Modular Phone Handsets

In the mobile phone world, the term 'upgrade' currently refers to exchanging your handset for a new one (and extension of your mobile contract for ~2 years), but Dave Hakkens has been hoping to bring the meaning more in line with computer terminology with his Phonebloks concept:

When I first saw this, I appreciated the nobility of the idea but felt a little dismay as it is something I thought would be hard to convince the mobile manufacturing industry to get on board with.  I saw it as the type of concept that makes for great BBC viewing when it is trashed and thrown out of the window in the Dragon's Den.

However, Motorola has just announced a new project called Ara which is the realisation of exactly what Dave proposed.  The vision is to do what Android has done for the software industry and bring open source modular hardware customisation to the smartphone market, and allow users to control the style, cost, and performance of their phones as they see fit (and ultimately reduce the size of hardware graveyards).

Stay tuned for an alpha release of the MDK (Module Developer's Kit) this winter.

Autodesk Exchange Apps for Inventor 2013

Autodesk Exchange Apps is an online resource where you can browse and purchase Apps (including product-specific content such as models, training materials and eBooks) – and is available to several Autodesk Products. You can download some items for free and others for a nominal fee. Purchasing is handled via PayPal at this time. Purchases and downloads can be tracked online, or by using the Autodesk Exchange App Manager that is included with the respective Autodesk product.

Access the Autodesk Exchange Apps website here: http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/

Change the Size of your Inventor 2013 Overflow Menu

The Overflow Menu displays below the Marking Menu. Shorter versions of the Overflow Menu are defined for Inventor to streamline the interface. The original, longer Overflow Menus are on by default.

Use the Marking Menu tab of the Customize dialog box to access the short Overflow Menus.

The options available in the Customize dialog box to control the display of the Overflow are:

• Full Menu
• Radial Menu Only
• Short Menu

Mix up your AutoCAD Ribbon Panels

The whole AutoCAD interface is highly customisable, but mostly requires users to delve into the CUI (Custom User Interface) to make changes. An easy, quick change that everyone can use is to move Panels off the Ribbon when you need certain tools or even move Panels onto a Ribbon TAB where you use them more often (more of a drag and drop affair).

• Simply click on the dark bar along the bottom of any Panel, then drag down onto the workspace. This will detach the Panel and create a Floating Toolbar.

Marking Menus

Marking Menus have been around in the industry for a while and those that use them 8-10 hours a day fly around never searching for commands or pallets to update. A flick of the wrist and off to the next command.

With the Marking Menu, muscle memory will eventually kick in. But with all changes, a transition period is needed to get used to the new menu. Some of you may have already turned it off, but we recommend giving it a try.

There are two modes you can use the Marking Menu with. The first is as you see it below, a typical pop up style menu, but with radial access to commands.