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A tech accelerator grows in Brooklyn
At its peak, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employed as many as 70,000 people, building maritime vessels like the USS Maine, Missouri and Monitor. Military shipbuilding isn't coming back to Brooklyn anytime soon, and neither are those particular jobs. But industry is returning to the borough -- just not shipping in the military sense. Think more along the lines of product shipping, thanks to facilities like New Lab. This is about more than giving startups a place to set up shop. New Lab is about building a community -- not just to employ more New Yorkers, but to spur further innovation in one of the largest cities in the world.
The humble beginnings and ambitious future of 3D printing
Consumer-focused 3D printing has been all the rage in the past several years, and while Yeezy may be apprehensive, it's putting the power of manufacturing into the hands of the people. The concept of three-dimensional reproduction isn't as new as you may think; various methods were being employed as early as the 1800s. From the 1950s until the early aughts, it's primarily been used in experimental or industrial applications due to the high costs involved. But when the RepRap project went open-source and MakerBot targeted the consumer market with more affordable machines, things began to change. This week we take a quick look at some milestones in 3D printing's development and see how it's progressing in the modern age.
BigRep's ONE can 3D print full-sized pieces of furniture
While consumer 3D printers are cheaper and more efficient than ever before, their small size often means designers are limited to creating hand-sized models and figurines. With the launch of its open-source ONE printer, German studio BigRep is looking to expand things quite significantly, by letting you print your own full-sized pieces of furniture. With a build volume of 45 x 39 x 47 inches (that's 46 cubic feet), BigRep's machine can fashion things out of the usual plastics, but can also be tweaked to print using a mixture of wood fibers and polymers, as well as Laybrick, a sandstone-type filament. If you fancy crafting a new side table for your home or office, the ONE will set you back a hefty $39,000 -- just make sure you have plenty of spare room in your garage.
