WorldCAD Access

AI Isn’t in CAD

Opinion Generative design (image source Autodesk) Matt Lombard wrote about his thoughts of AI and CAD at https://dezignstuff.com/cad-and-ai, which caused me to think about what he said. There is a huge gap in what so-called AI can do now, and what we wish it could do to help take over tedious tasks: Step 1: AI is amazing! Step 2: ??? Step 3: AI is actually useful. As Matt noted, AI is mostly used by marketing, and AI firms are desperate to maintain their valuations by promising AGI RSN (real AI, real soon now). I think that what CAD vendors call... Read more →

I Can Understand Why Logitech Wanted to Charge for Software

Logitech's 25th anniversary ClearCase mouse Opinion The ceo of Logitech caused a stir, musing about charging a subscription for software that helps its hardware (source). We would be paying over and over again to use a really well-built, $200 mouse, she reflected. The idea was laughed off the pages of the tech press, the idea was retracted. Good Idea I think I understand why Logitech broached the idea. It writes software that lets us customize how the mouse works -- its buttons, its wheel, its motion, even options specific to specific applications. This costs money. Then, Logitech frequently updates the... Read more →

How I Lost Faith in iTunes

Opinion For music lovers in Canada, iTunes is pretty much our only go-to for buying albums online. I tried a few of the others, like Google Music and HMV, but I found them too painful to use. Despite trillionaire Apple taking 30% from struggling musicians, I liked that iTunes kept track of what I have already bought in my song library, now at 2,810 pieces. Also nice that Apple keeps a copy of all my purchases on the cloud. Should I lose a computer (as I once nearly did on a business trip through Stockholm airport), I can re-download my... Read more →

Prismatic Generative Design

Opinion Generative design optimization has a big problem, in my opinion. It’s been around for a long time (since 1994), and it seems to be just not that popular. Michael Bogomolny formed a new company whose InfinitForm software outputs prismatic generative designs that can be cut by regular machine tools, which are much more common, much faster, and much cheaper than 3D printing. I interviewed Mr Bogomolny last week. Here is our chit-chat, edited for clarity and brevity. Ralph Grabowski: I want to talk about your current company, InfinitForm, but also get a little bit of background on CogniCAD, your... Read more →