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Lego printer writes 'Hello World' with felt-tipped pen (video)
We've seen some pretty amazing Lego creations over the years, and this has to be one of our favorites. (Or at least, one of today's favorites.) A YouTuber named "horseattack" has assembled a Lego printer that uses little more than a felt tip pen to greet us all with a hearty "Hello World" (although we're sure it can write other stuff as well). And no sir, this isn't a Mindstorm kit... the design, coding, and construction are all from scratch. See for yourself after the break.
Will we pay more for magazines on the iPad?
Business Insider has a post up from AdAge about magazine pricing on the iPad, and they've got bad news for anyone planning to transfer all of their magazine subscriptions to Apple's magical device: It'll cost ya. While a year's worth of Popular Mechanics goes for $12 from the publication's website (or even cheaper if you can pick it up from Amazon or that random kid wandering your subdivision selling subscriptions), the iPad subscription will cost $29.95; that's over twice as much. You can buy a year's worth of Wired on Amazon for just $10, but one issue on the iPad costs you half of that. Why? At first, the cost seems like a ripoff; publishers don't have to pay for paper, ink, or postage, so you'd think the content should actually be cheaper. Then you calculate in the cost of interactive designs and features, researching new technologies, and creating new workflows, and creating an iPad version of the magazine starts to get more expensive. Throw in that publishers are wary of pricing their content too low, and you get a higher price than a print subscription -- which plenty of readers will probably pay anyway. That's a pretty fragile pricing state, though; e-books are already cheaper than their print versions, and while comic books are the same price in the store as they are on something like the Marvel application, you have to think that those prices will drop too. As usual, early adopters will pay the most, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the price of "e-magazines" drop as publishers and consumers alike even out the rough edges of the transaction.
Boutique publishing house les éditions volumiques shows us that print is far, far from dead
Say what you will about traditional media and the continually shrinking size of print magazines, but we've got some proof right here that good 'ol pulp still has a lot of life left. French publishing house les éditions volumiques has been doing research into new and... interesting ways to use the print medium and to combine it with mobile devices. The company's site is like a playground for bookistas, with short videos showing off all sorts of wondrous things. One project is The book that disappears, a volume printed on reactive paper that turns black after 20 minutes. Another is The Night of the Living Dead Pixels, a graphic novel (shown above) that allows you to choose your path, with terminal pages featuring QR codes that trigger videos on your smartphone. There's a board game that uses iPhones for pawns, and even a book that turns its own pages. All are demonstrated at the company's site (in Flash, so watch out for Steve), and most are destined to actually see print by the end of the year. We've already made room on our bookshelves.
DuPont can print a 50-inch OLED TV in two minutes, you'll be waiting a little longer
Right now LG's 15-inch OLED TV is the cheapest you can get -- but at about $2,500 it won't be rocking too many peoples' lives. We've heard promises of dropping costs thanks to printed displays for ages now, but never on a scale like this. DuPont has teamed up with Dainippon Screen to create a printing technique capable of line-feeding a 50-inch display in just two minutes. Two minutes! The printer is likened to a high precision garden hose, flying over the display surface at a speed of five meters per second depositing that good, good OLED juice in just the right places with nary a drip or an unwanted sprinkle. DuPont Displays President William Feehery says the technique "is worth scaling up" and could compete on cost with LCDs while delivering a 15-year lifespan. That's not quite the 100 years they promised us last time, but we'll take it. No word on when, or if, this technique will actually be deployed en masse.
3D printer creates ice sculptures -- just add water
Paper-mache, candy, and human cells have all been seen flowing through 3D printers for custom fabrication work, but students and faculty at Canada's McGill University have a cheaper prototyping material: plain ol' H2O. They recently modified this Fab@Home Model 1 by replacing the soft goo extruders with a temperature-controlled water delivery system, and set about making decorative ice sculptures and a large beer mug for good measure. While the academic project is officially supposed to explore "economic alternatives to intricate 3D models of architectural objects," we're not sure architects will want much to do with prototypes that drip... but tourism might well get a boost from liquor sold in frosty custom containers. We're thirsty just looking at them.
HP's Designjet 3D series start shipping to wealthy European prototypers
Just three months after HP bought itself into the 3D printer market by making a partnership with established player Stratasys, the company's first Designjet 3D models are now shipping in Europe, set to start churning out bits and bobs soon. HP is offering two models, the plain Designjet 3D and the Designjet Color 3D which, wait for it, prints in color. We don't know what the multi-hue model will set you back, but the base model clocks in at €13,000 -- about $17,500. That's roughly $2,500 more than a low-end, non-HP Stratasys additive fabrication printer will cost you, and we're not sure what else you're getting for that premium beyond the little chrome HP badge stuck on the top. Expensive? Sure, but we remember a time when color laser printers cost more than cars and now look at 'em, selling for less than $200 shipped. Funny how their toner cartridges aren't any cheaper...
Google Cloud Print service aims for unified, universal web printing method
So you've seen how Apple intends to handle printing on its web-centric mobile device, now how about Google? The Mountain View crew has decided to solve one of Chrome OS' significant shortcomings -- namely the lack of a printer stack or drivers -- by interposing itself between apps and the printing hardware. Essentially, when you want to print you'll be sending your request over to a Googlestation up in the clouds, which in turn will translate those instructions and forward them along to the nearest paper tarnisher. We say nearest, presuming that's what you'd want, but the big deal here is that you'll be able to use any device to print on any printer anywhere in the (internet-connected) world. It's quite the brute force approach, but at least it assures you that whether you're using a mobile, desktop or web app, you'll be able to print without fear of compatibility issues. This project is still at a very early stage, but code and dev documentation are available now. Hit the source link to learn more.
Today's two-second laugh: iPad printing, solved
Take one iPad with any application running (and a clear-as-day multitouch screen), add one multi-function printer with an optical scanner, and boom, you've solved the problem of printing from iPad. Who needs a firmware update when you've got a little ingenuity? Points to the clever folk at Form for coming up with this. [via Engadget]
iPhone OS 4 set to bring printing to iPad, iPhone?
Support notes for iPad's Pages, Keynote, and Numbers apps all suggest that printing functionality may be coming to the device. The notes state that "printing directly from iPad is not currently available." It's the use of the word "currently" that has got people buzzing. If these words do suggest that printing is coming to iPhone OS 4.0 (being previewed tomorrow), printing may well not be limited to only the iPad. So how would your iPhone or iPad connect to a printer? The most likely ways would be via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi (making an Airport Base Station or Time Capsule a nice add-on sale for anyone buying an iPhone or an iPad, or non-wireless printer owners), or perhaps Apple will even introduce an iPad/iPhone-to-printer connection kit. We'll find out tomorrow! [via AppleInsider]
Kateeva wants to print OLED displays, says they'll be cheaper that way
Along with affordable solid state drives, OLED panels are among the most universally desired bits of tech today. It's therefore a good idea to prick up our ears and listen when new California startup Kateeva promises to make OLEDs bigger and cheaper with its large-area printing technology. Advised by our old friend Vladimir Bulovic of MIT, the company has gone official with word of its prototype OLED printer, which can produce displays on a scale of 1.8 by 1.5 meters (about six by five feet) at a cost roughly equal to 60 percent of the manufacturing costs of current LCD technology. We say can, what we really mean is that it has shown itself capable of achieving those numbers -- it's still in the prototype stage and won't be sent out to display manufacturers for testing until next year but it's something to look forward to, nonetheless. We advise checking out the Technology Review article for all the gory production details along with a neat video interview with Kateeva co-founder Conor Madigan.
iPad hands-on: Not a full desktop replacement, but the keyboard works
For all of the back and forth about the iPad over the last week, only a handful of people (including Stephen Colbert) have gotten to actually touch one. Fox News, of all the outlets out there, posted a pretty clean and objective hands-on with the iPad earlier this week, and you can get a pretty good idea of what it's like to actually hold the device in your hands from them. They say that it works well -- the keyboard is about the same as an iPhone keyboard (though they don't say whether they try the hunt-and-peck of the iPhone, or actually try to lay their hands down as if on a laptop), and they agree to what we've heard elsewhere: that while the iPad is a nice computer, it's much more of an iPhone extension than a full laptop or even desktop replacement. One of the most interesting notes is that the much-discussed camera might not be the biggest omission from Apple's tablet -- Fox says that an SD slot or a USB port is a much bigger exception, meaning that if you want to actually do anything with files (view photos or print PDFs) from the iPad, you'll have to transfer them to and from another computer first. Of course Apple is introducing an SD addon with the device, and I thought that I'd heard the Bluetooth connection would print from the iPad, but then of course you've got to have a Bluetooth-enabled printer, and as you already know if you've ever depended on Bluetooth, even then it may be a crapshoot. Still, the device sounds about like what we all predicted a tablet would be: a MacBook Air sort of satellite extension to your household web browsing and minor computing. I still can't wait to get my hands on one -- hopefully we'll get to see a unit in person at next week's Macworld. [via MacDailyNews]
Fujifilm intros 3D Print System, which probably requires wicked expensive ink
What do you do if you concoct one of the world's first 3D point-and-shoot cameras? Why, you concoct a 3D printer (definitely not pictured) to work with it, of course! Fujifilm has just kicked out its new 3D Print System, which enables 3D photographs to be created "on the spot" using dye-sublimation technology to print directly on to the base of a lenticular sheet. Unfortunately, prints will only be available in four sizes ranging from 4- x 6-inches to 6- x 9-inches, but we're hoping that some sort of magical firmware update will enable poster-sized prints for those really looking to drive their retinas batty. Mum's the word on a price, but it should hit UK shelves by April for an undisclosed rate.
HP molds itself an entry into the 3D printer market
Don't let HP's involvement confuse you, there's a very good chance John Q. Consumer won't be able to afford a 3D printer anytime soon. But the company is dipping its toes into the industry thanks to a deal with Stratasys. The latter will produce an "exclusive line of 3D printers based on Stratasys' patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology." Those will be sold under HP branding targeted at the Mechanical Design (MCAD) market. The specific product details are still shrouded in mystery (that's just a quick Photoshop, left), but for perspective, Stratasys' cheapest printer is the uPrint, which can mold 8 x 6 x 6-inch models for a smidgen under $15,000. Still interested, despite price deterrent? Don't forget there's some DIY options for you out there for less than a grand.
Microsoft Stores printing PC games on location
Though the recently opened Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, Arizona contains all the electronic doodads and software you'd expect to find in a Microsoft-branded retailer, there's one pleasant surprise waiting there for PC gaming enthusiasts. That VideoGame Blog reports that kiosks are distributed throughout the store which allow shoppers to order a Games for Windows title, leave their name with a customer service representative, then have the game, case, insert and other accouterments printed on the spot in under four minutes. We imagine the whole process is similar to the teddy synthesis featured in Build-a-Bear Workshops, only without all the haunting, ever-gurgling vats of stuffed animal guts featured prominently on the sales floor.
Sony DPP-F700 digital picture frame with one-touch printing
Digiframes -- how we love to loathe them. Occasionally we see one with a feature such as a scanner or, in this case, a printer, that actually adds some interesting functionality to the thing, but more often than not we're stuck with a tacky housing, odd display dimensions, and occasionally Swarovski crystals. So how about this new Sony DPP-F700? Possibly out as soon as November, this guy sports a 7-inch (16:10, WVGA 800×480) display, 1GB of memory, time / date display, support for a variety of storage formats (including Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, SD Card, SDH Card, CF Card, and xD-Picture Card), and simple editing functions (rotate, zoom, and crop). The printer itself creates 4 x 6-inch, 300 x 300 dpi printouts with integrated TruFast technology and a "one touch printing" button. Rumor is that it will sell for around €200 ($290).[Via Sony Insider]
HP experts to provide real-time support for Snow Leopard users on 9/9
Have you upgraded to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and found that your HP printer or All-in-one is having issues? HP announced today that experts from the company will be providing real-time support on September 9th to help you out. From 8 AM to 5 PM PDT on September 9th, 2009, HP's Mac-connect team will be monitoring the HP Mac Printing & Scanning Board (part of the HP Support Forums). HP customers who post questions about compatibility with Snow Leopard can expect a quick response from the HP team. After the real-time session, the Mac-connect team will continue to provide help through the Forums. HP noted in their press release today that "HP has worked closely with Apple throughout the Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard development process, enabling customers to enjoy built-in print driver support for more than 1,300 worldwide HP peripherals out of the box – the most ever offered by HP for a new Mac OS. In addition to print driver support, HP is providing scan support for the latest HP Inkjet All-in-Ones built into the operating system." More information about HP products and Mac compatibility can be found at www.hp.com/go/mac.
Empty ink cartridges repurposed as glorious lamps
We all know that those ink cartridge refills never really function perfectly as advertised, so rather than paying too much to have a lackluster printing experience, boxlightbox has decided to repurpose his empty Epson boxes into prepossessing lighting instruments. The simple (albeit masterly) lamps maintain the iconic presence of an ink cartridge while still fitting into the overall feel of an art deco home. At $350, the sensational Ink-Cartridge Chandelier shown above certainly isn't the cheapest of fixtures, but for those who spend entirely too much time at Kinko's, it's totally worth the investment. Hit the read link for more ways to spend money that you don't have -- or, you know, to just get a few ideas for scratching that DIY itch. [Thanks, David]
Mac 101: Get a PC printer running on a Mac. There's a driver for that!
More Mac 101, tips and tricks for new Mac users. While this tip may be old news to tech-savvy folk, I think it might help a lot of recent Mac switchers who want to leverage their existing investment in their Windows-compatible peripherals.I have a friend who has been on Windows forever. He finally had his fill, and after some incessant nagging on my part, he made the switch. What I expected to happen, did happen -- he's thrilled being on a Mac. He's yet to see a crash, and as most of us know, it generally 'just works.'He did have one problem though. He had a Dell USB printer sitting on his desk. When he plugged it into his MacBook it wasn't recognized, and there was a scrolling list of lots of printers, but nothing from Dell.A quick web search revealed the printer was actually a rebranded Samsung ML-1710. The Samsung driver page for this printer didn't show any Mac drivers. Searching a bit deeper on Google, we found that an unsupported Mac driver was hiding on the Australian Samsung website. We downloaded and installed the driver, and what do you know? The printer came up, and printed just fine.The reality is that there are a lot more printer brands than there are original equipment manufacturers, and it's pretty easy to find out who actually makes a particular printer. If it's a USB printer, chances are good you can find a driver and be quickly printing away. For a wide-ranging solution, the Gutenprint (formerly Gimp-Print) open source project provides drivers for hundreds of older or unsupported printers.The moral: Don't give up on your PC printer if you feel like it still has life in it; a little bit of online research may turn up a way forward for your Mac. If you have similar happy endings, or unpleasant ones, let us know in the comments. Your fellow readers can learn from your experiences.
OE-A shows off nonvolatile RAM, RFID tag formed by printing
While it's far from being noteworthy to the mainstream public, printable electronics hold a lot of promise. Over at Printable Electronics 2009 in Tokyo, the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A) demonstrated some of the most extreme, useful printings that we've seen to date. By utilizing an eclectic array of printing methods, the agency was able to produce nonvolatile RAM with a capacity of 1,024 bits (for use in ID and game cards) along with a printed RFID tag that could be launched today in logistics operations. We doubt very seriously that mere consumers will soon have access to printers of this nature, but if we can now print memory and wireless identification tags, one must wonder: what on Earth is next?
