1. 3D Paper Printer by MCOR Technologies – This brilliant technology creates 3D models by layering sheets of A4 paper and gluing them together. The website claims 40% cost reductions and faster part production. These models will have some practical limitations, but are pretty amazing.
2. Zink: Portable Printing – Zink, which stands for Zero Ink, is now available at stores. Zink is a new printer that flips the traditional printing paradigm on its head, eliminating printing cartridges by embedding a heat sensitive chemical onto the printer paper. This advance allows the device to be really small making it possible to carry a printer in your pocket. Some models now have digital cameras built in bringing the Polaroid experience to a new generation of customers.
3. Banjo-Kazooie: CAD software as a video game – A new game where you play some humanoid rodentand create Rube Goldberg-esqe cars, planes, and boats, using tools similar to those in the Spore vehicle creator. You can’t yet print your creations yet, but the mainstreaming of CAD (It’s the first commercial I’ve seen highlighting an extrusion tool) combined with 3D printing and rapid manufacturing should worry Hasbro and Mattel. Like the consumer electronics companies learned when Apple released the iPod, once a product category goes digital it is software experts who have the edge. EA and Blizzard could easily disrupt the toy industry as rapid manufacturing technologies develop.
4. Ponoko: Interviews with customization thought leaders – The team over at Ponoko is doing a great series of interviews with people attending the MIT Smart Customization Seminar. So far they’ve interviewed:
Cathy Harris, CEO of Desktop Factory
Dr. Johann Fueller, CEO of Hyve AG
Monika Desai, who is working on a customized shoe company
5. Internet of Things: Lose your keys? Google them! – An article about “Spimes” which Bruce Sterling described as “any object that can define itself in terms of both space and time, i.e. using GPS to locate itself and RFID to trace its own history.” The article focuses on a pair of startups, Chumby which makes an eponymous device that is a cross between an alarm clock and a computer, and Violet makers of the Nazbatag an RFID enabled bunny
6. US News and World Report: Mass customization goes mainstream – US News is covering some of the well-known names in customization. It is one of the higher profile articles on customization I’ve seen and has some uses some fun buzzwords like : “meconomy” and “me-tailing”.
7. Amazon Frustration Free packaging – Most articles on customization focus on the aesthetic aspects, but mundane attributes like packaging are another way manufacturers can sell to markets of one. Amazon’s new “Frustration Free” packaging is a great offering for people who care about the environment, hate the ergonomics of plastic clamshells, or both. It helps Amazon save money and is only practical when you have supply chain optimized to handle unique orders.
8. Studio:Ludens: Customized Coasters – Not the biggest market, but the design tools build in design intelligence, letting the user influence the product design without having to be a master of CAD software.
