Random Saturday Stuff

This is pretty cool (yeah, I tweeted it last night, but it's worth repeating). I like the fact that he is interested in the design implications (designers using "natural methods" to design vs. trying to figure out how to design things with the current state of computer interfaces), as well as the metal powder/laser 3D printing mechanics (very cool). I'm thinking this: imagine the car stylist creating a "virtual" clay model that then becomes the CAD for the part manufacturing (with the body engineers taking the model and slicing it up into stampable pieces). Cool. The article is worth reading, too.


In other tech news, Microsoft has bought Nokia's cell phone business. So, Nokia, the cell phone manufacturer, no longer manufactures cell phones. Instead, it'll maintain its mobile network biz, R&D, and Here, its location & mapping unit, among others. (Because, you know, that's going to be a much better business model: Here, the mapping & location biz, that is going to challenge Google Maps and similar mapping and location services.)

Even better, this: Stephen Elop, the now-former CEO of Nokia, may be the guy to replace Steve Ballmer in leading Microsoft. (Hey, just realized this: there are a lot of "Steves" in the tech world: Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer, Stephen Elop, Steve Wozniak, Steve Gibson... in fact, there's even a "Steve Rule" stating that, in a random sample of programmers, there will be more named Steve than there will be females; note: I'm not trying to be sexist, that's not my rule, I just found it when searching Google for "tech guys named Steve".) What's so great about the Elop/Ballmer thing? This: Elop was the CEO of Nokia as its cell phone business failed, and now he's (possibly) going to lead Microsoft. Anyone else see it? Using the guy who lead the failure of Nokia's main business to lead all of Microsoft? Awesome! Better get used to Linux if you're not already (or possibly Apple's OSX).

There are plenty of good, easy Linux distros (that's short for distributions) out now. Ubuntu and Mint are both good (here's an article discussing which is better for a beginner). If those aren't enough, here are 10 popular distributions. And if that's not enough, just search "linux distribution" (or similar) and you'll probably find more than you can comfortably review in a short period of time. There are all sorts of distributions, from engineering distributions to audio/video/web distributions (note: some of the ones at that link are mainly audio/video, while some include web stuff). Best of all: Linux is (for the most part) free (there are usually some pay for support options and there are some distributions and/or apps that you may pay for, but generally speaking, you download a distribution, burn a DVD, and run/install it).

OK, driver #3 just returned from his first solo trip... things to do now, cars to check... :) Have a great day!