3D Printing Is Very Cool

Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 by MegaZone

The Free Universal Construction Kit Do you ever play with construction toys as a kid, or have kids yourself who do? Tinkertoy, Lego, Duplo, Lincoln Logs, K’nex, etc. They’re great, I know I spent hours and hours as a kid, and, admittedly, a few as an adult, playing with them. I also used to ‘kit bash’ by combining different brands of building toys to make something new. Maybe a Tinkertoy tower with a Lincoln Log cabin on top. Or a buildings made of Bristle Blocks and Lego. If you’re reading this you probably did too, and had the same issue I, and the children in this video, did:

The different brands of toys just don’t go together. Unless you can just stack them and let gravity hold things together there really isn’t a good way to combine different sets. Sure, there are some building block brands that are ‘compatible’ with Lego, but really, that’s just more Lego. It isn’t the same. What if you could really connect Lego to K’Nex, or K’Nex to Tinkertoy, and make functioning structures. That could really open up possibilities.

And that’s where 3D Printing comes in. F.A.T. Lab and Sy-Lab have created the The Free Universal Construction Kit, which provides connector pieces to bridge ten popular construction toys with each other. The toys covered are Duplo, Fischertechnik, Gears!Gears!Gears!, K’nex, Krinkles (aka Bristle Blocks), Lego, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoy, ZomeTool, and Zoob. Well, technically it is currently eight. Zoob and ZomeTool are still covered under patents and the adapters for those won’t actually be released until December 2016 and November 2022, respectively.

So you can go out and buy these now, right? Well, no – for two reasons. First, you can’t buy them because they are free. Second, you can’t buy them because they aren’t physical objects – until you make them so. They’ve been released as STL files through Thingiverse.com. You provide the 3D printer, like a Makerbot, download the files and print the part(s) you need. Check out the parts in action in this video:

I think this is exciting because it shows the potential for 3D printing. Today 3D printing is still a fringe thing, far from the mainstream, but at one time so were printers in general. Printing has evolved from fuzzy dot matrix printers to photo quality ink jets that are so cheap they’re basically disposable. The next jump is 3D printing. There are already a couple of commercial 3D printers on the market and they’ll only continue to improve. Just as we can download books, music, movies, and games today, in the near future we’ll be downloading ‘things’ the same way.

Small items to start, certainly, but we’ll have larger printers before too long. Need some extra chairs for the cook out? Print them. Plates & cups too. Then when it is done toss them into the chipper to be converted back into feedstock. Now that’s recycling. Want a truly custom case for your phone? Modify a design and print one. 3D printers continue to evolve and we’ll have multiple materials, colors, etc., to choose from.

You can even ‘print’ metal using powered metals and a temporary binder, then fusing the part in a sintering oven. Or directly building up a part in powdered metal by using a laser to solidify it layer my layer. A lot of complex metal parts are made this way today using presses and dies to shape the part then sintering to make it solid. (I had a factory temp job in college working in such a place. One of the dirtiest jobs I’ve had, but really interesting seeing how it was done.)

Maybe it seems far out, but much of what we have today seemed pretty far out just a decade or two ago. And maybe thinking about the toys has my imagination going. For now – go print out some toys and have fun.

Via The Verge.

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A Look At Google’s WebM

Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by MegaZone

Google Logo Google’s open source video codec for the web, WebM, has gotten a spike in coverage of late, primarily because of Mozilla’s announcement that they were giving in and adding native H.264 support to Firefox and their BootToGecko mobile OS. Some reports colored this as bad news for WebM, as that’s the only codec they’ve natively supported until now.

Firefox 4 and later, Chrome 6 and later, and Opera 10.60 and later have native support for WebM video. IE9 will play WebM with an extension. Android has had native WebM support since 2.3 Gingerbread. WebM is a combination of the VP8 video codec, which Google acquired when they purchased On2 Technologies, the Vorbis open source audio codec, and the Matroska container format. It is designed from the ground up to be optimized for the web, and Google has released all of the patents so it is free and open for anyone to use. And it really is a solid format.

But WebM has struggled to overcome the lead held by H.264, the most popular format for online video. H.264, which is a short way of saying MPEG-4 Part 10 or MPEG-4 AVC, is a patent encumbered video format. Using H.264 requires paying royalties through the MPEG LA, which is why Mozilla resisted supporting it in their products. But H.264 is so ubiquitous that they’ve decided they must support it just to remain relevant in the browser market. Without H.264 support they felt that they’d effectively be locking themselves out of the market.

One of the biggest obstacles for WebM is Apple. Apple has long been a strong backer of H.264 and that’s the native format for all of the iProducts, as well as QuickTime. Apple has not implemented WebM in any of their iProducts, nor in their Safari browser. And with the large and growing usage of mobile devices, and Apples strong share of that market, it pretty much forces content providers to use H.264. While they could provide both WebM and H.264, as YouTube does, most providers simply stick with just H.264 as it is effectively universal. Apple has a horse in the race – they’re one of the patent holders behind H.264, so they’re not keen on any royalty free alternative dethroning it. Microsoft is also one of the patent holders, which may help explain why IE9 lacks native support as well.

There is some hope as the W3C is considering making WebM support a requirement under the HTML 5 standards effort. It is considered beneficial to have one universal, royalty free format that authors could count on. But, of course, companies like Apple & Microsoft are resisting the standardization effort. If it goes through they’d be forced to either implement WebM in their products or stop claiming to be HTML 5 compliant.

Coincidentally with the recent hubbub, StreamingMedia.com posted a video of Google’s John Luther and Matt Frost’s session on WebM at the recent HTML5 Video Summit in Los Angeles. It is an interesting look at just what WebM is, the goals behind it, and where the team is heading. Check it out:

Early in the presentation you may have noticed that they play a video for the audience, off camera. Based on the audio I believe this is the video they played:

I’d love to get a copy of their slides, it is an interesting presentation – for very geek values of interesting, of course.

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Save Big on Verizon Android & 4G With Amazon Wireless

Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by MegaZone

Droid RAZR Front Amazon Wireless is currently running two sales that could save you a lot on a Verizon Wireless smartphones.

First up, running through March 26th, the DROID Madness Sale. This sale is only good on new Verizon Wireless activations. New activation includes a new individual account, a new family account, or a new line to an existing account. The promotion does not include upgrades or contract extensions.

All Motorola DROID devices on Verizon are on sale. The DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB in black is $199.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. While the DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, DROID X2, DROID 3 Global, and DROID PRO are all just $0.01 each – a penny! My wife has the DROID RAZR and she loves it, it is a very nice phone.

The second sale has some overlap with the first, through March 31st Double Your Data on 4G Phones. It is pretty simple – all 4G Verizon phones qualify for twice the amount of data for the same monthly price. New 4G smartphone activations and upgrades are eligible, including existing customers with 4G smartphones.

The following prices are for new activations, upgrade pricing may differ. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G is $99.99. The HTC Rezound 4G is $79.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. The LG Spectrum 4G is $19.99. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G, LG Revolution 4G, Samsung Stratosphere 4G, Samsung DROID CHARGE, and Pantech Breakout 4G are all just $0.01 – one red cent.

I note that the sale specifically states “all 4G Verizon phones qualify”, yet the DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB and DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB from the first sale aren’t listed in the second. But I’d expect them to qualify as well, as they are “4G Verizon phones”.

Of all of these the one I’d select is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – which is in fact the phone I carry. My second choice would probably be the DROID RAZR, or maybe the DROID RAZR MAXX, though battery life hasn’t really been an issue for me so far.

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Sellout.Woot! – Current Generation 32GB iPod Touch Just $229.99

Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by MegaZone

Apple 32GB iPod Touch Today’s Sellout.Woot! deal is a refurbished current generation Apple 32GB iPod Touch with Retina Display & FaceTime for just $229.99 + $5 S&H. Full MSRP for a new unit is $299.00, and even Amazon sells them for $272.95. Do I really need to describe the iPod Touch to anyone reading this? If you don’t know what it is and what it does, you’re probably not someone interested in this deal in the first place. But if you are interested in a new iPod Touch, your deal awaits.

Posted in Amazon, Apple, General, General Tech | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

TiVo Co-Founder And CTO Jim Barton Resigns

Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by MegaZone

TiVo Logo Way back in 2005 when TiVo Co-Founder and CEO Mike Ramsay stepped down, replaced by current CEO Tom Rogers, TiVo made an official announcement, there were statements, etc. I guess a lot has changed in seven years, as news of Co-Founder and CTO Jim Barton’s resignation was limited to an SEC filing made last Friday. It is a pretty dry document to mark the end of over a decade’s worth of work with TiVo:

ITEM 5.02. DEPARTURE OF DIRECTORS OR CERTAIN OFFICERS; ELECTION OF DIRECTORS; APPOINTMENT OF CERTAIN OFFICERS; COMPENSATORY ARRANGEMENTS OF CERTAIN OFFICERS.

(b) On March 14, 2012, James Barton resigned from his position as Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President for TiVo Inc. effective March 16, 2012.

(e) In connection with Mr. Barton’s resignation, we plan to enter into a consulting agreement with him to continue to provide certain consulting services related to patent matters, litigation, and certain technical matters to the company until March 15, 2015, unless earlier terminated by either Mr. Barton or the company. During the term of his consulting agreement, Mr. Barton shall be paid $25,000 per month. During the consulting agreement, Mr. Barton will continue to vest in his current equity awards. Mr. Barton shall also receive COBRA premium reimbursements for continued medical, vision, and dental benefits for himself and his dependents for the maximum period of time under which Mr. Barton remains eligible under COBRA during the term of his consulting agreement and should the term of the consulting agreement extend past such eligibility period Mr. Barton shall be entitled to reimbursement of expenses up to the amount paid by him under COBRA for the remaining term of his consulting agreement. Upon expiration of the consulting agreement, all of Mr. Barton’s vested equity awards shall remain vested and remain exercisable for the lesser of their original term or one year from such date of expiration. In the event the consulting agreement is terminated prior to the expiration of the initial term by the company other than for good reason (as defined in the consulting agreement) or by Mr. Barton for good reason (as defined in the consulting agreement) or upon his death or a change in control of the company (as defined in the agreement), in addition to any payments owed to him under the agreement through the date of termination, all of Mr. Barton’s unvested equity awards shall immediately vest and remain exercisable for the lesser of their original term or one year from such date of termination.

The foregoing descriptions of Mr. Barton’s consulting agreement with the company are qualified in their entirety by reference to the applicable provisions of the agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ending April 30, 2012.

As you can see he’s remaining on as a consultant for $25K a month and health benefits, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. But it sounds like the primary focus will be on having him support TiVo’s ongoing patent litigation efforts, not surprising as Barton was instrumental in developing much of TiVo’s patented technology.

Deadline.com published a statement from TiVo CEO Tom Rogers:

“We are extremely grateful to Jim for his years of dedication and his commitment to innovation that he has provided to TiVo since its founding. We are pleased that he will remain on in an advisory capacity and look forward to working with him in this new capacity in the future.”

They also report that TiVo states Barton“is headed off to pursue his next ‘big idea’”, so perhaps we’ll be seeing more from him. That’s something to watch for.

I don’t expect this will have any real impact on TiVo. Executives come and go at corporations all the time, and if Barton built a solid team during his tenure they’ll be able to keep operating just fine after his departure. So this isn’t good or bad news, just news. Still, it seems like the end of an era having Barton leave TiVo since he and Ramsay were the driving forces in founding the company.

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