Category Archive

Bionym has an interesting new product called Nymi that authenticates you by your unique heartbeat.  Looks to use NFC (Near Field Communications) between the Nymi wristband and the device requiring authentication.

Saw this article on Gizmodo.

If you’ve been pondering over whether a 3D printer is a sound financial decision, here might be your answer: researchers have calculated that they can pay for themselves inside a single year.

The study, conducted at Michigan Technological University, considered 20 common household items—smartphone cases, a garlic press, a shower head, the list goes on—listed on Thingiverse, then used Google Shopping to work out the maximum and minimum cost of buying them online (not including shipping). Then, the researchers also calculated how much it would cost to make each using a household 3D printer.

The results are pretty amazing: it would cost between $312 to $1,944 to buy the items, but just $18 to make using the 3D printer. Clearly, the printers are expensive, but those figures suggest that they can pay for themselves in a time frame of months to years. The research is published in Mechatronics. Joshua Pearce, who led the research, >explains

“With the exponential growth of free designs and expansion of 3D printing, we are creating enormous potential wealth for everyone… [Y]ou don’t need to be an engineer or a professional technician to set up a 3D printer. Some can be set up in under half an hour, and even the RepRap can be built in a weekend by a reasonably handy do-it-yourselfer.”

Of course, there’s a time investment involved in downloading designs, tweaking them, and experimenting with manufacturing—but that could be seen as part of the charm, too. If you weren’t excited about 3D printing by now, this news might be just enough to tip you over the edge.

I have no idea if this kid is correct, but his clarity of thought and the fact that he is the youngest person ever to create fusion at age 14, says we should listen to him.  I also find it interesting that when he graduates High School in May, his first thought is to start up a company and build his idea.

Terrafugia has an interesting idea for a flying car that does not need the driver to know about how to fly.  Sort of a Google car with autopilot.

A Dutch company is looking to colonize Mars.  It would be a one way ticket for those who are chosen, and in reality it’s no different from when the first explorers colonized North America.

This is a huge step towards space tourism, and by ‘tourism’ I mean about a 10 – 15 minute flight above the earth’s atmosphere at the cost of $200k a pop, but it’s a start.  The bonus on the flight is that you will see the curvature of Earth, and that would be pretty freaking cool. 🙂

For only $99 you can buy an OUYA game console and basically play games developed for the Android OS.  Included in the $99, you get the SDK (Software Developer’s Kit).  Pretty goof deal with a lot of potential world wide.

Microsoft has a great page that creates the CSS for gradient backgrounds, and does it for multiple browser platforms.

LevelUp has an Interesting idea to tie a payment system with a loyalty card and integrated it all on a smartphone.

The Philips hue LED light bulb is pretty cool.  It has WiFi capability, so you can control the brightness and color from an app on a smartphone or tablet.  Right now it only works with iOS and Android, but hopefully they will include Windows 8.