Ever since the original GoPro hit the extreme sports world in 2007 (2004 if you include 35mm), the footage of adrenaline junkies going faster, higher and getting more creative has been a whirlwind of fun for those of us who might not have the cajones to surf 50 foot waves or do triple backflips on…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’re sitting down and having cherry pie with David Lynch (okay maybe not literally, but we can pretend) with some Twin Peaks-inspired music. We’ll…
Since they came on the scene around a year ago, botObjects and their ProDesk3D 3D printer have been criticized, ridiculed and threatened due to controversial product renderings, failed shipments, and lackluster customer service. There was even a Twitter account created for those who pre-ordered a ProDesk3D to vent their frustrations. Well, in an effort to…
With an impressive portfolio consisting of objects ranging from furniture and lighting to watches and even ‘laptop luggage’, the team of industrial designers, researchers and engineers over at Benjamin Hubert Ltd. are regularly nominated for design awards both in their native Britain as well as internationally. Working specifically with the goal of creating a sustainable…
Explaining how design affects our daily lives is no easy task…especially when it involves trying to simplify it in terms that a young population can grasp. Between the complexities of city planning to the reasons why houses and products are built a specific way, there is a lot of info to sort of ‘sum up’…
While the MakerBot Replicator 2 has been the go-to for consumers, the $2199 (note: the price recently dropped to $1999) price tag has still been a bit of a hurdle for consumers not quite sure about the application of 3D printing in their day-to-day lives. The Micro 3D Printer just might be the first consumer-friendly…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where smart skin patches can administer specific medications on a set schedule, a world where personal farms can be built into kitchens, how do we find the next big thing? MakerGalaxy is a show that explores…
We’ve seen our fair share of April Fools’ Day product design spoofs over the past few years that have actually been somewhat believable…if it wasn’t for the fact that the press release came out on April 1st. Yesterday was no exception and between products like the Sphero SelfieBot and the falconry-inspired ‘Twitter Helmet’, those in…
Gone are the days where wool is strictly associated with lumberjack socks or heavy camping sweaters…today the wonder-material is being seen in more modern garments ranging from workout apparel from the likes of Icebreaker and SmartWool to…3D printed shoes? Yes…and comfortable ones at that. The Wool Runners are a new ‘sock-less’ running shoe that takes…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’re bringing out the funk to help welcome this spring weather (wherever you are). We’ll start with a James Brown classic and work our…
Brought to you this week by 8 overweight hens fighting over a soggy case of gluten-free brownie mix, be sure to check out the all new episode of Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across and want to share it on SolidSmack?…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where batteries that dissolve in the human body could power embedded health sensors, a world where music listeners can control and direct their own immersive music video experience, how do we find the next big thing?…
Between the new Mod Notebooks that include return postage for digitizing your analog sketches as well as other sketch tools such as the new(ish) Wacom Cintiq Companion, designers and engineers looking to get their ideas on ‘paper’ have never had as many options for getting their ideas out there as they do today. Perhaps one…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ll start our smooth vibrations with a classic from Glasser and work our way through some Blood Orange, Darkside, Chromatics, Dean & Britta and…
We’ve been known to give Ben Heck a shout-out or two around here ranging from our episode of EngineerVsDesigner where Ben discusses how he got his start modifying game consoles to his more recent projects including hacking the Cubify Sense handheld 3D scanner. The latest project to come out of his workshop though is probably…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where fully-immersive virtual reality headsets will become the new standard in living room gaming, a world where crowdsourced thermostats will adjust the temperature of a room based on the average of people’s comfort levels…how do we…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ve put together a playlist straight from the record collection of Radiohead via their music-related blog Dead Air Space. We’ll start with the classic…
Brought to you this week by 4 creamers speaking at a vocational school on the political instabilities of coffee trade, be sure to check out the all new episode of Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across and want to share it…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where low-cost paper microscopes will allow for fast and affordable testing for diseases in developing nations, a world where Oreo cookies are 3D printed in colors based on Twitter conversations…how do we find the next ‘big…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ve put together an acid jazz-inspired playlist to get that blood flowing as we start to see more light in the day. We’ll start…
Few items can be found in a clothes closet that really do last forever–and the items that do last forever regularly end up being some of the most prized possessions in an individual’s closet–whether it’s a pair of boots that get resoled every year or a first business suit straight out of college. Barbour jackets…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where digital checkups and will allow patients to interact with doctors from home, a world where a vibrating shoe will give directions to the blind…how do we find the next ‘big thing’’? MakerGalaxy is a show…
Like a well-orchestrated production, the pages that have come and gone for various Kickstarter campaigns regularly tell us a story of organization and order without delivering even a glimpse of the chaos that’s happening backstage. With the announcement that he burned all copies of his Kickstarted book due to poor fulfilment planning, Sad Pictures for…
The 2014 Geneva Autoshow is in full swing this week and one of the most hyped announcements is that of Apple integrating their user experience into a variety of cars starting later this year called CarPlay. So far we’ve only seen the UE in pictures, but as part of the announcement for their new XC90…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ve put together a SXSW-inspired playlist that features some of the better new acts in music today that will be performing at the festival.…
We’ve seen some pretty unique desktop speaker designs come and go over the past few years ranging from Joey Roth’s Ceramic Speakers to the custom upcycled designs over at Soundpauli. However none of these designs use a 30,000 volt arc to ionize and compress thin air to play your sweet tunes…which is what the new…
It seems like people in the product design community didn’t really take notice of Kickstarter until Scott Wilson and his group of talented designers at MNML raised nearly $1 million for their TikTok+LunaTik Multi-Touch Watch Kits. The kits—which were essentially a bezel and wristband to convert an iPod Nano into a digital wristwatch—ushered in a…
Premiering next week at SXSW in Austin, Print the Legend is set to be the first non-YouTube documentary that focuses on the rise of the 3D Printing community and the stories we’ve come to read almost weekly that go with it. Featuring in-depth footage of 3D printing newsmakers ranging from Bre Pettis to Cody Wilson…
Among one of the most iconic costumes in the history of Hollywood, the Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper costume has also been a significant inspiration for a variety of CMF directions. But how did the original and memorable design come to be? After being hired by George Lucas to help visualize the world of Star Wars…
If you’ve ever been to a sushi restaurant, chances are you’ve come in contact with the all-natural decorative and protective coating known as Urushi. Sourced from Urushi trees, this ‘natural wonder’ material was first used as an adhesive when making spears and arrows back in the stone age. Today, the liquid is applied to everything…
In case you didn’t catch our EngineerVsDesigner episode last year that featured BotObjects founders Mike Duma and Martin Warner discussing the development of their ProDesk3D full-color 3D printer, it was one of our most popular and most-commented episodes of all time…and for good reason. At the time, affordable full-color 3D printing was a relatively new…
We’ve seen concepts for modular smartphones come and go in the past few years, but a lot of information was left up in the air…such as why would you even need one and how much would it cost? Yesterday Google announced that they will be hosting the first Project Ara Developers’ Conference in April that…
Brought to you this week by Smoth Mealer’s mystery corn wrapped in a moist towelette topped with green peanut brittle, be sure to check out the all new episode of Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across and want to share it…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where smart cars will drive themselves in rush hour traffic, a world where 3D printing is enabling the blind to experience outer space through touch…how do we find the next ‘big thing’? Maker Galaxy is a…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we got so dang excited about a record release that our entire playlist is in celebration of the new album from Beck titled Morning…
Currently accepting entries, the first Women in Industrial Design show is the first show aimed at bringing attention to the female industrial designer. The fact that this is the first industrial design show focused on female designers is both something to celebrate as well as something that makes you think “what took so long”? Some…
Having received nearly 11 million views, the popular ‘Dipping my Hand in Carbon Fiber Film’ YouTube video from El Paso Powder Coating has surely inspired many to take a deeper look into the mesmerizing process of water transfer printing. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before the process worked its way over to…
Mini Museum project creator Hans Fex comes off like the kind of guy you might want to talk to at a party: he’s a bit on the eccentric side, knows a thing or two about history, and has spent his teenage and adult years developing a museum that you can carry in your pocket. Well,…
Last time we talked with Daniel Simon, we were at the Autodesk CAVE conference in Las Vegas this past December where he was explaining how he finds inspiration for his futuristic vehicle concept art. Between both his own personal projects and various concept design for films such as Oblivion, Tron, and Captain America, he is…
From DIY PVC Marshmallow Shooters to LEGO Mindstorm Kits, young makers who have a passion for making things have quite the gamut of options these days. Despite the lack of wood shop and other ‘hands-on’ classes in school that their parents and grandparents might have taken back in the day, the amount of options for…
With no signs of slowing down (and currently hiring up the wazzoo), MakerBot extended their reach further into the university system last week with the opening of the very first MakerBot Innovation Center at the SUNY campus in Upstate New York. Perhaps they couldn’t have chosen a better school either: the SUNY campus in New…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week our playlist is taking a more relaxed direction in the case that you need to calm some wigged-out nerves. We’ll start with some Alan…
Perhaps it’s a little too early to be expecting an onslaught of hacks made from ‘discarded 3D printer parts’, but we’ll take them as they come. Using standard RepRap 3D Printer parts, Air Hockey Robot creator/madman Jose Julio has created the ultimate Air Hockey DIY project that will certainly put to use those air hockey…
Brought to you this week by 2 jars of Mentholyptus Rub, a ham hock, and a 3-pack of recordable VHS tapes, be sure to check out the all new episode of Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across and want to share…
Having been President and CEO of Dassault Systèmes (parent company of SolidWorks) since September of 1995, Bernard Charlès has seen better than most how much the 3D software—and software in general—landscape has changed in the last twenty years. From the transition of industrial designers increasingly adopting CAD engineering tools into their workflows to the concept…
Having been founded by aerospace engineer Greg Mark, MarkForged (or MarkForg3d) is already making waves since their debut at last week’s SolidWorks World in San Diego. Their flagship product—the Mark One 3D Printer—was on display in the Partner Pavilion and was perhaps the only product demonstration booth that had a crowd gathered day-in and day-out…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week our Trip Hop-inspired playlist starts with ‘La Femme D’argent’ from Air and then works its way through some Morcheeba, Fenomenon, Aphex Twin, Little Dragon…
If the comments board on the recent Mechanical Conceptual SolidSmack post is any indication, SolidWorks has a lot of passionate users that want to stick with the brand…but feel uncertain about the pricey new 3D Experience structure. While SolidSmack will most certainly be the first to report back to you with any updates on the…
Recreating a blooming flower is not something that one would typically associate with modeling and 3D printing with SolidWorks, however design student Richard Clarkson has accomplished just that in a recent additive manufacturing-based college class. The Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Design student put his Creative Digital Manufacturing course to good use when he…
No matter how advanced we’ve come with the latest in 3D printer capabilities ranging from resolution to materials, it is still obviously difficult to appreciate the ‘craftsmanship’ of a digitally fabricated model over a hand-built one. Take for example, this 1:60 scale model of a Boeing 777 made out of manila file folders from master…