 |
|
|
Most recent blog entries
|
Laiserin joins CADALYST editorial staff |
|
Joel Orr
|
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!
|
 |
|
Comments (0)
|
|
|
|
Memoirs of a Devil’s Advocate at IBM –Workstations and Space Heaters |
|
Brian Seitz
|
By Brian Seitz on
8/27/2007 5:25 PM
|
|
|
|
Most of the time the term Devil's Advocate has a rather negative connotation inside the corporate walls, a phase used to demean someone that looks at alternative or contrary positions to the majority. However, sometimes having a Devil’s Advocate may be just the thing to prevent disasters in business and government. Centuries ago Roman conquerors would ride through the streets in triumph with a Slave whispering in their ear that fame and glory was fleeting --a message not to take their success to seriously—a Devil’s Advocate roll if you will. Corporations at times have recognized the value of such a roll at times. Below is one such example.
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
More...
|
|
|
|
Remind yourself |
|
Joel Orr
|
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.
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
|
|
|
So what's with PLM? |
|
Joel Orr
|
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 comprehensi ...
|
|
|
|
Comments (3)
|
More...
|
|
|
Irrational Exuberence? July |
|
Russ Henke
|
By Russ Henke on
8/14/2007 8:07 AM
|
|
|
|
This blog entry was written on July 15, 2007:
Over the past few months, weaknesses in the US economy have been reported frequently in the blog entries in this space and of course in the financial press. Yet despite these weaknesses and the ongoing misery of ordinary folks dealing with the housing slump and higher gas & food prices, the nation's stock markets have ignored hedge fund and sub-prime loan problems, and soared to record levels. On Friday July 13, 2007 alone, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed above a high set in March 2000 and the Dow Jones industrials blew by 13,900 for the first time in history.
In related news, US retail sales dropped 0.9% in June, and the US Trade DEFICIT widened again in May. The United States’ oil import bill alone increased to $19.0 billion - the largest since September 2006. The US trade deficit with China widened 3.3% in May to $20.0 billion, and the June gap could be even larger. Meanwhile, China posted ...
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
More...
|
|
|
Engineering tech in Israel |
|
Joel Orr
|
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 ...
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
More...
|
|
|
Corroboration |
|
Russ Henke
|
By Russ Henke on
7/1/2007 3:59 AM
|
|
|
|
It’s often surprising to find immediate corroboration of a theme for blog entries that appear in this space. Not two days after the previous June 24 & 25 blog items were published here about “The Rich Getting Richer", Merrill Lynch and the Cap Gemini Group released their annual World Wealth Report. In 2006, the world’s wealthiest saw their combined riches grow by over 11%! Fully 800,000 more people were added in 2006 to the rolls of folks who hold over $1 million in financial assets (not including their primary homes), up from 8.7 million such individuals in 2005. The combined wealth of these fortunate few totals over $37.2 trillion. That's “trillion” with a “t”, and adds up to a fourth of the entire world’s total wealth, about three times the US GNP. Of course, the US leads the pack of such rich people.
But hey, these rich folks are generous. In 2006, ...
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
More...
|
|
|
Post Script to June 24 Blog Entry |
|
Russ Henke
|
By Russ Henke on
6/25/2007 4:14 AM
|
|
|
Some readers of yesterday's blog entry may be wondering if they might have missed the chance to ride the first day's price appreciation (over 13% in 8 hours) -- if only they had acted on Thursday June 22, the day before the Blackstone Group's IPO. Not to worry. It would have been difficult, since most Blackstone shares were already snapped up by money managers and big financial institutions.
But, hey, the stock is now publicly traded -- you can take your chances on future Blackstone appreciation -- call your broker! And remember, having watched what the Blackstone Group just did, other "alternative investment funds" may now choose to go public, such as KKR, The Carlyle Group, and more.
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
|
|
|
Are the Rich getting Richer? |
|
Russ Henke
|
By Russ Henke on
6/24/2007 5:33 PM
|
|
|
Among all the factors plaguing the vast majority of US citizens, very little space in these blog entries to date has been devoted to the unremitting and enervating trend over the last six-and-a-half years, of the rich-getting-richer, and the poor-getting-poorer in the United States.
With the US government (a) providing unwarranted tax cuts favoring the rich, (b) encouraging rising energy prices by condoning the lack of new oil refineries, (c) stoking international fear, anxiety and doubt, and (d) implementing countless other such policies, the resulting economic conditions have allowed the US wealthy to thrive while US workers’ wages have not even kept up with inflation, despite massive worker productivity gains during the period.
In the last few days, we have witnessed a quintessential example of the “rich-getting-richer” syndrome. Run by billionaires, the private-equity giant Blackstone Group popped up again in the news June 21, 2007 when Re ...
|
|
|
|
Comments (0)
|
More...
|
|
|
|
|
|