3D printed metal has gotten a lot of attention lately, but because the process of 3D printing in metals can take many forms, it’s largely misunderstood. In future Materials Explainers, we’ll talk about how we use 3D printing for cast metals and 3D printed aluminum. Today, we’ll tackle steel. So, how does Shapeways create your…
Links Do-it-yourself projects using off-the-shelf electronics have become increasing popular in recent years. Magazines such as MAKE and websites such as Instructables have popularized the build-your-own movement. We were impressed by the hobbyist 3D scanning solutions we found while prepared the course material. To assist those new to this topic, we maintain a list of do-it-yourself…
A new generation of recycling has now emerged from local drop-off centers into an entire shopping mall that sells only repaired or upcycled products. The new recycling establishment, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria, has nothing to do with the fish; instead, it was named after the Swedish town in which the building is located, Eskilstuna, Sweden. The facilities…
Repairing plastic items can be confounding for someone who’s never done it before. There’s no part to replace (usually), no nut to tighten, just something… misshapen or cracked. There’s nothing to repair but the material itself. Plastic can be easier to work with than you might imagine. With some heat and some pressure many items…
VITORIA-GASTEIZ, Spain – Acceleration Robotics —a robotics semiconductor startup based in the Basque Country, Spain— together with Prof. Vijay Janapa Reddi from Harvard University and researchers at the Harvard Edge Computing Lab will present next October in Japan their latest work on democratizing the use of hardware acceleration in robotics in a scalable, vendor- and…
As an entrepreneur, often you are your brand. Your “about” page can set the tone for you and your style and give potential clients a preview of what you might be like to work with. Here are three important steps to crafting the perfect about page. 1. Start with a hook. Pose a question to your website visitors that you…
I work with B2B companies that rely on us to bring them more leads. In fact, that’s usually the number one complaint when we first meet with a client. “We just need more leads,” they’ll say. In their minds, the only thing holding back their ascent from a $5 million company to a $500 million…
Here’s the Danny Meyer school of thought on how to make a traditional service business into an enlightened, customer-centric hospitality mecca: Put your employees first and shareholders last to create a “virtuous cycle of enlightened hospitality.” That’s lovely and all, but can it really be applied to a startup? It seems a little overwrought. When…
This week, a survey of more than 500 American employees revealed – and I’m using the word “revealed” in its journalistic sense, to mean “confirmed the staggeringly obvious fact” – that nobody’s paying attention during conference calls. Sixty-five per cent of those questioned said they did other work at the same time as pretending to participate;…
Brainstorming, in its current form and by many metrics, doesn’t work as well as the frequency of “team brainstorming meetings” would suggests it does. Early ideas tend to have disproportionate influence over the rest of the conversation. Sharing ideas in groups isn’t the problem, it’s the “out-loud” part that, ironically, leads to groupthink, instead of…
