This blog often focuses upon engineering learning content. Without innovation within your engineering design groups, it's debatable how long your company will survive. If you need to encourage better understanding of the innovation process, and it's potential roadblocks, download and listen to this podcast. The source (Harvard's IdeaCast) and the message is excellent. I particularily liked the interviewer's first question of the author, Scott Kirsner: "When it comes to innovation, why should we pay any attention to La La Land?!". The answer may surprise you … and sound horrbily similar to what one deals with every day in the engineering departments of Corporate America.

• Inventing the Movies
  (Hollywood's epic battle between innovation and the Status Quo)

Now, if you were really with it … you would also visit either of these two web resources I've created:

• Management and Strategy Podcasts
  This page on my blog hosts a custom built search engine which indexes podcasts from five of the world's top business schools … and provides a link to the most recent episode.
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• Engineering Learning Wiki: Podcast Section
  Here you've find links to the top engineering and management podcasts, once again with an embedded custom built Google search engine.

(click for an expanded view)
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One of my favorite engineering blogs has a new post in it’s Monday Morning Math Series. Link on over to Blinkdagger for some great MATLAB tutorials, and try to solve this week’s math problem … there’s a prize for the winner!

Tired of the Earth obstructing his view of Venus, Marvin the Martian desires to
destroy the Earth with his Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator. The only
thing stopping him is his distant cousin Jeffrey’s belief that there are
intelligent life forms on Earth. In order to show Marvin that there are indeed
intelligent lifeforms, Jeffrey and Marvin travel to earth and approach two
mathematicians with the following problem …

• Learn the Martian mathematics problem over on Blinkdagger
• View MATLAB posts only

Blinkdagger is one of my recommended engineering blogs over at the Engineering Learning Wiki.

Although I’ve always posted hi-res versions of all my screencasts on this blog, now that YouTube includes higher quality viewing options, I’ve gone YouTube. Essentially YouTube is a marketing channel … for me and everyone else.

I’ve known for some time that this step was required. After all, I’ve often found good engineering content via my YouTube searches. Professor Blanchard’s MATLAB and Excel VBA Tutotials are an excellent example of how this process worked. I conducted my YouTube search, and after finding relevant content I checked the video / channel link for more details.  More often than not I discover a link back to the content creator’s home web site, and higher resolution videos.

Thus, I give you the Northstar Nerd’s YouTube Channel … including some of my own screencasts and CTEF volunteer work. You’ll also find in my own subscription area YouTube providers who I’ve identified as having excellent engineering seminars and courses. However, please note that all of these providers are found via my Engineering Learning Wiki and Search Engines. In every instance, via this blog or my wiki you’ll access higher resolution copies of the exact same content.  Having said all that … I bow to the inevitable!

• Northstar Nerd / Rich Hoeg’s YouTube Channel
• Rich’s CTEF YouTube Download Page

Some of you know that I’m reliving my past via my middle son’s backpacking trip through Europe. If you have any interest in bicycle racing you may enjoy Carl’s Tour de France posting. He even has a very neat video which he personally took. My own travels through Paris via Eurail 32 years ago were not quite so exciting, but did include:

• Being all excited that I could serve as the “French speaking” guide for my fellow Dartmouth buddies, and upon having a long conversation in French with a “local” in order to get dinner recommendations … discovering ultimately he was Harvard student! Arrgh! You can imagine what sort of grief I received from my friends. Perhaps this is why I retreated back to Minnesota!
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• Oh well … here is Tour de Carl

Everyone talks about GPS, but how many people understand it? A leading manufacturer of GPS systems, Garmin, has published a free manual / eBook which explains basic concepts (download now). If you wish to learn even more about GPS follow this link to Garmin. The company has a nice educational portal which has additional content.

I will add this information to my Engineering Learning Wiki (included the manuals section).