Monday, September 30, 2013

Top 10 3D Printers of 2013

Top 10 3D printers


3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. The first working 3D printer was created in 1984 by Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corp. The 3D printing technology is used for both prototyping and distributed manufacturing with applications in architecture, construction (AEC), industrial design, automotive, aerospace, military, engineering, civil engineering, dental and medical industries, biotech (human tissue replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education, geographic information systems, food, and many other fields. 3D printing is now for everybody due to open source 3D printing can easily offset their capital costs by enabling consumers to avoid costs associated with purchasing common household objects. Below is our list of Top 10 3D printers of 2013. 


 1. Formlabs Form 1: $3,300 per unit


The Formlabs Form 1 is fully assembled and ready to use with extreme level of detail achieved. It has a 25 microns height with min 300 microns base (0.3 mm) resolution, small Print Area of 125 x 125 x 165 mm. Its prints may be small but the quality is great. It is a 3D desktop printer with high-end stereolithography (SL) technology and a seamless user experience at a price affordable to the professional designer, engineer and maker. Though the price is high the printed quality is exceptionally good! Fully Assembled, calibrated and ready to use! No tinkering no fabricating your own parts, etc. It’s ready to use and works amazingly well.   The only drawback is that the print area is a bit smaller. However, the resolution makes up for it. Smaller prints, but better quality. The Formlabs Form 1 is PING Magazine’s number one on top 10 3D printers of 2013.  


2. The Makerbot Replicator 2x$3,299.00



Replicator 2X is a higher-end version of the Replicator 2. It features a fine printing resolution (100 microns per layer of extruded plastic) and it has a redesigned chassis. Updated features include an aluminum build platform and plastic window print area, which retains heat better allowing faster and more reliable printing. Unique abilities are to print in two-different colors, ability to print with both PLA (Polylactic acid) and ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastics. ABS can be more challenging to print with, but it’s a popular material among 3D printing hobbyists. With a resolution capability of 100 microns and a massive 410 cubic inch build volume, the MakerBot ReplicatorTM 2 Desktop 3D Printer is the easiest, fastest, and most affordable tool for making professional quality models. It is no 2 on our top 10 3D printers. 




3.  Buccaneer 3D Printer : $397


The Buccaneer 3D Printer retains a great amount of quality and accuracy with a 100 micron resolution. Unbelievable level of detail can be achieved with this printer.  Though significantly cheaper than both Form 1 and Replicator 3D printers, yet retaining a great amount of quality and accuracy. Fully Assembled, calibrated and ready to use! No tinkering no fabricating your own parts, etc. It’s ready to use and works amazingly well.  Unbelievable level of detail can be achieved with this printer. 1.75mm PLA is only used. It has a Small Print Area 150 x 100 x 120 mm. which is slightly smaller than many competitors. It is currently not possible to print objects with more than one color. According to Pirate 3D Inc. their vision is to bring 3D printing technology into everyone’s home by building a quality and affordable 3D printer that everyone can enjoy!


4.  Cubify CubeX Trio: $3999


The Cubify CubeX Trio uses three separate cartridges when printing, making multi-color objects. Its notable features include large printing space, quick printing capabilities and convenient touchscreen. The CubeX Trio is the frontrunner in a group of top-notch consumer-oriented 3D printers. The CubeX combines a touchscreen interface, a monstrous print area and the ability to print three separate colors at once. The premium price paid for extra filament cartridges is no-brainer when the large, colorful creations made with this phenomenal 3D printer is considered. The CubeX Trio can print three colors at one time. The website also has over 15 different colors to choose from, even glow-in-the-dark colors. It has the largest print size in its class printing parts as large as a basketball – up to 10.8” x 10.45” x 9.5” or 275 mm x 265 mm x 240 mm. It makes on our no 4 top 10 3D printers. 




5.  RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer: $439.00 CAD


Reprap Prusa Mendel i2 3D Printer is the DIY 3D printer designed for the pros and geeks amoungs us. It comes at a very low price and does not require breaking the bank.  The callibration and setup is kind of complex so need some sort of knowledge in the world of 3D printing.The price is dependent on what you can fabricate yourself and what components you wish to add. DIY Kit is for experience individuals only! It is open source so there are a lot of community pages that can help you figure parts out, but it really is not for everyone. It has a 0.40 mm common nozzle and 1.75 mm filament often used in low cost 3D printing. With a Medium Print Area of 8 x 8 x 7 inch [216 x 216 x 178 mm] it is an excellent building volume for the majority of projects. It is no 5 on our top 10 3D printers. RepRap was the first of the low-cost 3D printers, and the RepRap Project started the open-source 3D printer revolution. It has become the most widely-used 3D printer among the global members of the Maker community.


top 10 3d printers reprap


6. Leapfrog Creatr 3D printer: $1,683 single, $2020 dual-extruder


The Leapfrog Creatr is a semi-pro printer with ABS, PLA and PVA printing, aluminum body, 9 x 10.6 x 8.7-inch build volume, 200 micron printing. It has a resolution of 200 microns (0.2 mm or 1/125 inch), unbelievable level of detail can be achieved. It has a Medium Print Area of 9.1 x 10.6 x 8.7 in [230 x 270 x 220 mm]. An excellent size for making a wide range of objects. Multi-colored printing is possible, making it a great product for realistic prototyping.The Leapfrog Creatr is a fantastic desktop 3D Printer manufactured by the Dutch firm Leapfrog. It is no 6 on our top 10 3D printers.


 



7.   3DTouch™ 3D Printer


3D Touch is very good desktop 3d printer suitable for learning. This printer does not have a heated platform which mean no enclosed casing and also allows for an extra large viewing area. The 3D Touch also includes a warranty of one year. It is one of the most expensive desktop 3d printers available. Amazing quality, great looking product and overall excellent performance. However, price point is a bit high compared to other great products. Fully Assembled, calibrated and ready to use! No tinkering no fabricating your own parts. It’s ready to use and works amazing. It has a beautiful high quality resolution of 125 microns (0.125 mm or 1/200 inch). It has a Medium Print Area with (7.3 or 9 or 10.8) x 10.8 x 7.9 inch [(185 or 230 or 275) x 275 x 201 mm] and with Excellent mid-range. It is no 7 on our top 10 3D printers. 



8. LulzBot AO-101



The AO-101 model is a successor to AO-100. Uses a range of printable materials is also open, but requires more technical skills. It uses fused filament fabrication, ABS and PLA plastics as basic materials. The AO-101 3D printer is relatively fast, easy to print and provides consistent print quality.  This solid performing 3D printer is relatively fast, easy to print, provides consistent print quality and is open for modifying and tweaking. Appearance-wise the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The filament spool can be redesigned to better withstand pressure from full roll and filament guide’s attachment to frame. The printer comes with a Micro SD card reader and a built-in power switch in case you need to stop a print in a hurry. The AO-101 does require assembly but the detail and ease at which this device and print 3D objects will appeal to a number of customers. It is no 8 on our top 10 3D printers. 



9.  Afinia H-Series


Afinia H-Series 3D Printer is a great, portable 3d Printer. It is very light and comes fully assembled. It’s a more precise, flexible and user friendly 3D printer. This printer delivers a deft balance between ease of use and output quality. As long as 3D Systems relies on its proprietary filament cartridges, open-feedstock printers like the H479 will remain the better economic bargain in the long run. The Afinia H-Series 3D Printer provides a “Out of the Box 3D Printing Experience” as the 3D Printer comes fully assembled with easy to install software for both the PC and Mac. The Afinia H-Series 3D Printer can prototype a part or model that is up to 5 inches cubed in dimensions. The output is accurate to within .15mm (6 thousandths of an inch), and has 30% of the strength of injection molded parts.









10. CartesioLD V0.7


CartesioLD V0.7 is a great DIY 3D Printer with a very large build volume ( 200 x 400 x 200 mm / 7.8 x 15.7 x 7.8 in ). CartesioLD prints objects with very high resolution – 100 microns. It has avery high resolution of 100 microns - outstanding product, very similar to the Replicator 2. It is almost 2 x larger than the medium range 3D printers with 200 x 400 surface area, but still in the same price region. A great size offering that extra bit of crucial printing space.



We hope you enjoyed our top 10 3d printers of 2013.


What is your opinion of the top 10 3d printers?



Top 10 3D Printers of 2013

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Top 10 Tech News

Top 10 Tech News


1. Asus new PadFone


Asus PadFone Infinity is already in stores  since Thursday 17th September. The device has been gain lots of positive reviews.



google_pirate bay-PING


2. Google refuses to blacklist the Pirate Bay homepage from search results


Google will not take down the Pirate Bay home page because it does not actually contain any infringing links. However it does block specific links from websites that distribute pirated content from search results.



Monsieur the artificially intelligent robotic bartender-PING


3. Monsieur the artificially intelligent robotic bartender


Monsieur the robotic bartender that was introduce yesterday at TechCrunch Disrupt.  The bartender is an “artificially intelligent” robot that “makes great tasting cocktails that keep people happy and businesses profitable.”



KickStarter is adding Australia & New Zealand-PING


4. KickStarter is adding Australia & New Zealand to its popular crowdfunding network


KickStarter the biggest crowdfunding platform is expanding to Australia and New Zealand. The company was originally mentioned that they would be moving to the new 2 countries in August.



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5.  Apple quietly pulls its card app for ios


Apple has withdrawn their app from iOS app store. The Card app allowed users to send a 100% cotton, custom letterpress card to their family and friends.  The app as only been up for 2 years and is in the process of being retired.



Motorala U.S factory now shipping 100,000 Moto x phone a week-PING


6. Motorala U.S factory now shipping 100,000 Moto x phone a week


Google Motorola Company is shipping 100,000 units of their new Moto X phones a week.  The Motorola Texas factory according to CEO Dennis Woodside operates by contract manufactures Flextronics and is only the 1st phase of their plan.



3D System Sugar Lab-PING


7. 3D System buys sugar printing firm


3D system is leading provider of 3D content to print solutions. They have been buying up companies left and right according to Engadget. The newest company been snap up is Sugar Lab the  company that print 3D  items in sugar.



8. eGood a mobile payment and loyalty system that helps users give back


eGood the startup company that allows the public to give money to charitable originations.  The company has an app that allows user to check-in and shop at their favorite local business but also give back to a local charity while doing it.



walmart_tradein_program-PING


9. Wal-mart to accept smartphone trade-ins at u.s stores


 Wal-Mart the world’s largest retailer will let customers trade in their old smartphone and put the credit to buying a new one.  This deal will  be available in the U.S store later in the month.



Turncast new app by WeatherSphere-PING


10. Turncast is a sat-nav app with weather prediction capabilities


Turncast is a app made by WeatherSphere that turns real-time and predicted weather forecast.  The app will give the driver two-hour weather reading in advance.  The app was revealed at TechCruch Disrupt and will be launched in three weeks.



Top 10 Tech News

BlackBerry"s $4.7bn sale To Fairfax

BlackBerry’s Blackout


BlackBerry smartphone and OS manufacturer has agreed in principle for a private takeover by its largest shareholder for $4.7bn (£2.93bn). It buyout is by Fairfax owned by Canadian billionaire who already owns 10% of the company.


BlackBerry’ formerly known as Research In Motion, has been struggling for some time now its no surprise we are all seeing the big FOR SALE sign over the entire company. The company feels its going private for the right price but we think it all about survival. Though we did not see any mobile developers putting any serious effort into supporting the BB10 OS since it was launched. Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry is looking to fast track an auction process that could see it sold to new owners as soon as November 2013. Just three months after announcing plans of looking to “explore strategic alternatives.” The lights of BB Q10 and Z10 handsets are behind on sales. Also even adding in the numbers from the older Blackberry handsets.


BlackBerry sales volume have dropped tremendously in the last quarter. The BB10 failed to gain a strong user base due to the lack of apps and functionality.


BlackBerry 222


Bla has now signed a provisional agreement to be bought by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited and we all hope it will save this sinking ship. Our correspondents at PING Magazine, believes that BlackBerry can be revived if the right investment and strategies are deployed. What do you think that can save BlackBerry?  There are few questions we like our audience to reflect about BlackBerry, like why is BlackBerry is so much trouble known it was once a leader in the smartphone sector? Do you think BlackBerry comes to iOS and Android is a good thing? How can BlackBerry regain its lost customers? With iOS and Android topping the list of ‘supported platform and Windows Phone occupying the third ecosystem. When will it be in the top 3 again? Lets wait and see…



BlackBerry"s $4.7bn sale To Fairfax

Thursday, September 26, 2013

September 26th Top 10 News

Top 10 Tech News


1. LG 55-inch OLED TV in UK


LG has revealed that its OLED curved TV is now available in the UK  and will cost you a mega £8,000.  The OLED curved will offer the best viewing angle to very one in the room.



Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight-PING


2. Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight gets uk price drop


Barns & Noble has drop the price of the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight from £69 to £49.  The price cut will only last until current stock is sold out so go get it now. Its time for Christmas present or just a gift.



FIFA Android & iOS -PING


3. FIFA 14 on iOS & Android


FIFA 14 has made its debut on the Play Store and Apple Store  a few day ago. The game will feature every thing you expect from a FIFA game expects on iOS, Android and Free.  The game is also optimized for tablet with good graphics.



RealPlyer Cloud storage -PING


4. RealPlyer Cloud launches with cross-platform storage


RealNetworks has launched its new RealPlayer cloud app to store games. It available in the US and Canada for now on different platforms and give you a 2GB free space.  The cloud storage will allow you to save, move share and watch videos.



Samsung Curved Smartphone


5. Samsung curved smartphone display coming in October


Samsung is planning to present smartphones with curved displays this October. The was confirmed when Samsung’s Head of Strategic Marking for mobile said “We plan to introduce a smartphone with a curved display in South Korea in October,”



FFA final allow our electric devices to stay on during takeoff-PING


6. FFA final allow our electric devices to stay on during takeoff


The Federal Aviation Administration {FFA} has changed the rules about electronic devices on plane. The new rule will allow flyers to keep electric devices on during takeoff instead of turning it off and on.  The rule might allow flyers with MP3 player, e-readers, laptop tablet and mobile phones in airplane mode to be kept on.



Twitter new notification-PING


7.  Twitter new notification will recommend interesting accounts and tweets


Twitter has announced that it will start to roll out a new notification. The new notification will recommend interesting accounts and tweets to keep you in the know.  The Twitter app for android and iOS will receive recommendation via push notification.



Apple New iMac range-PING


8. Apple New iMac range


Apple has launched its new iMac range with upgrade to the processors, graphic card and more. The new iMac will have Intel Haswell core i5 and i7 processor. The entry- level iMac having the new feature Intel Iris Pro graphics while the higher processor will have NVIDIA GeForce 700 and GeForce GTX 780m graphic card.


 



Amazon New Kindle Fire, OS update & own Genius Bar -PING


9. Amazon New Kindle Fire, OS update & own Genius Bar


Amazon has announced its revamp the Kindle Fire series with the Kindle HDX 7 0r 8.9 inches. The new device will have an updated Fire OS 3.0 Mojito version. Amazon will also be doing their own Apple’s Genius Bar, which is a Mayday button that will put user in immediate contact with Amazon experts for free at any time of the day.



Samsung S4 Gold Editions -PING


10. Samsung Galaxy S4  now in Gold


Samsung is now offering its own Gold phones just weeks after Apple unveils their champagne coloured iPhone 5S. Samsung is offering a Gold Edition of their flagship Galaxy S4 smartphones. The phone will be available in Gold Brown & Gold Pink, which was revealed on its United Arab Emirates Twitter & Facebook account.



September 26th Top 10 News