2016-04-17

Notes.

My own reflections from public speaking over the past few weeks.

Wayfinding.

• Develop3D on Bolt and other hardware accelerators.
• Regina Dugan, who's been running Google ATAP (and came from DARPA and Motorola), left for Facebook.
• I'm inclined to eschew Gary Vaynerchuck, but it's hard to argue with this: "You know what’s a disruptive idea? Building an actual business that has investors coming to you, not you chasing them."
• DARPA is investing in computer chips that operate on fuzzy logic.

Building.

• Delcam published a really great article in this quarter's issue of Metal AM magazine. It takes a DMLS part from optimization through DFM, printing, post processing, and inspection. It starts on page 41, here.
• Aerojet Rocketdyne is (a bit obstinately) confident that their AR-1 engine will beat Jeff Bezos/Blue Origin's methane powered engine.
• Bigelow's inflatable space habitat went up to the ISS, and will be tested for the next two years.
• Parts one and two of a very comprehensive series on grain flow in metal forgings. Also, via Xavier, a blog post on how difficult it is to source forgings in the US.

Logistics.

• A totally crazy way to learn about Alpha Centuri: launch a whole lot of tiny probes and blast them with lasers to 1/5 of the speed of light. Apparently this is serious.
• Via Eric, a video of luxury yachts being loaded onto a semi submersible heavy lift ship.
• A few interesting observations about how the differences between restaurant and hotel work affect how good robots are at those jobs.

Evaluation.

• Amazon's annual shareholder letter is, as always, fantastic. Related: Clay on how enterprise organizations make decisions.
• A good, skeptical take on Tesla's Model 3 preorders.
• A good teardown of a hoverboard.
• Via Jordan, a *very* comprehensive article on how East New York has been totally broken.

Stuff that doesn't fit into my dumb/arbitrary categories.

• Via Andre, a *really* cool site (Longbets) that allows you to predict & bet on arbitrary claims.
• I'm speculating a bit here, but it looks like MatterFab (who you'll recall was trying to make a $20k metal 3D printer) has moved from SF to Seattle, had a few changes in management, and possibly pivoted as well.
• Urban Omnibus on the role that row homes have played in New York City's history.

And.

SpaceX's Flickr page.