For all those mobile modeling mavens waiting for another 17″ workstation option, your wait is over. Today, from SIGGRAPH 2015, Lenovo has announced they are bringing back the 17″ workstation, and not only that, a completely redesigned 17″ workstation.
We fell through the clouds. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t done it before, but this time, amidst the flurry of the cottony innards expelled from a bio-hatch explosion, there were enough obstacles to keep us in freefall with the full expectation we would eventually come face-to-face with these links. Eric Lloyd Brown – Just your plain…
If Zoolander was an actual person and came across Lance Abernethy’s miniature tool collection, there’s a good chance that he would ask “what are these? tools for ants?” – and for good reason. Abernethy, who resides in New Zealand, has been actively building miniature ‘micro-machine’ replicas of his power tools for the past year that…
For the past two months, Lexus has been gradually releasing details regarding their “Amazing” Slide hoverboard – but of course, never the technology inside of it. Today, the Japanese automaker finally released the details behind the Slide hoverboard and why they set out to do it. As expected, the board was a publicity stunt for…
Since it was founded in Amsterdam in 2013 by co-founders Brian Garret and Bram de Zwart, 3D Hubs has grown into the largest network of 3D printers with over 15,000 locations in over 140 countries, providing over 1 billion people access to a 3D printer within 10 miles of their home. The company is often…
It’s no secret that SolidWorks is still among the most widely-used CAD applications in the product design industry. Yet despite its widespread use and popularity, a number of alternative CAD offerings have been coming out of the woodwork within the past few years that leverage cost (oftentimes in a freemium or monthly subscription business model)…
Whether you’re a fan of coolers with integrated Bluetooth speakers and a blender or not, the story of the Coolest Cooler isn’t about an insulated beverage container – it’s about what happens when a product sells tens of thousands of units literally overnight in the age of crowdfunding. After famously raising over $13.25M from over…
Today we’re taking our pet baby octopi out of the tank, lathering on the sunscreen and launching SmackTalk. SmackTalk is the new platform to discuss Design, Engineering and all matters of related awesome. We’ve wanted a place for people to start discussions and always thought the conversation should be part of the story. More often…
Considered by many to be among the best desktop 3D printers for creating high resolution parts, the SLA-based Form 1+ from FormLabs is also unique in that it is capable of using a variety of resin materials to satisfy different print needs. Currently, the FormLabs lineup of resin materials – which come in 1-liter bottles…
As more small and medium-sized businesses continue to find success – both financially and in terms of testing a market – using crowdfunding methods, it would only seem natural that larger companies would also want to take advantage of ‘expanded focus groups’ in order to test the viability of a product concept before dumping thousands…
Although the Lego brand hasn’t yet found a solution for the inevitable rogue Lego brick that somehow always ends up being stepped on with a bare foot, the company has been actively looking into ways of making their seemingly perfect toy bricks a better product. Among other ways they can make Lego bricks better? Make…
Of all of the ‘futuristic’ gadgets that popular culture has dangled in front of consumers without the satisfaction of it being real, the Back to the Future hoverboard (okay, and self-lacing shoes) rank among the highest in the list. While we’ve seen various attempts to create hoverboards over the years – as evidenced by a…
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Quirky since announcing that they’ve turned their focus from manufacturing their own products using their collaborative invention platform towards those made by others through a number of corporate partnerships. Among other companies that have signed on already to utilize the Quirky 2.0 platform include General Electric, Mattel…
Although their products over the years have been hit or miss, the democratic design approach towards product development that Quirky has pioneered since being founded by Ben Kaufman in 2009 has always been front and center for the company; now, it’s looking like that’s all that they’re going to do with a new focus as…
Although HP officially announced their ‘Blended Reality’ Ecosystem and Sprout immersive computer in late October of 2014, it’s taken a full eight months for the company to follow up with what is likely to be the most important feature of all: a 3D scanner peripheral that enables users to fully-scan 3D objects. The “all-in-one” computer,…
With a childhood that consisted of designing and building his own toys from the age of five or six, to a career history that spans the fields of animation, graphic design, interior design, carpenter, scenic painting, welding, writing and acting, hosting Mythbusters seems like a natural evolutionary step for the show’s Adam Savage. Savage, along…
Between the latest developments behind the HoloLens to the announcement of their Internet Explorer replacement product, it’s already been a busy couple of days for Microsoft at their annual Build Developer Conference, which runs from April 29th through May 1st in San Francisco. Of course, the conference wouldn’t be complete without some updates on Windows…
If there’s one thing that the growing “Maker” community can continually count on, it’s just that: a community of like-minded individuals who support each other’s growth in search of the next great problem-solving idea. As some might say – “the proof is in the pudding” – one only needs to attend a Maker Faire event…
Looking at incredible structures such as the Sphinx in Egypt or the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci’s self propelled cart, it’s even more impressive when you think about the rudimentary resources that the designers had hundreds and even thousands of years ago. Today, we have highly sophisticated tools like CAD software and rapid prototyping to…
It’s no secret that Quirky has had a significant impact on disrupting the way that things get made. Similar to Local Motors, their crowdsourced design business structure allows ideas to be tested within their community before being refined and sent into production – with royalties coming back to the original inventor. While many experienced designers…
Aside from great museums, pizza slices and crazy food-hybrids, NYC has always had something else going for it: it’s very 3D print-friendly. Among other things, NYC’s SoHo shopping district was the first to see a MakerBot Retail Store – a first of its kind – and nearby Brooklyn is the home to many hardware startups…
It’s been a wild ride for Carbon3D and their CLIP technology ever since CEO and co-founder Joseph DeSimone presented the technology live on stage during his TED2015 presentation in Vancouver on March 16th. “What we think of as 3D printing,” said DeSimone, “…is really just 2D printing over and over…slowly.” If the live Carbon3D CLIP…
In what was certainly one of the product design events of the year, DEVELOP3D Live went down last month in Warwick, England and featured a host of talks and workshops centered around CAD and the near-future of product design. Among others who were on-hand to talk about their latest technologies included SolidWorks CEO Gian Paolo…
While you were out getting IPAs with friends (or binge-watching on Netflix) last friday night at 10PM ET, the most-funded campaign in the history of Kickstarter was wrapping up after raising a staggering $20 million over its month-long campaign. Although the previously-successful Pebble Technology company is a far cry than your standard one-man grassroots product…
It was only a week ago when we got a sneak-peek at Carbon3D’s CLIP Technology which spread like wildfire across the design, engineering and general ‘maker’ community. The company claimed that they are able to print 3D objects between 25 and 100-times faster than more common additive manufacturing techniques including FDM and SLA-based 3D printing.…
If you’re an industrial designer, engineer or have any interest in manufacturing, then this is one event that you’re surely not going to want to miss. The Design for Manufacturing Summit is a one-day event that hyper-focuses on “Connecting industrial designers, product developers, makers, engineers and manufacturers for a more decentralized, leaner manufacturing ecosystem”. Trust…
After months of speculation, rumors and various tidbits surrounding “the future of CAD”, Onshape – the browser-based parametric CAD program that’s been in the works for years now – is finally live. Founded by SolidWorks founder Jon Hirschtick and a team of ex-SolidWorks corporate all-stars, the free (yes – free) program is being hailed by…
Hold onto your anodized aluminum hats and bring out the foamcore piñatas! Today, March 5, 2015 is being recognized as the very first National Industrial Design Day. According to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) – who are also celebrating their 50th anniversary today – U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly declared that industrial design…
MechWarrior, Robotech, Titanfall, you name it- fighting using giant robots is awesome no matter how you slice it and could soon become a reality. MegaBots are looking to make that dream come true with the world’s first 15-foot tall, 15,000-pound robots. The robots will feature modular, pneumatic powered cannon arm emplacements that fire impressive 3-pount…
Back when it was announced that Apple had hired Australian industrial designer Marc Newson to join their notoriously tight-knit Industrial Design team, there was plenty of speculation about why Apple had made the decision. Amongst other theories was that Newson and Ive just simply wanted to work together in the same environment, however it is…
I was sipping a hot coffee and Ding! An email from GrabCAD pops into my email this morning. A very unexpected email. “I have some great news – Workbench is now free!” Hardi Meybaum, CEO of GrabCAD says in the email. Workbench is GrabCAD’s highly rated, browser-based model management and collaboration software that was selling…
I was finally able to get a proper live demo of the new SolidWorks Industrial Design product at SolidWorks World 2015, and while we still lack some really critical information (Uh, price?), a lot of the fuzz is finally coming into focus. We spread some misinformation on The Twitters yesterday, so today we set the…
Can’t make it to Phoenix, Arizona for SolidWorks World this week? It’s no biggie – although you’ll be missing out on the rare sight of seeing legions of awesome SolidWorks users who are taking a break from their usual screen glare for some real-life sunlight amongst the Phoenix palms. For those that can’t make it…
Witnessed by hundreds of millions of viewers, the dancing sharks at Katy Perry’s Half-time show got a lot more attention than expected. Poor Left Shark – have you ever had to make your moves while wearing that kind of suit? Inspired by the effort, ‘Political Artist’ Fernando Sosa modeled his own version and placed it on…
Since its inception in March of 2005, Y Combinator has helped guide and launch dozens of successful startups through their innovative support platform consisting of seed money, advice and resources. The company, which is based out of Mountain View, California, is able to supply their financial and industry connection resources in exchange for an average…
Can’t make it to Phoenix, Arizona for SolidWorks World next week? It’s no biggie – although you’ll be missing out on the rare sight of seeing legions of awesome SolidWorks users who are taking a break from their usual screen glare for some real-life sunlight amongst the Phoenix palms. For those that can’t make it…
After having first obtained a diploma in interior design and later one in industrial design, French industrial designer Jean Louis Iratzoki naturally fell into a career that focuses on designing modern furniture for brands both large and small, including those centered around wood, bioplastic, metal and even chocolate manufacturing. Regardless of where his project briefs…
In an interesting decision leading up to SolidWorks World 2015 next month, Dassault Systèmes, makers of SolidWorks have announced that former Vice President of Research and Development at SolidWorks Gian Paolo Bassi has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of the popular CAD software brand. In his previous role, Bassi led research in future…
Although they’ve been on the market for awhile as a 3D printer manufacturer now, MakerBot has been up to a lot more than just creating glorified hot glue guns that create colorful vases and toys. In addition to their recent partnerships with global brands including Sesame Street, Hello Kitty, Martha Stewart and more recently, Hoover…
It’s always interesting when a controversial company buys another controversial company. What does this mean? Will they be Controversial2? Today, 3D Systems announced that they have purchased 3D Printing company BotObjects, a UK-based company best known for two things: FDM 3D Printing in full, real-color and also being accused of consumer fraud and not delivering…
Hot off the heels of another successful Autodesk University, Autodesk announced today that they are in the process of building a Pier 9-like workshop for fostering innovation in the Boston area. The planned facility’s location, which is slated to house around 27,000 square feet of design space and manufacturing equipment, is still yet to be…
Grunt, squeeze and pop that 3D printed champagne cork. Yesterday, at Autodesk University, the software company that serves manufacturing, architectural and the media and entertainment industries pushed further into additive manufacturing with three announcements. Autodesk has formally launched the Spark Platform, along with a Printer, a Fund and a strategic partnership with 3D print industry…
Ahh…there’s nothing like a plate full of sweet potatoes and mounds of stuffing to wash it down. Let’s not forget to mention the eggnog, cranberry, bowls of shelled nuts and mountains of pumpkin pie, too! Today you’re probably feeling a slight belly effect from last night’s tastebud carnage…but don’t worry…we all are. That’s why we’ve…
Store this under ‘early Christmas gift’ or ‘app to escape the post-Thursday turkey exhaustion.’ Mischief is now the sketch app from the Foundry, after a mid-November acquisition of Made with Mischief. They have Mac and Windows versions–cheap at a cost of only $25. With the news they announce a free version of Mischief. Most interesting… “Chris Cheung, who…
While virtual reality applications are a dime a dozen these days, we’re still yet to see any sort of a mainstream adoption of the virtual reality headsets themselves…at least at a consumer-friendly price point. When virtual reality headsets become ‘the next iPad’ however, we’re sure in for a change of pace when it comes to…
For decades now, the performance of working with digital tools has been contingent on one’s hardware setup and needless to say, you got what you paid for (and still do). Adobe has been working on obliterating the need for expensive hardware as more services start operating out of the Cloud with the development of their…
With recent major updates including the addition of Sørensen Leather’s entire 289-count material library onto Keyshot Cloud, Luxion’s popular KeyShot rendering package has never provided as much flexibility, power and resources as their latest KeyShot 5.1 release offers. It comes with little surprise then, that the winners of the recent 2014 KeyShot Rendering Contest have…
Between the Shapeways-Façade that Hasbro has set up for experimenting with the customized fabrication of My Little Pony dolls to Sesame Street’s decision to grab hands with MakerBot to create extruded yellow ooey-gooey plastic Big Birds, it’s no secret that toy brands and manufacturers are lining up in droves to cash in on this ‘3D…
You’ve probably heard about the TouchPico – a handheld projector that transforms any surface into an amazingly awesome interactive touchscreen. The 80″ screen surface that you get is a bold step in technology innovation and means a lot to the designing community as well. Recapping the technology aspect – the interactive Android PC projects via…
On a quiet street dotted with art galleries in New York City this morning, HP announced that they have developed a new ‘vision’ of the future of content creation and are releasing two new products that bring that vision to life: HP Multi Jet Fusion Technology and the Sprout by HP immersive computer. While there…