Well hello little tower workstations and welcome to the world “world’s most powerful rack workstation.” What’s that you say? You’re the new Precision workstation products from Dell? Don’t worry little chubblings, your prominent branding and genetic predisposition to accessible USB ports gives it all away. It’s true folks. Dell has announced the T1700 Small Form…

Say you’ve always wanted to build a Wi-Fi-controlled robot that spits carrot chunks at your pet rabbit. Impossible you say. How about a solar-powered, plant-watering device that remotely triggers a siren when a new episode of “Vikings” is on? Even though that’s completely practical for a number of reasons, the ability to do it may…

I know a lot of people who would let out a blood-curdling scream if you told them a ‘Mantis’ was on their shoulder. Especially, if their shoulder was being pinned down by this massive beast. The Mantis Robot is the creation of designer Matt Denton. It’s no ordinary robot and he’s no ordinary designer. Matt…

Right now, at this very instant, I’m listening to Moon Chon Chayoh (Zombie Disco Squad Remix) by Munnibrotherz. I am of course tapping my feets to the beats, gritting my teeths as I sits in my seats (or something). For the past three years the MIT Media Labs Design Innovation workshop at PESIT in Bangalore…

When you run around the office projecting your arm flabs in a wave-like motion toward people’s computers, you may believe you are bestowing unknown performance gains upon the PC’s of your coworkers. You are in fact, simply burning calories and injecting a small amount of fear into their workday. When you do return to your…

Lasers vs. plastic extruders. We all know laser cutters are superior to 3D printers. Mostly, because you can’t put plastic extruders on sharks (or any other sea creature) to make them even more vicious. It also turns out that laser cutters are a tad faster at fabricating certain items…. as long as it’s flat and…

When the Cintiq first came out, I vividly remember an illustrator friend of mine saying “It’s not a matter of if I’m going to buy one, it’s a matter of when I’m going to buy one.” Perhaps a lot of designers and illustrators have found themselves in the same boat and have waited for the…

Microsoft just put on the transparent face masks, lined up the sensors and released an updated version of the Kinect SDK. To the high-pitched squeals of (some) developer’s delight, Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7, along with an updated developer toolkit and new Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), is available on the Kinect for Windows website. It’s…

I know it’s bound to bring on the arm spasms, causing you to fall from your chair, spilling your coffee on your workstation tower and frying the Quadro GPU you already have, but that’s ok, because NVIDIA has gone and done the unthinkable, nay the unimaginable–they’ve released a new line of Quadro workstation graphics cards…

Yes, this is a post about the impending shipment of two products. Why would we be writing about such things? Well, first of all, they’re incredibly classy designs. Second, they are two of the most anticipated new tech gadgets of the new year. OUYA is the $99 Android-based game console that had its start on…

When a girl is applying that special shade of chemical-infused eye-liner to their lids, the last thing going through their heads is all the science and incredible amounts of process that go into it. Unless they’re a girl in science… or interested in science… or forced by their parents to watch sciency videos on making…

This post is part of our series on cool crowd-funded projects that are pushing forward technology in product development and introducing innovative product design. They’re all projects we’re contributing to as well. If you would like to participate and share your project or another you find interesting, submit it to kickit@www.solidsmack.com or let us know…

Two years ago, you blew your nose, looked up and everyone and their grandma’s elbow was using a device fit with a multi-touch screen and fifty finger-enabled apps. There’s not much that makes multi-touch newsworthy these days, but FlatFrog is going beyond resolution and screen size updates with a pressure detecting technology that makes the…

3D Printing has been lauded as the next way to bring jobs back to America and the rest of the West by the Economist and other intellectual luminaries like Glenn Beck (cough cough). CAD-to-Print technologies combined with geographic proximity to the buyer has been summed up as the solution to what some call “the China…

Researchers at the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University have been experimenting with 3D printing since 1995. And just recently they announced that they had printed a huge 3 meter wingspar out of titanium, strong enough to meet standards for aerospace use. Colour us impressed – to my knowledge, no one has created…

All the STEM news out of CES 2013 may have been tablets and 3D printing, but our eye is on the third generation of LEGO Mindstorm robotics as well. The new Mindstorm EV3 rolls in, firing balls of robot-educating awesome with a new programmable brick loaded with new features for today’s generation of tech-savvy kiddos…

Sit up straight! Grit those teeth! DON’T MOVE. Here’s just one of the many items we missed in our predictions for this year. Hand-held camera scanners. We saw a slew of prototypes last year, from devices tied into a Kinect, like ReconstructMe, to slick, smaller versions like the ARMADA concept. Lynx Laboratories is preparing to…

Vancouver-based EatART is an art research center that borders heavily on make space. They have a lot of cool projects, including the famous eight-legged, ridable robot, Mondo Spider–had to be inspiration for Artisan’s Asylum Hexapod–but the latest project has been a 50-foot electromechanical snake called Titanoboa that met a Kickstarter funding goal, stopped off at…

Trying to record and mix sound, especially when you’re simultaneously attempting to squeeze cats and slap your lower back in burst of rhythmic flare, can be both daunting and painful. There’s a lot of high priced equipment that makes it easier–one of my favorite being a BOSS VE-20 Vocal Processor–but if you prefer the more…

Hark! 2013 is upon us! In many ways, the previous year seemed a turning point for where we’re going while simultaneously lacking any sort of drastic, earth-shattering changes. However, there’s plenty of fat, tech-laden fodder on which to speculate for 2013 and that’s exactly what we’re going to dish out for you folks. In recent…

While there may be enough endearing puppet shows on the web waves, there are certainly not enough puppet shows that take on the build, hack, solder, crack, spark, squeeze and flow of electronics and circuitry. Adafruit is changing that with a new show airing next year called Circuit Playground. The show is set to premiere…

Small form factor is a given for a cuddly, plush chub of cuteness, but when it comes to bricks of sheet metal and PCB’s, it’s typically an afterthought. Not so with the new Stealth WPC-525F (name needs work). Stealth Computer is known for rugged, industrial strength computer systems. Now they’re slamming high-performance and their multi-level…

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) aims to reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment being produced and to encourages reducing, reusing, and recycling in the UK. Ultimately, this is forcing manufacturers to collect and recycle electronic equipment at end-of life more than ever before. Designer Ed Boaden explores the middle ground…

Getting through airport security is more difficult than ever with close, personal examinations of everything from your footwear to your body. There are some special considerations when you’re taking electronics through security at the airport. If you’re smart and ready when it comes to getting your laptop through security checkpoints, you should have nothing to…

Imagine an interactive air screen that puts an image/video/CAD model into the air. Now imagine that image stays totally penetrable for physical objects and is powered by a multi-touch optical system that is controlled by your gestures, sans gloves, controllers, and gadgets. Now stop imagining…its real and it’s here.

If you’re looking to inspire the Kid Maker(s) in your life, we’ve done the maker-appropriate gift giving research for you. Everything in our Gift Guide for Kid Makers is bound to have the junior designer or engineer in your life destined for greatness. Lifesavers storybooks are so yesterday.

The Season of Giving is in full swing–and there’s still time to get your shopping or wish list done. Perhaps you have no idea what to get your design buddies, or even ask for yourself? For those who are lost in the world of gift giving and want some inspiration for the perfect gift, refer…

ShapeShot can scan a human face in 1/2000 of a second. The result is a high-resolution water-tight 3D-print-ready mesh file. A favorite S.L. Jackson quote comes to mind: “When you absolutely positively got to [scan] every m*f* in the room, accept no substitutes.” And that’s what makerbot store NYC is planning to do: scan every…

Calling themselves “The Next Dimension of Touch”, Qeexo’s new FingerSense technology features a tiny acoustic sensor installed into a touchscreen device that listens and measures the vibrations of objects that touch it. Whether the input comes in the form of a a fingertip, knuckle, or nail, FingerSense adds an enhancement to touch interaction that allows…

We’ve seen motion sensing keyboards like the LEAP and Magic Cube, tactile 5-finger keyset devices like the Amenbo and Jellyfish and even foot switch input devices, but we have yet to see a minimal 10-button touchscreen keyset… until today. ASETNIOP (pronounced a-set-ni-op) is the creation of Zack Dennis and, as you’ll see, reduces the massive complexity of that…

You know, lately, it’s like the internet got all kinds of excited and threw up 3D all across your web browser. It’s actually quite a few companies who are tickling the tummy of the web, causing all sorts of sites and ideas about how we can view and interact with 3D within the browser. Most…

Ever wonder what a 3D Printing store would look like? Mix a little bit of Willy Wonka’s charm with Bre Pettis’ hair and you’ve got yourself a MakerBot store. AND WE WERE THERE. IN NYC! Check out our video as we talk to Bre at the NYC MakerFaire and then hop on over to the…

Typically, the only sound that physically levitates objects is the scream from your vocal cords beating against the screen when that thin-extrude doesn’t work. Perhaps there’s another way to use soundwaves to manipulate geometry? Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are successfully using an acoustic levitator to develop pharmaceuticals. Using the device originally developed by…

Rapid Manufacturing of bio-compatible materials is taking off in a big way. If researchers aren’t developing new ways to use a Reprap to create veins or printing prothetics beaks for Bald Eagles, they’re exploring avenues to perfect the art of making organs. Is this a harbinger for things to come? We hope so. Hey Solidworks,…

In Spetember of 1995, you couldn’t take photos with a phone and turn them into 3D data. Last week you couldn’t either. This week, you can. Hello future, nice to meet you. Yes, turning photos taken with your phone into a 3D model is now possible. Autodesk 123D Catch has been available for desktop and…

As the bottom end of 3D Printing is being filled with hundreds of different companies competing for market share, new machines are appearing. Only a month after Airbus announced its intentions of developing massive 3D Printers that can manufacture whole wings and fuselages, researchers at Swinburne University in Melbourne Australia managed to develop one of the…

Too late! This contest is over! See the winners below in the comments section and stay tuned for more contests and giveaways on SolidSmack! It’s been a while since we’ve had a giveaway on SolidSmack. The tips of our elbows tend to get dry and scaly when that happens, so let’s spread the moisturizing bliss of free…

In 1983, the idea of traveling at unsafe speeds through the forest on a rocket, equipped with anti-gravity and a belly gun, became permanently ingrained, sealed and preserved in my young mind. Growing up in a forest didn’t help deter that dream and neither does this video. Aerofex, from Manhattan Beach, California, has been testing…

Have you tried to touch and move something on a screen that isn’t touch-sensitive? As my computer-screen will attest, my kids try it ALL THE TIME – flipping through photos, tapping ‘OK’, spinning 3D models – can’t be done on my monitor yet. We’re in that transition, and if the research that a PhD student…

While some are worrying about high-efficiency this and fuel-economic that, others are putting the electrons pulsing through their cognitive, übercreative brain cages to much better use creating “an open-source, 18ft wide, 4,000 pound, 6-legged hydraulic robot that you can ride.” Project Hexapod is a robotics class turned Kickstarter project that hit its initial funding goal…

Home-cooked meals are supposed to be special. They’re also supposed to be organic, free-range, cruelty-free, gourmet meals custom-made to suit your desires – because everyone’s picky. And why not? 3D Printing both the food and the preparation tools might just make that easier. Or sillier. We think we can have both. Remember the Burritobot? Printing…

When you look at an ordinary photograph, the image remains the same regardless of how you illuminate it. That’s great if you don’t want any additional realism in your High School Yearbook (seriously, what was I thinking with that shirt? And that haircut??) However, if you would prefer to view those captured memories in more detail,…

This is how I imagine things would go down if the Jetsons went to the beach. The Stone Spray 3D Printer is the end result of a six month project by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and Fab Lab Bcn in Barcelona, Spain. Isn’t it amazing what you can do with a computer, an armature system, sand, glue…

Okay, I admit. It’s more like a ‘Pen-on’ experience, but you get the idea. Why point and click on a model with a mouse on an ol’ 2D screen when you can pull them right off the screen in 3D – near holographic-like, virtual 3D. The zSpace platform by Infinite Z promises to “transform today’s…

Love steam power? I know, stupid question. Who DOESN’T love steam power. Well, it just so happens that Open Source Ecology is looking for a saavy Project Manager type for their Steam Power initiative. If you recall, Open Source Ecology is the group creating the Global Construction Kit, 50 different industrial machines to make DIY…

We’re mobile. We want to be more mobile. Dell is unleashing their latest business class device with the new and improved Precision Mobile Workstations. With the release of the M4700, M6700 and the blazing red, fully-loaded M6700 Covet, Dell is reaching even further into maximum computing power with maximum portability. Available today, the updated Dell…

Well, mark this down as something-that-should-have-happened-four-years-ago-but-never-did. People have used a Wiimote to control 3D models (way back in 2008??!), but man-handling that 3D geometry is something else entirely. Micah Denn, a Linux geek and Blender user, finally brought the two together and has a grand ol’ time showing you how he deforms a cube in…

That fine young lad you see in the image is giddy with touch-sensitive joy this morning. Soon, he will be able to dish out nearly $4k for the massive Wacom table-top, touch-enabled tablet. After seeing the first iteration of the a Wacom Cintiq multi-touch tablet over two years ago, Wacom has announced that the all-new…

I tell you what. You never quite know what you’ll find on Kickstarter from week to week. Sure, we’ve seen 3D printers and the like, but there’s definitely no lack of sweet tech toys and gadgets. We look at two this week that are sure to capture your sense of office pranking and treasure hunting.…

Imagine chugging eight gallons of milk in one second? What would happen? Your stomach lining and pretty much your entire mid-section would no longer exist due to sudden and massive expansion. Fortunately, wireless vortex beams don’t have stomach linings. However, they have been limited to a single signal being transferred across the airwaves. That’s all…