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.

Now, I took Spanish in high school but that was over 22 years ago and, frankly, I never really paid close attention and didn’t do very well. In fact, Spanish was my worst subject by far. So I’m relying on Google Translate, so there may be some ‘fuzziness’.

On the pre-registration forms it also seems like registering gets you entered in a drawing for a free iPad 2 – perhaps this indicates the iPad TiVo software is also coming? There is one thing though…

The original text reads:

Solo por dejarnos tus datos participas en el sorteo de un iPad 2

Just below that is:

Oferta limitada a los primeros 5.000 particulares pre-inscritos antes del 30 de septiembre 2011. La pre-inscripción no implica compromiso de contratación.

This translates to:

Just for your information, let us participate in the draw for a iPhone 2

And:

Offer limited to first 5,000 pre-registered individuals prior to September 30, 2011. Pre-Registration does not imply commitment of hiring.

Ignoring the iPad->iPhone translation error, based on the positioning of this text and the layout of the page I think the “first 5,000″ limitation is for the drawing. So you have a 1 in 5,000 chance to win the iPad 2. I don’t think they’re saying only 5,000 people can pre-register for the TiVo, that seems crazy – especially given Virgin Media had 50,000 pre-registrations.

We know ONO is using the same Cisco hardware that Virgin Media is using in the UK, with a similar fiber network. So we can probably expect a similar feature set over all. The software is from the same base, but localized for Spanish and ONO’s unique requirements. Interestingly the site states the unit can record two channels at once, while playing back a third recording. This is how the UK box launched, but later on the dormant third tuner was launched. Since ONO is using the same HW, perhaps they’re doing something similar?

Capacity is advertised as 200 hours. Remote scheduling is explicitly mentioned. They’re also making a big deal out of the HD & 3D content – which makes sense as ONO’s HDTV launch is centered on this TiVo. That’s good news for the TiVo service too. You want HDTV from ONO, you get the TiVo box.

Just like the UK box, ONO will be using the built-in cable modem and data usage from the TiVo will not affect other broadband users in the home. For broadband content they’ve partnered with rtve.es, TeleCinco, Televisio De Catalunya, Canal Cocina, Sol Musica, iVoox, Decasa, Rockola FM, and Picasa.

Looks like a solid first offering.

There’s also a video as part of the site: