Hasta La Gadget!

3D printed chocolates? Sure, sounds innocuous enough. But made-to-order 3D printed bones? Now, that’s just morbid. For the surgical team at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, however, the tech’s come in handy as a budget-priced, pre-operative planning tool. Mark Frame, an orthopedic surgical trainee at RHSC, first came up with the idea to create the osteo-facsimiles after a costly university-made replica, commissioned for a procedure, failed to meet necessary proportion and size requirements. After undertaking a bit of self-assigned internet research, Frame sorted out a method to create renders of a patient’s fractured forearm using CT scans processed via the open source OsiriX software. These were then passed through a separate MeshLab application to tidy up any artifacting, and finally exported in 3D-compatible .stl format. The resulting files were sent to Shapeways for printing, with the white plastic bone copies delivered just seven days later for £77. The hospital’s been so pleased with the inexpensive outcome, that it’s already begun prep work on a hip replacement surgery using a replicated pelvis — and, no, they didn’t specify if the patient was a fashion victim.

Shapeways serves up prêt-à-imprimer 3D bones, Lagerfeld stands by for full skeletal replacement originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s imaging wing has been on a roll lately, with the brilliant NEX-7 and equally impressive Alpha A77 DSLR simply blowing us away with brand new features and excellent image quality. But these $2,000 digital binoculars? Yeah, we’re not so sure. We went hands-on with a pre-production sample of the 3D binocs, which replace the traditional optical finders with a pair of high-res LCD EVFs. But when you consider that high-end binoculars are a joy to use because of their excellent optical viewfinders, swapping in an electronic version puts the DEV-3 ($1,400) and DEV-5 ($2,000) in a completely new category — if an excellent (and traditional) viewing experience is what you’re after, these “cost-competitive” optics really won’t hit the spot. Jump past the break for our impressions.

Continue reading Sony DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars hands-on (video)

Sony DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The GPS gurus over at Garmin have just launched the aera 796 and 795 — a pair of new navigation devices designed specifically for pilots who don’t enjoy getting lost. As the flagship member of the aera family, the 796 sports a seven-inch, 480 x 800 capacitive touchscreen (capable of displaying maps in either landscape or portrait mode) and features Garmin’s 3D Vision technology, providing users with a behind-the-plane view of the terrain below, including rivers, landing strips or any other obstacles. This knee-mounted co-pilot can also serve as an electronic flight bag, allowing captains to digitally store flight routes and airport diagrams directly on their devices. Plus, if it’s hooked up to a compatible GPS system, the 796 can provide real-time traffic updates, while streaming SiriusXM radio straight to the cockpit (the North America-specific 795 features identical specs, minus XM compatibility). Aviation enthusiasts can buy the 796 and 795 for the respective prices of $2,500 and $2,200, at the source link below. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Garmin releases aera 795, 796 flight navigators, private jet not included

Garmin releases aera 795, 796 flight navigators, private jet not included originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An Apple patent for a “3D imaging and display system” staggers out into daylight after seven years buried in the USPTO. Its eyes steadily adjust to the brightness of a Kinect-dominated world and its heart sinks. But then a random guy approaches and says,

“Hey little patent, what’s wrong?”

“I’m obsolete,” comes the sullen reply. “I’m all about detecting user movements in three dimensions, but the competition has that covered. Sure, people might *think* I’ve patented some kind of wild holographic virtual reality stuff too, but my paperwork only mentions that in the vaguest possible terms. There’s no way I can threaten Microsoft.”

“Nonsense!” cries the guy. “Follow me. I know a judge in Düsseldorf.”

Apple ‘3D imaging and display’ patent was cutting edge in 2005 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re trying to turn your next film into a three dimensional cinematic masterpiece, having a quality camera to record things is a necessity. But, prudence demands that would-be James Camerons film with a first-rate monitor to view all that video as well. Good thing Marshall Electronics has made the Orchid OR-70-3D monitor to meet all your moviemaking needs. It’s got a 7.2-inch, 1600 x 600 glasses-free 3D display that works using parallax barrier and lenticular hybrid technology — all in a package that weighs just under three pounds. In order to let you fine tune things in all three dimensions, there’s real-time waveform and color vectorscope monitoring along with a suite of other 3D tuning tools. The cost for such prodigious production value? $7,899, which sounds like a lot, but if it helps you make the next Avatar you’ll have no problems recouping your investment. PR’s after the break.

Continue reading Marshall Electronics outs glasses-free Orchid 3D monitor for pro filmmakers

Marshall Electronics outs glasses-free Orchid 3D monitor for pro filmmakers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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