Previously, we’ve already seen how car manufacturers are able to bring their customers into their manufacturing process by way of virtual reality. Considering that the future consists of various head-mounted displays and other VR-tech including the Microsoft Hololens, the Oculus Rift and Magic Leap – among others – we may as well start to fabricate…

As if the new iPhone 6 hasn’t given users enough new screen real estate, a new product wants essentially double your viewing pleasure. This spring, gadget maker Oaxis will be launching their brand new Inkcase 6 case which fits seamlessly to the iPhone 6. Oaxis has taken a rather ingenious approach to the ubiquitous problem…

Often referred to by experts as the M2 Generation, there’s no limit to the amount of time kids aged 6 to 10 will spend playing with apps on various multimedia devices including smartphones and tablets. With this in mind, the designers behind the Hackaball have developed an ingenious learning tool that helps teach kids the…

Being deaf or hard of hearing can be a difficult impairment to overcome and while some turn to learning sign language to communicate, others turn to getting cochlear implants, which give them the ability to hear for the first time or regain some of their hearing after their loss. The problems with cochlear implants is…

“It’s Time For Industrial Design To Grow Up” is the clickbait title of a Fast Co. article trying to define what it is industrial designers are really doing in their jobs. We all have to be placed in a box it seems and with technology rapidly advancing, perhaps our titles do as well. Every now and…

We don’t normally report on street art here on SolidSmack, but we do love sharing various 3D technologies and the use of raw talent – if for no other reason than for inspiration’s sake. Featuring the work of Sofles – an Australian born, internationally-renowned artist – Graffiti Mapped is an interactive street mural project curated…

Starting next month, some flat-pack college dorm furniture may be more design and environmentally-savvy than that table you bought last year that you swore would be handed down to your grandchildren. Thankfully, the flat-pack furniture in question won’t take too much of a dent out of your wallet in the case that you want to…

It goes without saying – wearable devices are a hot topic these days and while many designers and corporations are primarily focusing on wrist and eyewear, China-based Eamey has been busy infusing wearable technology into something that most people already wear daily: headphones. Needless to say, headphones present a wearable device genre that has been…

Today, 3Dconnexion announce a new product. They’re not pucking around with another SpaceMouse, though, oh no. Today, they announce the CadMouse, which is less like a 3D Mouse, and more like your regular mouse, but with smart scroll, command access and a special spot for that middle nubbin to send cad-jabs of pleasure to your central button-pressing unit.…

For the past couple of years, the engineers at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) have been heavily-focused on their 3D mapping technology in the form of Project Tango. The Android-based phone/tablet platform (which is still currently in prototype stage and available to some developers) is designed to create high-quality and accurate 3D maps…

If you thought combining Keyboards and guitars was a neat way to spend your Saturdays, then you best prepare yourself. The KeyMouse is the brainchild of two brothers from Utah who have brought together a mouse and keyboard into a complete and final product. The concept was crafted to solve a common problem seen amongst…

Brace yourselves – this is actually a pretty big deal. Last week, researchers out of the University of Rochester used laser etching methods to create unique patterns that made metal surfaces extremely hydrophobic i.e. water-repellant. Unlike chemical treatments like Teflon-coatings or Ultra-Ever Dry, they claim that this material is much more rugged and long-lasting. In…

Magic Leap. It’s … something. Variously described as a 3D TV, Augmented Reality device or a Virtual Reality device like Oculus Rift, it’s been confirmed via leaks and patents that it is something much crazier. The description by Snow Crash author and Magic Leap’s Chief Futurist Neal Stephenson is telling, “Magic Leap is mustering an arsenal of techniques —…

Confirming rumors, SpaceX has announced that they will be receiving a hefty $900 million investment from Google to help push the internet into orbit with a myriad of satellites. At a valuation of $12 billion, Google would hold roughly 7.5% in the burgeoning space company, joining existing investors including Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Valor Equity Partners and…

It was just this week that rumors started circulating about an upcoming Apple-designed stylus to coincide with their also-rumored 12.9 inch professional iPad known for the time being as the iPad Pro. Sadly, iOS users who are looking for a more portable sketching and work experience will have to wait…however Android users who love to…

Ever since the first iPad came out in 2010, professionals and amateurs alike have been using the touchscreen tablet as a portable digital sketchbook with mixed results. While some professional designers who were already well-versed with creating eye-popping sketches have been able to use the tablet with relative ease, the unpredictable nature of line weights…

Two years in, Google Glass has generated a lot of debate but very few sales. Yesterday, Google announced that it is ending sales of its consumer ‘Explorer’ model, amid leadership restructuring and a new focus on Enterprise solutions. This was not how it was supposed to be: Glass was created to revolutionize how we mere mortals…

Back when it was announced in Fall of 2013, the Martin Jetpack P12 Prototype promised to be the final version of what would unofficially become the world’s first commercially-available jetpack design capable of cutting through the sky a la The Rocketeer. Created by New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft company, the future-inspired designers had previously promised a…

Designed to be used by “six billion people” and starting at just $50 USD for a starter kit, Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone is designed to be iterated on by “hundreds of thousands of developers” and sold similar to how the Google Play store is structured – however for hardware rather than media and apps.…

As we move into a ‘smart’ era where everything from coffee machines and houseplants are capable of communicating with their human owners, it would make sense to focus the IoT infrastructure on creating products that aren’t just the latest and greatest in technology, but also serve a purpose such as…saving lives? Using their existing IntelliSafe…

As the tech industry patiently the awaits the release of the Apple Watch – and more importantly, how the public responds to it – a rise of quieter smartwatch concepts have been coming out of the woodwork that may give the Cupertino company a sharp jab in the smartwatch gut. With interest surrounding some yet-to-be-released…

It’s no secret that Elon Musk is among one of the few functioning futurists that is single-handedly advancing humanity into the future. The SpaceX founder has not only been busy creating a robotic snake that automagically protrudes from a wall to charge an electric car, developing a Mars transporter that is set to be announced…

Considered by many to be one of the most important peripherals in a designer or design engineer’s toolkit, Wacom pen displays and tablets have been seeing some rather dramatic improvements within the past couple of years in regards to both more powerful and ergonomic desktop offerings as well as streamlined and self-contained mobile offerings. This…

Ask anybody who has become a speed demon within an app what their secret is and more often than not, an expert-level use of hot keys is likely to be among the more common answers. Whether the user is a graphic designer switching between selection tools in Photoshop or Illustrator, or a design engineer switching…

Dubai has it, Sydney has it and San Diego is getting it soon. What do these three very diverse cities in very different parts of the world have in common? A severe difficulty of freshwater supply while being right there next to billions of liters of ocean water. Desalination is the magic word that is…

As if the LEGO Architecture Studio couldn’t get any cooler, a clever hack was unveiled last week that could let designers and architects translate their build objects into 3D data for idea generation and literal rapid prototyping with LEGO models. Although most professional designers and engineers will probably want to spend their time jumping straight…

When it comes to keeping paper alive and kicking in an ever-increasing tablet-sketching world, leave it up to Moleskine to find ways of bridging the divide. Earlier this year, the sketchbook giant announced a partnership with smartpen manufacturer Livescribe that offers a solution for backing up your analog sketches into the cloud. Previously, the Italian…

Imagine cleaning yourself with only 5 liters of water. That’s just over a gallon – and no, it doesn’t have to be a big bucket for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Nor do you need to use a sponge. This is the total water consumption of the plainly-named Shower of the Future, created by Orbital Systems out…

When our electronics give up the ghost, or simply become obsolete, we usually bid farewell by dumping them unceremoniously in the garbage or recycling bins. For a few of us, it’s a bit like throwing away a partly-eaten chicken salad – someone could do with that food energy! Because the same goes for electronics -…

Out in Calverton, NY, placed at the very end of Long Island, Graphene 3D Labs have been working on a rather novel idea. A 3D Printed Battery. Unlike about 4/5th of innovations that have headlines like ‘3D Printed [insert common household item that could be cheaply injection molded anyways], this one has much more interesting…

While the potential uses for virtual reality as a form of three-dimensional content creation are still up in the air, recent advancements…including the ability to augment reality and work within the confines of a real-world space have been looking promising. Recently, Chrysler used virtual reality at the LA Auto Show to create an immersive experience…

After years of humans figuring out ways of getting analog sketches into a digital platform, design engineer Ken Nakagaki is reversing that notion and wants us to put our digital sketches onto an analog ‘platform’ with his COMP*PASS design…which was recently shortlisted for a 2014 James Dyson Award. Armed with the goal of drawing a…

When it comes to tearing through the steps required to build a CAD model, everybody has their own proven method. While some might prefer a 3D mouse paired with a traditional mouse, others prefer to keep their hotkeys close and one hand on a Wacom tablet. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way…but everybody…

Partwork publications, which consist of a larger story, guide or project that is broken into digestible magazine-like installments, have been among the best ways to deliver epic stories and more complicated projects for centuries now. Similar to how a boxed set for a television show is initially broken up into weekly episodes, partwork publications can…

The reality of sending your digital memories into a drilled hole on the moon might sound a little far-fetched for the common man, but in an age where blender-cooler hybrids are bringing in eight figures in crowdfunding dollars on Kickstarter, this sci-fi concept might not be too far of a reach in 2014. If the…

While modern CAD tools have made the product design workflow easier than ever (depending on who you ask), the need for more simple tools including sketchbooks, a favorite pen and even a ball of clay and calipers are still essential tools on a product design or engineer’s desktop. But what if ‘going digital’ didn’t necessarily…

There is nothing more cool than watching the dude in this video sculpt a fake spider in virtual reality. Using a Sculpting Tool, VRClay allows you to freely sculpt with tools like buildup, pull, push, drag and others to your heart’s delight. The drool quotient is that it’s compatible with Oculus Rift. So the lucky…

Walk into any grocery store and you will find a whole section of the store dedicated to meat of all kinds packaged and promptly digested. Most people don’t really know the undertaking it took to get those mouth-watering cuts (unless you’re a vegan) to their respective stores, which goes far beyond what a simple butcher…

The Raspberry Pi has been on the scene since 2012 as one of the more popular SBCs on the market and it’s clear to see why. It’s incredibly small for all the hardware that’s packed onto it and won’t break the bank in terms of cost, however there is a relatively new contender in the…

Known as one of the strongest and lightest materials to work with, carbon fiber is also not without its limitations…particularly in the color department. Aiming to change that, a team of engineers with over 20 years of experience working with Formula One cars have been spending the last 7 years developing the world’s first colored…

There are a ton of open source hardware projects built around the Arduino microcontroller…such as the Airmonica musical instrument and the Pixelate interactive eating game, however none of these offer the aesthetic appeal of DoNothingBox’s OSWatch. Let me rephrase that, nothing has more of a fad appeal like a “smartwatch.” I want it, but don’t…

Guitar players have all been there before: you’re laying-down some great riffs for a new song and then BAM!, the phone rings. After talking up a storm about the song you just wrote, you go back to play it again and your mind is blank and you can’t remember how to play it in that…

If you’ve been in product development for any number of years, you know a person’s productivity is directly proportional to the size of their screen. You also know that’s completely unsubstantiated. Still, we like’em big. The more monitors floating above the desk, the better 3d software obeys our bidding (also unsubstantiated). 22″ and 24″ monitors…

Of all the robot apocalypse scenarios that cross your mind on any given day, who would have thought one would be a autonomous, rubbery, four-legged crawl-bot? With a design that looks more like an drunk Alien facehugger than a Darpa creation, the soft robot contains no rigid skeleton and can move all 25 inches of…

Add this to our growing bucket of things we wish we would have thought of before. The Zcan is a new ergonomic wireless mouse design that lets users swipe in a zigzag motion to scan and instantly digitize analog documents. Currently in the last 40 hours of its campaign over on Indiegogo, the project has…

As one of the easiest way to have an uninterrupted, fluid 3D printing experience, the FLEKS3D Build-Plate System is a designer’s dream come true. The design resolves 3 major issues with 3D printing, namely – getting the printed object off the build-plate with ease, getting us a good grip on the build-plate for no warping…

Aiming to ‘give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion’, Google’s Project Tango has been met with enthusiasm from both developers and consumers alike since being announced in early 2014. While the device is aiming to be everything from a gaming system to a new take on the retail experience, the ability to…

I work with a guy who routinely lifts whole sections from a dev-board pcb layout and places it into his own design. Lets call him Sparky. You think Sparky is gonna calculate values for the discretes surrounding that maxim boost converter?  Heck no! Not if he can help it. Sparky is all about easy street.…

Holy mother of inventions! The Milling Machines designed by Arthur Sacek are so exciting they send tinngles through our nether regions. Too bad Arthur doesn’t particularly want to share how he exactly built his machines, but we do know that as a member of Brazil’s ZOOM Education for Life, Arthur is a genius.

Wearable tech is slowly seeping into every aspect of our lives, so it comes as no surprise that the motorcycle helmet will be one of them. Claimed to be one of the first helmets with a digital head-up display, the Skully P-1’s story stems from a personal incident from the creator’s life. Yep, it has…