@USPS site down #USPS

Usps Down
For over 6 hours so far the USPS site has been down, customers looking to choose USPS as a shipping option will not be able to do so until they’re back online, looks like DNS issue. We’ve never seen USPS down for this long. The USPS and Endicia Twitter accounts have not been updated yet, but people are a’ tweetin’

Filed under: maker business — by adafruit, posted June 20, 2013 at 6:40 am


Google Tech Talks on 3D Printing with Vladimir Bulatov #3DThursday #3DPrinting

Here’s a Google Tech Talk that Vladimir Bulatov from Shapeways gave recently on the topic of 3D modeling for 3D printing — and what Shapeways has been doing to help those new to 3D design create their projects:

One of our own, Vladimir Bulatov, spoke at at a Google Tech Talk last month about the reality of 3D printing and what he is doing at Shapeways to improve 3D modeling. Vladimir did a great job of explaining what 3D printing is and how Shapeways is uniquely enabling consumers to create custom 3D products. For more details, be sure to watch the video

You can see his 3D modeling skills at work in his Shapeways shop or on his personal site.

Read more.

Filed under: 3D printing — by Matt, posted at 6:00 am


Call for Manufacturers: 3D Printers and 3D Scanners @ MAKE #3dthursday

Make ultimate guide to 3d printers lineup

MAKE is looking to create a sequel to last year’s Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing. (A project I helped to pull together and execute last year!) This year, they are opening up nominations for desktop 3D printers and 3D scanners to the public — a great chance to share your own projects and products.

From MAKE:

Got a favorite desktop 3D printing or scanning appliance? We want to hear about it!

In preparation for the much-anticipated sequel to last year’s Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing, and in the interest of giving you the most comprehensive coverage possible, we’re opening up the floor for public manufacturer nominations.

We’ve been tracking the exploding desktop printer scene very closely over the past six months, and we’ve got a looooooong list of our own in the works, but we want to hear from you! Don’t miss this chance to get your favorite device included in the next edition of our landmark buyer’s guide.

This time ’round, we’re expanding our coverage to include the fast-growing personal 3D scanner market, as well.

Read more.


649-1
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!



Cloud printing materials available on Cubify #3dthursday

CubifyCloudPrintMaterials

Cubify will be now offering a range of 3D printing material for their online hosted apps and printing services:

Cloud printing materials: which ones are right for you?

Make your ideas real with Cubify 3D printing materials. Whether you’re looking for full color printing, great flexibility, extreme detail or beautiful translucency, Cubify materials offer a special combination of practical and aesthetic properties. We use state of the art 3D printing technologies to bring you a great variety of materials so your creation looks its best.

Read more.

Filed under: 3D printing — by Matt, posted at 4:00 am


OpenSkan: Open Source Full Body 3D Scanner #3dthursday

A couple of weeks ago, we shared about the custom Kinect 3D scanning rig created by Fred Kahl. Here is a project where the maker, Moheeb Zara from HeatSync Labs, has constructed a vertical dolly for running the Kinect sensor up to help capture complete human models — he is building this into the “OpenSkan” project — an open source full body 3D scanner.

From VLRevolution:

I’m proud to say, after neglecting it for awhile, I’ve completed a functioning prototype for the OpenSkan full body scanning rig. I do say prototype, because I have a few parts to strengthen and replace, but as far as form and function, its there. I’ve got plenty of pics and a video posted after the break showing all the inner workings, a friend being scanned, and some prints.

As it stands now, I’m controlling the linear column and rotating platform manually through changeover switches, in a project box enclosure that I gutted from an old robot I made to teach students. Unfortunately I bricked my Arduino, so once that gets re-programmed I’ll have the column running with speed control for smoother scans and full automation.

So far I’ve managed to keep the costs low. Everything you see is either lasercut, 3D printed, or cut on a bandsaw. Once I work out the kinks I’ll be posting all the files. There are some pics, in the photoset below, that show some of the 3D printed assemblies, including a nifty winch I’m proud of. Keep in mind however, I modeled most of these more recent parts in 10 minutes or less.

Right now I’m using Reconstructme to acquire the scans through the kinect. I’ll be switching software as soon as I get a full license of Skanect, since its pricey for a broke University student. I also hope to get my hands on an Asus Xtion….

Read more.

OpenSkanRig

scanexample


649-1
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!

Filed under: 3D printing — by Matt, posted at 3:00 am


Kinect Portraits by Mike Pelletier #3dthursday

Kinect Portraits by Mike Pelletier:

Kinect Portraits

I’ve been experimenting with alternative ways of using the Kinect since Microsoft released the hardware a few years ago. One of the more exciting possibilities was trying to use the Kinect as a 3d scanner.

By moving the Kinect camera around the subject the software constantly updates to create a detailed 3d model. Within a couple minutes you can get a fairly detailed model from a sitting subject, as long as they sit still…

See more photos and details at Mark Pelletier’s site.

Ben tumblr 648

Marc tumblr 648

Everyone10 VRay Physical Camera a copy 648 1

Filed under: 3D printing,art — by Matt, posted at 2:00 am


Let’s Build a Robot! #3dthursday

LetsBuildARobot

Check out this awesome robot wearing an Adafruit logo badge — and rigged up entirely with Adafruit electronics. We first met this robot during the #adafruit6secs Film Festival, now you can make one of your own.

An Instructables tutorial from Rick Winscott:

I’ve been building stuff like this since I was about ten or so years old… and I love it!

It’s amazing how fabrication techniques have improved in the last few years. Inexpensive hardware, 3D printers, and awesome boutique electronics stores like Adafruit, SparkFun, and Seeed Studio have opened a Pandoras-box of Awesome.

Are you ready to build your robot? Please make sure to read through the entire Instructable before making any purchases – parts are listed throughout. 

If you have any questions, let me know – I’ll do my best to help. Want to see ROBOB (ROB-OB) in action?

Ding ding ding… let’s go! …

Read more.


649-1
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!

Filed under: 3D printing — by Matt, posted at 1:00 am


From the mail bag…

Adafruit

From the mail bag!

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH FOR TEACHING ME !!!
I’m now ready to go forward with all the projects I’ve dreamed up.
YOU GUYS ROCK !!!!!!!!

-Adafruit Customer

Filed under: mail bag — by Matt, posted at 1:00 am


6 seconds to a clean room! #showandtell #adafruit6secs

Adafruit Showtell

Check out 6 seconds to a clean room! by mftkoehler a short 6 second film for the Adafruit #adafruit6secs electronic film festival (Youtube playlist here for all the entries on YouTube).



BREAKING NEWS – Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot In $403M Deal

1292 Lrg-1
Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot In $403M Deal, Combined Company Will Likely Dominate 3D Printing Industry @ TechCrunch.

Today Stratasys announced that it has acquired MakerBot, as we reported, in a stock deal worth $403 million based on the current share value of Stratasys. The combination of the companies brings together a leader in 3D industrial printing and manufacturing, with the emerging leader in desktop 3D printing, which the companies said in a press release should help drive “faster adoption of 3D printing” across all categories.

MakerBot will continue to operate as a separate company from Stratasys as part of the deal, which is reportedly stock-for-stock transaction. It’ll be a subsidiary of MakerBot, but will serve the consumer and desktop market segment while Stratasys continues to focus on its existing industry placement.

MakerBot was founded in 2009, and has since sold over 22,000 3D printers, with its most recent model making up 11,000 of those sales coming from the Replicator 2, which it launched back in September 2012. That means traction is on the upswing in a big way, something which no doubt helped pave the way for the deal.

Filed under: 3D printing — by adafruit, posted at 5:31 pm


Problems with BeagleBone Black and their Solutions

1278_LRG

Hipster Circuits has started a page to document the problems he runs into with the BeagleBone Black, and the solutions to those problems.  The first problem posted:

Unable to log in via SSH 

I’ve had a lot of trouble with logging in via SSH. One of the reasons is that the dropbear RSA key is corrupted. I think it might be related to having two BBBs.

Filed under: beaglebone — by Tyler Cooper, posted at 4:55 pm


Olafur Eliasson’s LED Orbs and Spencer Finch’s Fluorescent Tubes Showcased at Art Basel

Art Basel in Switzerland is arguably the epicenter of the contemporary art scene. As technology creeps in amidst more traditional mediums, illumination has taken the limelight. Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson showcased an LED orb similar to last year’s and American Spencer Finch created a colorful modern twist on 60s modernist lighting with colorful fluorescent tube lighting.

olafur-Eliasson-basel-2013-thumb-620x432-61421

via coolhunting:

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is best known for his elemental use of basic materials to enhance his large-scale sculptures and installations. For Basel he presented “Your Two-Tone Dawn Light”, a hanging sculpture made of colored glass and LED lights encased in an aluminum and steel skeleton.

spencer-finch-basel-2013-thumb-620x416-61427
Spencer Finch’s “49 Years Ago (Starlight)”

basel-worlds3-thumb-900x600-42240
Olafur Eliasson’s Orb from 2012′s Basel show.



Startups and Investors Bet on the Drone Economy #makerbusiness

Uavsticker Med-1

Startups and Investors Bet on the Drone Economy @ Entrepreneur.com.

Entrepreneurs and investors are betting on a future full of flying robots that can be programmed to do anything from survey crops or wildlife to delivering vaccines to remote villages in Africa.
It may sound a little like something out of an episode of The Jetsons, but the reality is the Federal Aviation Administration is required to implement regulations to integrate commercial drones into the national airspace by 2015, meaning flying robots are going to become a lot more common in the U.S.

But entrepreneurs aren’t waiting for the FAA deadline before building their startups. The moment is too ripe with opportunity to not jump in the commercial drone business now, those in the burgeoning space say.

“It’s just one of those moments,” said Chris Anderson, co-founder and chief executive of 3D Robotics, which makes unmanned automated vehicles (UAVS). “It’s the economy at scale. Those technologies that used to be incredibly expensive are now very cheap and getting better and faster than any other technology in history.”

Filed under: educational mini UAVs — by adafruit, posted at 4:03 pm


Citi Bike Helmet Navigates to the Nearest Station with FLORA #WearableWednesday

jm-imbrescia-citi-bike-helmet-back

In New York, our new Citi Bike bikeshare program is really taking off. We were inspired to create a helmet that navigates you to the nearest Citi Bike docking station with LED strip inside. We found this nifty Carrera foldable helmet with spaces that just begged to be illuminated (without compromising the smooth outer safety surface). Check out the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) and Vimeo, and build your own Citi Bike Helmet with our step-by-step on the Adafruit Learning System. Customize the code for bikeshare in your city!

This project was created in collaboration with Tyler Cooper & Justin Cooper, with major video help from Risa Rose and JM Imbrescia.

citi-bike-helmet-adafruit


Flora breadboard is Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Filed under: arduino,FLORA,wearables — by Becky Stern, posted at 3:58 pm


Adafruit distributor spotlight – Asia region @ThaiEasyElec

adafruit_1632


ThaiEasyElec banner

ThaiEasyElec – Thailand.


vctec-korea

VCTEC KOREA – South Korea.


These are just 2 of our distributors in the Asia region, make sure to visit the Adafruit distributor page to view all! We will be spotlighting Adafruit resellers from around the world on a regular basis!


Adafruit 1634

We recently updated our distributor, reseller and hackerspace pricing! Now, 1 quantity has UP TO a 30% discount off many items, this is allows you to get a great discount by just ordering 1 of something. Great for folks who just want to try 1 item of each of something out in their store, etc. As always, once you order 50+ or more of something the discount goes UP TO 40% off many items as well. Note! *Not ALL items have reseller pricing, reseller pricing is for items we can discount for our resellers. We are adding more all the time! Remember, the minimum order is $250 per order, not including shipping.

We have a very easy reseller program and would love to have more great people & companies as a distributors/resellers/hackerspaces. Our products are high-quality and we think they’re the best engineered & designed in the market. How can you be a distributor? Just fill our form here, keep in mind the following questions!

  1. Are you an online store, a physical store or a hackerspace that would like to distribute our products? Please include a link.
  2. Can you place orders $250 and over (Not including shipping) each time?
  3. Can you pay via paypal or credit card? For international large orders, can you pay via wire transfer?
  4. Do you have a UPS account? (This is not required, but helpful).

We’ll be adding more features for resellers in 2013 enjoy! To become a distributor, click here.

Filed under: maker business — by jeff, posted at 3:00 pm


www.flickr.com
adafruit's items Go to adafruit's photostream
www.flickr.com
items in Adafruits More in Adafruits pool