28 Aug Tech Trend: 3-D Printing
You don’t have to be a kid to get some ‘too cool for school gear’. 3-D printing has arrived. Staples made the Cube 3D Printer available in stores at the end of June. You can get one right now for $1300 on staples.com and create toys, jewelry and art using a template or your own design. Within 5 to 10 years, the trend will bring about a revolution in manufacturing, design, art, medicine and more. McKinsey Global Institute, the economics think tank, has said that 3-D printing will have a ‘massive’ impact on the economy in the next 12 years, says Michael Brush of money.msn.com.
A 3-D printer puts down super-thin layers of material, one on top of the other, to create an object of your design. The technology exists to print with a variety of materials, from plastic and metal to human cells. Today, people are printing iPhone cases and bracelets, while companies like Boeing are printing aircraft parts and Align Technology prints dental appliances! One day it may be possible to print fully-functional human organs.
The price for this type of technology is falling exponentially, so it’s becoming feasible for artists and craftsmen to skip the factory and directly create their product. Entrepreneurs will be able to release ideas directly to the market and see for themselves if their product will sell. The real excitement comes as you realize that there are creative minds that will design products that can only be created by 3-D printers. Check out a video of how it works: 3-D printing is fascinating, and it’s hard to believe that it’s real. This must be the way people felt when they saw the very first cars. In a few years it won’t be a big deal, but today it’s the newest thing.
What would you create with a 3-D printer?
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