Seamlessly bridging the physical and digital worlds has proved to be a significant challenge for even the world’s most advanced electronic manufacturers. While HP has made considerable strides with their “mixed reality” Sprout platform, the creative market has grown to favor more portable tablets and laptops over full-fledged desktop platforms. With Project Zanzibar, the Microsoft…

We’re stoked to welcome Hardware Massive with this special guest post by Greg Fisher, Founder at HardwareCon. Check out Hardware Massive and, if you’re in the San Jose area this week, you’ll want head over to HardwareCon to learn about the future of hardware. Having spent the last 13 years helping more than 900 hardware startups…

As reported on SolidSmack back in February, music streaming service Spotify is getting into the hardware game—as evidenced by three job postings for hardware engineers or supply chain managers. “Spotify is on its way to creating its first physical products and setting up an operational organization for manufacturing, supply chain, sales & marketing,” explained the…

If you’ve been on the fence about finally entering into digital tablet sketching (or notetaking) territory, both Google and Apple revealed some great news for you this week. First up is the all-new $329 9.7-inch iPad. While marketed towards educators as a low(er) cost of entry to bring iPads into the classroom (the education-adjusted cost…

Although IKEA takes the cake for masterminding the ready-to-assemble (or flat-pack) furniture, the concept was initially captured in an 1878 US patent described as “(A) class of furniture which is so constructed that it may be packed and transported in parts, and put together for use by skilled or unskilled persons.” Either way, decades of…

Modeling a 3D object and prepping it for 3D printing on a 2D screen sounds counterintuitive… because it is. You’re stabbing your mouse at a 2D plane in 3D space to make something which can be interacted with in the real world. I thought we were in the future? So, what if you could design the…

Whether it be music, movies, documents, or photos of your cat – everyone has something precious they keep as digital data. But let’s be real – that’s a lot of data you have to keep stored. Those photos of your cat alone might not even fit the 1TB hard drive you keep. Keeping backups of…

It’s incredible how easy it is to trick the mind into thinking it isn’t doing work. Playing sports makes training your body fun, watching nature shows on TV makes learning biology possible, and playing video games makes puzzle solving compelling. But this particular 21st century device tries to mix both learning and physical activity into…

From production artists to design engineers, few design tools have graced the desktops of design professionals as much as a Wacom tablet. But of all the Wacom tablet models, the Cintiq Pro display tablet takes the cake for the most bells and whistles. Now, the Japanese-based company is kicking things up yet another notch for…

Unlike science fiction movies, where “A.I.” is commonly associated with usurping humanoid robots, real-life artificial intelligence looks far less creepy and is a lot more specialized. They still do our bidding, but without the constant worry that one day they will wake up wondering why they’re doing manual labor without pay. Getting the jump on…

Back when I was a kid, I built a model of the Tardis Console from season 13 using my parent’s cable spool coffee table and a healthy supply of cardboard. Although I could travel anywhere I wanted to in my mind (Calvin & Hobbes style), I wasn’t able to leave the confines of my yard.…

If you still think your desktop PC’s storage space isn’t enough to hold all your CAD projects, then you’ll be happy to know that Samsung just combined 32 1TB NAND flash packages to create the world’s largest SSD. The PM1643’s name doesn’t roll off the tongue so well, but the 2.5-inch SSD holds 30.72TB worth…

3D printing in color can be costly. Given how much time and resources spent upfront, having a failed print isn’t exactly as easy to deal with as printing a 2D color picture incorrectly. MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)’s new ColorFab method (not to be confused with printing filament company ColorFabb) doesn’t aim…

Remember those scenes in Iron Man where Tony Stark fiddles around with an interactive hologram? Of course, you do. Well, Google is about to bring that same experience to reality, because one of their latest projects seeks to make this technology available for everyone—right from your favorite device. Article is an upcoming 3D model viewer…

While nearly any tech or mechanical junkie can appreciate a hulking giant robot, one should always leave room to admire its smaller brethren. Sure, bigger may be better, but giant robots don’t always have the level of precision that many smaller robots come equipped with. Delta robots consist of three individually controlled arms connected to…

For most, the most significant, most practical expense they’ll ever make is a house. But considering how substantial and costly a home can be to maintain, some homeowners go through some crazy remodeling projects and insurance policies just to keep their house afloat. Hover isn’t an omnipotent solution to remodeling problems, but it does make…

At this year’s CES, IBM unveiled their 50-Qubit Quantum Computer prototype, which looks more at home in the Steam Punk world instead of an exhibition room at The Venetian Hotel and Casino. What makes the machine an incredible piece of technology is in the way it processes data. Rather than strictly using digital binary (1’s…

Good news for those looking to add 3D capabilities to any device or machine as Intel recently released their RealSense 400 series depth cameras. Both the 415 and 435 cameras are USB-powered, ready to use out of the box and capable of processing depth using the onboard D4 Vision processor, which can process multiple real-time…

Picture, if you will, a dog: brown fur, floppy ears, mouth full of drool. Easy, right? Now picture an AI system doing the same thing you just did. Since computer language is essentially ones and zeroes, translating human words into picture data isn’t as easy as you might think. And yet, this is what Microsoft’s…

If being stuck in traffic every morning isn’t your idea of a good time, relief may soon be here by way of the friendly skies thanks to the aerospace geniuses over at Boeing. The company’s new Electronic Vertical-Take-Off-and-Landing (eVTOL) prototype stands four feet tall, measures 15 by 18 feet across, and weighs over 700 hundred…

As we’ve seen in the past, bigger, higher resolution TVs can lead to bigger, higher resolution computer screens. Well, how would you like at 146″ computer screen in your face? We love the tech debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and The Wall, a 146-inch “microLED” TV announce by Samsung, is one of our…

Considered by many design professionals to be the holy grail of design tools, the Wacom Cintiq was critical in bringing the natural pen experience to digital workflows over the past decade. Previously offered in both 13.3” and 15.6” sizes, the brand’s untethered Cintiq Pro models enabled professionals to take the Cintiq experience with them on…

With the ability to let users explore and communicate their ideas directly in 3D though AR and VR, few design tools have come along in recent memory that is as unique as Gravity Sketch. Designed to be intuitive in a VR or Mixed Reality workflow before sending over to a more robust CAD program, the…

While just about everybody loves dogs, caring for their daily needs is far from easy—the midnight yelps, the endless appetite, and perhaps the most time-consuming of all, taking them out after every meal. The last problem in particular is what the designers of BrilliantPad aim to solve. The BrilliantPad is a self-cleaning dog potty which,…

Microsoft came pretty dang close to projecting holograms in the real world with their HoloLens mixed reality headset. However, those holograms can only be seen through the eyes of the viewer so long as they’re wearing the head-mounted display. Tech startup Looking Glass, on the other hand, has developed an interactive lightfield kit that allows…

It’s been a long time coming, but after nearly three years, Magic Leap has finally unveiled their One augmented reality headset— dubbed the ‘Creator Edition.’ The head-mounted alternate reality platform consists of a pair of oversized Lightwear goggles, a portable CD player-looking external computer known as Lightpack, and a handheld controller. The headset is purported…

When it comes to internet browsers, I’ve used them all–Chrome, Safari, Edge, Opera, Firefox, you name it. While each of these browsers has their strengths and weaknesses, over the years I find myself just using Chrome and Firefox and, between both, Chrome comes out as the clear winner. Of course, this was before I updated…

With another year just about coming to a close, companies who are gearing up to show off their latest wares at CES in Las Vegas in early January are already getting a head start on the news cycle. Among others, LG has just announced a pair of new monitors for the professional market that are…

When it comes to communicating design ideas effectively on paper, sketches that follow the basic principals of perspective are absolutely critical. While modern digital sketching tools including various iPad Pro apps can assist with perspective drawing, training your mind to see perspective in the analog world can be an entirely different beast to tackle. Aiming…

Considering the vast amount of hackable devices out there, it’s safe to assume that hackers see vulnerable everyday people as easy targets. Certain companies even live off selling products that help keep customers’ digital data safe. Anti-viruses and RFID-lined wallets are some of the most common forms of digital safety, with RFID bags marking a…

As if printing your own desk toys and battle armor wasn’t enough, researchers up at the University of Washington have recently developed a method for transmitting data via Wi-Fi using 3D objects without the need for electricity. The objects in question use a series of 3D springs, switches, and gears to translate motion into data…

Gone are the days of the simple computer monitor. These days, curved screen dimensions, color profiles, resolutions, mounting capabilities, and connection ports sit amongst the top demands of professionals. Among others, Phillips wants in on some of that high-end market in 2018. Hitting stores in January (only in Europe – North America expected later), the…

While multimedia notetaking and sketching continue to drive professional tablet sales, the ability to pull the best from both worlds—the immediate digitization of analog sketches created with physical media—still leaves a lot to be desired. In the Spring of 2016, Moleskine released what we declared “The Best Analog/Digital Sketchbook of Them All” in the form…

Don’t let Cupix fool you. On the surface, it may look like any other 3D virtual tour content you’ve seen on real estate sites or hotel kiosks but Cupix is actually a complete web-based platform to map 360 photos to generate full 3D immersive environments. Their approach is simple. Using an affordable 360 camera (like…

It was only a matter of time before robots got a 21st century upgrade. No longer do they fumble around on quadrupedal legs or struggle with more dexterous tasks. Now, these robots can grab objects, traverse uneven terrain on two legs, and now, even leap up to dangerously tall heights. We all knew this was…

Just in time for Autodesk University this week in Las Vegas, Lenovo announced some welcome new additions to their ThinkStation and ThinkPad product line. In particular, an exciting new mobile workstation offering for 3D professionals on-the-go. The ThinkStation P520 and P250c are desktops for designers, architects, and 3D professionals, while the ThinkPad P52s is the…

As frivolous as it may seem, the humble mouse pad can be a serious tool on the desktop. Whether it’s a simple run-of-the-mill pad from a vendor or a more robust ergonomically-crafted wrist support system, a good mouse pad can save your sanity after hours of clicking away on a project. But you’ve likely never…

It’s not every day when we hear about an exciting new power tool innovation—so when we do get one, it’s usually worth giving a hoot about. The LignoLoc wood nail fastening system is most certainly one of those. Designed to be used in industrial production and ecological timber construction, LignoLoc is the first-ever fireable wooden…

Never underestimate the power of an ergonomic mouse. And for many CAD modelers, the Surface Mouse from Microsoft has been a great balance between price and comfort for years. But like most other things, it’s been long overdue for an update beyond the typical left click, right click, and scroll wheel functionalities. Arriving November 16th,…

With less than a day left to go, Luna Display from Astro HQ has already shot past their $30,000 Kickstarter campaign goal and is currently sitting at nearly $600,000. The Luna Display Mini DisplayPort or USB-C dongle, along with a free accompanying app, seamlessly extends a Mac desktop environment to an iPad using an existing…

It’s been years in development, but the chance to see giant robots fight to the metal-crunching finish is now upon us. Back in the summer of 2015, MegaBots, Inc created a 15-foot tall, 12,000lb piloted mech capable of hurling a 3lb hunk of metal at over 130 mph. The only problem: there was nobody to…

Nike made a splash with their self-lacing shoes, but a foot isn’t the only place to take advantage of auto-adjusting tech. According to AppleInsider, Apple was granted US Patent No. 9,781,984 for a self-adjusting Apple Watch band—leaving puny straps, buttons, velcro, clasps and every other attachment ‘inconvenience’ in its wake. Reads the patent’s abstract: “Systems…

Even though Google’s Pixel 2 release is a wee 364 days from its predecessor (it’s rumored to hit shelves this October 19), the company has done its best to include as many add-ons as it can with its new phone. Of all the new upgrades and features, the instant language translation has caught our imaginations the…

Creating a 3D model in VR isn’t as revolutionary as it once was. If the presence of Quill and Medium on the Oculus Rift weren’t enough, Google’s own Gravity Sketch, Tilt Brush, and Blocks programs add to the ever-increasing library of software which wants to make the craft more accessible. Now we have MasterpieceVR, another…

Remember the Gundam-sized hole in Japan’s heart which was left by the dismantling of the country’s titular giant robot last March? Well, grieve no more! The Unicorn Gundam, whose construction we covered previously, was finished last weekend and stands proudly where its little brother once stood. Though it may not be as colorful as its…

When Google Glass was released to the public in 2014, a lot of controversy ensued over privacy and safety concerns. When a piece of hardware obstructs your view with the data of strangers you share a sidewalk with, it isn’t hard to see how the device can feel a bit creepy to passersby. Thankfully, the…

Yeah, they did it. Lenovo has announced two new upgrades to its line of ThinkStation ‘pewters bound to make your eye muscles tighten and twitch. The ThinkStation P720 and the P920 are two new dual processor systems designed for more taxing operations than opening 50 tabs of Martha Stewart recipes in Google Chrome. (All images…

As long as they can jam more power into a PC, we’ll keep opening the checkbooks for something faster, better, MORE POWERFUL. Faster rendering speeds, better processing power – all of these factors help productivity for us who crank the CAD all day. Whether you’re multi-tasking whilst building a massive assembly or want to max…

Between instant water balloons, DIY computers, or even just simply finding a reason to get back to nature, kids today have never had it so good when it comes to busy activities. And now, they can add Droid Inventor to that list. Announced last week by LittleBits, the Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit includes everything…

When it comes to computer peripherals, today’s digital designers have never had it so good. From wireless pen tablets to 3D mice, we’ve come a long way since the days of a simple wired keyboard and one-button mouse. The recently unveiled Craft keyboard from Logitech adds just one more option to that growing pile. The…