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Dell Goes Into Labor, Delivers Two Cute Precision Towers and a Rack Mounted Workstation

16 May, 2013 by Josh Mings in TECH

Well hello little tower workstations and welcome to the world “world’s most powerful rack workstation.” What’s that you say? You’re the new Precision workstation products from Dell? Don’t worry little chubblings, your prominent branding and genetic predisposition to accessible USB ports gives it all away. It’s true folks. Dell has announced the T1700 Small Form Factor (SFF) and Mini Tower (MT) entry-level tower workstations, touted as the smallest chassis available and, on the other end, they’ve released the R7610 rack mounted workstation with a load more power than its predecessor.
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The Mighty Spark Core: Open Source, Super-charged, Mini-Arduino with Built-in Wi-Fi

07 May, 2013 by Josh Mings in TECH

Say you’ve always wanted to build a Wi-Fi-controlled robot that spits carrot chunks at your pet rabbit. Impossible you say. How about a solar-powered, plant-watering device that remotely triggers a siren when a new episode of “Vikings” is on? Even though that’s completely practical for a number of reasons, the ability to do it may seem a far reach. Using various open hardware components, extended with Wi-Fi modules and shields makes it all easier, but nothing to this point has combined the luxury of Wi-Fi, programmable hardware, world-wide accessibility and the fun of making your own things. Spark Devices has launched a Kickstarter campaign doing just that. Launching May 2, they blew past their $10,000 funding goal in 75 minutes, pushing closer toward the $200,000 mark each day. WOW. We asked Zach Supalla, Founder and CEO of Spark Devices, more about the wee board and how it’s different from the rest.

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The Massive, Six-legged Hexapod Robot You Can Ride

29 Apr, 2013 by Josh Mings in DESIGN, TECH

I know a lot of people who would let out a blood-curdling scream if you told them a ‘Mantis’ was on their shoulder. Especially, if their shoulder was being pinned down by this massive beast. The Mantis Robot is the creation of designer Matt Denton. It’s no ordinary robot and he’s no ordinary designer. Matt runs Micromagic Systems, an animatronics studio in Winchester, Hampshire UK. If the Artisan’s Asylum made an impact with Project Hexapod, Matt just increased the cool factor 10 fold and added the possibility of hexapod combat.

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Turn a Dirty Hiking Boot Into an Arduino-Driven Beat Maker

16 Apr, 2013 by Josh Mings in TECH

Right now, at this very instant, I’m listening to Moon Chon Chayoh (Zombie Disco Squad Remix) by Munnibrotherz. I am of course tapping my feets to the beats, gritting my teeths as I sits in my seats (or something). For the past three years the MIT Media Labs Design Innovation workshop at PESIT in Bangalore has been inspiring young people to create and innovate. They have different tracks people can participate in teams to create an idea. This year, in the Sensor Environments track, a small group cobbled together wires, an Arduino and a sensor attached to a dirty boot to create Beat Feet, a device that controls the tempo of your drum beats while you keep playing.
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New Software from Dell to Squeeze Performance Out of Your PC (for Your CAD Apps)

02 Apr, 2013 by Josh Mings in TECH

When you run around the office projecting your arm flabs in a wave-like motion toward people’s computers, you may believe you are bestowing unknown performance gains upon the PC’s of your coworkers. You are in fact, simply burning calories and injecting a small amount of fear into their workday. When you do return to your desk, you’ll see that Dell has just announced a free software to help optimize Precision workstations specifically for CAD apps, be it mobile or desktop. Perfect timing, as now, you can email the Dell Precision Performance Optimizer (DPPO) to your office mates and put their fears at rest.
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Hi-ya! LaserOragami Punches 3D Printing in the Ear, Cuts 3D Objects.

20 Mar, 2013 by Josh Mings in FAB, TECH

Lasers vs. plastic extruders. We all know laser cutters are superior to 3D printers. Mostly, because you can’t put plastic extruders on sharks (or any other sea creature) to make them even more vicious. It also turns out that laser cutters are a tad faster at fabricating certain items…. as long as it’s flat and not overtly complicated. That is until some clever young students from the Hasso Plattner Institute decided to use a laser cutter to both cut and melt the plastic products they create. The result? LaserOragami, a project that cuts a whole new approach to product design.
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Wacom Unveils sub-$1000 1080p HD Cintiq for Your Eyeball-Melting Pleasure

19 Mar, 2013 by Simon Martin in DESIGN, NEWS, RESOURCES, TECH

When the Cintiq first came out, I vividly remember an illustrator friend of mine saying “It’s not a matter of if I’m going to buy one, it’s a matter of when I’m going to buy one.” Perhaps a lot of designers and illustrators have found themselves in the same boat and have waited for the price (and maybe even the form factor) to come down a bit without sacrificing quality. It’s hard to argue that the $999 Cintiq 13HD may just be the most accessible, versatile, and ergonomic Cintiq to date.

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Late to the Game? Kinect SDK with Fusion ’3-D Model’ Capability Now Available.

18 Mar, 2013 by Josh Mings in FAB, TECH

Microsoft just put on the transparent face masks, lined up the sensors and released an updated version of the Kinect SDK. To the high-pitched squeals of (some) developer’s delight, Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7, along with an updated developer toolkit and new Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), is available on the Kinect for Windows website. It’s been in the works for a while with the new Fusion functionality bringing the highly prized 3D scanning capability that renders up those 3D scenes in real time, but are they too late?

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NVIDIA Releases New Kepler Quadro GPU’s… for Your Workstation

06 Mar, 2013 by Josh Mings in CAD, NEWS, TECH

I know it’s bound to bring on the arm spasms, causing you to fall from your chair, spilling your coffee on your workstation tower and frying the Quadro GPU you already have, but that’s ok, because NVIDIA has gone and done the unthinkable, nay the unimaginable–they’ve released a new line of Quadro workstation graphics cards and all in time for the yearly chat/cage match with the company IT manager.
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The Awesome is in the Mail (Almost): OUYA and Leap Motion Shipping Soon

28 Feb, 2013 by Josh Mings in NEWS, TECH

Yes, this is a post about the impending shipment of two products. Why would we be writing about such things? Well, first of all, they’re incredibly classy designs. Second, they are two of the most anticipated new tech gadgets of the new year. OUYA is the $99 Android-based game console that had its start on Kickstarter. It starts shipping to backers March 28th, with general availability still set for June. The Leap is the wee desktop motion controller that allows you to control your computer in three dimensions. It begins shipping May 13th. Here are the two updates from the companies delivering the excitement…

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Category: TECH