Another video of the HP slate has been released demonstrating the HP Slates’ flash capabilities. HP seem to be marketing against its rival the apple iPad, which doesn’t support flash, apples’ CEO Steve Jobs said this was because the technology was slow, buggy and was vulnerable to hackers. But with HP having such an advantage, it seems the Slate has allready won this mini PC tablet wars. The video promotes the many things that the Slate will be able to do thanks to flash, and in a way it also promotes the many thing the iPad can’t do becuase it doesn’t support it.
I admit that the video does look a bit… fake, but it still points out the things that the Slate will be able to do.
Are you sat at home bored, wishing you had something creative to do. Well if you have the Internet and a computer then all your problems are solved. Just go to Paperkraft, this great blog provides you with printable model sheets in the form of a PDF of anything from Pokemon to model cars. All you need is some scissors and some tape to make hundreds of models from just paper. I think I’ll be spending hours on these thing from now on.
This concept by Jon Cumberpatch is not really a printer as such, well it is in a way a printer but it’s not, Let me explain. The ScribbleBot is a wireless printing device that follows a preset drawing path downloaded from the internet, the idea is that the printer does the drawing but you have your hand on it so that you learn how to draw. I suppose it could work if you did the same drawing over and over again. But is it that useful really, I’ll let you decide that for yourself.
This braille printer concept by Chinese designer Danni Luo that could help the blind distinguish similar items using printed braille labels. The user can input information using the built in microphoneand this information is then embossed in braille onto a 25mm x 50mm label that can be stuck onto items that are hard to tell apart such as cds, medication bottles, files, etc.
I bet that at some point in your life you’ve wondered what would happen if you put an ink cartridge in a microwave. Actually the though probabily has never crossed your mind, but I’m going to show you a video of someone microwaving a cartridge anyway. (Don’t try this at home)
It’s roughly how I imagined what it would look like, a burning plastic mess in a microwave.
Some of you may remember the posts about the two portable printers: The PrintStick and The Stick POP concept. I’m sure one question must have passed through you minds as it did mine at the time, who really needs a printer so much that they need to carry one around with them. But then I saw the following video on youtube and realised that maybe some people do need a printer that much.
At starbucks it not rare to see the odd person working away on a laptop while sipping on a latte, but this guy actually sets up his own printer to print out some photos. What I dont understand is why he went through all that trouble just to print some photos, maybe he doesnt have the internet at home, but he still could have saved the documents on his laptop and printed them at home, or maybe he’s just crazy.
This guy either needs to get himself some office space or a portable printer.
I’ve seen alot of this sort of thing lately, there are loads of videos and articles about science research labs actually printing human cells, sheets of skin, fingers and even organs. This stuff is crazy futuristic stuff, and I’ve had a little dig around and found some great videos of some of the printers and things they’ve created.
This first video is from a U.S. military research lab that have developed an awsome treatment for severe burns by printing new skin straight onto wherever the skin is missing. They grow skin cells from a patients body and insert them into a sterile ink cartridge and then the printer uses a 3d scan of the wound to guide the printing. All this using a modified inkjet printer.
The second video is part of a series of videos on gizmodo. One of the videos showing scientists at the Wake Forest Institute using inkjet technology to print a small two-chamber heart to illustrate the process of creating an organ! Just follow this link.
This last video I think is also from the Wake Foerst Institute and it shows a bladder and a heart valve created using the same technology and it also explains in more detail how the organs are built up in 3d cell by cell.
Some of this is unbelievable, but it’s all happening. If you want to see more just do a youtube search and you will find a load of videos on the subject of printing organs, etc.
After yesterdays post about the PrintStik by Planon, I found this concept (above) created by Jihun Kang, Youngho Lee, Jieun Lee & Changsu Lee. The Stick POP seems to be very similar to the PrintStik but looks amazing. It doesn’t have capacity to hold paper, but instead you just feed the paper in one side and it comes out the other and similar to the PrintStik you can print via USB.
Its quite small measuring 23 x 6 centimeters and it has a nice OLED screen that lets you know everything you need to know when printing.
Here’s another cool printer, this time it’s made by Planon and it’s not just a concept.
Planon, who also brought us other cool devices like the Docupen (a fully portable scanner in the shape of a pen), have released the PrintStik. The PrintStik is the worlds smallest portable Bluetooth printer, allowing you to print documents either via USB or Bluetooth. The paper is self-contained within the device meaning that you wouldn’t have to carry a wad of paper around with you.
It is roughly 1”x2”x11”, it can store 20 pieces of paper at a time and it uses thermal technology so doesn’t use ink or toner. The device doesn’t need to be plugged in but instead has a rechargeable battery pack. So this thing is about as portable as it can get unless you could make some weird foldy up printer. Prices start at $199.99 (£130) for the non-Bluetooth version, up to $349.99 (£230) for the top of the range version.
