Printing - the final frontier

The history of printing began as an attempt to reduce the cost of reproducing multiple copies of documents, fabrics, wall paper, etc. Also printing was the hand of help for the process of communication, and had a great contribution to the development of commerce, law, religion and others.

Metal movable type

More of it, the printing methods expand at a high rate, in line with the technology evolution. And come to think of it, it all started around 3000 BC, with the need of duplication of images. Around that time, in the early Mesopotamian civilization there were used round cylinder seals for rolling an impress onto clay tablets.
In China and Egypt, the use of small stamps for seals preceded the use of larger blocks, as in Europe and India the printing of cloth preceded the printing of paper or papyrus.


In these days the printing need goes further than just printing to paper or to mash printing. The technology of printing combined with 3D modeling turns out to be the latest achievement.

As we can see in the video below, NASA uses large 3D printers to print tools. Is it possible ?
Let's see how a 3D copy machine works :

Apparently the need of printing objects from 3D models expanded so far that we can have our own 3D printer in house.

Presenting Cube 3D from Cubify :

A friendly and easy to use printer for home use. It is the only safe at-home use certified printer. It can print in two materials : strong recyclable ABS and compostable PLA.










 The printer uses material cartridges of 16 different colors, including neutral colors, metallic silver and glow in the dark. The cube ships with an easy to use software for preparing your files for printing.





Let's see how it works :



You can order it online for 1,399$ . Just pick the body color of the printer and add to cart here.


Now for something more useful for an artist that works with his hands, introducing the pen that can draw in the air 3Doodler .

This unique tool allows the user to literally draw in the air. It uses the same materials as any 3D printer, ABS plastic or PLA which is a "bioplastic" made from corn, is biodegradable and has a lower melting point than ABS.

How it works?
As the pen draws, it extrudes heated plastic, which quickly cools and solidifies into a strong and stable structure.
It can be used to draw 3D shapes or models, decorative art, pendants, hanging ornaments and much much more...


Let's see it in action



You can back this project by pledging on the Kickstarter.com page.

So the question is : Will 3D printing change the world ?

Game of the future?

Presenting Interactive LED Futuro Cube from Think Geek .

A motion-controlled gaming console. It reminds me of the classic Rubik, with one or two exceptions: you can play a lot of games or puzzles and it's not that easy to master this toy.




Let's see the movie clip from ThinkGeek :

Now that we've seen what this is about, let's take a look at How it works :

Despite the fact that it's a simple technology combined with an innovative design, Futuro Cube is packed with clever sensors that send data into the main processor.

It can determine gravity : the cube uses this feature for Gravitap and Rotoselect functionality, having also other uses. Remember the game called "Snake" from the first mobile phones ? Thanks to this feature you can play it on this toy.

Motion tracking : it tracks your motion and recognize the patterns used as a game input.

Tapping : The accelerometer embed in the cube can determine when you tap it. It can also determine on what side of it you tap, whether it's on top, bottom or any of the lateral sides. 

LED coloring : The first version came with 3x3 twin color LED lights matrix (blue and red). The latest version comes with more colorful LEDs. Each light can shine a different color, varying in intensity. 

Sound : Futuro Cube can play sounds by it's 4 channel audio. It can play short descriptions of the games, information on how to play or the score.

Another thing to mention about this cool futuristic gadget is the fact that it can connect wireless to another Cube and you can play multi-player games.

It's built-in rechargeable battery provides hours of play time, and it can be connected via USB port in order to recharge batteries or to upgrade the software.

Let's see how people react to this new toy :

This gadget can be found on the ThinkGeek.com website, with a listing price of $99,99 for US delivery only.

The games included so far in this toy are : 

Cubris, Multi Cubris, Gravity Puzzle, Gomoku, Multi Gomoku, Gravity Challenge, Piano, Snake, Ring Dream, Sokoban, Road Runner, Dream Quest ( find the description of the games on the ThinkGeek website).

To be announced : developer tools this year, so you can code your own games.

Here are some examples of games :

Road Runner 

Gravity Puzzle

Snake 

And more to see from "futurocube" on Youtube.