What do future products look like? Personal, sensual, intimate
Huge technology trade shows like IFA are meant to parade the biggest products around. But what if the biggest isn’t the best? What if intimacy, personalization and customization are the things we crave? That’s what I argued at a fringe event in Berlin last week.
See the full story, which discusses 3D printing, here: http://gigaom.com/europe/what-do-future-products-look-like-personal-sensual-intimate/
Resort Towns Face a Last Picture Show (the end of film in theaters?)
According to recent industry statements, the major Hollywood studios are planning to complete the switch to digital by ceasing to release 35-millimeter film altogether; 20th Century Fox promises to phase out film by the end of next year, and the others are expected to follow. Which means that the analog projectors that have whirred along for decades will be suddenly rendered incapable of playing modern movies. For many seasonal theaters, the dog days of this summer may be the only days they have left.
Digital projectors are compatible with hard drives and files called Digital Cinema Packages, which are cheaper to produce and easier to disseminate than film. John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, says 30,000 screens have already been converted, leaving nearly 10,000 in some stage of transition. As he told exhibitors at CinemaCon in 2011, “If you don’t make the decision to get on the digital train soon, you will be making the decision to get out of the business.”
See the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/movies/resort-towns-face-a-last-picture-show.html?_r=2
3D – The future of nightclubbing?
Billed as the ‘future of night-time entertainment’, 3opolis launched over two weekends in March 2009 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Las Vegas and returned in September 2009 at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub where DJ Benji Madden span tunes on a ‘3D Dance Floor’ which was described by the LA Weekly as “Mind Blowing”.
See the full story plus videos here: http://www.3dfocus.co.uk/3d-news-2/3d-the-future-of-nightclubbing/10264
Indian researchers create technology for taking 3D pictures on smartphones
According to the Economic Times, Marwah, currently in Bangalore to introduce the technology to the R&D (research and development) heads of smartphone makers, says: "We have developed a new camera design called Light Field Camera technology that can be fitted inside a cellphone camera to capture the bundle of light rays coming from the scene, giving users the ability to capture single-shot 3D photos."
See the full story here: http://tech2.in.com/news/smartphones/indian-researchers-create-technology-for-taking-3d-pictures-on-smartphones/407302
Decade of stats points to future (UK and world theatrical and 3D Stats)
This year marked the 10th anniversary of the British Film Institute's Statistical Yearbook, an annual publication of U.K. market data that many consider a benchmark for other markets.
The publication of the 2012 book warrants an analysis of key areas of the U.K. industry and of the prevalent trends reflective of broader international tendencies over the past decade -- indicating where maturing markets in many territories are now headed.
3D Printer art show, London, Oct 19-21
With each passing year, 3D-printed designs get bolder and more innovative.
An event in London next month will celebrate the emerging craft/art form. From October 19-21, The Brewery in London hosts the 3D Print Show, the world’s first consumer and trade show dedicated solely to the emerging 3D-printing phenomenon.
See the full story and pictures here: http://news.cnet.com/2300-17938_105-10013614.html
Disney’s 3D-Printed Princesses, Interactive Cakes, and Other Maker Technology
[Philip Lelyveld comment: cool use of 3D printers, IR-activated LEDs, and CAD-designed balloons at Disney parks. Watch the videos.]
Once upon a time, Walt Disney decided he wanted to do more than animation — he wanted to elevate amusement parks to an art form and create utopian cities. Instead of leaving his burgeoning cartoon studio to chase this new dream, he spun off a small skunkworks team in 1952 called Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), that went on to develop robotic-president animatronics, theme parks, and other technological wonders.
But more important than any of their individual innovations, WDI left an imprint on the organization that leads Imagineers to continuously seek ways to use technology in the service of stories. Fast forward to 2012, and Disney’s research group now has six offices across the world, from Burbank to Zurich, releasing commercial projects and academic papers at a pace that would make the Seven Dwarves proud. We’ve poured over their output and found a few of the newest, coolest ones.
Disney D-Tech 3D-Printed Princess Figurines
Disney is helping push ordinary girls to become princesses with the aid of photo scanners and 3-D printers. Starting at $99.95, this 3-D printed tchotchke will hit the royal coffers hard (but not as much as this similarly gender-demarcating $1400 bejeweled Ariel figurine). The plaster princesses are at Disney’s theme parks in Orlando for a limited time. But, as Walt Disney World is the most visited tourist location in the U.S., with over 17 million visitors per year, even slow sales will expose millions of eager minds (and wallets) to 3D-printing technology.
See the full story here: http://www.wired.com/design/2012/08/disneys-3d-printed-princesses-interactive-cakes-and-other-maker-technology/
3D pasta and 4 other things from the future
1. Google experiments with 3D printed pasta
It’s official. Not a week goes by now that I don’t see something new and amazing related to 3D printing. Just recently, we heard about a giant 3D printer that can produce a custom house in 20 hours. And about how the fact that future of retail will be unrecognizable because we’ll likely be able to print out all sorts of goods at home. This week, I’ve learned that now you can order 3D printed pasta at Google’s cafeterias. Employees at the tech giant’s Mountain View headquarters can now try out 3D printed food courtesy of Exhibition Chef Bernard Faucher, who prints out edible products using ingredients like pasta dough and vegetables. In this “Star Trek” future where food is printed on demand, will nourishment come in the form of “food inks,” and will we be buying them from unlikely sources such as Google and HP?
Read the full story here: http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/08/28/5-things-future
Berlin expertise gives 3D extra traction
The 28 August 2012 marks the official opening of the 3D Innovation Center in Berlin. Some 700 m2 of floor space with a 3D Live Studio, 3D cinema, test lab and exhibition area offer an infrastructure for the present roll-call of some 50 partners from industry and research to cooperate on the joint development of 3D. Dr. Philipp Rösler, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, will inaugurate the new state-of-the-art center. At the same time two pioneering market studies – on 3D technology in the industrial domain and 3D market development in media – will be presented to the public. And the 3D Studio's Live Acts will feature a discussion of "Bundesliga Football in 3D" and a live 3D performance by singer Max Buskohl.
Read the full story here: http://www.hhi.fraunhofer.de/index.php?id=4761
Eventorbot Open Source 3D Printer
Eventorbot! Open source 3D printer. Simple with less materials. Frame is made of a single 4′ long, 2 1/2″ square tube (16 gauge/1.5mm/.0598″ thick, cost: less then $20.00). With the design there is less plastic parts, stronger structure, all wires are hidden, and a more appealing/finish look. (…)
Read the full story here: http://blog.makezine.com/2012/08/29/eventorbot-open-source-3d-printer/