Cheap 3D Fab Could Start an Innovation Renaissance

blackbearnh writes "An article over on O'Reilly Radar makes the argument that, just as inexpensive or free software development environments have led to a cornucopia of amazing Web and mobile applications, the plummeting cost of 3D fabrication equipment could enable myriad new physical inventions. The article was prompted by a new Kickstarter project, which if funded will attempt to produce a DIY CNC milling system for under $400. Quoting: 'We're already seeing the cool things that people have started doing with 3D fab at the higher-entry-level cost. Many of them are ending up on Kickstarter themselves, such as an iPhone 4 camera mount that was first prototyped using a 3D printer. Now I'm dying to see what we'll get when anyone can create the ideas stuck in their heads.'"

Comments

Re:So simple

[camperdave]

Just 8 lines of lousy poetry is all the words it takes to make a hit song. I find that interesting especially since there are so many hits out there with far fewer words than this, even. It never ceases to amaze me how simple and simpleminded hit pop songs, even the really catchy ones, can be.

Well, there's:

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog Cryin' all the time You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

Well they said you was high-classed
Well, that was just a lie
Yeah they said you was high-classed
Well, that was just a lie
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine


And...

Fly, robin fly
Fly, robin fly
Fly, robin fly
Up, up to the sky

Fly, robin fly
Fly, robin fly
Fly, robin fly Up, up to the sky


And who could forget:

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
BATMAN!

Sometimes, all you need is a single word:

Tequila
Wipeout

... or none at all:






(Those last three were Hawaii Five-0, Popcorn, and Theme From A Summer Place, just in case you didn't recognize them.)