SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 370 - CES 2012: CAD Tech

CES 2012: CAD Tech:

This podcast covers a few tech pics after watching, listening and reading all that has come out of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show from the perspective of a CAD user. Topics covered:

- A few Windows8 tidbits

- The rise of the Ultrabook

- 3D Printing...WOW at CES?

- SSD drives and cloud storage

- CAD via Clound via Onlive?

CES is a vacuum of tech that happens in Las Vegas every year at this time with 2700 booths showing off all sorts of concepts, prototypes and vaporware that might be coming out in the coming year.  Most of which you need to take with a grain of salt since many of the big breakthroughs may never ship (OLED TVs and alike).

As engineers, we are drawing to finding devices that will run our hardware draining tools that will not weigh as much as a jack sitting in our garage floor.  The other thing we are after is speed!  Fast boot, fast load, fast save, just fast OK?  Since there are not enough hours in the world to read about it all I typically rely on listening to podcast that cover the aspects of the show I care about and do some reading over at ces.cnet.com.

Since CES always falls right before SolidWorks World, it reminds me back two years when Netbooks were the talk (saw a bunch at SWWC), then last year with the tablet (and iPads were wall to wall) and now Ultrabooks. It will be an interesting round up by one thing that definitely caught my eye was what Onlive is doing with they streaming video tech to other applications. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 313 - CES 2011: CAD Tech

CES 2011: CAD Tech:

This podcast covers my tech pics from CES 2011 that caught my eye from the perspective of a CAD user.  CES is a monster show and sometimes you let all the other sites do the walking so you can simply week through the good stuff and enjoy! Topics covered:

Computers:

- Razer Swtichblade: High-end gamer netbook

- Dell XPS 8300 & Alienware Aurora Desktops (w/ Intel Sandy Bridge processors)

Storage:

- Pretec USB 3 32, 64, & 128GB Flash storage

- Seagate Momentus XT & Marvell HyperDuo Hybrid drives (SSD + HDD)

Monitors:

- Samsung 3D Monitors (with glasses)

- Toshiba 3D eyeglass-free Monitor

- Monitor 2 Go: portable laptop second screen

Peripherals:

- iTwin: dual USB file transfer via Internet 

- Microsoft multi-touch mouse

Tablets:

- Motorola Xoom (Android 3!)

- Samsung Galaxy Tab

- Dell Streak 7

- ZTE Lite

- ViewSonic ViewPad 4

For the past couple of years I have done a show on CES with my pics from the perspective of the CAD user, which in my mind is a person who wants performance, portability, and a flash of cool-factor!  Since the show covers "Consumer Electronics", computers and computer related hardware announcements are a dime a dozen so using a network like cNET to dig out the good stuff is usually a great idea. 

CES 2011 was the year of the tablet for sure especially since last CES the iPad had not yet been launched so the rumor mill was in full swing.  Now that manufacturers have had some time to absorb what Apple has done, and Google has debuted Android 3, which is specifically built for tablets, the playing field has definitely been evened.

Personally I always look forward to SolidWorks World since that is a gathering of engineers who do like technology and I get a kick out of spotting the bleeding edge gadgets that everyone is carrying in the halls.  After 10 years at the conference, it still amazes me how much the Internet has changed trade shows overall.  2 weeks till SWW11, are you ready? ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!