Novedge Pulse™ of Josh Mings

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 [more...]

Projects Mighty and Napoleon, the pen and the ruler. Two hardware products announced by Adobe this week at the Adobe MAX conference. Two hardware products that connect you to your device, your files, your work where ever you may be. Connected tools that explore our bond to the web beyond the smartphone and tablet. All [more...]

There are ever-increasing piles of 3D prints being amassed upon the earth–single-color, multicolor and a healthy amount of plastic squiggles that didn’t quite make it through the process. It’s sometimes (always) nice to know how people are going about building and creating the contraptions that lead to hours of tinkering and even more hours of [more...]

Here’s a quandry. How many supplier-certified parts and assemblies do you need to make your 3D viewing experience via the web worth it? What if you could not only view those models, but integrate them into your design, right in the browser? That’s the next step Sunglass.io has taken, teaming up with CADENAS parts management [more...]

Dimly lit and and starkly grand, the peanut thief perched atop my hand. “Where will we go?” Its wings would say, like two old ladies pining away. Pining away for better days and sweet rum raisins that hold these links. Giampaolo Miraglia – It’s geometric illustration taken to another level. The level of awesome captured [more...]

Have the cicadas been hassling you all week? Perhaps its just time you try a new bean paste? Either way, we’ve got you covered with an all new Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across and want to share it on SolidSmack? [more...]

Nearly a month to the date since they announced the ‘full-color’ desktop 3D printer, botObjects has published new details on their ProDesk3D printer, including specifications, pricing and images. The whole product launch is awash with skepticism from industry insiders due to a lack of physical prints, unrendered product shots, video or detail on how they’re [more...]

For those used to cycling on busy city streets (NYC comes to mind), the need for swift reaction times could be compared to that of catching a fly with your bare hand. With maniac cab drivers and aloof SUV drivers running up and down Broadway, sometimes a simple hand signal doesn’t do the trick…especially at [more...]

While the majority of us may find happiness in 3D prints based off of complicated geometry, there is still a population out there that would love to turn a simple 2D drawing into an extruded shape (cookie cutters anybody?). While the 3D printing market has expanded into 3D print pens and other novelties, the ease [more...]

Raise of filament rolls in the room–who thinks they can open up a website that allows you to 1) download 3D printable files and 2) upload your own to make some cold, hard cash? I know, you’re thinking, “Egad, what is this genius!? The like has yet been seen!” The reality is there are a [more...]

Invented just one year after the invention of Scotch tape in 1930, the tape dispenser is a unique package design-tool hybrid that can be found in just about every household. Due to the frustration of finding the loose end of tape on a roll, 3M Engineer John A. Borden invented the serrated-edge dispenser to keep [more...]

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 [more...]

Ezra Caldwell’s father was a custom wood furniture maker. He grew up playing in the wood shop. He now lives in Harlem and builds custom steel bicycles. He was also diagnosed with cancer, both devastating to his life and what he had built his life around. He was given 8 months to live. That was [more...]

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ll be laying down the island vibes with some reggae tunes that will ensure positive vibes all day, mon. Turn up the bass and [more...]

Have you ever wondered what Willy Wonka’s factory would be making if it ‘existed’ in 2013? After attempting and failing to 3D print a cake for a friend years ago, Silver Lake-based husband and wife design team Kyle and Liz took their understanding of complex geometry and did something Wonka himself would be proud of [more...]

Perhaps the most widely-respected industrial designer of all time, Dieter has inspired thousands—if not millions of designers with his perspectives on ‘good design’. From Apple’s Jony Ive to budding design school students, the Ten Principles of Good Design is just as relevant today as it was in the early 1980’s when Dieter began to recognize [more...]

File this under your ‘good uses for 3D printing’ stack. The Local Motors Lab Team has been actively using the MakerBot Replicator 2 3D Printer to print prototypes, scale-down versions of parts, and smaller replicated pieces. Lo and behold, one of these sample parts actually found it’s way onto the Rally Fighter as a final [more...]

Imagine a crate of trucks that can be shipped on-site, built within a day, then sent to the four corners of the country delivering food, people, animals, medicine or a new shipment of mobile devices. Our first world problem encompass jamming 1000 pieces of $9.99 flat-packed furniture into small, hybrid cars. In developing countries, flat-packed [more...]

Shouts of hooray and songs of delight are going out among fans of Tinkercad this morning. My kids are ecstatic and honestly, I am too. Tinkercad is back. Over the weekend, Tinkercad announced a deal has been inked that will put Tinkercad site and technologies into the deep development pipeline of Autodesk. On top of [more...]

I bet, next to those dusty engineering and design textbooks on the shelf, you have a few picture books that have led to endless inspiration since you were a child. No? A comic book? Dilbert? *cringe* Nothing? Well, perhaps you had a favorite as a child, There Are Rocks in My Socks! or Where the [more...]

We don’t even know where or how to start to explain how awesome our guest Steven Heller is. He is currently the co-chair of the MFA “Designer as Author” Department at New York’s School of the Visual Arts, is a former art director for the New York Times Book Review, a contributing editor for many [more...]

Once the slivers had been excised from the finger, I looked up, then over at the man-sized centipede in the corner. Leaning against an old Calvi Parma accordion and gnawing an green carpet scrap, it leaned over slowly picking up the cigarette I had tossed on the floor. Offering me the carpet scrap, I realized [more...]

Well, it’s almost that miserable end of the week folks, and in addition to celebrating with four dozen mega-creme doughnuts we also found time to throw out this week’s Cool Tools of Doom n’ Stuff (sorry, we ate all the doughnuts)!! By the way, we love our SolidSmack readers! Have something cool you’ve come across [more...]

Well hello little tower workstations and welcome to the world “world’s most powerful rack workstation.” What’s that you say? You’re the new Precision workstation products from Dell? Don’t worry little chubblings, your prominent branding and genetic predisposition to accessible USB ports gives it all away. It’s true folks. Dell has announced the T1700 Small Form [more...]

Perhaps none of us will top the professional-level squatting recently done by a young entrepreneur at AOL’s headquarters. The then-19 year old Eric Simons was a part of an AOL incubator focused on helping young people with their startups. Having ran out of money, the persistent Simons ended up squatting at AOL…showering in their gym [more...]

Here are two phrased I’d like you to let sink in for a few moments. Share and sync models from GitHub. Edit models with OpenSCAD in the browser. If you just frightened your boss with a high-pitched squeal as he walked by, you’re not alone. However, you may also be wondering, “What the gravy is [more...]

Missed the early adoption period for a Google Glass? Need to see how they frame your pretty mug without forking over the $$$? Sunny Gao, an entrepreneur from China, showed of his replica Google Glass during the the Global Hackathon this past weekend in Shanghai. He also uploaded the file for your 3D printing pleasure [more...]

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ll be taking a dive into the Indie Pool to cool off from our funky Magical Acid Funk Temple Playlist from last week. We’ll [more...]

Hop on the tube down to Farringdon? You have plenty of markets, historic sites and just down Clerkenwell road, right next to a quaint, little Vespa dealership you have the newly opened iMakr store. In April we told you about the largest 3D printing store coming to London. They’re two weeks in, with interest in [more...]

Some would rather drive down Route 1 in a Porsche Carrera listening to Tiesto instead of modeling the exotic convertible in SolidWorks. If, however, you desire the later, you’ll want to pause your SolidWorks surfacing infusion and jab this into the base of your neck. In a previous post, Mark Biasotti detailed the desire to [more...]

Toys. What crotchety old man is the only person in the world who doesn’t like’em? That guy? Well, he can gum his pudding in shame, because GrabCAD is putting on a challenge to 3D print a toy and they’re teaming up with Ultimaker to make it happen. The Ultimaker 3D printed toy design challenge is [more...]

When I’m wrestling a ham and cheese sandwich in 3 inches of water, I’m not paying attention to anyone else around me. There are already devices to get people like me out of the pool (tazers hurt) but there are just not enough (read: any) device that take advantage of modern technology to save the [more...]

You all know it. Augmented Reality (AR) headsets are/will be all the rage. From the Oculus Rift to Google Glass, the size, shape and application of these devices is quite broad. Sketchfab, the site that brings you the ability to set up your own 3D portfolio, is holding their fourth Sketchfast competition, and this one [more...]

Well, it’s about that time of year to start pitchin’ the ol’ teepee in the backyard for those sugar-infused, marshmallow-happy backyard camp sessions. Before little Timmy gets worked up over how many S’Mores he can have at a time this year, get yourself caught up to speed with our backyard camping edition of Cool Tools [more...]