The promise of distributed manufacturing—when consumer products can be downloaded and manufactured by consumers locally—was always one of the highest hopes for desktop 3D printing. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite pan out. However, that’s not to say that the occasional project comes through that keeps the hope of distributed manufacturing alive. The SLO (Single Lens Objective) 3D printed camera from 23-year-old Digital Design student Amos Dudley is just one of those projects. Starting with a camera body design that was optimized for printing speed and material usage, Dudley chose to break up the camera body into multiple modules that allowed him to prototype each component individually—a smart decision that enabled him…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist knocks you in the pop sockets with head-boppin’ groove tuneage to help propel you through the work week in style. Whether you find yourself inking markers until they’re dry, grinding material through a bandsaw or working that 3D geometry all day, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll start things off with “Three King Fishers” from Gabor Szabo and work our way through tracks from Joe Pass, Jacob Collier, St Germain, Andrew Bird, Jimmy Smith and others before wrapping up with “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” from Gil Scott—Heron. Have suggestions? As always, let us know what you…
Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Each Monday, we’ll link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you. Be sure to check in each Monday morning for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight from the source of your favorite homegrown…
Camping in the wilderness can either be a relaxing weekend away from the city or a nightmare. In many cases, the outdoor experience usually comes down to one thing: how well you prepare. Sometimes nothing can prepare you for the awesome force of Mother Nature. High winds, hurricanes, or even heavy rains can ruin your camping adventure. Luckily, Kammok, an outdoor gear company based in Austin, TX, has a new tent that for both skilled campers and beginners that’ll keep you both dry and comfortable while Mother Nature unleashes her fury. They’re offering up Sunda, a two person tent that transforms from a tent to a hammock. We’ve seen something…
Honeybees are vanishing, and at an alarming rate. The rise of colony collapse disorder in apis mellifera is concerning, because without honey bees to pollinate our crops, human beings will starve. Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon in which the worker bees in a hive simply vanish en masse, leaving behind a queen and a few nurse bees to raise the larva. Where do the worker bees go? Enter the Open Source Beehive. It’s a small project involving a few visionaries and a couple of maker labs in Europe. The idea is to design hives that are easy to use, and expose bees to no foreign substances that might affect…
Our culture’s obsession with the 3D experience permeates our daily news. Do you want to see the latest Marvel film in 3D? How about a flat screen TV that plays your favorite shows in 3D? Virtual Reality is real! The technology isn’t new; it’s been used in movies as early as the 1950s. So why not bring the 3D experience to something else people love to do? Like sit around and watch online videos. That’s what the folks at Elsewhere are looking to do with their latest device. Elsewhere is a headset that looks like something a mad scientist in a horror film would use. It’s a pair of adjustable…