Archive

February 2008

Browsing

You’ve probably been there – tease and ridiculed for organizing other people’s features, “accidentally” fixing someone else’s sketches or finding the last keyboard combination for a shortcut. It’s a condition that use to be treated with humidifiers and Malox, but that made the affect and smell even worse. So, I’ll just list some of these…

60 cubic inches of usable space that is. At least that’s what I thought until at sat down. I’m sitting in a corner with a 24″ LCD pushed up against the sides of the wall. Forget that it’s in a dirty basement with tortured screams and no sunlight. Now, I’m imagining this screen stretched and…

Have you seen that commercial with the sleeping Badger family and the guys cellphone goes off and wakes the badgers, then all you here is a growl and a scream. That’s funny. Pattern Vintage Background Patterns – I’m telling ya, this is just what your computer screen or Powerpoint presentation needs. Fix your sad cubicle…

A black cloud rose over London, children abandoned the lush playgrounds of Bishop’s Park and all the produce had gone rotten. Time slowed and what was once a heralded historical moment suddenly became a memory lost. And then all that nonsense was blasted away with a couple two-week notices, a set of final articles and…

There’s this stylish new keyboard that’s been floating around the sphere of tech-hungry computer users. One with programmable keys. Oh, and each key is a separate full-color OLED display. If you frequent tech blogs, you’ve probably seen this or a video. It’s certainly cool, but also makes one think of how antiquated a keyboard seems…

I can’t help it. It’s rare you take a day off and come home with a baby girl. Isabella Grace – 8lbs 3oz – 20.5″ – No tattoos You can see more photos on our personal site or flickr site I’m stoked. I think she’ll be in charge of graphics and letting me know when…

Oh boy! cheese balls! just lok at ’em all! Hands down, it’s the greatest type of ball on the face of the earth. Date Stamps – A gallery of date stamps and resources? why didn’t you say so!! Good for scrapbooking, web or making your own calendar. Ajax Periodic Table – You never know when…

Some of you might know my wife Maggie is about to have a baby. Looks like it’s about that time. Forgive the absence of enlightening posts for, ya know, at least a few hours. UPDATE: Woo! a Baby girl! Name: Isabella Grace Born: Thursday, February 21st, 9:31 am Weight: 8 lbs 3.5 oz Length: 20.5…

Wait till you wrap your head around this… or rather warp this around your head. Emotiv Systems is preparing to launch the Emotiv Epoc. A wireless device that senses brain activity and allows you to interact with an interface. “The $299 headset has a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with…

Who makes a commercial with creepy little monochromatic people anyway? The SolidWorks parent company Dassault Systemes does. And while it has the feel of that movie where the guy brings that little clay man to life, it’s very cool. Dassault Systemes Future of 3D Commercial from Solidsmack on Vimeo. They showed this at SolidWorks World…

Yes, that’s right. Ugly, rabid monkeys with three toes and high tariffs. Ponoko, the design-it, make-it, sell-it web site has quelled the fears of their users and completely slashed the prices for shipping around the entire known world. If you’re in the US, shipping prices from New Zealand can be downright frightening. Actually, shipping prices…

Something really cool just happened today. I guy I hung out with in Switzerland IM’d me and said, ‘The first 20 shirts are printed and sold!!’ He just had twenty screen-printed shirts made of a design he created and proceeded to sell them all. No big deal right? Well, he’s wanted to do this since…

…you could win a SolidWorks compliant video card. CGSociety.com is tempting you to make something more inspirational that a block sitting on a mound of dirt. With some of the submission already, it’s more like a dare for SolidWorks users. Personally, I’m not sure if anyone can do create an architectural marvel in SolidWorks that…

I would have to say its a bit like being pinned under a horse. At first its all pins and needle, then it starts nipping at you… repeatedly. It’s downright antagonizing, much like these links. Stunning Desktop Wallpapers – I like nice backgrounds for the ‘puter. Makes everyone what you’ve been doing all day. Pay…

For those who use the Firefox Web Browser (and you should of you don’t) or are interested in trying new stuff you may be interested to know that Firefox 3 is in Beta now. You can download the Beta Version here or the portable version here that won’t interfere with your existing version. It definitely…

But not in a weird, creepy, I-wish-I-wasn’t-alone-I-think-he-has-a-knife way. Happy Valentine’s Day and here’s to hoping that you’ve found a nice card… and that it takes you less time to pick out, than it does for your models to load. Oh, look here, I’ve made a special 3D heart for you. You can turn it black…

Oh, stop it. That title is just too clever. It’s hard to believe there would be any rude, self-serving miscreants in the realm of SolidWorks, but you watch. One day your helping old ladies take their meds, next day your making everyone change part colors and capitalize the ‘S’ and ‘W’ in SolidWorks for all…

There’s a few products out there that I think are exceptional for the problems they address. Typically, its a fancy electronic consumer product that promises to save more time or remove hair or whatever. Recently I’ve been seeing products that are designed to save space. The Verticulture planter concept is one of my favorite. It’s…

You’ve been working on a 13,000 part mega-assembly in SOLIDWORKS with the most well thought out top-down assembly structure ever devised by man. The next morning, you gingerly sip your coffee as the model ooooopens, and then… something doesn’t look right. Suddenly, that pastry loses its sweetness as you come to grips that all your…

I just looked at there it was, a lama with one eye and the most incredible voice you could imagine. Makes you want to make a lama hair sweater and look at these links. Uber.com – A community for creatives with interest in photo, art and music. The gallery has an interesting interface. Baby Instructions…

How do you get info out of SolidWorks models? Threats and candy don’t do the trick, but bring out a steamy bowl of button clicking and you’ll be in statistical, property enhanced euphoria to break up the vapid atmosphere of deadlines and cold pastries. If you’re like me, you like your fill of statistics and…

If you tried to come to the site yesterday, it was not rockin’. Apparently, something (someone) did something that killed my site. I didn’t lose anything, but was up till 2 am rebuilding it. Fortunately, it turned out for the better. I upgraded to the latest Wordpress 2.3.3 and the K2 (v628) Theme, so we’re…

I’m feeling kind of queezy right now. You would think I received a gory email forward from a friend when I’ve actually just listened to the original studio recording of ‘Running With the Devil’ by Van Halen… minus the background vocals and music; pure David Lee Roth bliss. If you can scream like that, I…

I know how you feel. You’re out with the kids or on a hot date and you’re wondering how to maintain design intent and still get that profile extruded to that surface. Sad state of affairs my friend… until now. The boys at Inspirtech SolidWorks Training just launch their web-based video course that will allow…

A lot of you were probably awed by the incredibly weak video I grabbed of the SolidWorks World General Session Intro Animation. Fortunately, someone from SolidWorks saw it, became sick to their stomach and posted the actual animation. I immediately downloaded it, ripped it to Vimeo, and have posted it below. Why’s it Rockin’? It…

It was sort of like picking pieces of glass out of your arm at first, then I tried the curly fries and everything was much, much better. But seriously, no turpentine next time. Best of Photoshop Tutorials – Forget a book, this is all you need. TrackmyShipments.com – Forward emails, automatically don’t go crazy wondering…