3D Printing in 2012 – innovation coming thick and fast

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

When I wrote ‘2012 – the year of 3D Printing?‘, I didn’t realise it would quickly become one of my most popular ever posts, get masses of great comments and end up featured on other sites including the Wall Street Journal. But that was back in August,2011, so how are my predictions fairing up now we’re approaching halfway through 2012?

Well, I’d say pretty good – it’s still going to be a while before we see a 3D printer in every home, but the capabilities to make use of them have already arrived, and the hardware itself is getting cheaper. Plus we’re seeing new applications for the technology every week, covering all levels of interest from building hobby parts in your home to creating human veins and body parts for healthcare and industrial applications.

 

No need to design – Scanning tech revolution:

One of the main problems with the concept of 3D Printing on a consumer level is that not everyone is skilled and able to access 3D design software when they need to make something. On a technology level, smaller scanning technology is starting to really move forward, for instance Matterports new, smaller 3D scanner. But even more important could be the new 3D Printing App for the iPad – 123D Catch.

That’s right – you can fully scan any real world object with your iPad and use that captured image to output via a 3D printer. It’s from Autodesk, and allows you to capture and store the design online to then be printed out, or you could send it to a service like Shapeways to print it for you. And the app itself is free!

That means everyone who owns an iPad now owns a full 3D scanning tool which might not be suitable for the most intensive applications, but gives every single person a way to try it.

 

3D Printing hardware falling in price:

I previously covered the likes of MakerBot, which come in at under $2000. But now we’re seeing the likes of RepRap ‘free’ 3D Printer community project, the Kickstarter-project Printrbot which comes in at $549, and now Solidoodle, which combines the worst name of the bunch with a $499 starting price.

That means it’s getting to the same level as an iPad, and for under £1000 you could have the iPad, 3D capture app and 3D printer all set-up and ready to go (Some tweaking and set-up necessary). Under £500 comes into geek impulse buy territory, and also means that you can pay off your investment in a reasonable amount of time without becoming a rapid prototyping company.

 

3D Printing innovation is almost endless:

Just look at a quick sample of the 3D printing news and business that I’ve spotted and saved in the last few months:

Here are the MIT printable robots in action:

 

3D Printing – is 2012 realistic?

I was intentionally a little bit vague when I claimed 2012 would be the year of 3D printing, because I didn’t define exactly what that meant. Would it mean everyone knows what is it? Or owns a 3D printer of their own? Or has one on their Christmas list?

In my mind it was the year the phrase became as understood and accepted as ‘the internet’, ‘iPhone’ or ‘iPad’. And I see no reason yet to become any less optimistic that will be the case by the end of the year – it’s already happened in technology circles, and with the range and scope of innovation, there’s a good chance one or two breakout ideas will have occurred by the time December rolls around – indeed the coverage above includes mainstream publications such as the BBC, so this really isn’t a niche idea anymore.

The question is really how soon you and your business might start actively using 3D Printing, rather than talking about it. And I suspect it won’t be long unless you want to be left behind…

Filed Under: 3D Printing, Disruptive Technology, technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Why I love writing and technology…

May 2, 2012 By 4 Comments

…because done well, both can inspire people to act.

Whether it’s laughter or tears, love or hate, making a purchase or revolting against a government – both can provide amazing tools to inspire and encourage.

It’s how I ended up combining writing and marketing.

And it’s why I don’t dream about one day turning this business into an ‘SEO’ agency. Or a ‘social media’ agency.

I dream growing this business into something larger which is known for being able to enable change and action both internally and externally.

And it’s why I also think a lot about how that looks in terms of structure and recruitment.

And both of those issues are likely to become increasingly important this year, so if that’s the sort of thing you might be interested in, please do get in touch. Location won’t be important, but the right ideas will…

Filed Under: marketing, technology, TheWayoftheWeb, Writing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Google celebrates the Sinclair Spectrum and so do I

April 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

Google has chosen to celebrate both St George’s Day and the 30th Anniversary of the Sinclair Spectrum with their Google Doodle today, Monday, April 23, 2012.

GoogleSpectrumAnniversaryAnd it’s something that brings back a lot of memories for me. I can remember my first experience of playing on a 48 ZX Spectrum at a friend’s house, with the excitement of hearing the squeals of code loading from a C90 cassette tape deck attached by some rudimentary cables, and the joy of being able to control the onscreen action with the rubber keys.

It was followed by some incessant pestering of my parents and for the Christmas following my 5th birthday I unwrapped my very own home computer, which I remember came with Transversion – a grid-based space game blatantly ‘inspired’ by Pacman and Space Invaders.

Then came the delights of typing in the code copied by hand from Sinclair User and Your Sinclair magazines. The frustration when it didn’t work as I went back to 3 line programs to display a never ending stream of swearwords. And the fun of being given C90s full of copied games and trying to find the gap between the first and second game on the tap.

And although I wholeheartedly embraced piracy as an impoverished 5-year-old, there was the risk that in trading cassettes evidence of particularly bad music choices was revealed when some of the evidence remained.

In the years that followed came the 128K +2 Spectrum, the Amiga, the Gateway 486PC, and various work computers up to my modern day Samsung laptop. There’s barely any way I could have imagined that a computer or games console could ever produce the graphics now churned out by the Xbox 360 in my living room – that was beyond what Hollywood was filming until pretty recently.

But without the ‘interesting’ approach of Sir Clive Sinclair to computers, I might not have been interested in technology, the internet, or anything that has led to a fascinating life which has taken me around the world, let me work with some amazing companies, people and brands, and now means I can run a reasonably successful company with a number of clients and a growing number of employees and partners from a laptop on my dining room table.

 

Sinclair Spectrum 48k, Nintendo NES, Binatone console

My Spectrum, next to the positively prehistoric by comparison Binatone console

It’s also why I’m so keen that the Raspberry Pi and projects like it are supported in given access to children to be able to be creators rather than just consumers.

It’s why I’m so interested in British companies producing innovative technology, and how that can give rise to entire industries – in this case, the Commodore 64 (spit), and Spectrum 48k gave rise to the bedroom games coders and early games companies, relatively few of which still survive in the era of Japanese and American consoles dominating video-games. It’s why we need to support existing British technology brands, particularly those which open up opportunities to the end user.

Long live the Spectrum, and if you had any doubt I’m still a fan, here’s a recent tribute on one of my online racing cars. Graphics have come a long, long way….

The ORD Merc 190E - winner of the Rllmuk Classic Touring Season 1

Checking out one of the TV adverts for the Spectrum at the time also makes me remember the formative influence of the first time I watched The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy after it was adapted for television.

It’s interesting to imagine which products from the last two or three years will be celebrated in 30 years time… Which would you suggest will make it?

Filed Under: technology, Videogames Tagged With: , , ,

Fighting for the internet, and for my son…

February 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you read my blog regularly, or follow me on Twitter, you’ll doubtless have an idea of my views on SOPA, PIPA, ACTA etc. I’m one of over 2 million people who have signed a petition to try and get ACTA rejected, and I support the hundreds of protests taking place later today in cities across the UK and the globe.

I’m against these measures for 2 reasons, and it’s not about being able to pirate films, music or books. In all honesty, I can’t remember the last time I consciously attempted to download pirated content – I’m too busy to spend time worrying whether my laptop is secure enough to be safe and locating a decent copy when I can generally pay the ‘lazy man’s tax’ and download from a legal site. Generally many of the acts, artists and authors I enjoy tend to be aware of and use Creative Commons licences anyway.

The reasons I’m against the attempts by large media companies to shore up their moribund traditional business practice by funding politicians to bring in laws are simple:

  • I believe that a free and open internet provides far more benefits to the whole of society than it damages, and that copyright is an incentive for creation which is meant to serve society as a whole, not restrict innovation and ideas in the service of extending profits for large corporations.
  • I’ve enjoyed the benefits of a free and open internet which allows me relative freedoms of self-publishing and self-expression, which has enabled me to continue to build a business and career based on creating content, training journalists, and helping companies to connect more effectively with their customers. All of this will become more difficult due to the lack of understanding shown in all new bills and treaties proposed so far by people who have little empathy with the users of the world wide web.

And there’s an additional reason why I’m standing up against these proposals with more strength than ever before – my son. I don’t want him to grow up in a world where the greatest tool for access to knowledge, community and enabling basic human rights is castrared by large media companies because they haven’t evolved and want to keep doing business the old fashioned way.

After almost 4 years, I still occasionally feel surprised and amazed that I have responsibility for another human being – looking after a cat and a rabbit were stressful enough, let alone remembering to eat healthily and get enough sleep when I’m working hard. But as a parent I share what I presume are normal concerns – worrying my son might get ill, hurt, be unhappy, etc. As a geek parent I also have two concerns specific to technology:

  • I want my son to benefit from education and access to the tools to be able to take things apart, modify them, and create with them to build his own inventions and ideas, whether that’s hardware, software, art or ideas. I don’t want him to be a passive consumer forcefed applications and content which is so protected that it can’t be examined, played with, and learnt from.
  • I want my son to benefit from a free and open internet which allows him to potentially connect with a global network of people who may share his ideas, beliefs, and passions. He may turn out to be the most popular kid in his school, but he may also have interests which aren’t shared by everyone else – the internet is an amazing tool for establishing other people share the same problems or hobbies, and reducing the isolation which can be a symptom of being a teenager in particular.

With my limited knowledge of politics and finance, I have little hope that the current administrations and electoral processes will change enough to stop the constant challenges to our digital evolution. So it’s my duty, and yours, to stand up for the things we want to preserve, for ourselves, and for our children, family, friends and everyone else.

If you’re in Europe, contact the relevant MEPs now – the questions being raised over ACTA have led to positive signs in both Poland and Germany, and there’s no reason why we can’t make a change in other coutnries if we all act. I have no doubt that eventually an open system will prevail no matter what laws are passed, but lets not allow the current generations of teenagers and children to have their potential wasted while that happens.

 

Filed Under: news, open source, Personal, technology Tagged With: , , , ,
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