How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxqJnhyphenhyphen1iSi60fCKgNV_cwkhyphenhyphenO_dO0lr5LkcM79QxyRXCx5oc49cUcjnTh7pgZyMT7efdJ0nfB8k8GE7CLTz9SDn7rRd3q6B06G38ldhPglV4AadKOsc-hOklnYK6S-WgeB2zDBkAViis/s1600/3d-printer-guns3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxqJnhyphenhyphen1iSi60fCKgNV_cwkhyphenhyphenO_dO0lr5LkcM79QxyRXCx5oc49cUcjnTh7pgZyMT7efdJ0nfB8k8GE7CLTz9SDn7rRd3q6B06G38ldhPglV4AadKOsc-hOklnYK6S-WgeB2zDBkAViis/s400/3d-printer-guns3.jpg" title="How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://worldofnews360.blogspot.com/2013/08/how-much-money-can-3d-printing-actually.html">How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?</a></h2> <br /> A wave of giddy headlines has announced that a new academic study proves that buying a 3D printer is not only affordable — but a money-saver. In fact, the research is said to show that the gizmos save users so much money (by allowing them to print stuff they’d otherwise have to buy), they essentially pay for themselves in a year (Case in point: "Household 3D Printers Can Pay For Themselves In A Year," raves Gizmodo.)<br /> <br /> Not so fast. The actual study – as opposed to the abstract or university summations of it — is pretty interesting, but it also raises a few questions. I got curious precisely because I love the idea of 3D printers, can think of lots of fun things to do with one, and would love to inform my wife that the data is in, and we have to spend $1,500 to $2,000 on one of these things, pronto. It’s the financially responsible thing to do! Think of all the money we'll save!<br /> <br /> Reading the study, however, I realized that this conversation would have to wait. Instead I needed to get one of the researchers involved, Joshua Pearce of Michigan Technological University, to clarify a few things for me.<br /> <br /> First, some basics. To investigate the economics of consumer-level 3D printing today, Pearce and his colleagues came up with a list of 20 objects for which 3D designs are readily downloadable from the open-source Thingiverse site. They concluded the cost of buying these goods on the open market would cost somewhere between $312 and $1,944. The cost of printing all 20? A mere $18.<br /> <br /> The researchers neatly addressed some obvious potential objections. They were pretty conservative in their marketplace cost estimates (often ignoring potential shipping charges, for instance) and stuck to realistically fast and easy printing jobs. Finally: Many of the printable wonders found in the Thingiverse fall in the realm of toys, art projects, and weird fun; nothing wrong with that, but the researchers rightly picked stuff that was more practical, in order to make a replacement-cost argument.<br /> <br /> Still, the coverage I saw was vague or selective about that 20-item list. 3D printers work by building solid objects out of a melted filament, and I was having trouble imagining what 20 plastic little doodads I might need to buy in a given year. It seems to me that to make a case about how much money a 3D printer might save, you have to start by establishing a baseline about likely spending.<br /> <br /> First, on the low end, buying these twenty items could cost as little as $312, per the study, and not $1,944. Second, looking at the full list in a table at the end of the paper (below), every individual item on the list seemed reasonable. But as a group they struck me as odd. What’s are the chances of someone needing an iPhone 5 dock and an iPhone 4 dock? A set of shower curtain rings seemed like the sort of thing one might have to replace at some point, and I suppose it’s possible that I’ll covet a “pierogi mold” some day.<br /> <div> <br /></div> </div>

How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year? How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year? A wave of gi...

Read more »

More Reasons You’ll Be Cutting Your Cable TV Cord Next Year

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7iMZ2UhCgyu7iVWl_Oa9lvywNlxvjuxn2Hw9-p68tJYILSUWXEqU97uBP-3IX1t_aoZ9_mjHhiqHzPWZvI5DNjt-1kVqijsT9VtSqlJ4oLeFtsVu_ZXqysa9Dus1s3b7vS5VPo4nRQo/s1600/Chrome+t.v.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7iMZ2UhCgyu7iVWl_Oa9lvywNlxvjuxn2Hw9-p68tJYILSUWXEqU97uBP-3IX1t_aoZ9_mjHhiqHzPWZvI5DNjt-1kVqijsT9VtSqlJ4oLeFtsVu_ZXqysa9Dus1s3b7vS5VPo4nRQo/s400/Chrome+t.v.jpg" width="334" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://worldofnews360.blogspot.com/2013/07/more-reasons-youll-be-cutting-your.html">More Reasons You’ll Be Cutting Your Cable TV Cord Next Year</a></h2> <div> <div> The past decade has seen an explosion of new ways to watch TV shows and movies, challenging the old cable television model. But 90% of American households still pay up. And less than 5 million U.S. viewers rely solely on services such as Netflix (NFLX) and Hulu, according to the Convergence Consulting Group. But cable haters rejoice, there will be even more reasons to clip that cord over the next few years.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> “We’re in a radically changing period – there are a lot of disruptors in the marketplace,” says industry veteran Kay Koplovitz, who headed USA networks in the 1980s and launched the Sci -Fi Channel (now Syfy) in the 1990s. Cable networks won’t be disappearing entirely — they still have too many shows people love, not to mention live sports and news. But the options for those who want to opt out are multiplying, she says.</div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <b>More original fare</b></h3> <div> Pretty much since Tony Soprano first picked up his baseball bat on HBO, premium cable channels have dominated the market for critically acclaimed television shows. This year, Time Warner-owned (TWX) HBO nabbed 108 Emmy nominations for original series ranging from "Game of Thrones" to "Girls." The total topped that of any network and was more than old-school networks NBC and CBS (CBS) had combined. Want to watch HBO – even on the Internet? You still have to spring for cable.</div> </div> <div> <b><br /></b></div> <div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <b>Niche channels about everything</b></h3> <div> Tired of watching what everyone’s watching, a lot of young people are watching what nobody’s watching. Jenna Mourey, known as Jenna Marbles on YouTube, has more than 10 million subscribers to her personal video blog series focusing on beauty and relationship advice. Machinima grew out of a gaming-focused website, and its Youtube channel has almost 9 million subscribers. That's sending a strong signal to many other content providers.</div> <div> Anthony Wood, CEO of the set-top box maker Roku, predicts a lot more homemade channels covering everything from tech gadgets and video gaming to cooking and food will proliferate. Some channels will aggregate small video bits, like a micro news service that plays one clip after another.</div> <div> That’s not to say there’s no room on the Internet for somewhat more mainstream fare that’s closer to what cable channels provide today. Music video “channel” Vevo is available online, on phones and tablets and through Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox or Roku. The ad-supported music station shot into the top 10 most watched Roku stations almost instantly after being added at the end of last year.</div> <div> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> Boxes, dongles and doohickies</h3> <div> <br /></div> <div> It seems like most cable boxes are stuck back in the dark ages, but Silicon Valley is working hard to build ever-better TV controllers for Web services.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Google (GOOG) got every would-be cord cutter drooling on Wednesday when it announced its new Chromecast dongle. The tiny, plastic device plugs into the back of a TV set through an HDMI port and connects to the Internet over Wifi. Users pick what they want to watch on a laptop, phone or tablet and the Chromecast pulls down the video to the television set. Initially, the dongle works directly with Youtube and a few other providers, though it can also connect with a browser to watch most other Web video.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Competitors such as Apple TV (AAPL), Roku and Microsoft’s Xbox are no doubt already revving their next versions to compete with Chromecast. Many are expected to copy the Chromecast model that allows viewers to search for content and select it using the touch screen of their phone or tablet while watching playback on a big TV screen.</div> <div> Moving beyond pokes and taps, users will be able to control the upcoming Xbox One with voice and body gesture commands.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> “We all have way too many remote controls, and [channel guides] can be very confusing,” says Kay Koplovitz. “I’d rather say ‘let me see what’s on the Discovery Channel,’ or ‘where can I find the Australian Open?’”</div> </div> </div>

More Reasons You’ll Be Cutting Your Cable TV Cord Next Year The past decade has seen an explosion of new ways to watch TV shows and m...

Read more »

Google's mysterious "Android breakfast event" with Sundar Pichai!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgB2_IG8x9cMupQdcXNesbjHzaa6bTCcO6P2G8Oo2xARvtz6SQV8AapuRYc0YucHojXDBkr8Wn6NibjzGikHC-fEcn1vNReaSlT2WEipEfLhYxKy7WRG86TLbg2cGuBfc2-gtJuxCUC0/s1600/Google's+mysterious+Android+breakfast+event+with+Sundar+Pichai!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgB2_IG8x9cMupQdcXNesbjHzaa6bTCcO6P2G8Oo2xARvtz6SQV8AapuRYc0YucHojXDBkr8Wn6NibjzGikHC-fEcn1vNReaSlT2WEipEfLhYxKy7WRG86TLbg2cGuBfc2-gtJuxCUC0/s400/Google's+mysterious+Android+breakfast+event+with+Sundar+Pichai!.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1374652059945_310" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 33px; margin: 0px; padding: 20px 0px 10px;"> Google's mysterious "Android breakfast event" with Sundar Pichai!</h1> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Google will hold an unusual event: rather than decking out a stage and queuing up the dance music, Google is hosting a breakfast with Chrome and Android head Sundar Pichai for reporters. There are many theories about what could be in store -- a new Nexus 7 tablet looks like a certainty; the latest version of Android (Android 4.3) is still a possibility -- but we'll know for sure at noon eastern time on Wednesday. </div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

Google's mysterious "Android breakfast event" with Sundar Pichai! Google will hold an unusual event: rather than de...

Read more »