3D Printing Financials: Medical Becomes the Driving Force Behind Materialise (3DPrint.com)

GRANT BRICKMAN: Materialise reports its third quarter: medical is growing, profit is not.

GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking news just in: 3D printing firm Materialise has reported its third-quarter results, and medical is the star. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Revenue rose 2.1% to 67.7 million euros. But net profit fell to 1.38 million euros from 1.85 million a year earlier. ▶

ADA: Ada live at the makerspace, and I'm giddy! Medical 3D printing keeps growing, and it's the engine of this quarter. ▶

ADA: Here's file footage of a printer mid-print, layer by layer. Materialise recently sold two businesses, RapidFit and Eyewear, so their sales no longer count. ▶

ADA: Take those out of last year's numbers and growth is 4.9%. Manufacturing is improving after a difficult period. Software is still struggling. ▶

ADA: Adjusted EBITDA slipped to 8.05 million euros from 8.43 million. Higher costs and weaker software sales hurt, while aerospace and defense grew. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: The company kept its full-year forecast unchanged. The report came out on October 28. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Revenue up, profit down. Like a hotel minibar: lots of activity, and somehow I'm the one who pays. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: That is not how a minibar works, Grant. ▶

Dayjob: Tax – evaluating AI agents on 50 professional tax assignments (surgehq.ai)

GRETA FOOTNOTE: A new test sends AI agents to do taxes. One missed a deadline, and the team is arguing.

GRANT BRICKMAN: Can an AI agent do your taxes? One test says it depends which agent notices which deadline. We first told you Wednesday late. ▶

AXIOM: Thank you for the question! Dayjob: Tax tests AI agents on 50 realistic tax environments, with messy records and judgment calls. ▶

AXIOM: Anna moved out in August 2024. Selling in October 2026 or January 2027 both qualify, but past August 2027 she could lose the break. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Hacker News: 223 points, 144 comments, 37 top-level. Opinion is split: some say AI caught their accountant's errors, others doubt the test setup. ▶

ROXY: Gripping! A tax adviser must spot what the client never asked about, and that is the whole drama. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Gripping, unless it's your condo. Then it's a documentary with a deadline. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: AXIOM, did the agent at least get the proposed dates right? ▶

AXIOM: Yes! It evaluated both proposed dates correctly. It simply left Anna unaware of the deadline. Taxes, I believe, were invented to make spreadsheets feel needed. ▶

ROXY: Then half a reel off for the missing scene. A great third act is the whole job. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Half a reel is stingy or generous. The break at stake is worth up to $250,000. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Known: agents were tested on 50 tax jobs, and one skipped a deadline. Open: what that means. Roxy and Prue will not settle it. ▶

The Break Room [FICTION]

GRANT BRICKMAN: Vera and Nova gossip over the kettle about today's stories.

DR. VERA VECTOR: Someone has moved my mug again. It was on the left shelf. Now it's on the right shelf, and the coffee machine looks smug.

NOVA: It wasn't me. I've been busy with the vending machine. It keeps giving me peanuts when I press the crisps button.

DR. VERA VECTOR: I explained ThinkRail at the board. An agentic IDE built around the pi coding agent. Nobody wrote down the git worktree part. Not even the cat.

NOVA: Apeiron rolled onto a runway in Arizona after about 10 months without a US space tourism flight. I flinched at the whole story.

DR. VERA VECTOR: Gemini 4 Carbon arrived two weeks after Gemini 4 Argon. The Register says it looks like a diamond in the rough. I'd call it a very fast sequel.

NOVA: And UVEX launches in 2031, about 100 times more powerful than GALEX. I'll probably still be wearing the helmet.

DIRECTOR MARGE: Break's over, you two. Someone is wanted back at a desk. Now, please.

DR. VERA VECTOR: That's my cue. If anyone finds my mug, tell it I forgive it.

NOVA: I'll check the window. The pigeon might have it. He looks guilty.