Love movies? Ready to be a part of the action? Get ready because virtual reality movies are coming!

"At some point, virtual reality is going to eliminate the need to go to a physical place and see a big screen. It can be even richer than the IMAX experience in a theater, because it can be 360 and all around you." -Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe

Did you think virtual reality was just for video games? So did Oculus at first. The company, which was acquired by Facebook earlier this year for $2 billion, counts a number of people with video gaming backgrounds among its earliest employees. Most of them believed that's where the main applications of the technology would lie.

But independent filmmakers have already produced a number of Oculus-ready short movies, which generally clock in at under 15 minutes. The challenge, directors say, is having to rethink storytelling for an interactive medium in which you can't control where the viewer looks.

Ikrima Elhassan's studio has shot a handful of virtual reality projects. He says "It's exciting because the rules haven't been written -- it feels very much like the days of early cinema".

The entire production process has to be rethought. Among the challenges: How do you direct a viewer's attention? How do you do cuts that aren't too jarring? How do you move people through a virtual environment without making them sick?

The jury is still out on whether traditional Hollywood production companies are going to be the ones to come in and produce the truly magical, original virtual reality content the right way. Oculus has met with a number of major studios to demonstrate the technology.

Some big studios are experimenting with the technology, including Fox Searchlight, which is reportedly working on virtual reality experiences tied to "Night at the Museum" and the upcoming Reese Witherspoon film "Wild."

Who knows what will come of it. But one thing is for sure - it should be interesting to see what happens in the years to come.

Source: CNN Money

New 3D printer, The Micro, has launched a crowd funding campaign for $199.

High end 3D printers out in the wild already can print some pretty incredible things but at a high cost and commensurate level of complexity. As with any nascent industry, the market’s initial focus was specialists and professionals rather than the mainstream. But that focus is shifting and more consumer-focused 3D printers are starting to push in.

The Micro, launching a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign today to raise $50,000, is aiming squaring at the consumer end of the market, with a low cost device that’s undoubtedly pretty basic but which is therefore aiming to be simple and straightforward to use.

The Micro 3D printer has a print layer resolution of between 50 and 350 microns, and a print area of 4.6 x 4.2 x 4.4″. Its on desk footprint is just 7.3 in³.

This box is not going to be able to print anything big or especially beautiful but it looks set to be able to churn out brightly coloured plastic trinkets at relatively low cost – with an early bird Kickstarter price of just $199 for the printer (rising to $249 and $299 after the cheaper pledge levels are gone).
That’s considerably cheaper than some other consumer-focused 3D printers. For example, MakerBot’s compact 3D printer, the Replicator Mini, which has a maximum build volume of 3.9 × 3.9 × 4.9″ and a print layer resolution of 200 microns, costs orders of magnitude more, at circa $1,375.

There’s also the Zim, which hasn’t yet made it to market, offering up to 80-micron print layer resolution and a print area of 5.9”x5.9”x5.9 – but with a retail price expected to be a little lower, circa $899.

The Micro’s consumer-friendly credentials include having a plug and play ethos, with the device shipped ready assembled, and with auto-leveling and auto-calibration built in to the printer head so it can keep on printing without requiring user intervention.

Filament spools can also fit inside the box to keep it looking clean and improve portability. The printer can take PLA or ABS, as well as the maker’s own filament spools — or standard 1.75 mm filament spools available on the market.

The companion software for selecting and tweaking 3D models to print is being designed for touchscreen use and to support drag and drop interactions.

It’s also apparently very quiet during operation, and its makers claim it has the lowest power consumption of any 3D printer on the market.

There’s no doubt its lower cost means corners get cut on print quality. But that’s the trade-off the Micro’s U.S.-based makers reckon the mainstream will be happy to make to have a device in their home that can print bits and bobs for fun or small household/family projects without costing a fortune.


Source: Tech Crunch, KickStarter

Out to a company dinner? 3D printed pasta may just be the perfect topper on the night!

Imagine you're a business owner and went out to eat with all your employees. Now, picture the look on their faces when you all sat down to a meal of pasta shaped like your company's logo. If a collaboration between Italian pasta maker Barilla and Dutch research organization TNO comes to fruition, restaurants could one day have 3D food printers that make this a reality.


According to Dutch news Web site Trouw, the two have been working on a fast 3D food printer that prints pasta and is targeted at the restaurant market. Diners could bring a USB stick containing their 3D designs, and chefs could plug-and-print on the spot.


Project leader Kjeld van Bommel told the Web site, "Suppose you are married for 25 years, you go out to eat and you want to surprise your wife with pasta in the shape of a rose. If you have a design with you on a USB flash drive, the printer can make it."


He told the Web site that the printer in its current form can produce 15 to 20 pieces of pasta in just two minutes; 10 times as fast as it was capable of two years ago. The team is currently working on increasing that speed to a workable restaurant level.


According to The Guardian, van Bommel, said the project was only in preliminary stages and refused to make any further comment. Given that the first kitchen-ready 3D food printer is due to hit the consumer market later this year, though, we can't imagine others will be terribly far behind. And pasta, made of malleable dough, seems a particularly appropriate material.


Source: Trouw

3-D printers are now available!

Staples says it is the first major US retailer to sell a 3-D printer. It began selling The Cube, made by 3D Systems, on Staples.com Friday, and the printer will hit "many" of the retailer's brick-and-mortar stores by June.

While 3-D printers have long been used in industrial manufacturing, a recent "maker" movement is slowly popularizing in-home versions of the devices.

The Cube, like other 3-D printers, is a machine that creates physical, three-dimensional objects. The printer uses a digital design file as a blueprint, then builds the item layer by layer with plastic. Users can print anything they can design, including action figures, iPhone docks and coffee cup holder.

While many 3-D printer owners may be using the devices to prototype inventions or simply have fun making plastic toys, other industries are tapping into the printers' potential. Chefs are using the printers to create intricately designed food. Doctors are even experimenting with advanced versions of the machines to make artificial organs and prosthetic limbs.

Source: CNN

This is either really creepy, really cool, or just an invastion of privacy...

We can't help but leave our DNA all over the place. If you drop a chewed piece of gum or a cigarette butt, it might get picked up by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg. She may mine it for DNA, analyze the results, and generate a portrait based on the data. That's either really creepy, really cool, or a major invasion of privacy.

Dewey-Hagborg's Stranger Visions project combines artistry and science while raising questions about genetic privacy. She starts by collecting genetic material from public places. She then analyzes it at a lab, mining the DNA for information like gender, ethnicity, and eye color.

The data is then fed into a custom computer program that translates the information into a 3D model of a face. That model is printed out in color using a ZCorp 3D printer. The results are disembodied faces, but they aren't exact copies of the person who dropped the DNA. Dewey-Hagborg describes it as a "family resemblance."

Stranger Visions all began with Dewey-Hagborg contemplating a stranger's stray hair. Combined with her viewing of forensics television programs like "CSI," and an interest in the issue of genetic surveillance, the artist decided to create the 3D portraits. It's a particularly unusual version of found art.

This should be enough to make you think twice about spitting a piece of gum out the window next time.

Souce: CNET