We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where LEGOs have become a prototyping tool for building robots in your living room, a world where you can carry a 3D printing pen in your pocket, how do we find the next big thing? MakerGalaxy…
When the 3Doodler launched on Kickstarter a little over a year ago, it was met with enthusiasm to the tune of a little over $2.34 million USD. While it certainly broke the mold of what a 3D printer ‘could’ be, it was also met with certain limitations ranging from size to filament options…but that didn’t…
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 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…
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…
Your atop a 20 foot extension ladder. The sweat drips from your brow. You lean out. The ceiling fan… it’s almost hung. *Ker-plop* Yeeeeeah, that last screw just plummeted 24 feet into your unfinished, single-serve blueberry yogurt cup. That’s all sorts of frustration you just don’t need. If this were a TV infomercial, Phil Kauffman…
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…
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,…
Hang your head in shame. The surface finish on that part your 3D printer coughed out over two to five hours could be used to remove the coarse back hair off a grandpaw yak. We’re currently doomed to the hype of hi-res 3d prints but still getting jagged edges and snagly bits gumming up our…
If your blackjack hands have been getting a bit stale and you’re looking to conserve those hard-earned pennies, then consider this new bike building-themed Kickstarter project from graphic designer Alex Solomon. Geared consists of color-coded cards that represent different components of a bicycle assembly with the object of the game being to use your ‘Part…
Yesterday, SolidSmack posted on the Electric Loog Guitar—a sort of build-a-guitar kit that encourages customization. While build-a-kits have been in existence for decades, there seems to be a resurgence in interest for both adults and kids alike. After raising over $160,000 on Kickstarter with 29 days left to go in their 30-day campaign, the Kano…
As a result of the increase in customization in mass manufactured products, so too has the interest in how products are actually built…and why not? Building things is just as fun as owning them! While the likes of various 3D printers and Arduino kits have taken the Making community by storm, there have also been…
As any office prankster worth their salt will tell you, launching objects in a parabolic arc at an unsuspecting co-worker is one of the greatest and most-satisfying ways of communication (assuming that said objects are gummy bears, marshmallows, and the occasional spitball). E&M Labs is offering a new way of stepping up your office warfare…
Have you ever fought with gravity in order to get your iphone into a hands-free position where you watch the screen and use your hands for more important tasks like cracking lobster shells or defusing bombs? Now you can! with Breffo’s new Gumstick smartphone stand you can support any smartphone on the market with a…
This week EngineerVsDesigner sat down with one of the co-founders of the KICK-BUTT Kickstarter project that aims to bring self-sufficient farming into your living room, Mr. Josh Rittenberg of Aqualibrium. We’ll talk with Josh about everything from “What’s the difference between hydroponics and aquaponics?” to how he and his team came up with the idea…
Leave it to a lamp to lather the locally manufactured back of custom design and show us how efficient some products could be. Chris Chalmers, founder of Fabripod, is the San Francisco maker/creator behind the very cool Chrysalis project, a project with the idea of helping designers create custom products. Chris, taking the essence of that…
This week EngineerVsDesigner sat down with the young founder of a new tool company that has redesigned the traditional shovel as we know it, Mr. Stephen Walden! We’ll talk to Stephen about how he got the idea for his product, how he developed it as a non-designer/engineer, and how he is going about leading his…
Time to bring that retro skateboard design into the future and snag yourself a sweet, high performance composite ride. Hydroflex Skateboards, hailing from Oceanside, CA knows a thing or two about vintage surf style–They build surfboards. Now, they’re turning their attention toward skateboards, taking the retro style of the 70’s and literally infusing it with…
The story of Gordon LaPlante may have started out similar to many other maker/tinkerer/Ima-gonna-start-my-own-3d-printer-company types. Tearing apart mechanized contraptions at an early age to determine their inner workings seems the prerequisite foundation–rebuilding, revising and improving on shortcomings to reuse the parts or make it twice as gooder than it was before. The gMax 3D Printer…
I’m watching the video for a new 3D Printer project on Kickstarter. “Are there not enough of those EACH WEEK?!” Well, with this one I’m thinking… or rather, my skin is crawling out of itself (if that’s possible) growing a brainstem of it’s own and thinking, “Great gobs of laser-fused resin, FINALLY, new 3D print…
To say that your trilogy of design-centered documentaries are all available on Netflix Streaming is no easy task—especially considering that the intended audience is in no way attracting the same crowds as say, Arrested Development. Yet director Gary Hustwit has earned those bragging rights and has also—to some degree or another—given mass audiences a peak…
The new Haptix motion controller just one-upped the Leap Motion controller in a big way. Last week we saw Elon Musk fiddling about mid-air with a rocket engine using the Leap Motion, while weeks before the Haptix device was launched on Kickstarter. While similar to the Leap Motion, it looks down on your nubbin’s instead…
You may have just returned from that weekend trip, growing your beard and connecting with nature via a fish hook to the cheek… the ear… and also the upper eyelid. You even caught a few fish to prove it could actually be done, but tying on those fish hooks after clipping them repeatedly from the…
Whipping out a full size monitor willy-nilly whilst travelling the tube may get you banned from public transportation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it anyway. Why stop at one monitor though? How about three or four? Especially when you can fit them all in your backpack. Able-HD is a 17″ portable HD 1080p…
Don’t look down. Your keyboard is filthy. What if you could toss it? What if you could type, interact and control devices using a 3-dimensional multi-touch interface… on any surface? The Haptix Kickstarter campaign, headed up by co-founders Darren Lim and Lai Xue, is in full swing, passing the $100k funding goal, heading toward a…
Ever wonder what a LEGO garden would look like? TogetherFarm founders Matt Stormont, Joe Aakre, and Doug Holcomb have set out to recreate what it means to have a backyard garden through the use of LEGO-inspired bio-plastic building blocks. With a retaining wall design that requires few materials to haul and eliminates the need for…
I know you’ve nearly filled up your hard-drive with all those selfie shots you post to Instagram and Facebook. Just imagine, however, if that mobile device was a handheld 3D scanner, capable of capturing your porous cheek flaps and gorgeous skin tones. It’s happening with the push of a button and a triple-flash of 3D…
As you know, people like stories–reading stories, telling stories, freeze-drying stories and mounting them on a zebra pelt. Some even laugh and get emotional while doing so. But where do stories come from? Imagine a box. A box that allows you to choose the direction of a story. An internet connected box called The Choosatron.…
Each month, tons of fire hoses from the thousands of fire departments around the world end up in landfills. Oakland, California-based startup Oxgut (sweet name BTW, inspired by what firehoses used to be made of) is aiming to re-route at least a few of those through their network of designers and artisans where the hoses…
For those well-versed in their Vietnamese cuisine, Pho (or phở) is one of the most common and loved dishes that can be eaten at pretty much any time of day. It is the official national soup of Vietnam and is often spoken highly-of due to it’s wide range of complex flavors and the implementation of…
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,…
There have been quite a few multitool products launched on Kickstarter, even a few for your pocket, but do any of them pop the top of a bottle and let you tighten a 8mm hex head on your fancy scooter? NO. Not like the Ringtool does anyway. Ringtool is a single-piece multi-tool, designed by Jonathan…
It’s a toss-up, but typically, I prefer to strap the skull of a massive Zebu or Longhorn to the handlebars of my bike, just to stay stylish. In the common situation where I need to access my phone for directions to the local skull buffing facility, I risk gouging myself or others. On top of…
Slipping a chunky headset on your noggin and diving into a digital reality was a wonderfully inviting development in years gone past. Virtual Reality (VR) was a technology that went the way of badly marketed viewing devices and gaming platforms that eventually turned into large mechanized boxes at malls and theme parks–boxes you and your…
The season of “Yet Another 3D Printer” has arrived (to the point we have considered doing a ‘3D printer of the week’ segment). 3D Print manufacturers are a dime-a-dozen it seems and are having to differentiate themselves big time. Not only to compete with the established players, but to compete among the variety of kit…
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…
When Kickstarter first launched, it was a hotbed for garage hobbyists, indie game developers, and the occasional ‘pro’ who wanted to test the crowdfunding market. More recently, the platform has made its way to more commercial projects that while having been successful, are arguably exploiting an indie-based platform and have led some into a pit…
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…
There are guitar cases you want to completely cover in stickers, then there are guitar cases you want to build a dedicated shelf for in the focal point of your living room. This case is the later. You know we love covering the details of beautiful design behind musical instruments. The Bowoo Guitar case is…
Some people go around mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed, like macaroni and ketchup, loafers and capri pants or violins and Metallica’s greatest hits, but every once in a while the mix of two objects with completely different functions makes a whole lot of sense. Take for instance The MULTI. Capital letters are warranted for…
As a PhD student at the University of Florida studying Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in controls, Tim Elmore is about to shake up the future of 3D printer filaments. Currently, a spool of your favorite color of ABS (or PLA or PVA) runs just south of $50 at the MakerBot store, not including the…
Are you tired of waiting more than two episodes of Breaking Bad for your high-resolution part to 3D print? Two Masters of Engineering students at UC Berkeley are too, and with their ingenius new 3D Refiner Kickstarter project (already funded with 29 days to go), you can 3D print at a fast low resolution, and…
Moniker Guitars of Austin, Texas make some of the most beautiful (and unique) solid body electric guitars I’ve ever seen. Plus, they allow you to customize your very own guitar through their online configurtator–Keeps you from gouging yourself with a carving knife trying to whittle one out of that maple stump. These guitars are high…
…And you should get in your imaginary Dymaxion Car right now and head over to Kickstarter to help make it a reality. Illustrator Cole Gerst of Portland, Oregon was blessed by the Buckmister Fuller estate to pursue the project, which features over 200 full-color, beautifully illustrated pages. Move your white Dieter Rams book over and…
Are there not enough 3D creation, development and collaboration apps on the web? No sir, no there are not. Especially apps that take an approach that combines both the block-addicting fun of Minecraft and the web-modeling ease of Tinkercad. BrickItUp plans to take on the feat, they’re almost there and they have a Kickstarter campaign…
When we previously reported on those cool Sandboxr dudes, they were prepping to launch their super cool model building and 3D printing app. Well, that time has arrived folks and Sandboxr has just launched their Kickstarter campaign to make the app and sandstone-3D printing experience a reality for non-CAD users all over the world…and a…
The concept of Designing for the Other 90% has been coming up more frequently in recent years…especially with the ease of putting your product out there and funding through crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter. However the challenge for raising these funds has usually been centered around creating a product that will not only be effective for…
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…
Max and Pete are high-fiving a million angels right about now (in between all the responses and project updates they’re sending out) for what’s turning into one of the most breakaway successes in Kickstarter history. In only a few hours, the project hit the $30,000 goal and over the past day, they’ve passed $1.3 Million.…