3-d printing

We awarded MakerBot Industries' Replicator a Best of CES award in the emerging tech category.

It's an exciting product. That doesn't mean you should go out and buy one.

Are you a product designer, or a mechanical engineer? Do you see yourself starting a small business selling some doo-dad? Maybe you're a passionate hobbyist, a crafter, or an artist. If any of those things describe your interests, the Replicator may be a good fit.

A more generalized consumer certainly could use a 3D printer like the Replicator, or 3D Systems' more affordable Cube. You could make holiday … Read more

LAS VEGAS--If you haven't yet heard about Makerbot, you haven't been paying close enough attention to this year's CES.

The Makerbot Replicator is an open-source, 3D printer that can create just about any plastic object you can imagine. The $1,999 two-color consumer device launched here this week and just this morning, it won a CNET Best of CES award in the Emerging Tech category.

I tracked down Makerbot founder Bre Pettis after the awards show to find out what's next for Makerbot. Here's what he told me about the potential he sees for turning kids on to 3D printing, and a new kind of homemade jelly, just for starters:… Read more

LAS VEGAS--It was only a matter of time before a 3D printer manufacturer latched on to "Star Trek's" famous make-anything device.

Expanding its product portfolio, MakerBot Industries today unveils the MakerBot Replicator, one of, if not the, first with the ability to print objects made from two different colors.

The Replicator starts at $1,799 for a model with a single extruder, and $1,999 for the dual-extruder attachment, which allows for two-color-printing (or Dualstrusion, according to MakerBot Industries).… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The profile of 3D printing will rise after this year's CES, and 3D Systems' Cube is partly responsible.

MakerBot's build-it-yourself Thing-O-Matic has claimed most of the consumer attention for 3D printing this past year, and MakerBot's own CES announcement, whatever and whenever that will be, will only spur more coverage. In the meantime, the Cube underscores the idea that 3D printing can be consumer-friendly, and that a growing number of vendors see it as a viable business.

The design of the Cube printer is a contrast to the garage workshop aesthetic of the MakerBot product. Instead of the Thing-O-Matic's exposed circuity and wooden housing, the Cube with its friendly-looking plastic chassis looks more like a sewing machine.

Other than in appearance, the two printers are not that different. Each relies on an attached spool of plastic: ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), the same material from which Legos are made, in the Cube, or ABS and PLA (polylactic acid, like that used for keg cups) in the case of the Thing-O-Matic. The plastic for each is available in assorted colors, and as the video above shows, it offers all kind of output possibilities.… Read more

Have a 3D printer? Then you're ready to play Key Features, a text adventure from MakerBot that provides clues to its next product.

MakerBot Industries is the company behind the MakerBot, a build-it-yourself 3D printer that sells for just over $1,000. The MakerBot, and consumer 3D printing in general, are both in early stages. You can expect an increased presence for 3D printing at CES, with MakerBot and other vendors scheduled to make announcements.

To promote its own news, MakerBot commissioned game designer Andrew Plotkin to create Key Features, a text adventure in the vein of the old … Read more

Here at Geek Gestalt, every day is different. The world of geek culture is broad--sometimes bewilderingly so. A typical year's coverage can easily include stories on everything from Burning Man to Lego, aviation to 3D printing, NASA to tech startups, MythBusters to Pixar movies, and so on.

That makes coming up with predictions for next year in culture a difficult task--but we're here to serve, so that's just we're offering. Of course, trying to settle on just five ideas for 2012 means leaving a lot of things out.

Still, prognosticating culture's next steps meant talking … Read more

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--It's launch day for Sarah Stocker's new company, and though there's still a lot of work to take care of before going live, her iPhone is doing its best to challenge her. "Launch! In 9m," it taunts.

Stocker is co-founder of My Robot Nation, a startup that gives buyers a set of simple Web-based tools for designing their own small, collectible 3D-printed droid figures.

It's a recent Tuesday, and as part of my Day on the Job series, I've arrived at Stocker's hillside home about 30 minutes north of … Read more

The robots have arrived.

This morning, My Robot Nation officially launched, offering customers around the world the ability to design the droid of their dreams--and have it quickly 3D printed and sent to them.

Note: Please come back tomorrow for a behind-the-scenes story looking at how My Robot Nation's founders spent launch day.

A month ago, as reported first by CNET, the service launched into beta, and for the first time, people in the U.S., Canada, and Europe were able to use My Robot Nation's simple Web-based design tools to craft their own miniature robots. Since then, hundreds of people have done so, and within days, each got delivery of a package containing a ceramic-like figurine meant to be displayed wherever buyers like to show off their small collectibles. … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--For people like Sarah Reinertsen, one of the many downsides of having a prosthetic leg is that there's never been a fashionable way to dress it up.

But for Reinertsen, a record-setting triathlete, and others including a growing number of combat veterans, a startup called Bespoke Innovations is forever changing the way they feel about themselves and how the world looks at them.

Bespoke was founded by industrial designer Scott Summit and orthopedist Kenneth Trauner. The company's initial products are what are known as fairings--3D printed prosthetic leg covers that are each one-of-a-kind and designed for and … Read more