Apple and 3D Printers: why I don't think it's going to work

I wrote about 3D printing and Apple a long time ago (Death to Centralized Manufacturing). The Atlantic thinks that Apple could benefit from putting out a 3D printer. I'd say the same, only I don't think Apple would want to sell it as a product: much rather they would use a 3D printer to make parts or even whole products using a 3D printer. If it becomes possible to print, say, an iPhone, then why would they sell a device that could potentially undermine their business?

Already Apple is using specialized machines (with lasers and all) to mill the aluminum bodies of MacBook Pros, iMacs and iPhones--in the MacBook Pro case, they went with the same machines for production as during the design and prototyping phase. And their subcontractor Foxconn is already talking about replacing workers with robots in the manufacturing process. So if 3D printing is not in the cards for Apple yet then definitely full-scale automation.

If a former-raver and artist could find fun and value in the $1,100 machine, maybe a lot of people might. And he did. "It took me a week to assemble my Makerbot, but remember that when Jobs and Wozniak and those guys first started out, you had to make your own computer," he said. "Now they're in your pocket. That's where I think this is headed." (Are you listening, Apple?)

Why Apple Should Start Making a 3D Printer Right Now (The Atlantic)

Playsets are the thing in 3D printing: MakerBot announces playsets free to download

The fun thing about a disruptive technology like 3D printing, is that its utility and destiny is defined along the way. Right now, playsets are the thing in 3D printing.

From BoingBoing:

MakerBot has announced "MakerBot Playsets," a series of freely downloadable dollhouses, furnishings and dolls for your 3D printer. Whip up as pieces as needed, on demand, and amaze the wee ones (and compulsive hoarders) in your life.

So without further ado, straight from the soundstage backlot of Annelise’s Replicator music video, The Right Heart, we present you with the MakerBot Fairytale Castle Playset and the Damsels! 

MakerBot’s own design superstar Michael “Skimbal” Curry, creator of such Thingiverse megahits as the Turtle Shell Racers and Gothic Cathedral playset, starts the ball rolling by architecting a pair of MakerBot Playset buildings. Introducing two new Thingiverse superstars: Cushwa and PrettyLittleThings are doing a tremendous job furnishing these playsets with their imaginations.1

Makerbot playsets: free, downloadable 3D files for dollhouses, dolls and accessories

Also check out DVice's take on this:

The notion I find most seductive when it comes to 3D printing is its parallels to digital distribution. If I want something, I can find it on the Internet and zap it right into the home — my 3D printer will whip it up. We're not there yet, but we've got a little peek of that future through MakerBot Playsets. 

The beauty of a project such as the MakerBot Playsets is that a couple of super skilled designers can create something that everyone can enjoy. Sadly, since 3D printers are a little more expensive than toasters — though they're definitely getting more and more affordable — said "everyone" is still a pretty small group.  

Still, you can't help but love the work done here. The mastermind of the playset is Michael "Skimbal" Curry, whose work we've showed off before, with help from other designers around the Thingiverse, MakerBot's 3D printing community hub. Curry can crank out the framework and a few models, and then others can come in and fill, say, a doll-sized television or egg-shaped chair. 

One step closer to a replicator: MakerBot's 3D-printed playsets

3D printing, Anti-consumerism, Thomas Jefferson, Occupy Wall Street: it's what binds the USA together

Dylan Tweney at VentureBeat.com has something to say about the intersection between 3D printing, the American pioneering spirit and current countermovements in contemporary culture and politics.

“We have a consumer product that’s anti-consumerist,” MakerBot Industries founder Bre Pettis told me at CES 2012, where I captured the short video below. “When you get a MakerBot, you have an alternative to buying things. You can download them … or you can design something and make it custom yourself.”

(...) I’m convinced that the people who have embraced the DIY movement have tapped into the core of what makes the United States great: Self-reliance, experimentation, innovation and a non-dogmatic reverence for facts. Over the decades, innovators tinkering in metaphorical (or literal) garages have played important roles in the development of electricity, radio, computers and, now, the internet economy.

DIY, or at least a willingness to take initiative for doing things on one’s own, outside the usual structures, has also played a role in political life, with grassroots organizations like MoveOn.org and loosely organized movements like the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street drawing much of their strength from people’s iconoclasm and sense of self-sufficiency.

Dylan’s Desk: Saddle your horses and fire up the 3D printer

MakerBot receives $10m in funding

MakerBot has some big news: 

Today, I’m excited to announce that MakerBot is taking $10 million in investment, with Foundry Group leading the round. 

(Via Boing Boing)