Hasta La Gadget!

MakerBot has made a name for themselves recently with their line of 3D printers. Today, the company is at CES 2013 showing off their new experimental 3D printer known as the Replicator 2X, which is the successor to the Replicator 2. What’s most impressive about this new model, is that it has two printing heads. We ended up stopping by the crowded booth to get a look at the new printer.

The two printing heads allow for printing more complex objects, and whereas the Replicator 2 uses PLA filament, the 2X uses ABS filaments. However, the 2X is supposed to run more smoothly, and print in multiple colors, as well as even multiple materials. The 2X will also be able to print at a 100-micron resolution.

The Replicator has a slightly redesigned chassis, and among the updated features of the new design are an aluminum build platform and print area that’s enclosed by plastic windows. The benefit is that the build area retains heat better than the open chassis of past models from the company, allowing for faster and more reliable printing.

MakerBot will begin taking pre-orders for the Replicator 2X on January 11, and the company says it will begin shipping the printer to customers by mid-March. As for the price, you’re looking at something close to what a high-end MacBook Pro would cost — $2,799 to be exact.

MakerBot Replicator 2X experimental 3D printer hands-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While all-in-one printers usually tote print, copy, scan and fax capabilities, we’re hardly ones to complain if we get something more. The aptly-named HP Hotspot LaserJet Pro M1218nfs also crams in a WiFi hotspot — opening up the world wide web for access on up to eight devices at a time. Other than swallowing a wireless hub, the laser printer also boasts Apple AirPrint along with HP’s ePrint and wireless direct for tether-free printing. Out in India for 18,306 rupees ($330), we’re awaiting word on stateside availability. Now it isn’t really up to us to say if that NFS in its monicker points to speed, but a quick tap on the source link is enough to throw up the full specs.

Continue reading HP’s new all-in-one printer adds more to that ‘all’, turns into a WiFi hotspot

Filed under: Peripherals, HP

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Source: HP (specs)

Canon saw operating profit slump over 42-percent year-on-year, and net income fall by more than a third, according to the camera company’s Q3 2013 financial results, citing continued low demand. Net sales reached ¥799.9 billion ($10.3m) in the three month period, Canon reported [pdf link], down 12.8-percent compared to the same quarter in 2011, and while it has been attempting to scythe away at costs, it still saw gross profit ratio dip 1.1-percent.

Demand for cameras is actually mixed, Canon says, with different parts of its product range either struggling or  flying off shelves. Compact cameras continue to flail, “due to the stagnation of the global economy” it suggests, while interchangeable-lens cameras saw “robust growth in all regions.” However, the EOS Digital Rebel, 5D Mark III, and 60D all encountered lower sales than predicted.

Elsewhere in the product line, inkjet printers declined and laser printer demand leveled off; only multifunction devices were popular, with sales growing in the US and Europe.

Looking ahead, Canon warns that things may not change quickly. Interchangeable-lens cameras, such as its DSLRs, are tipped to slowly grow in demand, but compact cameras will need “high functionality and high added value” in order to draw consumer attention. Multifunction printers will grow steadily, the Company predicts, particularly in Japan and the US.

However, Canon has cut its full-year 2012 outlook predictions and now estimates a 0.7-percent decline in net sales, year-on-year, and a 5.9-percent decline in net income.

Canon’s Q3 2012 crunch: Income down a third as cameras struggle is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Are you pretty good with your hands that you like to tinker with older machines to create something different and new out of it? This particular group of design students share such an interest, where they took apart old inkjet printers, replacing the ink cartridge with different colored felt pens. This creative force comprises of Jaan Evart, Julian Hagen and Daniël Maarleveld who are students at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where their hacked inkjet printers were able to develop their own individual rhythm and style, making “artwork” that is truly one-of-a-kind.

One of the many potential banana skins that they had to negotiate were to fool the printer into thinking that it had a full cartridge, as well as preserve the paper’s structural integrity without placing too much pressure on the felt pen, as well as making sure the paper is sucked in gently and properly. Will such artwork produced from a hacked inkjet printer be worth anything? Who knows, when it comes to art, crazier things have happened.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: LG Machjet LPP6010N: “World’s Fastest Printer”, iaPeel Inkjet Printable iPhone Skins,

Hammacher Schlemmer is a high priced purveyor of all sorts of oddities and cool gadgets. One of my all-time favorite weird items from the company is the 20-foot long animatronic triceratops. The company has unveiled a new product this week that is a bit more useful than a giant dinosaur toy. The new product is called the Wireless Smartphone Photo Printer.

This handy printer connects to iOS or Android smartphones using a free app. The app allows users to send photos wirelessly across a home or office Wi-Fi network directly to the printer. The printer also has the old-style Apple docking connector on top, presumably to allow you to print directly.

The printer doesn’t use ink cartridges, instead using a special patented photo paper that has yellow, magenta, and cyan dye crystals embedded. The printer can produce 4 x 6 borderless photos at a resolution of 300 dpi with up to 256 gradations and 16.7 million colors. The printer sells for $219.95(USD) with replacement cartridges selling for $24.95. The only real downside is that each cartridge is only good for 12 prints, making each print cost more than $2.