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Joel Orr
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Joel Orr |
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4/15/2006 |
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Joel thinks about and comments on all kinds of stuff |
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Autodesk World Press Days |
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By Joel Orr on
2/15/2008
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Autodesk held its World Press Days in San Francisco earlier this week. The bottom line: Autodesk is focusing on helping customers integrate all the product lines where it makes sense. The use of REVIT for facilities, integrated with the use of Inventor for the machines that get placed in the facilities, along with Civil 3D for the site - you get the idea.
Running throughout the presentations was the thread of sustainability. Green designs were featured, and environmental impact considered in each case study.
CEO Carl Bass kicked off the event, and was accessible throughout. There is the clear sense that the company is blossoming with an engineer at the helm.
Autodesk's digital prototyping message was prominent, and several speakers went into some depth to explain that this approach to the automation of design is well-thought-out, and is sound both philosophically and organizationally.
The firm now has a Plant divisi ...
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It's never too late to have a happy childhood |
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By Joel Orr on
1/27/2008
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That's a phrase I heard in the framework of the Hoffman Process - a
methodology for finding out things that are keeping you from being who
you really are, and taking action to get them out of the way. But that's
not with this post is about.
I
read recently - it may have been in an ASEE (American Society of
Engineering Educators) mailing - that most people have determined
whether they will pursue a career in engineering or science by the end
of the 8th grade. And the decision hinges on how they feel about math.
I've
also read recently that the number of young people choosing
engineering, science, and technology professions in the US is declining.
The
ability to do math is a filter for getting into good engineering and
science schools. On the surface, that seems reasonable: Math is the
language of precision, and its abstractive tools provide access to the
reasoning of the ages, as well as the ability to carry it o ...
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Book review: "Everything is Miscellaneous" |
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By Joel Orr on
1/25/2008
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When David Weinberger spoke at COFES 2005, his topic was "Everything is Miscellaneous." Now his book of that name is out, and it is fascinating. The implications for the engineering software business are worth thinking about.
Here's an essay Weinberger wrote for Amazon.com called, "The Flocking of Information":
As businesses go miscellaneous, information gets chopped into smaller
and smaller pieces. But it also escapes its leash--adding to a pile
that can be sorted and arranged by anyone with a Web browser and a Net
connection. In fact, information exhibits bird-like "flocking
behavior," joining with other information that adds value to it,
creating swarms that help customers and, ultimately, the businesses
from which the information initially escaped. For example, Wize.com
is a customer review site founded in 2005 by entrepr ...
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Dean Kamen at SolidWorks World: FIRST Robotics needs volunteers |
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By Joel Orr on
1/23/2008
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Kudos to SolidWorks for a program full of fascinating speakers of interest to engineers as engineers, as designers, as people. And none of them plugged SolidWorks.
Today's speaker was Dean Kamen, inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Dean's vision: “ …to create a world where science and technology are celebrated…. where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes….”
The purpose of FIRST is to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, N.H., it designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math.
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Wikinomics: Worth reading |
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By Joel Orr on
1/10/2008
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When Don Tapscott's "Wikinomics" came out over a year ago, I was turned off by the title, so I never picked it up. A couple of days ago, I went to hear Tapscott give a breakfast talk at Stanford. It was very worthwhile. (It is co-authored by Tapscott's colleague, Anthony Williams.)
The book was Amazon.com's top-selling business book of 2007. Its subtitle is "How mass collaboration changes everything" - and it is accurate, if not inspiring.
Unfortunately, the book has none of Tapscott's excellent charts and graphics, showing the dramatic changes wrought by mass collaboration; you have to get it from the words. But it is good, readable business prose, full of case studies and meaty stuff.
He based it on a $9 million research project; this is not a rehashed web sweep.
And the book goes on: At www.wikinomics.com, you can participate in creating the "next chapter" and read an excerpt from the book. There is al ...
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High-end CAD dying? |
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By Joel Orr on
12/4/2007
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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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Second Singularity Summit |
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By Joel Orr on
9/24/2007
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(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 ...
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Laiserin joins CADALYST editorial staff |
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By Joel Orr on
8/28/2007
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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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Remind yourself |
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By Joel Orr on
8/26/2007
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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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