philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

EBay Gets Into 3-D (Printing, That Is)

EBay announced Friday that it is getting into 3-D printing with a new iPhone app called eBay Exact that lets users customize jewelry and accessories that will then be 3-D printed and sent to them. Functionally, it’s not mind-blowing, yet it shows just how far 3-D printing has come in the past few years and gives a hint of where it could go next.

The app is pretty simple: Once you open it up, you see several items from 3-D printing companies MakerBot, Sculpteo, and Hot Pop Factory: mostly jewelry and iPhone cases, plus a few other items. You pick an item (I chose the Platonix necklace, available through Hot Pop Factory), and then modify a few features...

Read the full story here: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/517156/ebay-gets-into-3-d-printing-that-is/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20130715