fabricators, cannons and sapphire knives

Source: New Scientist A cheap ($2,400US) 3D fabricator has been developed. Plans for building one of your own can be found at the Fab@Home web site. See the NS article for a video of the machine in action. Unlike contemporary fabs, this one can work with a variety of materials include chocolate and playdo. The machine works my squeezing material from a series of syringes to construct the final product.

Source: New Scientist A new software makes it easy to add surface effects (like green skin). The system uses what is known as "shape from shading" where the surface geometry is estimated by ho light reflects from the surface (this is a well-known method for generating 3D models from single flat images). Once the geometry has been determined, the use can add whatever effect they like. The software integrates it into the full-motion video. It's not perfect, but should be sufficient to cut the cost of some simple special effects. See the original NS article for videos of the technique in action.

Source: Sci-Fi Tech AirSoft Project 2.0 is a DYI project that shows you how to build a mini-cannon that can shoot up to 1,500 projectiles/second.

Source: Sci-Fi Tech The GoPro Digital Hero 3 is a 3 megapixel wrist-mounted waterproof digital camera that can capture both still and video images.

Source: Sci-Fi Tech This knife consists of an artificial sapphire blade and bone handle so it will not set off metal detectors. It will cut glass and requires a special diamond-coated whetstone to sharpen it.

Update

Completed a presentation at the start of this month, and just got the first revisions of my survey paper out the door last week. Three more papers to go to finish this phase, and all the methods have been implemented in a simulator package. Paper #2 is 95% complete, but I want to make some adjustments before handing it off for internal review. Paper #3 is about 50% complete, and Paper #4 is based heavily on my presentation and can reuse large chunks of Paper $1 so should come together pretty quickly. The goal was to have everything done (at least in draft form) by the end of January, then start Phase II with another paper (since much of the work was already done while doing Phase I.

Meanwhile, I've stockpiled about half-a-dozen tech posts that will go up periodically this week.

Today: working at home on a project and making a meat pie during regular breaks.

Pictures, rather than a thousand words...

Source: Cake text printer doesn't speak Italian, pens errors instead

Source: Wristwatch Piercing FTL

Source: BreezeGuard for Petrified Pups

Source: Tokyo Night Photo in High Dynamic Range

Source: Corian Digital Roulette Table Still Takes Your Money, Dignity