2016-03-07

Notes.

I've been listening to a lot of classical music - mostly Glenn Gould (Haydn and Bach) and Itzhak Perlman (Vivaldi). I'm looking for direction here, though - if you've got recommendations, send them along.

Pathfinding.

• Don't let anyone add any features.
• Triplebyte, a YC company, published legal documents that startups can use to extend the exercise window for incentive stock options. I like this.
• Prompted by an excellent essay on exploration in mathematics, I wrote some quick thoughts on the distinction between exploration and explanation in CAD - and how contradictions need to be baked into design UIs.
• I *really* recommend Joel Spolsky's four part piece on software specs. I also recommend generalizing "software products" to "all products" when reading it.

Building.

• Via Noah, a *really* awesome video of a homemade horizontal boring machine. I also recommend the same youtuber's slot mortising machine.
• OpenBoM is a bill of materials tool for hardware startups that integrates across CAD tools and allows for simultaneous editing, etc. I'm excited to see how it develops.
• XJet released a video that explains their metal printing process. They also raised $25M.
• Four job shops now have Carbon3D printers.
• Scientists assembled a prototype quantum computer that could be scaled up and used to break RSA encryption.

Logistics.

• "Google wants to deliver packages from self driving trucks." This seems highly sensible to me.
• Zach Holman on code deployment.

Evaluation.

• Why Moog bought (most of) Linear Mold. It's interesting how different this acquisition is to the GE/Morris deal, which was all about insourcing a big supplier.
• Fairway, the high end NYC grocery chain, is $267M in debt and has a market cap of just $18M.

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

• Via Dan, a story about how Anish Kapoor (the artist who, among other things, created the Chicago "bean") acquired the exclusive rights to use Vantablack S-VIS (a sprayable and *slightly* less black version of the blackest substance on earth) in works of art. This is really interesting; I recommend reading Surrey NanoSystems' FAQ page too. Also, take a moment to just appreciate the fact that someone's found a use for carbon nanotubes that isn't decades away from feasibility.
• Via Jordan, an article about multidimensional knots. Also, incidentally, you should know what a bight is.
• 1.8 million Chinese coal and steel workers are being laid off.
• This week's 99 Percent Invisible (which you should *really* subscribe to) is about a phone booth in the middle of the Mojave desert.
• The Coolest Cooler is out of cash - a scenario that they apparently anticipated over a year ago. I'll say it again: I believe that Kickstarter is a platform for distribution for risk, and as a result there should be some number of project failures (which, to be clear, this one isn't yet) that's healthy and acceptable.

And.

Photos from Playmobil's factory.