Jim Lipsey

• Ricky Jordan seemed to be the first to notice the availability of 2007PR1, and has very nice things to say about 07’s CC capabilities.
• He also found this enticing summary of new features available in PhotoWorks.
• COSMOWorks now supports beam analysis.
• Part 1 of MCAD Online’s Comprehensive Review
• The (Official) SolidWorks Blog is touting new features at regular intervals.
• SolidWorks has put together a nice set of video demos of the new features in 2007. I continue to be skeptical of the ‘XPerts’. The demos are impressive, but reliance on a wizard to solve problems by inserting feature steps elsewhere in the design tree seems a good way to create headaches down the road and a poor substitute for learning proper modeling practices. It does make for an impressive demo, though.
• It appears SolidWorks explorer received a much-needed overhaul.

SolidWorks recently unveiled beta 4 for the 2007 release. From the press releases, it appears we’re getting close to SP0. A lot of new features are bundled in this effort, and many, such as enhanced Curvature Continuous (C2) and spline editing capabilities are being well-received. I’m dubious about other new additions, such as the SWIFT SketchXpert and FeatureXpert. SolidWorks’ wizards have always been hit-or-miss. Props to the hole wizard, but Smart Fasteners require more trouble than they’re worth. From their descriptions, the Xperts strike me as akin to the Shape function — impressive for demos and used by novices, but of little value outside of CNC’d one-offs. This criticism is unfairly premature. I haven’t even tried the beta.

I have, however, worked extensively with every version going back to ‘98. Recent releases have made something increasingly apparent. It’s time to bite the bullet and rewrite the SW interface and file formats either in large pieces or whole cloth. And some aspects of forward compatibility must be broken to do so.

Continue reading ‘SolidWorks File Formats — It’s Time to Start Over’

The PDMA recently launched a blog with ruminations from a variety of product development experts. It seems better than the typical “we’re a professional organization, so we ought to have a blog for our members” effort. Plus, I hadn’t come across Strange New Products, which is Engadget for those with twisted minds.

I’ve spent the last six months coveting a Tablet PC, and spending an inordinate amount of time scrutinizing the specifications for every single model available. Fortunately, they’ve all had at least one fundamental shortcoming that prevented me from whipping out the credit card and plonking down two gees on a new piece of kit.

Continue reading ‘Toshiba Releases Tecra M7′

The Federal Courts don’t mess around. Get eliminated from a jury pool during voir dire and they’ll make you come back the following week to try again. I was quickly rejected the first time around, but those who know me will be surprised to learn I didn’t end up 0 and 2 the following Monday.

Continue reading ‘Jury Duty’

I’ve been using Backpack for a few months now. It’s a web application that’s hard to describe, yet has become indespensible. Basically, the service provides a very simple interface to maintain a set of pages, each of which can store notes, images, files and links. Along with these pages is a ‘reminder’ system that will send an email with a custom subject at any desired date and time. The result lends itself very well to those working with David Allen’s GTD system which mandates, among other things, to abolish ever making a mental note of anything.

Continue reading ‘Backpack’

Congratulations to the Chicago White Sox, who won the World Series last night. Hopefully, all the obnoxious bandwagon fans acquired by the Cubs during the 2003 season will jump ship and I’ll be able to visit “Wrigley Field a few times next year.