Makerbot Desktop 3D Scanner Goes On Sale 89
dryriver writes with this excerpt from the BBC about the latest device from Makerbot: "A desktop device that can quickly scan objects so they can be replicated using a 3D printer has gone on sale. The Makerbot Digitizer, which costs $1,400 (£900), will be shipped to the first buyers in October. Demand for the machine appeared to overload the company's store when it went on sale on Thursday evening. The Digitizer is the latest product looking to bring 3D printing to mainstream technology users — but experts are sceptical. The machine is designed to allow the replication of objects without any need for the user to learn any 3D modelling software or have any other special expertise. The time it takes to scan an object varies, but one demonstration involving a small gnome was said to take around 12 minutes. "The MakerBot Digitizer is for early adopters, experimenters, and visionaries who want to be pioneers in Desktop 3D Scanning," the company says. "This includes, but is not limited to, architects, designers, creative hobbyists, educators, and artists.""
Matterform (Score:4, Interesting)
3D Tsunami (Score:5, Interesting)
At first 3D printing is going to be a novelty where we geeks will bounce up and down in our seats every time we hit the print button. Building showerheads and whatnot for all our families.
To give a simple example of how this will end up looking when 3D manufacturing is mature take the case of Samoa. This tiny island country is damn isolated. Basically the way they earn foreign currency is coconut exports (not very efficient due to the distance), foreign aid, remittances from family abroad, tourism, and oddly enough wiring harnesses. This means that for every car part that is needed (including the whole car) Samoa has to export the equivalent value in coconuts and whatnot. Needless to say in order to live a modern life in Samoa they need to produce a huge amount which is hard when you are producing low value goods and desiring high value ones. Compare this to Germany which produces a huge surplus of very high value goods and thus has little problem importing the cheaper things (like coconuts) that they desire. But what happens when Samoa can fully produce all but the most advanced goods such as micro processors. This would massively reduce the imports of many many high value goods while not reducing the world's demand for their coconuts.
Somoa is a simple example but there are many countries around the world that are presently producing little the rest of the world wants and others that produce too much. Greece would be an example. Many African countries would also be in this situation.
This is where the economic Tsunami will end up. Countries that produce the raw materials that are required by others will either be fine or thrive. While countries that have traditionally produced high value goods but have few resources are going to find that they have a major change coming.
So in the end there will be two groups who do well. Those who produce extreme high value items such as CPUs, Touch screens, etc. And those who produce commodities that the rest of the world wants.
This is going to result in a tsunami of money moving to and from places that aren't the traditional norms.