Inside Design Visionaries

If you use Tecnomatix Plant Simulation and you're a student . . .

you could win an Apple iPod Touch.

Enter the Tecnomatix Plant Simulation Student Contest to win.  Get details here.

Good luck!

Steve Samuel presenting at PLM World

Steve Samuel, assisted by Eric Weeks, will once again be presenting at PLM World.  The topic will be "Superior Modeling Techniques to Superior Product Design", happening Tuesday, May 25 at 1 pm.  See you there.

Don't miss it.

Ada Lovelace Day

What is Ada Lovelace Day? And who is Ada Lovelace?

Ada Lovelace Day

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science.

The first Ada Lovelace Day was held on 24th march 2009 and was a huge success. It attracted nearly 2000 signatories to the pledge and 2000 more people who signed up on Facebook. Over 1200 people added their post URL to the Ada Lovelace Day 2009 mash-up. The day itself was covered by BBC News Channel, BBC.co.uk, Radio 5 Live, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Metro, Computer Weekly, and VNUnet, as well as hundreds of blogs worldwide.

In 2010 Ada Lovelace Day will again be held on 24th March and the target is to get 3072 people to sign the pledge and blog about their tech heroine.

Ada Lovelace Day is organised by Suw Charman-Anderson, with design and development support from TechnoPhobia and hosting from UKHost4U.

Get more info about Ada Lovelace Day.

Inventor's Day!

Now, this is a holiday we can really get behind.
Inventor's Day in the United States!

DV's new College Advantage Program

We'd like to tell you all about a great new tool to give your college-bound son or daughter a huge advantage when applying to the most competitive colleges.  The Career Advantage Training Center offers the College Advantage course series. Through a hands-on advanced topic course in mechanical design engineering, teens will develop creativity and the ability to thrive in the highly competitive world of high-tech product design and engineering.  We'd like to help your kids compete.
The kids will develop a portfolio of projects, will receive a student copy of the high-end software we use, and will improve skills in computer-aided design, creativity and innovation, business planning, team-building, communication and presentations.  And, have an enormous amount of fun doing it.
We are professional engineers who actively and currently perform real design projects in the industry.  The courses are offered by Design Visionaries, a leader in high-quality engineering-related products and services here in San Jose.  We also offer the Career Advantage Program, working with engineers to update their skills and get back in the workforce.

To find out more, please call us at 408-997-6323 or see www.designviz.com/CollegeAdv.

Design Visionaries Opens New Career Advantage Training Center and College Advantage Courses

Design Visionaries announces the opening of its new Career Advantage Training Center in Almaden Valley, San Jose, CA.  The Center will be home to the College Advantage Course series which will provide an academic and professional advantage to college-bound kids seeking admission to the most competitive schools and careers in the high-tech product design field.  Through the use of real-life design engineering examples, students will develop creativity and the ability to thrive in the highly competitive world of high-tech product design and engineering.  Students will develop a portfolio of projects, will receive a student copy of the software, and will improve skills in computer-aided design, creativity and innovation, business planning, team-building, communication and presentations. Courses will be led by professional engineers who actively and currently perform real design projects in the industry.

“For students facing competitive college admissions, taking these extracurricular courses will provide a huge advantage in college admissions and help develop real-world skills for professional success.  And they will have an enormous amount of fun doing it,” says Stephen Samuel, president of Design Visionaries.

Classes are forming now for Product Design and Innovation, Level 1, and are limited to 20 students.  An application and interview will be part of the process.

Career Advantage Training Centers will be opened in additional locations in the future.

To learn more about the Career Advantage Training Center or the College Advantage Course series, please visit www.DesignViz.com/CollegeAdv or call 408-997-6323.

 

Best Quote Ever?

“As president, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering.

And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in case they try anything.”

-President Barack Obama, in a speech regarding his "Educate to Innovate" campaign

Change the World Challenge Winners

From Desktop Engineering:

Desktop Engineering Magazine (DE) [recently] announced the winners of its first annual “Change the World Challenge,” a contest for engineers, inventors, innovators, designers, and companies creating products or processes that will have a major impact on our lives. Numerous entries from around the world were submitted, each with the potential to make a positive world-changing impact on our lives and those of future generations. Winners will be recognized in the December 2009 issue of DE Magazine.

See the press release here.

Google Releases SketchUp 7.1

From the Google SketchUp Blog:
Fall is just around the corner here in Boulder, and with it comes our next release of Google SketchUp [. . .]. The team's been working long hours through the summer on projects large and small. I'm proud to announce that Google SketchUp 7.1 is available today for you to download and install. Don't you just love the smell of fresh new software?

Galileo's Telescope-400 years ago today

On this day, exactly 400 years ago (August 25, 1609, to be exact), Galilei Galileo, Italian mathematician, debuted his new invention, the telescope.  Galileo's telescope, which was not the first, was made of wood and leather.  It magnified eight times, and had a convex main lens. Its concave eyepiece allowed images to be seen right side up, unlike other telescopes of the period.