Apple Sucks (and can suck it)By: Gemma Porter I come from a very tech based family, I was surrounded with computers and matrix printers and huge cell phones and the internet before most people knew what they were or could do. My dad watched proudly as I designed 3-D art on the computers, joined list serves and understood the power of the internet as early I could write the. Macs have been my choice for engaging interesting things for years. However on a recent evening I was prompted to update my iPhone to iOS 6, after waiting a very long time for the download to complete the whole phone system crashed. No amount of button pressing would turn the phone back on until 10-15 minutes later when the diabolical phone finally allowed me to switch it on only to show it had to be connected to iTunes and recovered. Meaning I would have to loose all my work notes, personal photos and apps. Four hours later the mostly complete phone finally was recovered but the fact that apple pushes updates knowing full well that the Internet is abounding with complaints of the same sort is unsavory at best and perhaps worse for them and the marginal revenue is that many costumers, I personally know decades long loyal apple fans, who are starting to give up on iEverything. The user interfaces are beginning to go from bad to f**king unbelievable and the devices come out in new versions so fast people ca not help but feel screwed over for buying one month too soon. Apple, I am sad to say, can suck it and may not be sucking up my money anymore.
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3D Printing: a change in the means of production?By: Taliesin L.O. The easy question: just what is it? 3D printing is the the common, journalist's name for a new technology that is technically known more accurately as “additivemanufacturing(AM).” That name may sound daunting, but with a moment's thought it becomes quite self explanatory. Most traditional manufacturing, known as subtractive manufacturing, is the process of taking a quantity of raw material and refining it into a final product. A clear example is sculpture, where an artist takes raw materials as a slab of stone and, removing pieces from it layer by layer, arrives at a desired product. It's subtractive because the final merchandise is created by diminishing the raw materials. In contrast, additive manufacturing received that name for the simple reason that it is a method for fabrication by means of adding and combining layer-upon-layer of the material until enough has been accumulated that the final commodity has been completed. In short, traditional manufacturing is accomplished by means of subtracting layer after layer from the raw materials; 3D printing is accomplished by means of adding layer after layer of raw materials. Generally additive manufacturing begins with a detailed computer rendering of the final product. This three dimensional model is then fed into a 3D printer which proceeds to combine layers of metal, plastic or another material that has been liquified, powdered or refined in sheets. From there it is just a matter of time until what started as a computer model is a physical object. Originally the largest limit in this technology, which dates back over twenty five years, was that it could only print with a small number of relatively brittle materials. But as time progressed, and technology advanced, a new process emerged called selective laser sintering (SLS) which allowed for greater flexibility in manufacturing. Now there is a growing possibility that additive manufacturing will shortly reach common home use.
It should be noted, though, that this technology is over twenty five years old. It is by no means new, and will take quite some time before it becomes standard in any section of industry besides prototyping. Today the most common method of AM is called fused deposition modeling, which is essentially melting the tip of a metal wire, depositing the molten metal on the product, waiting for it to dry, and adding another layer of melted wire. Layer after layer, liquid metal or plastic or other material is added. For industrial use 3D printing is still mainly used for prototyping. That means that it has been used for the last thirty years by people like car manufacturers to acquire fast, easy and cheap prototypes for new products. These are, however, still expensive on a consumer scale. A traditional prototype, even of a simple soda can, may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; a 3D printed one will cost considerably less, but will still cost thousands of dollars. One of the most expensive requirements for additive manufacturing is the energy usage of the 3D printers, which consume very considerable amounts. But now AM is becoming capable of utilizing more and more base materials at less and less cost. It's already being used to create consumer jewelry and the like, and could become the standard way of manufacturing simple household goods. The big question: just how sustainable is it? “3D printing by its very nature is sustainable, because it builds from nothing, layer-by-layer, to build an object — you have no waste,” says Cathy Lewis, vice president of global marketing for 3D Systems, which has been developing the technology for industry for many years and recently debuted its first 3D printer aimed at home consumers. There are a lot of hopes for additive manufacturing starting to bubble. Besides the reason mentioned by in the above quote, there's also the possibilities for such a multi-functioning factory. Normally it is required that countless machines are used to turn raw materials into a final product, but additive manufacturing could change that. One 3D printer can manufacture almost anything. The possibility is that raw materials will be shipped from where they are mined or harvested and sent directly to whatever city with additive manufacture capabilities is in need of them. That is a great deal more sustainable than harvesting iron, shipping it to be refined into steel, and shipping that to different factories across the world only to have the final product be clunkilly shipped to stores. One of the main changes that AM could make in the world is making localized industry feasible. Historically, to produce something on an industrial scale, a factory is needed, and factories are a massive investment. A massive investment that can only produce one good. That means that a town may have, for instance, a shoe factory and an iron refinery. Such a town would need to import almost everything it needs, even the materials to make those shoes. One 3D printer, however, can produce almost anything. Meaning, one town with one AM factory could, given the necessary materials, manufacture everything that it requires on an industrial scale. Finally, there are new technologies being developed which will allow a 3D printer to function not off of plastic and metal, but off of more natural products such as corn and sugar beet. Additive Manufacturing may be done using raw carbon, a very sustainable substance. For all this utopian dreaming, there area draw backs. AM is still very inefficient on a consumer level, taking many magnitudes more energy to manufacture the same product as traditional industry. Mechanical engineer Tim Gutowski, who heads MIT’s Environmentally Benign Manufacturing group, found in a 2009 study that laser direct metal deposition — a type of additive manufacturing where metal powder is deposited and fused together by a high-energy beam — uses hundreds of times the electricity, per kilogram of metal processed, as more traditional methods like casting or machining. Do not, however, let that get anyone down. All that this means is that AM is still a ways away from saving the planet, but that does mean that it is somewhere and that it is coming. Given time, AM will almost assuredly become less energy wasting, and will become more and more pervasive in the industrial world. Energy use aside, there is one other major concern for 3D printing, and that is if it is stolen by one of the greatest evils of our time: consumerism. After all, think of the useless, breakable plastic trinkets people will be able to print. It could be truly instant gratification for every whim. But maybe not. Maybe people will use it for more sustainable purposes, like making their own skateboards off of local corn synthetics instead of buying them from China. Another anti-consumerist use is repair. A simple example is the battery cover on the back of every remote control which everyone losses. Normally it is nearly impossible to replace, but could be easily printed. The list goes on. It will make repairing lost or broken electronic parts simple for anyone. That use extends all through the house and beyond for anything that needs to be repaired. In short, given time, Additive Manufacturing (production by adding layers of material instead of removing them) could have four major uses compared with traditional manufacture:
Santa Barbara Startup Weekend
"What is Startup Weekend? Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Share ideas, form teams, and launch startups. The November event will no doubt bring out incredible ideas and create amazing new businesses. We’ll also learn a lot working together all weekend in beautiful Santa Barbara."Santa Barbara Startup Weekend's website
From that trusted beyond mom for all things wikipedia:
Skills needed in a Startup Weekend Team:
Marketing skills: Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers. Marketing might sometimes be interpreted as the art of selling products, but selling is only a small fraction of marketing. As the term "Marketing" may replace "Advertising" it is the overall strategy and function of promoting a product or service to the customer.The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." Design skills: Common uses of graphic design include identity (logos and branding), publications (magazines, newspapers, and books), advertisements and product packaging. For example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design, especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements. Nontech skills: Include business advice, advertising skills and general concept work. Programing skills: Programming or coding is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages (such as Java, C++, C#, Python, etc.). The purpose of programming is to create a set of instructions that computers use to perform specific operations or to exhibit desired behaviors. The process of writing source code often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.
The final presentations are given after late nights and early mornings during the 54 hour event. Even though it can seem like a big step the real teamwork and effort doesn't begin until after the Santa Barbara Startup Weekend is finished and the startup company has to begin to really grow beyond its original weekend concept.
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