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Friday, November 05, 2010

Mold Sculptures On an iPad App, Then Print Them With a 3D Printer [Video]

We've already ascertained that 3D printers are cool. But when connected to an iPad, running the Beautiful Modeler app? Consider our collective minds blown. You can mold digital clay into whatever you want, then print it with a 3D printer.

You'll need a 3D printer, obviously—MakerBot's Thing-O-Matic is the cheapest, at $1,225.

It's probably the easiest way to design 3D objects, without mucking around on CAD or other design programs. Actually using your fingertips to bend the lump of clay within the iPad app, turning it into a little object to print out—well, it sounds like a dream come true. Imagine your mom making Christmas tree ornaments this way, or being able to conjure up a little doohicky for sliding under a short table leg, within minutes?

Never have I wanted a 3D printer so much before.

The source code is available to grab from the Interactive Fabrication site now, and cleverly the program actually hooks up your laptop at the same time, so you can see your object's progress there, and model it on the iPad. [Interactive Fabrication via CreativeApplications via FastCo]

Apple's New Gaming Patent Would Allow iPhone Laser Tag [Patents]

"Interactive Gaming with Co-Located, Networked Direction and Location Aware Devices," sounds dull, but Apple's New Gaming Patent Would Allow iPhone Laser Tag Apple's latest patent is anything but. The tech described would use augmented reality tricks to open up whole new forms of portable gameplay—iPhone guns, anyone?

The gist of the patent is its ability to take advantage of the phone's position-sensing guts—gyroscope, accelerometer, and GPS—to turn your iOS device into a controller that talks to other controllers. Imagine using your iPhone's camera and screen to take aim at a friend, and then nailing her with a wirelessly-transmitted shot. Each phone involved in such a game would know the location of the other, constantly sharing positional data. Also described in the patent are Apple-sanctioned control accessories, allowing you to hold your phone like a gun or steering wheel.

This is pretty radical stuff from a company that's confined its gaming—highly successfully, it should be acknowledged—to whatever can be accomplished through solitary tapping, swiping, and tilting. But this new patent suggests Apple wants to take iOS gaming off of the toilet and subway seat, and out into the open. And we're excited. [TUAW]

Plextronics rolls out next-gen OLED ink, promises bigger, better OLED displays

A bottle of ink may not exactly seem like the key to bigger, better, and cheaper OLED displays, but that's just what Plextronics is promising will result from its new "next generation" Plexcore OC NQ ink. That's particularly notable because it's a non-aqueous, inkjet-printable ink, and is intended specifically for use with so-called solution-processed, phosphorescent OLED technology (as opposed to the vapor processing now commonly used), which at least some folks are betting on as the next big thing for OLED manufacturing -- recent tests have also shown significant advances for the technology, including a lower operating voltage and boost in lifetime over previously tested systems. What's more, while it's still in the testing phase now, Plextronics says it expects the ink to be broadly available to manufacturers sometime next year, which should mean that actual OLED displays using it will follow sometime thereafter.

Continue reading Plextronics rolls out next-gen OLED ink, promises bigger, better OLED displays

Plextronics rolls out next-gen OLED ink, promises bigger, better OLED displays originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic Lumix GF2 preview

At first glance, sitting all on its lonesome like that, the GF2 might forgivably be perceived as just another mundanely incremental upgrade on what was already a lauded predecessor in the Lumix GF1. But, for once, our pessimism was not borne out by the facts -- far from it. With the GF2, Panasonic has somehow managed to shrink its smallest Micro Four Thirds shooter even further, by a reported 19 percent, and the difference in handling is tangible. The Japanese giant has also lightened the load by seven percent, thrown in a new touchscreen-centric UI, and, predictably, upped the video ante to 720/60p or 1080/60i recording in AVCHD format. Join us after the break to see what we thought of this delicious new recipe for pseudo-pocketable large-sensor shooting.

Please note: Panasonic has not yet finalized the GF2's firmware, meaning that the sample images and video below may not necessarily be indicative of the quality you'll get from the final product.

Gallery: Panasonic GF2 hands-on

Gallery: Panasonic GF2 sample images

Continue reading Panasonic Lumix GF2 preview

Panasonic Lumix GF2 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netbooks are being 'cannibalized,' says Windows GM

Tablet sales affecting netbooks? Seems everyone's been suggesting that lately, from Best Buy to ASUS, with much of the blame placed on Apple's iPad for mining the gap, so to speak. Add Microsoft to that chorus -- specifically GM for Windows Product Management Gavriella Schuster. Referencing the pink netbook sitting between her and Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Nick Eaton, Schuster said, "These are definitely getting cannibalized... these are really a second device. But they are getting cannibalized" (SPI's emphasis, not ours). Given Windows' dominance in the netbooks, she's probably got some hush-hush numbers that color her opinion. Then again, speaking of color, perhaps she just doesn't like pink.

Netbooks are being 'cannibalized,' says Windows GM originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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