Not much to say about this, just another step.
Defense Distributed gets license to make and sell 3D printed guns | The Verge.
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Chattanooga Maker Day 2013
This past Saturday, I and Bo Baker represented the UTC Library by taking part in the 2013 Chattanooga Maker Day. Held on the 4th Floor of the Chattanooga Public Library, this event was the first in what I hope to be many examples of the awesome tech potential and talent found in Chattanooga.
The theme of the day was a “3D Throwdown”, with Makers bringing their 3D printers and printed objects, setting up demos of 3D design, local businesses that were related to 3D technology doing demos and answering questions…it was like a mini-Maker Faire just for 3D printing. And the turnout of people was incredible. From 11am until 4pm when we closed up, it was a non-stop parade of people, kids and parents and grandparents, all who came out to ask questions and see how this tech works.
I will say, from my perspective, the most amazing moments at the event were the kids who were just wide-eyed at the objects these printers could create. The printers themselves whirring and beeping and generally sounding like droids from Star Wars made the kids aware of a part of their future they didn’t know existed, and it was incredible to see their mind light up with the possibilities.
As far as MPOW, we had dozens of UTC students come through, all of them with the same two exclamations on their lips. First was “You guys are from _the Library_?” and second “The Library is gonna have _this_ for us to use? NO WAY!”. It was a great way to show off the direction that the library is taking, moving into the creative spaces that are so ripe and ready to bloom. We’re still 9 months from opening the new building, but I’m so excited about what that space is going to enable us to do with and for our patrons.
But Maker Day was about more than just our patrons. It was about showing people the potential of Chattanooga in this new manufacturing space. It was about showing them the building blocks for the future of the community. Chattanooga has The Gig, it has incredibly talented people, and it has a chance to be one of the great technology hubs of the United States. We just have to put all the pieces together the right way, and the groups that put on Maker Day (the Public Library, Co.Lab, and many others) are printing those pieces of our future.
In a recent article on Wired, Joi Ito (director of the MIT Media Lab) outlined 9 rules for businesses dealing with the future that technology is bringing to us all. I think these apply to organizations of all sorts, and aren’t a bad starting place for understanding how a modern organization should behave.
- Resilience instead of strength, which means you want to yield and allow failure and you bounce back instead of trying to resist failure.
- You pull instead of push. That means you pull the resources from the network as you need them, as opposed to centrally stocking them and controlling them.
- You want to take risk instead of focusing on safety.
- You want to focus on the system instead of objects.
- You want to have good compasses not maps.
- You want to work on practice instead of theory. Because sometimes you don’t know why it works, but what is important is that it is working, not that you have some theory around it.
- It disobedience instead of compliance. You don’t get a Nobel Prize for doing what you are told. Too much of school is about obedience, we should really be celebrating disobedience.
- It’s the crowd instead of experts.
- It’s a focus on learning instead of education.
I think there’s a lot of potential here for libraries to learn from, but #2 and #4 seem to speak directly to us. My personal favorite is #7, but that’s probably not a surprise to anyone who knows me.
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Gigabot 3D Printing
Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) out of South Windsor, CT has announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its new OsteoFab 3D printed cranial device.  This marks the first approval for an additively manufactured polymer implant. The new OPM device is a cranial maxillo-facial (CMF) plate for skull reconstruction which can be used to replace up to 75% of the skull. Their device is made from PEKK (polyetherketoneketone), which has many of the desirable properties of the commonly used PEEK implant material — but it also has twice the compressive strength, making it an ideal material to replace any bone that counts user protection among its primary functions.
via Oxford Performance Materials Now Able to 3D Print 75% New Skulls.
Kinect Fusion pulls depth data that is generated by the Kinect for Windows sensor and, from the sequence of frames, constructs a highly detailed 3-D map of objects or environments. The tool averages readings over hundreds or even thousands of frames to create a rich level of detail.
Its finally happened: a dress has been made using a 3D printer and computers are one step closer to taking over the world. Stagewear designer Michael Schmidt and model Dita Von Teese debuted this 3D printed gown on Monday at the Ace Hotel and it looks very high-tech and cool — a much more wearable take on the partially 3D printed dresses Iris Van Herpen put out for her last collection.
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Being ok with asking
After my own attempt at ask-economics for CES in January, the TED talk by Amanda Palmer entitled The Art of Asking rang in my head after watching it. So many interesting things to draw from that, but the one I’m holding on to for the moment is Trust. Trust your audience, and keep asking when you need. So I will, when I need.
This looks….promising. I don’t expect any single type of input mechanism to “win” in the alternative-input-wars, as some combination device/system is more likely to be more effective. But this looks very interesting…
The MYO armband lets you use the electrical activity in your muscles to wirelessly control your computer, phone, and other favorite digital technologies.