because ACIS customers did not want to have to also implement CGM just to access those functions.

Geometric translation is important as designers want to access the data and meta data in drawings from other CAD systems.

Spatial continues to improve simulation, which involves model preparation (remove unnecessary details to speed up the simulation computation time), Boolean-ing parts together (to turn multiple parts into one to simplify the simulation process), and mesh generation (because simulation works on individual cubes of the model).

In subtractive manufacturing (machining), customers are interested in determining ahead of time how much each operation will cost -- grinding or drilling or turning. PMI helps make these cost estimates. Also, customers want less human interaction -- maybe even getting rid of expert machinists entirely [booo!] -- so, determining automating drill sequences of holes, workpiece orientation, and bounding fences of rough cuts.

For sheet metal work, Spatial software can unbend and cut 3D models automatically, along with recognizing features in sheet metal parts.

In additive manufacturing (3D printing), Spatial  is improving slicing performance; the next release will expose 3D nesting, borrowed from Delmia. Spatial is working on adding more supports and different kinds of support shapes, like cones. 

Polyhedral modeling is modeling with "natural shapes," like teeth in gums or tunnels through mountains. A new feature is mesh deformation, so that there is space between teeth for flossing. Still working on more tools for healing meshes. Reverse engineering of scanned data to produce a b-rep model "is still a ways off," but they do have edge detection. 

Spatial is working on supporting non-CAD graphical data, such as from Viz, and converting portions to b-rep (CAD models). There is work being done by Spatial on AR/VR and BIM/IFCs, which involve huge models. InterOp reads IFC and Revit, and will soon write IFCs.

To improve QA (quality assurance), Spatial now offers alpha and beta versions to test that things work when the release is finalized. Working to improve performance in large models with Booleans and clash detection, along with faster releases.

Spatial sees a move from C++ to C# for programming; Linux support is finally available. A Mac version for the new ARM-based M1 CPU will be available in the fall. Spatial is still working on learning what customers want to do with the cloud; Spatial has cloud APIs available. Finally, Spatial is making sure their code has no cyber vulnerabilities.

https://www.spatial.com/

 

Practical Help for Ukraine

Mission Without Borders

 

 

Back in upFront.eZine issue #1,126, I wrote...

"If you would like to donate to an agency that has already been helping people in Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania for decades now (“boots on the ground”), and which upFront.eZine  supports annually, then I would like to suggest Mission Without Borders at mwbca.org/ukraine. We did. Donations are used to provide emergency aid and food packages for people in eastern Ukraine. (Tax receipts available for Canadian donors only.)"

 

I found an international debit card

Killing the exchange rate

The only benefit to the EU was its original function: a single currency for many countries. Never mind that my German relatives were disgusted by stores switching DM to Euros, leaving the numbers unchanged, meaning everything doubled in price, overnight.

For us non-European travelers, having a single currency is so-o-o convenient. Unless, of course, we also went to England. Or to Switzerland. Or to Sweden...

Over the years, I employed a variety of ways to pay for things with our Canadian dollars in Europe:

• American Express travelers cheques -- remember those? 
• Withdrawing Euro cash from European bank machines with my Canadian bank card -- once too often experiencing machines that didn't work right when I needed more cash urgently!
• Using my credit card -- at a terrible exchange rate plus service fee
• Purchasing Euros in Canada when the exchange rate was optimal -- but then carrying 1,000 Euros in cash on my person.

After the WHO shut down the world, one fallout was from currency exchange locations going out of business. Looking ahead to my upcoming trip to Germany, I found there was exactly 1 within 50km. I went there, and the proprietor said he didn't have any Euros, but could get some in a week. Or maybe in two weeks. I declined.

Then Wise (formerly TransferWise) released their debit card to Canadians. It took me a bit to figure out how it works, and it seems like a brilliant solution. Wise charges a low fee (no, this is not an ad I am writing for them!) and exchanges funds at the current exchange rate -- no markups. Banks often charge 6% difference in exchange rates, as well as charge a fee on top. The spread in exchange rates has worsened over the years.

A 7-cent difference for Canadian-US cash at my bank

(Wise doe not actually moving any funds across borders: they debit funds in one currency in one country, and then credit the other currency in the other country. I use Wise to "move" funds to and from clients and family in Europe, saving as much as $32 each time in bank fees.)

Here is how the Wise debit card works:

1. Move funds from your bank to your Wise account. In my case, I "pay a bill" on my bank account to Wise. The funds remain in in Wise account in my local currency, Canadian in my case.
2. When I need money in another currency, such as Euros, I move funds from Canadian to Euros within the Wise app. There is a small fee, like a dollar or two.
3. 
4. I can now use the debit card to make purchases in Europe, with no service fee. While still in Canada, I tried this out by using the Wise card to pay for seat reservations through Deutsche Bahn's Web site. It worked. I paid e8 instead of (roughly) $12.
5. I can move funds between currencies at any time, and it takes a second or two. I try to wait when the exchange rate is favorable, like this morning (red circle) from xe.com/currencycharts/?from=EUR&to=CAD&view=1W.

Waiting for the Canadian-Euro exchange rate to bottom out

If I do not use all the Euros on a trip, then I can convert them to, say, US$, should I have a trip to USA. Or back to Canadian funds. Each time, though, Wise charges its fee.

The card works as a debit card in Canada (I tested it), but it cannot be used to withdraw funds in Canada. I look forward to seeing if I can use it withdraw Euro cash from a European bank machine.

(Tip: Wise lets you specify an exchange rate, at which point Wise converts a set amount automatically. Useful when the exchange rate bottoms out in the middle of the night!)

 

 

 

Why we love not flying

It is Cancel culture, but in the real world

 

With all my international travel over the decades, we actually got to the point we were planning shopping trips in Germany: "No point buying it here [in Canada], we'll get it next time we're in Germany." Then the WHO shut down the world, but after 2.5 years we are finally booked for Germany again. Quite frankly, as much as we love travelling overseas, we found not-flying a rather pleasant experience. But, as we have family in Europe, it was time to see them again.

When it comes to flying across oceans, I prefer Air Canada over the other airlines. But Air Canada was not yet ready to fly non-stop from Vancouver to Germany, so we are going Lufthansa, our #2 choice. Inside Germany, we travel with Deutsche Bahn, second class (which feels like an airplane's first class) with reserved seats. 

(Tip: Germany no longer requires covid testing for arriving passengers who have at least two doses of the approved vaccines.)

Everything was booked! Then came the cancellations.

 

Cancelled Train 

"Timetable change for your trip to Berlin Hbf (tief)." DB wrote that our train was cancelled, and that we needed to manually book a different one. Best as I can tell, the high-speed ICE train to Berlin (3 hours) was replaced exactly on our date by a slower locomotive, so the trip would now take 5.5 hours.

I re-booked, but never did figure out how to get back our $24 seat reservation and cancellation insurance fees for the cancelled train.

 

Cancelled Flight

"ACTION REQUIRED: Your Air Canada flight has changed." Air Canada wrote that our Lufthansa flight was cancelled, but that we had been re-booked for another one. I just needed to click the button to accept the changed reservation, or else cancel it and then choose a different flight. The button showed the name of the button's variable, and so it did not work in four brands of Web browser on three computers -- an HTML coding error. 

No button, no click

Examining the changed flights carefully, I could see no difference: same flight numbers, same departure times, same arrival times.

Spot the difference

I phoned the airline (Air Canada, through whom I had booked the flight) and was pleased that they offered a callback service. As I waited, I finally found the difference: our seating class had changed from N to E, but still in Premium Economy. The agent confirmed that that was the only change, but could not explain why it happened, or what the difference between N and E is. Neither could the Internet.

The agent kindly offered to book our seats while on the phone, but then realized she couldn't, as the flight was with Lufthansa. Lufthansa told me they would charge $364 to reserve seats early.

 

Cancelled Plane

I was puzzled why the flight from MUC to NUE would take two hours, instead of the normal one hour. Again, it took a while to figure out the difference. The "flight," LH3806, it turns out, is a bus.

Spot the bus

Other than taking twice as long, we don't mind taking long-distance buses in Europe, as they also are luxurious. Being a bus ride, I wondered if we could disembark early, so that our relatives would not have to drive to NUE to pick us up. Nope, it's non-stop, airport to airport, almost as if it were a real plane.

 

Cancelled Insurance

Our credit card had been giving us travel health insurance over the years, but I wondered if it covered us should we get covid while travelling.

(The answer seems to be: you are not covered if your government recommends against international travel.)

I made a half-dozen attempts to get through to CanAssist, the insurance firm -- email, phone calls, online chats -- and all were rebuffed. When I called the credit card company direct, the call was redirected to the wrong insurance company. Blue Cross, the agent told me, had not handled this credit card in quit a few years, and he was puzzled why he was still getting redirects.

As I perused the credit card's impregnable Web site, I found that we, in fact, had no insurance. Now that were were older, the duration of coverage was cut in half. As our trip was longer than the duration, we had no coverage at all.

Followed by a frantic search for travel health insurance from elsewhere. The one we got does cover covid.

 

Cancelled Covid Test

While I was making all the travel arrangements, the Canadian government still required a covid test in the country from which we would be returning to Canada.

(Tip: Flying into Canada, everyone needs to download the ArriveCAN app for your phone, and then fill in the information required: personal data, passport info, covid vaccinations, for you and your travelling companions. Government of Canada now carries out random covid tests upon arrival, and you do not need to quarantine while awaiting the result.)

So I booked with the official test center at BER -- $122. Then the Canadian government rescinded the requirement. I wrote the email address provided for "Further questions regarding the order or payment?" requesting the refund, but received no reply. Wrote again, no reply. I was getting tense, as refunds were provided only within 14 days.

So, time to search for solutions, again. It turns out the covid reservation site is run by ticket.io, which is like a TicketMaster for Germany, and offers their Web site in English. The testing is done by a firm in Koln, whose Web site is in German. Through the assistance of Google Translate, I found a phone number, but did not relish the idea of having to speak in bureaucratic German, which is a language all of its own. While dithering over making the phone call at a timezone-appropriate moment, I spied an unlikely email address, and was desperate enough to try it. Five minutes later, I had my refund.

The $122 refund will go towards the $624 travel insurance premium.

 

The Secret of Premium Economy

When I last flew to Europe, I discovered the secret of premium economy. Briefly, this is like flying business class at a cost that's lower than full-fare economy. Airlines dedicate only 3 or 4 rows to this class, and fit seven seats across a width that in economy is ten or 11 seats across.

The 3x7 entirety of premium economy

Here is the pricing for a flight leaving next Monday, YVR-MUC:

• $1,164 - cheapest economy
• $1,924 - most expensive economy
• $1,619 - premium economy
• $5,927 - business class

Instead of being squeezed into cattle class, you get

• Two suitcases and a carry-on free
• Early boarding
• Dedicated flight attendant
• Big wide seats with lots of knee room and leg rests
• A travel kit
• Pre-flight drink
• Offered a paper menu of meal choices
• Served on china with stainless cutlery
• Can change flights with no service fee

In general, you are treated like a human being again.

 

Not Cancelled

At least our booking for airport parking hasn't been cancelled -- yet.