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COFES Blog
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Author: |
Joel Orr |
Created: |
4/15/2006 |
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Joel thinks about and comments on all kinds of stuff |
By Joel Orr on
12/4/2007
From Ralph Grabowski's upFront eZine:
Research and Markets finds that high-end MCAD is in its death spiral, at least in Europe: "The mid range segment, that has already clearly overrun the value of the High-end segment, representing more than half of the whole MCAD market, is growing at +20% annually, leaving behind the high-end segment with an annual decrease of 5%." The details'll cost you e1950 (about US$2,900) at this site.
Cyon Research's white paper examining the structure of the MCAD market has other thoughts about what used to be called "high-end" MCAD, and it's free.
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By Joel Orr on
9/24/2007
(It's the second summit, not the second singularity.) The singularity is the putative "tipping point" that will occur when the combination of computers and networks get really smart and gain consciousness - whatever that means. The general assumption is that the processes leading to the singularity will include software that modifies and improves itself, and the general consensus is that this will be a development of the area of computation known as "artificial intelligence," or ai.Now, ai, in its early incarnations, offered such things as "expert systems," "chess programs," "theorem solving," and other stuff that turned out to be difficult to commercialize. Its development continues, but for investors - and hence for startups - we've had an "ai winter" for the last couple of decades or so. To distinguish the magic that could lead to the singularity from that older stuff, proponents are using the term, "artificial general intelligence," or agi.The conference was impressive in terms of intellectual content, sponsors,...
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By Joel Orr on
8/28/2007
Jerry Laiserin, a highly regarded AEC automation consultant, architect, and friend of mine, is taking over the "AEC in Focus" column at CADALYST. That's good news for CADALYST and its readers; Jerry's writing is clear, incisive, and authoritative.
Being around for a long time doesn't necessarily mean you've gotten better at what you do--but in Jerry's case, it does. His wisdom and insights have grown with the length and breadth of his experience. Having heard him speak many times, I've found that he always has something new to say, a fresh angle on the world of AEC automation.
Jerry is a leading proponent of BIM - building information modeling - and it will be interesting to read his views on this and other topics monthly.
Congratulations to Jerry and to CADALYST on this new arrangement!
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By Joel Orr on
8/26/2007
Do you ever leave yourself a phone message
to remind yourself of something? Well, you can now leave a voice
message - and have it converted into a text email, while still
retaining the recording. Go to Jott.com,
and sign up for free. Then call Jott from any number you register with
them, and leave yourself a message of up to 30 seconds. In moments, it
will be in your inbox - text AND voice. How good is the transcription? Pretty good. With the voice recording to back it up, it's good enough for me. If you try it, let me know what you think of it.
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By Joel Orr on
8/26/2007
PLM - product lifecycle management - has taken on something of a "fightin' words" character. Dassault and Siemens are promoting it wholeheartedly. Autodesk says it's not real. Smaller companies like Arena Solutions are happy to ride the wave, such as it is.Some years ago, when the abbreviation (it's not an acronym; acronyms are pronounceable) was introduced, there was a lot of buzz in the industry about defining PLM. Nothing was ever resolved, so when someone says "PLM" today, you better ask what exactly they mean.But PLM is clearly something - even if we don't agree on exactly what.End-to-end digital representation of engineering and manufacturing data? CAD + PDM + CAM + ERP + TQM + KBE?As far as I can tell, those resisting the term seem to be saying, "It's too much to go from today's partly-automated, unintegrated manufacturing enterprises to something as comprehensive as PLM. Nobody has really done it. So why not take the smaller steps that are really required, without glorifying the whole process?"Those promoting...
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By Joel Orr on
7/3/2007
I'm in Israel right now, on my honeymoon. It's hard to find Israeli engineering technology. No, wait, I don't mean it that way; there is a lot of engineering software coming from this tiny country. There are names you'll recognize right away - Cimatron, Smarteam - and others with which you may not be familiar, such as Amdocs and Yedda.com, neither of which is particularly engineering-oriented, but both of which have products working in engineering firms worldwide.No, what I mean is that these firms are so cool, so savvy, so web, that the fact of their being Israeli elicits no more than "so what?"High tech is burgeoning in Israel. The country has cracked the marketing code. You may find out that many applications you use regularly are Israeli under the skin. Of course, many do not advertise that fact; anti-semitism is alive and well in the world today.But if you are looking for a location for a development center, with easy access to talent - talent that is not as cheap as Indian or Russian, but not as expensive...
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By Joel Orr on
11/23/2006
The COFES India Summit, held 11/17-18/06 at the Hyatt Regency Delhi, drew an impressive variety of leaders from Indian and US organizations. We are in the process of assembling all the video, audio, and session summaries, and they will soon be posted on the COFES site.For now, some interesting tidbits:
India has a small number of world-class engineering schools, led by IIT; but they turn out only a few thousand graduates per year. There are many other engineering schools, but they are hamstrung by financial issues, keeping them from hiring the kind of faculty that would turn out the kind of graduates needed by the economy.
In recent international reports on R&D spending by large firms, no Indian companies had measurable investments in R&D as a percentage of revenues.
Infrastructure development in India is quite extensive, and stands to grow even more in coming years.
India's population is growing rapidly, and will probably overtake China's in the near future.
India and China, while highly...
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By Joel Orr on
5/11/2006
Yes, Rachael, everyone does know that loving shiny things is a guy thing. (By the way, that would be a 1956 Chevy, not a '52 - a dour, clunky box...:-))
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By Joel Orr on
4/17/2006
Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM VP, in "Always On" - http://www.alwayson-network.com/weblog.php
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By Joel Orr on
4/15/2006
COFES is a highlight of my year! Ever since we created COFES, back in the last century, this glorious get-together has been a major source of inspiration, networking, and empowerment in my life.
It has a been a major factor in encouraging several of my grandchildren to become engineers, for one thing.
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DISCLOSURE:
The US Federal Trade Commission mandated in December of 2009 that bloggers must disclose any material connection and compensation received for blog posts to inform consumers of paid endorsements.
The blog published here is completely my own and Cyon Research receives no compensation for its content. However, readers should assume that Cyon Research currently has, has had in the past and is likely to seek a business relationship with any company mentioned here.
Likewise, Cyon Research employees may not directly own shares in any company reported on here. However, it is likely that mutual funds or other investment vehicles contain shares that are not under the direct control of company employees.
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