XYZPrinting Releases All-In-One 3D Printer With Internal Laser Scanner

Lucas123 writes XYZPrinting today released the first 3D printer with embedded scanner that has the ability to replicate objects between 2-in and 6-in in size and print objects of up to 7.8-in square from .stl files. The printer’s retailing for $799. A review of the new da Vinci 1.0 AiO all-in-one 3D printer revealed the 3D scanning capability, which is supposed to have a .05mm resolution, captures overall size and some finer features of an object but it falls short when it comes to precise details; thin protrusions and through-object holes are often missed in a scan. The mechanics — the printing head, two laser scanning/camera pods and turntable, and the motorized print table — are fully enclosed in a sleek-looking blue and white cubical case with a large transparent, hinged-front door. The front of the printer has a simple push button keypad for traversing a menu on a 2.6-in LCD black-and-white display. The printer is about 18-in. x 20-in. x 22-in. in size and weighs 60.6 lbs. While this is a desktop printer, it takes up a sizeable amount of room on your desk. It can print with either ABS or PLA thermopolymer. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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XYZPrinting Releases All-In-One 3D Printer With Internal Laser Scanner

What It Took For SpaceX To Become a Serious Space Company

An anonymous reader writes: The Atlantic has a nice profile of SpaceX’s rise to prominence — how a private startup managed to successfully compete with industry giants like Boeing in just a decade of existence. “Regardless of its inspirations, the company was forced to adopt a prosaic initial goal: Make a rocket at least 10 times cheaper than is possible today. Until it can do that, neither flowers nor people can go to Mars with any economy. With rocket technology, Musk has said, “you’re really left with one key parameter against which technology improvements must be judged, and that’s cost.” SpaceX currently charges $61.2 million per launch. Its cost-per-kilogram of cargo to low-earth orbit, $4, 653, is far less than the $14, 000 to $39, 000 offered by its chief American competitor, the United Launch Alliance. Other providers often charge $250 to $400 million per launch; NASA pays Russia $70 million per astronaut to hitch a ride on its three-person Soyuz spacecraft. SpaceX’s costs are still nowhere near low enough to change the economics of space as Musk and his investors envision, but they have a plan to do so (of which more later).” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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What It Took For SpaceX To Become a Serious Space Company

The worst drought of the last 1,000 years was in 1934

The current drought in the U.S. certainly feels like it’s one for the history books. But it’s likely not the worst North America has seen in the last millennium. A new study from NASA shows that a drought in 1934 was by far the worst to strike the continent in 1000 years. Read more…

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The worst drought of the last 1,000 years was in 1934

Lockheed Martin’s new fusion reactor design can change humanity forever

This is the interior of an invention that could change civilization as we know it: A compact fusion reactor developed by Skunk Works, the stealthy experimental technology division of Lockheed Martin. It is the size of a jet engine and they say it will be operative in only 10 years. Read more…

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Lockheed Martin’s new fusion reactor design can change humanity forever

Why Screws Tighten Clockwise

One of the six simple machines, a screw is nothing more than an inclined plane wrapped around a center pole. While today screws come in standard sizes, and typically are tightened by turning clockwise (and loosened by turning counterclockwise), this is a recent invention. A great example of how things that seem simple can be really hard to do right, the development of the predicable system we enjoy today took 2, 000 years to invent. Read more…

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Why Screws Tighten Clockwise

You Can Spot a Fake Stradivarius By the Tree Rings in the Wood

Of the many theories swirling around why legendary Stradivarius violins are so great (aside from, you know, it’s just all in our heads ), almost all have something to do with the wood . Maybe it was trees growing in a Little Ice Age or logs being stored in Venice lagoons or a special wood preservative. It makes sense, then, that one way to spot a fake is to go back to the wood—specifically, back to tree rings . Read more…

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You Can Spot a Fake Stradivarius By the Tree Rings in the Wood

How An Octogenarian Preserved An Endangered Native American Language

It’s easy to take translations for granted when Google can swap between Albanian and Zulu with the click of a button, but even that tech has real world limitations. Marie Wilcox is the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni, one of 130 different endangered Native American languages in the United States that don’t have any kind of digital—or analog—legacy. Read more…

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How An Octogenarian Preserved An Endangered Native American Language

The First Driverless Transit System in the U.S. Starts Rolling in 2017

Since 2011, Honolulu’s been busy building a $5.2 billion solution to help alleviate the mind-blowing traffic congestion that’s come to define life on Oahu’s South Shore. The Honolulu Rail Transit Project is a 20-mile, 21-station elevated train—and it will be the first completely driverless rail system in the U.S. Read more…

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The First Driverless Transit System in the U.S. Starts Rolling in 2017

Doctors Could 3D Print Their Own Tools For a Fraction of the Cost

The cost of the instruments needed to run a hospital or a lab is often exorbitant—but what if doctors and scientists could simply print their own tools from an open library of designs? That’s what a paper published today suggests. Read more…

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Doctors Could 3D Print Their Own Tools For a Fraction of the Cost

iPhone 6 Plus Review: The First Truly Well-Designed Big Smartphone

 Apple is launching not one, but two premium smartphones today, and the iPhone 6 Plus is the one many probably were skeptical even existed just a few short months ago. With a screen size measuring 5.5-inches across the diagonal, it’s well into the territory labeled “phablet” on the ancient sea charts of mariners who’ve braved the Android waters. However, Apple’s… Read More

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iPhone 6 Plus Review: The First Truly Well-Designed Big Smartphone