Notes.
This week nTopology released a free version of our lattice design software, Element. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and I'm totally confident when I say that it's the most powerful lattice design software for 3D printing on the market. And in the coming months we'll be both refining the current product and releasing a series of paid features.
I'd love your feedback - try Element out and send me a note once you've played around!
Wayfinding.
- A good Reddit thread on why companies would or would not use Proto Labs for short run injection molding.
- "There is a very small subset of business problems that are best solved by machine learning; most of them just need good data and an understanding of what it means that is best gained using simple methods."
- Fred Wilson on making decisions efficiently.
Building.
- Parts three, four, and five of that same multipart article on grain flow in forgings.
- "The technology gap left by Amazon’s acquisition of Kiva Systems."
- A good piece in Develop3D about how long it takes big companies to switch to a new software provider.
- Formlabs launched a biocompatible resin aimed at dental guides.
Logistics.
- RRS Boaty McBoatface probably won't be named Boaty McBoatface.
- A contest to make a game adaptation of The Power Broker.
Evaluation.
- A great fit for robots: in our sewers, testing the water.
- How I-81 killed Syracuse, NY.
- On Wink's exodus from Quirky and their future with Flex.
Stuff that doesn't fit into my dumb/arbitrary categories.
And.
I took apart a $6 Nerf gun. It's pretty impressive.

Love, Spencer.
p.s. - We should be better friends. Send me a note - coffee's on me :)