Dassault Systemes says that its V6 platform -- CATIA, DELMIA, SIMULIA, and ENOVIA -- is scheduled for be available in May 2008. Link. Read more →
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Dassault Systemes says that its V6 platform -- CATIA, DELMIA, SIMULIA, and ENOVIA -- is scheduled for be available in May 2008. Link. Read more →
Posted at 01:55 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (1)
The Mount St Helens Webcam is sometimes host to monster-size bugs that land on its lens. Or view-destroying snow drifts. Today, a gnome made it up to the Webcam, and posted a message. (I had to process the image a fair amount to read the message.) ("I will get the show?") Read more →
Posted at 11:56 AM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (2)
Inventor 2009 arrived last week. Opening the plastic case, I found four DVDs. Four! See illustration. I showed off the package to my son. At first, he was not clear as to why he should be impressed. After all, some of his computer games came on six CDs, he told me. I casually remarked that these were DVDs, not CDs. He was impressed. For all the talk from Autodesk about unified user interfaces, imagine my surprise when I found that the AutoCAD 2009-based Mechanical software doesn't gain the Microsoft-inspired ribbon. The Ribbon command instead brings up the old Dashboard. Read more →
Posted at 10:35 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (1)
Not Working Hardy Heron -- I upgraded my dad's old Compaq Presario 3000 from Ubuntu v7.1 to v8.x. The upgrade was largely automatic, but took more than five hours -- probably from the first-day rush of "everyone" else doing the same. Upon rebooting, 'Hardy Heron' did not recognize the wireless networking card. After spending an hour trying different things, I finally gave up and did what Canonical said I wouldn't: "You Won't Go Back." After reinstalling v7.1, I began to check out what Ubuntu would -- and wouldn't -- work with: Multi-button Mouse -- the basic mouse driver works, but... Read more →
Posted at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
One of several extinct volcanoes that surround Auckland, New Zealand: Read more →
Posted at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
In all the years I've been experimenting with Linux, I've never been able to install software or drivers or browser plug-ins. If I was going to be going on the road withe HP's Mini-Note running Linux, I'd first have to learn how to do that. Once I got Ubuntu Linux running on my dad's old Compaq 3000 notebook computer, I began to test the software I would need on the road. Word Processor Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice, so a word processor is "built-in." I tried running Google Docs in FireFox, and it worked just fine -- the documents and spreadsheets... Read more →
Posted at 03:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Microsoft press release, dated 24 April 2008: Microsoft Reports Record Third-Quarter Revenue Bloomberg.com news report, dated 24 April 2008: Microsoft Profit Drops; Forecast May Miss Estimates Read more →
Posted at 08:53 PM in The Microsoft Chronicles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Autodesk is upping the amount it guestimates it'll make in the coming quarters: This Quarter: $590 - $595 million revenue, up from the previous guess of $575 - $585 million. Next Quarter: $600 - $610 million, up from $590 million. This Year: $2.45 - $2.5 billion, up from $2.43 - $2.48 billion. Hopefully Not Bad News for Employees: "Autodesk said during the first quarter, it will spend about $8 million on cost reduction initiatives." Oops, I forgot: the company already laid off a bunch. The share price jumped $2 on the news, but still has a ways to go to... Read more →
Posted at 02:11 PM in CAD: Financials | Permalink | Comments (1)
Graphisoft invented GDL as a way to define intelligent objects and parameterize symbols. Geometric Description Language works with ArchiCAD and even AutoCAD, but never got much further than ArchiCAD. Yesterday the Hungarian CAD company (now owned by Germany's Nemetschek) made noises about GDL for the first time in a long time. FormFonts, the leading provider of high quality Google SketchUp models, is partnering with Graphisoft to develop, host and share GDL building content libraries. Okay, so marketing managed to work "Google SketchUp" into the press release, but neither SKD nor Google Warehouse have anything to do with GDL. Instead, this... Read more →
Posted at 01:27 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0)
HP Canada continues to taunt Canadians by listing the Mini-Note computer on its hp.ca Web site, but won't sell it -- nor list an availability date. HP Canada's pre-sales support has been spectacularly unhelpful: -- When the Mini-Note was announced for the USA, I asked when it would be available in Canada. "We don't know that kind of information," was the response, paraphrased. A few days later, the five versions of the computer appeared on the Canadian Web site with no publicity -- but not for sale. -- When I asked why the Mini-Note could not be purchased direct from... Read more →
Posted at 05:58 AM in Hardware | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
PTC's non-GAAP results for Q2: -- revenue of $259.5 million, up 14%. -- net income of $18.8 million, up 8%. For Q3, the company expects revenues of $260 - $270 million, nearly flat. For the year, PTC expects revenues of $1.06 billion. Details. Read more →
Posted at 05:20 AM in CAD: Financials | Permalink | Comments (0)
HP's Mini-Note computer runs SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 from Novell. If I eventually buy such a computer, it would be good for me to check that I can live with Linux -- ahead of laying down $550+tax. My dad gave me one of his older notebook computers. How old? So old that this Compaq 3000-series doesn't have built-in wireless networking. So old that it runs an actual Pentium 4 CPU at 2.4GHz. Since Windows XP had gotten itself screwed up, he gave the hardware to me. Since I had a copy of it laying around, I ran the Live... Read more →
Posted at 03:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Now a press release from KUBOTEK: When Kubotek announced in 2004 that we were pursuing an alternative to the mainstream, history-based modeling approach we knew it was a revolutionary concept. We've been in a unique position to observe this technology trend come to prominence in the Mechanical CAD market over the last three years. The company announces KeyCreator 7.5 today with new ability to calculate mass properties of polygon mesh models, as well as mixed polygonal and solid models. Also: improvements to sheet metal design and dimension-driven design. www.kubotekusa.com Read more →
Posted at 12:03 PM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0)
6:55am: The company has been hinting at amazing new CAD software to be announced today. Will it live up to its maker's hype? Let's find out... 6:59am: The Web site has changed to declare, "Discover Synchronous Technology now" -- synchronous meaning happening at the same time. 7:02am: We're watching a canned Flash video that keeps stalling -- too many viewers? 7:04am: A "Breakthough" that will be be installed throughout Siemens. Now being introduced is... 7:05am: Video has complete stalled now. 7:06am: It's president Helmuth Ludwig, introducing the kinds of breakthroughs Siemens has introduced over the last 100+ years, like the... Read more →
Posted at 06:55 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (2)
Geoffrey York writes in yesterday's Globe&Mail that "China stalls North American auto move." Much of the story is about companies like Cherry saying that it will take at least four more years before their cheap vehicles are available for sale in the USA and Canada. The excuses: The USA is the world's toughest market; more time is needed to set up the dealer network; cars need to be built of sufficient quality for the American consumer; the Russian and Asian markets are exploding. Left unsaid is the real reason: safety. Chinese car makers were ready to enter the European market... Read more →
Posted at 01:46 AM in Impractical | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
COFES 2008 is over. I missed filing my report of the last day due to cumulative hangovers from previous nights. Then I was in Atlanta for a business meeting, and finally I found myself back in India. I am still struggling to find my coordinates in space and time. Day 3 Keynotes Anyway, the third day of COFES went somewhat like this. Two keynote speeches followed morning breakfast. Mills Davis is founder and managing director of Project 10x, a research and consultancy company specializing in next wave semantic technologies and solutions. He spoke about innovation and the Web. But what... Read more →
Posted at 10:39 AM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (0)
As my dad watched my daughter washing his car last sunny Saturday, he notice she was listening to music. Those white earbud headphones dangled their thin cord to a pocket in her shorts. He asked me what she was listening to, so we showed him the iPod. "This 4GB model," I explained, "holds about 60 CDs worth of music." My dad didn't think he had that much music to listen to, but the idea intrigued him. "I could use something like that when I drive my tractor [up north on his small farm]." I knew exactly which one to get... Read more →
Posted at 01:39 AM in MP3 Players | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Algerian desert looks like a precious gemstone: Read more →
Posted at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The hp.ca Web site today began listing the Mini-Note 3122 ultralight notebook computer. Price and initial configurations are the same as in USA. One problem: you can't buy it (yet). HP.ca lists the Web-only price, available only when purchasing it through hpshopping.ca. But the hp.ca page lacks the Buy Now or Add to Cart buttons, and hpshopping.ca doesn't know about it, either. Everything Old is New Again Suddenly I thought back to my first notebook computer with a color screen -- a diminutive unit from Daewoo model 7400S. I hauled it out of storage, and wondered about the dimensions. They... Read more →
Posted at 06:12 PM in Hardware | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
My old Lexmark laser printer used to come with huge toner cartridges that lasted about 1.5 years. Since I replaced it with an HP 1320 laser printer (love that duplex printing!), I've had to live with cartridges that last half as long. Today I comparison shopped for a new cartridge, and the price differences were eye-opening! The 1320 uses the '49A cartridge: FutureShop.ca -- $113 Staples.ca -- $88 LondonDrugs.ca -- $85 CorporateExpress.ca -- $84 BestBuy.ca -- not available But then I found a better money saver at CorporateExpress.ca: a two-pack of the '49X high-capacity cartridge for $303 ($151.50 each). Each... Read more →
Posted at 07:38 AM in Hardware | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Economic Times interviews Jeff Ray, new CEO of the SolidWorks division of Dassault Systemes on its arrival in India. Highlights from the interview by Chiranjoy Sen: -- Currently at $380 million; goal is $1 billion in four years by outgrowing the rest of the industry. [That requires a growth of 30% a year!] -- One way to grow is to add more software products, primarily around CAD. -- The focus in 2008 is on performance, reliability, and scalability; future focus is on communicating designs. Quote: To make it easier for engineers to communicate great designs to a broader audience... Read more →
Posted at 02:42 PM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (2)
Microsoft marketing launched Vista with a single word, "Wow!" A launch phrase so vacuous served as an unintended warning of the operating system's lackluster content. It takes some time to reverse engineer marketing slogans, but I think I've finally achieved it. WOW is short for... Windows, ow! Read more →
Posted at 05:11 PM in The Microsoft Chronicles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Marin Independent Journal reports Autodesk is cutting jobs for the reason of efficiency: The San Rafael-based computer-aided design software company made the cuts to employees in its Platform Solutions and Emerging Business Division, said Colleen Rubart. About half were based in Marin. The ADSK share price continues to falter, down roughly $20 from its 52-week high of $52. Read more →
Posted at 08:59 AM in CAD: Financials | Permalink | Comments (0)
Alibre is giving away its new CAM Xpress free, but only to a selected group of users. In Google GMail fashion, the Elect will be permitted to invite others (the Sub Elect) to also get their free copy of CAM Xpress (formerly Alibre CAM). The related Web page is vague as to how one qualifies, other than to leave one's email address. What do you get for free? Not a lot, obviously: * Profiling (2.5 axis). * Horizontal roughing and parallel finishing (3 axis). * Drilling, including user-defined drill cycles. * Hole sorting. * Some post-processing. * Tool path and... Read more →
Posted at 01:50 AM in Free CAD Software | Permalink | Comments (2)
Boston is one of my favorite cities. Joel On Software is planning a programmer's conference for September, and describes the city: Boston is absolutely beautiful in September. The weather is usually perfect. You can go kayaking on the Charles [River] or take the Duck Tour(*) if you're unambitious. Over 250,000 college students have just arrived, full of completely unjustifiable hope and optimism. The summer tourist crowd has mostly gone home so you can get into museums and historical sites. There are plenty of coffee shops that aren't NASDAQ-listed. Unfortunately, last time I was in Boston, it was middle of July... Read more →
Posted at 11:49 AM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (4)
Think3 shut down most of its operations in the USA a couple of years ago, but is now looking for a comeback. Says its press release: Think3 ... wants to expand its sales presence in USA, looking for new VARs. The company hopes to build a network of American resellers in 2008 offering these products: * thinkreverse (new) - reverse engineering. * thinkID - A-class complex surfaces. * thinkcompensator - mold tooling and sheetmetal. * thinkdesign - 3D MCAD. * thinkPLM and thinkteam - PLM. www.think3.com/it/company/var_world.aspx Read more →
Posted at 09:54 AM in CAD: Financials | Permalink | Comments (1)
A myriad of lakes in Canada's north take on the look of the close-up of a leaf: Read more →
Posted at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Report by Deelip Menezes: The second day of COFES 2008 began with the keynote speech by Karl Ulrich, a CIBC professor from Wharton. He spoke about his upcoming book, Innovation Tournaments: Creating, Selecting and Developing Exceptional Opportunities. Basically he described an approach to pick the best idea for a business venture from a list of ideas. There were some enlightening aspects, but it seemed to me that everything else was more or less simple common sense -- with the addition of a litany of charts, graphs, diagrams, and statistical analysis jargon. I always have a problem with overdoses of charts... Read more →
Posted at 03:17 AM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (3)
My two-year-old Palm TX is in perfect shape -- except for the serious misalignment of the digitizer. (I'll write more about the problem in another posting.) Yet, it is nearly dead. More accurately, the PalmPilot concept is nearly dead -- for me, and for most of the market. Business people would rather have the equivalent of a PalmPilot in their cell phones, and so the Treo and iPhone are popular. For me, the PalmPilot began to die following our family's once-in-a-lifetime trip together to New Zealand. Due to a syncing problem, I lost all the daily notes I took during... Read more →
Posted at 12:58 PM in Hardware | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Deelip Menezes reports for WorldCAD Access from COFES 2008: COFES 2008 started Thursday afternoon with presentations on varied topics, the first by Kathleen Maher from Jon Peddie Research. She spoke on "The Practicality Gap" -- the causes for good products failing. Second was Ken Hall from Gensler, who spoke on "The Sustainability Paradox". He painted a sad picture of how we are using our resources as a civilization, and what we need to do to prevent doomsday. From what I gathered, neither our governments nor we citizens appear to be in the mood for implementing his recommendations. CAD At the... Read more →
Posted at 08:28 AM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (6)
As an author whose books are sold into technical college courses, I have some insight into why college textbooks cost $100 or more, each. 1. The college bookstore takes 40% for itself. Just as many colleges overcharge for meals and residences, they charge full list price for textbooks. Some colleges, such as Columbia Bible Collage, do students a favor by charging less than full price for textbooks -- sometimes even less than Amazon.com's price. 2. Amazon.com's massive discounts drives up cover prices. The impact of Amazon offering you larger discounts is that you pay more for books. When Amazon demands... Read more →
Posted at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Autodesk Labs now has a XVL exporter for Inventor 2008 for download here. XVL is a highly compressed 3D format for viewing CAD models using the viewer from Lattice Technologies. In addition to the usual viewing options, XVL Player also does: -- Display color contours. -- Several rendering styles. -- Selectable element displays. -- Surface processing. -- 3D animations with support for hot links and triggers. -- Scriptable via JavaScript and VBScript. Download the XVL Player free from here, after registration. PostScript The CEO of Lattice Technology, Hiroshi Toriya, has written a book on "3D Manufacturing Innovation: Revolutionary Change in... Read more →
Posted at 01:01 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0)
WikiLeaks is apparently a bullet-proof site for hosting controversial documents, whether formerly-secret manuals belonging to the Church of Scientology or cellphone videos of bloodied Tibetans. "Have documents the world needs to see? We protect you and get your disclosure out to the world," announces the site. Problem is, are the documents accurate? As the site proudly proclaims, "We aim for maximum political impact," which means verification is secondary. The protestor wants the touch run extinguished, because of he thinks it stands for; the athlete wants to continue running with it, lit, because of she thinks it stands for. Both reasons... Read more →
Posted at 06:55 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0)
Autodesk showed AutoCAD v2.5 in June 1986 at the AEC Systems show in Chicago. I have Autodesk's brochure from back then, and it's interesting to read what was considered "new" in 22 years ago: -- AutoCAD had more than 50,000 users. -- Autodesk recommended 640KB RAM, but this release of AutoCAD also had Expanded/Extended Memory Support for computers running the then very expensive 80286 CPU. -- regen-free zooms and pans. You can see the list of new commands in the figure below. Autodesk cheated by making the ellipses from short polyline segments. Real ellipses would come later. Still, you can... Read more →
Posted at 01:05 AM in Blast from the Past | Permalink | Comments (3)
The Australian outback is painted by simple lines made of roads: Read more →
Posted at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Henry Bloget explains why there may be very few IPOs (initial public offerings) any more: There's one sure way to make sure investors don't lose money in initial public offerings: Make sure there are none. ...there has been exactly one (1) ONE Valley IPO this year. Why does no one go public anymore? ...in part because our legislators have made it outrageously expensive to go public, especially for small tech companies. ...In this environment, what sentient CEO wouldn't choose an M&A [merger and acquisition] exit route? Full blog entry here: Hey, Sarbanes and Oxley, You Killed Our IPO Market--Are You... Read more →
Posted at 01:33 AM in CAD: Financials | Permalink | Comments (0)
These days, software packages are either inexistant (those downloaded from the Web) or a let-down (who designed in all that plain brown cardboard filler?) You pay $4000 or $6000 for software and get -- a disc with a couple of leaflets. Last you got less. This year, lesser. You want a printed manual? That's a penny-pinching $$$ extra. Anyhow, opening software boxes was exciting in the 1980s. How many diskettes will this software upgrade boast? Over how many feet of bookcase will the fatter-than-ever documentation rule? But then it became dull as dust in the 2000s. Last week, VectorWorks Nemetschek... Read more →
Posted at 01:59 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (3)
One BIM isn't enough, for Bentley Systems has created another: Bridge Information Modeling, with the r-ized acronym "BrIM." Explains the press release: This end-to-end solution will enable the transportation industry to efficiently and effectively address the challenges of new and aging bridges and deliver sustainable, long-lasting infrastructure. Lofty ideals, to be sure. Too bad nobody's got any money to sustain bridges 'til after they fall down. Read more →
Posted at 11:05 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sometimes, technical editor Bill Fane uses commands as excuses for jokes. Here's one for the Stretch command: And one for the Time command: Once in a rare while, copy editor Stephen Dunning manages one. His contribution for the Trim command. Notice that he alerts us his humour through the use of the :) happy face. Read more →
Posted at 06:31 AM in Reviews of Books | Permalink | Comments (0)
...other than because of its excessively slow speed, of course. #1 Reason to Hate Vista: display problems. (I already know that Microsoft's astroturfing drones will announce self-righteously that device drivers aren't Microsoft's problem, and I would reply, I don't care, there is just one customer. Got problems with the Microsoft-written OS, and HP has to foot the support bill -- how'd HP and other manufacturers let themselves get suckered into that one?) Anyhow... My Vista-running HP notebook has nVidia graphics, and I can't count the number of problems I have with a second monitor attached. Here's a partial list: --... Read more →
Posted at 01:34 AM in Hardware | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
No postings today, because it is April 1 (other than this one). I find April 1 to be a hard day to read news -- especially for someone who spends a couple of hours each day perusing a multitude of sites. Which news item is true? And which is a fool? Worst of it is that April Fool's Day tricks are spilling into 31 March, such as this "news" item that appeared a day early: Microsoft is adding ray-tracing to DirectX 11 and shipping it this fall -- but limited to running on 8-core CPUs from Intel and Intel GPUs. Read more →
Posted at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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