What would you do if the humble business you owned suddenly got funded by…I don’t know…10,000,000 US Dollars? A lot of options come to mind (a few involving Olympic-sized pools filled with ice cream) but for Auterion – the startup drone software company who actually won said funding – their plan is to solve the…

Sufferers of corneal blindness due to burns, diseases, and other misfortunes can see the light once again; for Newcastle University researchers have found a way to 3D print human corneas in just 10 minutes. Using ‘bio-ink’ as the additive material – a solution made from human stem cells, collagen, and alginate – Professor of Tissue…

Autodesk’s SketchBook program, which serves as a jumping-off point for many artists, engineers, and CAD designers, is now totally free! I know what you’re thinking, but for now, there seem3 to be no strings attached to this deal. According to a blog post by Senior Product Manager Colin Smith, the aim of making SketchBook free…

On April 19-20, 2018, Hardware Massive put on the 4th Annual HardwareCon in San Jose, CA. For a while, the flashy shine of new hardware tech has been overshadowed by new software tech. In Silicon Valley especially, there’s a kind of cultural notion that software is high tech and exciting and hardware is not. I…

Hold onto your SpaceMouse! Announced this week, Facebook will now support the industry-standard glTF 2.0 file format for Facebook 3D posts. Also known as the “JPEG of 3D”, the glTF 2.0 file format offers rich, high-quality 3D content with support for textures, lighting, and other commonly-used rendering techniques to create realistic 3D models. This isn’t…

When they hit the scene back in 2006, the TechShop business model had everything going for it: a fitness gym-like membership program for the use of manufacturing and other shop equipment. For many urban-dwelling designers or engineers, the wide open shop floors provided a haven to work on weekend projects and use industrial machinery. For…

In the (relatively new) world of on-demand services ranging from car rides to grocery delivery, winners can come out on both sides: the buyer is happy to have more time in their pocket and the seller has a steady line of revenue that previously might not have existed before—all from the convenience of a smartphone…

While 3D printing failed to live up to its hype as a viable form of manufacturing—at least, in a way that makes sense—there were a few bespoke product companies that managed to pave their way through the noise and found success using more advanced additive manufacturing technologies to produce their one-off wares. Among others was…

This is right out of the blue. As of today, Carl Bass is no longer CEO of Autodesk. His 10-year stint as the San Fransisco-based company’s leader ends after transitioning the company to the cloud and subscription based product offerings, launching an open hardware platform, overseeing 30+ acquisitions and building Pier 9 workshop to help…

Update – MakerBot has published an update to change the language of the MakerBot Print EULA. Just last week, MakerBot announced a new product lineup—hardware and software included—geared towards professionals and educators that MakerBot CEO Jonathan Jaglom said was the result of a “cultural shift” at the company as they gained further insight into the…

If there’s one thing that MakerBot has learned over the course of its short existence, it’s that you can’t please them all. While early adopters seeking a well-rounded user experience for 3D printing at home welcomed MakerBot’s push towards a cohesive ecosystem, those in the Open Source–heavy DIY community pushed back as the company attempted…

The retail side of 3D printing has been a slippery slope for years now –– as evidenced by lagging 3D printer sales and waning consumer interest. While Bronies may have a thriving warm and safe space to create plastic unicorns over at Shapeways, other brands haven’t had as much success with venturing into this so-called…

It’s not very often when a new tool comes along that changes the way we think about making things, but when it does, it’s usually pretty epic. The Shaper Origin is one of those tools. Billed as the World’s First Handheld CNC, the Shaper Origin –– which, as you might expect, looks similar to a…

If you’ve ever stood in the shower wondering if you could be sued because you made a certain 3D model of a certain brand of car, wonder no more. Precedent has been set. BMW Group, which includes Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, BMW of North America, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, and and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA have…

As if Kickstarter hasn’t already made getting side projects launched easier than ever, Amazon is now extending their support to project creators with, well, everything that Amazon offers as the largest global marketplace. Launching this week, the new Kickstarter Collection is now available on the company’s Amazon Launchpad digital storefront for hardware startups and crowdfunded…

From basketballs to doorbells, seemingly everything can be connected to smartphones these days. Now, not even the humble toolbox can escape the power of Bluetooth. For their new Pro Series ball bearing tool storage units, Craftsman is introducing the new Bluetooth Smart Lock technology for users to secure and unlock their precious tools through their…

We’ve already made it clear that for those of you who have been on the fence about switching over to Fusion 360, taking advantage of today’s Amazon Prime Day deal of just $25 for a full year subscription (compared to $300) is a no-brainer, but it’s not the only good deal you can beckon from…

The excitement that used to come with each new “revolutionary” desktop 3D printer a few years ago has since quieted down in a major way. While technologies like HP’s Multi Jet Fusion and Carbon’s CLIP can hold their own and even generate mainstream news coverage, these are geared towards professionals at price points that are…

Since hitting the 3D scene in 2012, Sketchfab has made viewing, embedding and ultimately sharing 3D content as easy as sharing a YouTube video – be it on a website, Facebook or as a direct link to a client. As the Virtual Reality market continues to expand, it only makes sense for the company to grow…

Back when we caught our first glimpse of the 3D prints made using Multi Jet Fusion Technology in October of 2014, it became quite apparent to us that HP not only changed the game but effectively positioned themselves to control the entire court on which everybody plays. This morning, after years in development, the HP…

The consumer 3D printing landscape has changed dramatically since MakerBot Industries stormed onto the scene in January of 2009. While any new company can expect its fair share of ups and downs, navigating the rocky road of lofty consumer expectations for 3D printers – combined with a surge of competitors from nearly all corners of…

Imagine if you could own a piece of furniture many would consider a piece of art? That’s how you would describe the Lagoon table by LA Table, a design company that goes the everyday design of traditional furniture. Thier new project is the brainchild of creator and designer of the company Alexandre Chapelin, who has…

We’ve seen 3D printed shoes as far back as 2012. Adidas has innovated with ocean waste, and some even adapt to your foot. Now, Under Armour has created the world’s first commercially available 3D printed training shoes.

Since storming onto the 3D printing scene with a jaw-dropping TED presentation in March of 2015, Dr. Joseph DeSimone – CEO and Co-Founder of Carbon (formerly Carbon3D) – has fought relentlessly to bring his revolutionary CLIP (continuous liquid interface production) technology to market. Now, just a year later, the public can get their hands on…

Since announcing their TV show “America’s Greatest Makers” at the Intel Developers Forum last Summer, the chipmaker has had high hopes that the armchair inventor-based show would build off of the success of their “Make It Wearable” digital campaign and take mainstream interest in hardware tinkering to the next level. This Tuesday, April 5th, we’ll…

It’s hard to believe that a year has already passed since Microsoft’s last Build conference in San Francisco; the event that revealed the first in-depth look at the company’s HoloLens. With the device already shipping out to developers this week, it’s clear that Microsoft has been making headway over the past year to bring the…

With over eight million Raspberry Pi units (and rapidly counting) floating around in garages, classrooms and pockets around the world, the $35 System on a Chip continues to be one of the best learning tools for those interested in software and hardware development since it was introduced four years ago. Today, the Raspberry Pi Foundation…

They’ve built desert racers, motorcycles, drift trikes, cruisers and the world’s first 3D printed car, but one thing on their collaborative, open-source product development list of vehicle innovation isn’t a vehicle at all. It seems their sight are set toward the sky. The company just revealed that newly formed Airbus Ventures has made a ‘significant…

When they first unveiled their Mark One carbon fiber 3D printer in San Diego at SolidWorks World in 2014, the MarkForged team – led by former aerospace engineer Greg Mark – started off with a legendary bang. Not only were they the first company to unveil a 3D printer capable of producing carbon fiber race…

Non-designers have the misconception that design is easy. Any designer will tell you the polar opposite is true. Design is going up against a master ninja and his army of foot shoulders; when you are little more than a band of misfit humanoid turtle martial artist apprentice junk food eaters.

I think you all know what a 3D PDF is–your 3D model and all of its views right within a PDF document. They’ve been around for YEARS. Quite convenient for sharing model views, protecting model data or emailing a PDF to grandma who can easily open your work and share with her quilting club, but…

Code.org has enlisted Minecraft to help kids learn to code by dragging and dropping blocks to generate computer code. Are “they” trying to make the programming workers of tomorrow? Code.org is a non-profit that aims to get school kids interested in coding through their Hour of Code initiative, which has been widely adopted in classrooms…

There’s a face people make when they’re overwhelmed with excess awesome. It’s somewhere between a wide-eyed pucker and explosive, jowl-shaking laughter. I saw some people making that face today when they tried out the new ThinkPad P40 Yoga, Lenovo’s newest machine that doubles as a tablet and a fully-loaded workstation. Lay it back, flip it…

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this weekend’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. This week we saw everything from a multi-angled review of the new iPad Pro from the perpsective of an industrial designer, a new 3D scanning directory from SketchFab, a Star Wars takeover on our Google accounts, a portable solution…

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our favorite ID sketching master Spencer Nugent, but the one-man sketch machine hasn’t slowed down his hustle. Although he normally posts videos on various ID sketching-related sketch tutorials on his personal YouTube channel, the industrial designer recently took time to give us a three-way look at the new…

Like most kids of the Betamax generation, Google’s VP of Product Management, Clay Bavor, never ceased to be amazed by the Star Wars universe – even after dozens of viewings of the original trilogy. Perhaps it comes with little surprise, then, that Bavor has helped lead a Google tribute to the Star Wars franchise in…

By now, we’re well aware of the promises that augmented reality holds for professionals – whether it is used for showing a client a scale model through an iPad or for working with CAD in the “real world” – yet we’ve seen very little in the realm of consumers outside of novelty apps. Within the…

There’s been a lot of excitement surrounding Microsoft’s new Windows 10 machines and for good reason – the experience of seamlessly blending Windows with multiple pieces of hardware kit within the same ecosystem is long overdue. Although the “software of the future” is increasingly moving to the Cloud – where it can be accessed from…

Most everything in the maker community is becoming more open source. It’s almost a requirement–allowing modification of the original hardware or software design, through a free license, to suit the needs of the end user. Companies such as Raspberry Pi Foundation, Arduino and LittleBits all support the open-source initiative and even some of the larger…

Ever since we first saw how 3D Hubs sources local 3D printers, bringing the 3D printer to you, we’ve had a different perspective about the direction of 3D Printing. 1) You don’t have to own a 3D printer and 2) You can make money off of it if you do. Now they’re adding a third…

Just six months after they announced $30M in Series C funding, Onshape has announced $80M in new funding, led by Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz, known for their investment in Airbnb, Box, Facebook, Github, Twitter, Skype and others. This brings Onshape’s funding efforts to a grand, grin-inducing total of $144M.

For all of the conveniences and wonder that additive manufacturing has provided within the past few years thanks to the desktop 3D printer revolution, the variety of processes used to create these millions of objects have oftentimes been more fascinating than the resulting 3D printed objects themselves. Among other reasons, smartphone apps and 3D scanners…

When it comes to their new product releases, no Apple product would be complete without the signature voice of Apple’s Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, validating the company’s design decisions. Known for bridging aluminum surfaces with human emotions with words that make you feel good, Ive’s voiceovers – along with his approach to design -…

When it comes to stages of the design process, few routines are as satisfying as laying out a handful of markers to begin the process of shading in a perfectly composed sketch. For those who have had to move this experience to digital devices for the sake of time and convenience, well – that’s just…

There’s a shift going on in the 3D CAD industry. The shift from perpetual license pricing to monthly subscription pricing. Some will bring up those who have tried it before, the benefits and why it needs to happen faster. Suddenly however, it’s nearly 2016, and pay-as-you-go pricing models have been around a few years. We’ve…

With the vast amount of today’s objects taking on a variety of complex forms that are capable of being produced through modern manufacturing processes – such as those created through generative modeling techniques – it’s easy to lose touch with how we even got to this level of design and manufacturing. Among others is knapping…

Although we’ve been seeing some incredible developments in additive manufacturing over the past year ranging from 3D printers that can print in zero-gravity environments to 3D printers that can produce high resolution objects in just minutes, it’s no secret that there’s still a lot of terrain left to be discovered in terms of one day…

Between Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks’ recent announcements of their SolidWorks for Entrepreneurs program (which has created some confusion for existing small businesses and freelancers) and an update to their subscription policy (which seeks to close out or penalize those who don’t upgrade each year), many of the the CAD software’s most loyal users feel as though…

Since it debuted at the TED2015 conference in Vancouver back in March of this year, Redwood City, California-based Carbon3D’s Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) 3D printing technology has continued to send ripples through the additive manufacturing industry due to its promise to speed up existing 3D printing times by up to 100x faster. The process,…

Considered by many to be the original all-conditions “action watch”, Casio’s G-Shock (Gravitational Shock) watches are known for their ability to resist shocks – including hard knocks and strong vibrations – and are designed primarily for sports, military and outdoor-related activities. Although the stopwatch, timer, light and water resistance features may appear simple in an…