The first summit in London, which is produced in partnership with Google’s Solve For X initiative, will focus on emerging tech such as the internet of things, 3D printing, artificial intelligence and sensors. Read more »
The U.S. State Department got Defense Distributed to take down its gun designs, but they’re already widely shared online. Now would be a good time to discuss a more workable approach to regulation. Read more »
Technology isn’t good or bad. It’s a tool. This week has been a great reminder of that as a Texan showed off a working gun printed on a 3D printer and a South African showcased a cheap prosthetic hand. Read more »
Shapeways has raised $30 million led by new investor Andreessen Horowitz to grow its 3D printing service, marketplace, and reach of its API. Read more »
Sometimes an April Fools’ fake news item is more than just a gag. Here are a few pranks we think hint at larger trends in the tech industry. Read more »
Here’s a roundup of all of our coverage from SXSW — both the legendary Interactive section and the relatively new education conference. Sorry, no up and coming musicians. Read more »
The annual SXSW Interactive festival kicked off on Friday with a call to makers, designers, and creators to build devices and hardware. In a new twist, the physical world is outshining the virtual one. Read more »
South by Southwest is almost upon us and for those wondering what to expect, I don’t have hot apps, just a sense of the conference’s evolution as tech itself evolves. Read more »
While 3D printers are coming down in price, the plastic used as “ink” in them can still be pricey. What if you could create your own 3D printing material by recycling home plastics? Read more »
A new Kickstarter project aims to fund the production of model trains for an extremely niche group of people. The way this is being made possible offers an insight into the future of manufacturing. Read more »
Given how CES is now a barometer for such a wide array of technology segments, GigaOM Research decided to ask our readers which way the tech winds will blow over the next year based on what they saw in Las Vegas. (Subscription required) Read more »
Nokia has made one of its smartest moves in ages, by giving 3D-printing enthusiasts a ’3DK’ toolkit so they can make new shells for the manufacturer’s Lumia 820 smartphones. Read more »
Brooklyn-based Makerbot Industries, which makes 3D home printers, on Wednesday announced that it is opening its first retail location in Manhattan and launching a new version of its printer. Read more »
It’s becoming ever easier to copy and share not just computer files but physical objects too. An Economist article reports that the technology could inaugurate a technological revolution — but also give rise to massive new piracy problems. Read more »
Huge technology trade shows like IFA are meant to parade the biggest products around. But what if the biggest isn’t the best? What if intimacy, personalization and customization are the things we crave? That’s what I argued at a fringe event in Berlin last week. Read more »
Already, workplaces are changing because of trends like BYOD and gamification. But other emerging technologies are also altering what our workspace looks like and how we collaborate. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Sounds creepy, but someday we may need to change out the blood cartridges in our printers before we can print out dinner. Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs is investing in a cultured food startup called Modern Meadow, which aims to combine in-vitro meat with 3D printing. Read more »
Felicis Ventures, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture fund started by early Google employee Aydin Senkut has raised a new $70 million fund. The investment group is well known for its investments in Angry Birds’ parent, Inkling and Shopify. This is their second institutional seed fund. Read more »
Forget virtual worlds and children’s apps: London-based startup Makielab thinks the toys of the future will be 3D printed and totally customized — and it’s raised a significant round of seed investment to start preparing to play with the big kids. Read more »
We’ve seen 3-D printers that create previously designed objects, but what about smart grains of sand that self-replicate things? It’s not science fiction: MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is demonstrating intelligent, 1 cm cubes that can assume any shape through magnetism principles and algorithms. Read more »
The argument that work is increasingly untethered from the office and will take place more and more in coffee shop–type environments is pretty common, but one futurist is taking “coffeeshopification” a step further, claiming that universities and retail stores will resemble coffee shops as well. Read more »
Are you ready to have your own replicator: a device that can create physical objects? It’s here in the form of a 3-D printer, but it’s not cheap and it’s semi-limited. Still, if you can design an object, you can have your printer build it! Read more »
There is a lot of talk about data, 3D printing, innovation, design, user interaction and curation. So this week’s theme is a collection of writing that questions conventional wisdom about these aforementioned themes. Most of them are long — so better get a cup of tea now. Read more »
We love to dress up our wrists with cool watches, smart watches and of course, the best of them all, iPod nano watches. And that is why we are constantly writing about iPod nano straps. Here is another one from Ireland-based Curve Creative — Nanolet. Read more »
Want to give Christmas a bit of a technological twist? Forget buying gadgets and doodads as gifts: why not dangle a 3D printed, data-crafted bauble from your tree instead? Read more »
It sounds like something out of science fiction, but 3D printing is becoming a reality. Shapeways, which makes objects out of plastic, metal and even glass, just closed a round of financing and some companies plan to make limbs and even entire houses using the process. Read more »
What if I told you that it was possible to use a magic machine at home that could make anything…and that maybe you could use it to conjure up “things” to sell as part of your job? Read more »
