This week EngineerVsDesigner sat down with the ONE guy you want to have with you during the zombie apocalypse: Joerg Sprave of the popular YouTube Slingshot Channel. With over 250,000 YouTube subscribers, millions of views, and dozens of feature stories on prominent blogs, Joerg is the definition of an internet celebrity. We had the chance…
Those who use a 3D mouse swear that once you use one, there’s no going back to using CAD without one. It’s hard to argue that it can dramatically change your entire modeling experience and speed up your process tenfold when used effectively. 3D mouse maker 3D Connexion offers an entry-level 3D mouse for $99,…
Recently, SolidSmack reported on this new ad campaign from Scottish whiskey maker DeWars promoting their new Highlander Honey Whiskey recipe. Using 80,000 bees, sculptures were created by bees using pre-shaped templates for hive production. We noted that between the recent MIT Silk pavilion and some other recent projects, the use of natural fabricators in modern…
With all the recent talk surrounding Apple’s iOS 7 redesign and the push for creating better harmony between software and hardware design, it’s easy to overlook an industry that has been tackling this design problem for years: the digital camera industry. Nikon’s design department recently released a video that takes us behind the scenes of…
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 stepping out of the summer heat and pulling out some of our favorite classics to help keep the cool-factor in check. We’ll start…
We’re in the thick of summer folks—so instead of swimming in a pool of your own sweat, park yourself in front of the closest AC unit with your beverage of choice and enjoy an all new episode of Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool…
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 steppin’ in the DeLorean to head back to the Summer of 1995 where we’ll revisit some classic 90’s alternative rock. We’ll start with…
What? You haven’t tried Smoth Mealer’s special recipe stew? Well empty out those stomach pouches and get ready for an 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? Don’t hide it in…
Both Autodesk and GrabCAD have made some exciting announcements this week with Autodesk’s Fusion 360 launch on Tuesday and GrabCAD’s new Workbench which will allow even more powerful sharing features the CAD community. We had a chance to sit down with GrabCAD CEO Hardi Maybaum and Autodesk’s Director of Mechanical Design Products Prabakar Murugappan. So…
Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on with Google Glass, one thing is for certain: it will most certainly come in handy at times. Google Glass user Todd Blatt recently used his Google Glass to capture photos hands-free at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The photos were then sent to Autodesk’s 123D…
If there’s one outlet that 3D printing really shines, its in finding new ways to upcycle existing products that would otherwise end up as waste. Take the Sprout for example: through a simple design and 3D print, an otherwise disposable item becomes something a heck of a lot more useful…and in some cases, better than…
After months of hype and speculation, the first Cloud-based CAD platform is here from Autodesk in the form of Fusion 360. At $25/month per license, a user can purchase their seat in the Cloud for less than a week’s worth of Starbucks lattes. But despite the low cost-of-entry, how does Fusion 360 stand out as…
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 rounded up some of the best slide guitar-based blues this side of the Mississippi county line. We’ll start with some Sonny Landreth and…
When you finally finish fighting off those woolly mammoths from your pillow fort with your four-pronged spear, be sure to listen in to an 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?…
What does it take to design and build giant robots that fight each other to total destruction in four months? This week we had the chance to sit down and talk with robot designer Mark Setrakian about designing robots for the new SyFy tv show Robot Combat League. We’ll hear about what software he uses,…
It’s products like Sensorial Stimuli Tableware from Jinhyun Jeon that spark new conversations about re-interpreting the purpose and potential of everyday product designs. Does an office stapler really have to be hard and rectangular? Does a coffee mug really have to be cylindrical? For her MA thesis about the relationship of food and the senses,…
Philippe Starck once famously said that there should be no cars on the road—-only motorcycles. While some soccer moms may disagree, his theory is valid: less pollution, more space, and dare I say it—more badassery. With all the recent developments of augmented reality-based windshields seen in concept cars in the past few years, it was…
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 curated a list of some of Thom Yorke’s current favorites for when he’s not busy making his own music. We’ll start with some…
It seems as though biomimicry has taken on new meanings as of late—between the recent MIT Silk Pavilion and now this Dewars marketing campaign, ‘natural fabricators’ have been getting just as much attention as the latest 3D printer Kickstarter campaign. To help generate hype for their new Highlander Honey whiskey release, Dewars is live-streaming the…
It’s been exactly a week since the much-anticipated release of the Jony Ive-designed iOS 7 was revealed at Apple’s WWDC in San Francisco, and already there is a Tumblr parody on par with the popular Hipster Branding Tumblr. I vividly remember back in design school when fellow industrial design students ‘branded’ their projects with mixed…
Well folks, this week we’ve been in Anaheim, California for this year’s 2013 PTC Live Global event. We had a chance to sit down with Brian Thompson, VP Product Management, CAD Segment and talked with him about the Creo roadmap, 3.0 features, and why apps are getting into the 3D printing scene.
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 rehash some of the best music to come out of NYC in the past 40 years including everything from CBGB classics to Brooklyn…
The droids are taking over…starting with pizza delivery! Before you get yourself all worked up about droid-delivered Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Supreme Combo Pizzas, relax yourself with an 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…
The low hum of 3D printers echoed through the historic warehouse in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park District this morning as MakerBot ‘Productors’ were busy at work building Replicator 2’s and 2X’s. Today, Bre Pettis and NYC city representatives presented the all new MakerBot Factory…a two-story 50,000 sq ft warehouse filled with nothing but…you guessed it…MakerBots up…
Hold on tight to your filament reels and don your Maker goggles. The Wall Street Journal has reported that MakerBot has been in acquisition talks with unnamed suitors, according to their sources. Who could it be? Stratasys could benefit from the acquisition and offer printers similar to their Mojo line for the Indie Maker crowd…
Neri Oxman just can’t help being Neri Oxman. Always on the forefront of the next big thing, she famously revealed a line of runway-ready 3D printed apparel before 3D printing was even a buzzword. Revealed this week, the latest project to come out of Neri’s innovative Mediated Matter program at MIT centers around the intersection…
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 cleaned out the hall closet and found a classic hip hop mixtape featuring some of our favorite music besides our beloved grunge from…
On par with other smart home devices such as the Nest and Hue, Yves Behar’s latest design endeavor (along with tech entrepreneur Jason Johnson), August aims to replace physical keys with the power of Bluetooth in a cleverly designed smartphone app. Revealed this week at the D: All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes,…
Back in July of 2012, Shapeways teased Makers with a new material offering in the form of Black Elasto. Revealed this week, the NEW Elasto Plastic is a refined offering for Shapeways Makers that while still in it’s experimental stage, is readily available and looks extremely promising. Let’s take a look.
Need another way to get your daily dose of fiber? Put down that sandpaper immediately and listen to an all new 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? Don’t hide it in your neck skin!…
How do you 3D print a house? This week’s guest is robotics expert and CEO and Founder of the D-Shape large-scale printer, Mr. Enrico Dini! Enrico was recently featured in the documentary The Man Who Prints Houses, which centers around the development of his large-scale 3D printer and his vision for a future of 3D…
Back in early 2012, Nike introduced FuelBand to rave reviews and a wide spectrum of users…those who actually use it and those who consider it a fashion accessory. Around that same time, Google had announced the Glass Project — which resulted in what we are seeing today with the Google Glass…effectively creating the Wearable Technology…
Unveiled yesterday in Brazil by Nike, the latest advancement in football (soccer) boot design came in the form of a boot that utilizes the new NIKESKIN mesh for an upper, effectively allowing the player to get as close as possible to the sensation of playing barefoot. How is the game changing and how did the…
Ahh the world of iPhone case designs. It seems that ever since Apple posted the iPhone blueprints for case designers, it is impossible to escape ‘the next big thing in iPhone case design’…especially when it involves 3D printing. Perhaps Graft Concepts is one of the more unique case designers, however. By creating a system of…
The art of manipulating wood can be traced back centuries ago when even stone was being manipulated to have more flexible properties. Last year, designer Elisa Strozyk created a range of household goods that are “half wood-half textile, between hard and soft, challenging what can be expected from a material or category. It looks and…
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 be pulling out some of the best trip hop this side of 1996. We’ll start with a classic from Xela and work our…
Located in San Francisco, the award-winning industrial design studio of Mike and Maaike have dabbled in everything from BBQ grills to wallpaper and bookshelves to driverless automobiles. With their future-forward approach to design-thinking it comes with little surprise that their luggage designs for Apple-favorite Incase are perhaps the most forward-thinking and functional luggage designs for…
While 3D printing may not be disrupting entire distribution chains, there are quite a few people who will be printing their next iPhone case, or glasses, or headphones, or toy set…rather than purchasing one off of Amazon. While it may be a drop in the bucket, it is still real, and it is a threat.…
Originally developed nearly 20 years ago for Axor as a simple outdoor farm tap, Phillipe Starck’s latest foray into the world of taps is aimed at not only providing an organic aesthetic to your wash basin, but also helps keep water usage down to a trickle…without feeling like a trickle.
Have the cicadas been hassling you all week? Perhaps its just time you try a new bean paste? Either way, we’ve got you covered with an all new 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?…
While the majority of us may find happiness in 3D prints based off of complicated geometry, there is still a population out there that would love to turn a simple 2D drawing into an extruded shape (cookie cutters anybody?). While the 3D printing market has expanded into 3D print pens and other novelties, the ease…
For those used to cycling on busy city streets (NYC comes to mind), the need for swift reaction times could be compared to that of catching a fly with your bare hand. With maniac cab drivers and aloof SUV drivers running up and down Broadway, sometimes a simple hand signal doesn’t do the trick…especially at…
Invented just one year after the invention of Scotch tape in 1930, the tape dispenser is a unique package design-tool hybrid that can be found in just about every household. Due to the frustration of finding the loose end of tape on a roll, 3M Engineer John A. Borden invented the serrated-edge dispenser to keep…
As the number of 3D printers purchased each week increases exponentially, many proud new owners of a 3D printer are also learning the limitations of their new device. Chances are, an entire weekend may have been spent calibrating your printer or waiting for that very first test print. But what about the other limitations of…
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 be laying down the island vibes with some reggae tunes that will ensure positive vibes all day, mon. Turn up the bass and…
File this under your ‘good uses for 3D printing’ stack. The Local Motors Lab Team has been actively using the MakerBot Replicator 2 3D Printer to print prototypes, scale-down versions of parts, and smaller replicated pieces. Lo and behold, one of these sample parts actually found it’s way onto the Rally Fighter as a final…
Perhaps the most widely-respected industrial designer of all time, Dieter has inspired thousands—if not millions of designers with his perspectives on ‘good design’. From Apple’s Jony Ive to budding design school students, the Ten Principles of Good Design is just as relevant today as it was in the early 1980’s when Dieter began to recognize…
Have you ever wondered what Willy Wonka’s factory would be making if it ‘existed’ in 2013? After attempting and failing to 3D print a cake for a friend years ago, Silver Lake-based husband and wife design team Kyle and Liz took their understanding of complex geometry and did something Wonka himself would be proud of:…
We don’t even know where or how to start to explain how awesome our guest Steven Heller is. He is currently the co-chair of the MFA “Designer as Author” Department at New York’s School of the Visual Arts, is a former art director for the New York Times Book Review, a contributing editor for many…
Well, it’s almost that miserable end of the week folks, and in addition to celebrating with four dozen mega-creme doughnuts we also found time to throw out this week’s Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff (sorry, we ate all the doughnuts)!! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across…