2016-05-16

Notes.

First, some changes to my section headings to be a bit more descriptive. And second, I'm adding a "Credits" section for attributing people who send me links. As always: If you read something good, send it over.

Oh! And I'll be at RAPID (the big 3D printing conference) this week, and am giving a talk on Wednesday. Holler if you'll be there; I'd love to meet in person.

Wayfinding & Strategy.

• Kickstarter's PBC status is pretty rad.
• Andy Dunn on Digitally Native Vertical Brands.
• Motivate, the biggest bike share company in the US, is now contracting frame manufacturing to a company in Detroit.
• The MTA released (harmless) perfluorocarbon tracer gases in a few subway stations to see how they travel through the subway system.
• Marco Arment on Apple's role in the podcast ecosystem.

Building.

• Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies) did a bunch of shit this week, including raising a bunch of money, announcing they were using passive levitation, and testing an open sled. Start here, then explore.
• These Proxxon micro machines look pretty nice.
• How ink is made.
• Velo3D's patent.
• Panasonic has apparently created a very good weather model.
• A short but good video of Apple's "Liam" robot.
• A 1934 video of how tires are made. See also my 2014 notes from a Taiwanese bike tire factory.
• A nice quick method of finding the center of a piece of round stock.
• Photos from the Gigafactory.

Distribution & Logistics.

• A video explaining how the new expanded Panama Canal will work. Somewhat sadly, they're getting rid of the cute trains that guided ships through the locks - opting for tugboats instead.
• GM (fresh off of their acquisition of Cruise and after investing $500M in Lyft) and Lyft will test a driverless taxi service within a year.
• Claude Shannon demoing a maze solving machine in the early 50s.

Inspection & Testing.

• Eric tears down a dial test indicator - a mainstay of inspection.
• On how our nostalgia for manufacturing is really a desire for unions.
• A review of the Neato BotVac, the Roomba competitor.
• Develop3D reviews SolidThinking Inspire 2016. Their PolyNURBS feature looks *awesome.*
• Ben Wellington's analysis of the NYPD's data dump - and discovery of $1.7M in wrongly issued parking tickets - resulted in an official apology.

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

• Me, on what manufacturing is.
• I'm reading Snowball, Warren Buffett's biography.
• One of the founders of The Peachy Printer embezzled $320K from the company's Kickstarter campaign funds. The video interviews of his admission, etc., are *wild.*
• A video tour of the Svalbard Seed Vault.
• The Wikipedia page for Siemens' JT visualization file format.

Credit to Jordan, Alex, Alex, Ezra, Dan, and Jay for links this week.

And.

Eric tears down a dial test indicator - a mainstay of inspection.