More About Dan Shapiro and the Glowforge CNC Laser Cutter (Video #2)

Yesterday Glowforge Co-Founder and CEO Dan Shapiro told us that the Glowforge machine is a CNC laser cutter and engraver, not a 3-D Printer -- even though the first words on Glowforge's main page are, "The First 3D Laser Printer," a description Dan says is there for people not familiar with things like laser cutters and 3-D printers, who want to call the Glowforge a 3-D printer even though people who know about this stuff know what it is at first glance. He also talks about his previous startup, Robot Turtles; what it is, how it came to be, and why kids like it so much. This interview is worth watching (or reading) for the Robot Turtles section alone, especially if you have children or are thinking about designing board games for kids.

Comments

What is this

[Holi]

Recurring Advertisements for what? did Slashdot get paid for all this coverage?

Re:What is this

[Roblimo]

Unless a story or video is marked SPONSORED CONTENT or ADVERTISEMENT it is not a paid ad on Slashdot. Sometimes a Slashdot editor -- Tim in this case -- gets interested enough in a person, group, service or product to do a video interview with the person/people behind it. The theory behind the Dan Shapiro interviews (and we have two more to run after a while) is that they're a great primer on how to use crowdfunding to kickstart your company. His Glowforge product is obviously not unique, and we have said so and linked to several competitors, which should be a clue that it's not an ad.

We looked at what Shapiro had to say as good info for entrepreneurial Slashdot users who may want to start their own businesses one day. You may not be one of them. Please understand that many thousands of people hit Slashdot every day, and stories that interest you may not interest each and every one of them. And stories that interest some of them may not be your cup of milk.

A funny datum for you: We ran an excerpt from an interview at http://passionatevoices.org/ - whose owner Erik first contacted me about our videos; he wondered if they were paid ads. Obviously they're not, because when Erik submitted his first video on passionate voices, this is what happened: http://news.slashdot.org/story...

We are happy to accept and run reader-submitted videos and we love suggestions for people we should interview. You can use the submission form or email me, robin at roblimo dotcom.

Got any good ideas? :)

- Robin

I see at least TWO problems with that last project

[Thud457]

A project called Robot Turtles with no ROBOTS nor TURTLES involved?!!
Hell, he could have made that cool by having a option to integrate a physical turtle robot so kids could see how virtual code can make things move in the REAL world.
#YAY!KICKSTARTER!!

Down with video

[rubycodez]

make a text article for each video or lose readers

stupid twats are running slashdot these days

Re:Down with video

[vux984]

I've little interest in watching video interviews myself; can't skip around in it, can't easily review it, can't copy and paste from it to reply in a comment, etc, and worst of all I'm stuck listening to it as fast as you recorded it which is glacial compared to reading a transcript. etc.

Frankly I'm truly stunned how many people on the web want video. Youtube videos exist for how to set a browser preference. Who needs a 3 minute video, complete with introduction, just to watch someone narrate while they use their mouse to navigate to a menu item. If I could block those from my search results I would do so in a heartbeat.

The upshot is the transcripts here are much appreciated.

Re:Down with video

[antime]

Why are you not reporting on Sourceforge bundling malware with open-source software?

Re:Down with video

[rubycodez]

Courtesy? After slashdot beta we're fresh out.

"Almost" all videos?

Re:I see at least TWO problems with that last proj

[ArcadeMan]

#YAY!KICKSTARTER!!

YAY!

Re:Play on words

[hey!]

It's perfectly sound marketing logic.

Explaining things to people who aren't up to speed yet is difficult and tedious; and in any even people don't have the patience to sit through explanations. So the obvious thing to do is to describe your product in terms that confuse everyone, equally.

AND FURTHERMORE...

[Thud457]

If any of these kiddie code-camp dingbats were serious about getting kids interested in coding, they'd see about getting Big Trak re-resurrected. They had a modern version available for about five minutes around 2009. Add a WIFI interface to the the thing and Bob's your uncle.
While they're at it, make available add-on modules for a camera(s), and a freakin' lazor, maybe a robot claw.

Thank you for clarigying that I have no interest

[TheCarp]

Dan: Yeah, exactly. And once youâ(TM)ve created something, itâ(TM)s going to sit in your library, so you can just call up from your phone again and say, yeah I just want another one of those go, go, go. It is natively connected all the time. So, if you donâ(TM)t have an Internet connection in your shop, if you are up and about , you are going to either have to find a mobile spot or this wonâ(TM)t work

Keep your overpriced junk.

I don't even know what more to say. I don't want a device that requires somebody else's service to work. I don't want to invest in a future brick, and not just a future brick, but one I can't even use to design my own things and decide whether or not its 100% private?

No, I pay you for the device, then you get copies of all my designs? Everything I work on? AND if you decide you don't care any more, or have enough designs copied, you can just switch it all off and everyone is shit out of luck?

Anyone who pays good money for this, I hope they understand the real limitations and risks before they buy their future brick.

"First 3d Laser Printer"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry but that claim is clearly bullshit and damages the credibility of the nobody making it. I've never heard of glowforge but I've seen enough "me too" glorified 3-5 DoF Nema17/Nema23 stepper motor powered desktop fabrication gadgets over the past 10 years to last me a lifetime.

WTF

[Going_Digital]

So this is just another laser cutter/engraver like the millions that are already out there, put this one in the trash!

Re:Thank you for clarigying that I have no interes

[JaredOfEuropa]

This. A device isn't mine unless I can run it offline. Why does it even need to be in constant touch with the mothership; the website fails to adequately explain that. As a hobbyist I'd *love* to have one of these, but it needs to be able to run on its own.