3D printing taken to the next level

It's good to see entrepreneurs popping up who are taking 3d printing to the next level, and searching for business opportunities for new products manufactured by this technique. One of these entrepreneurs is Siavash Mahdavi. He is especially looking into optimization of form through intelligent weight reduction and force redirection, and has come up so far with prototypes of orthopedic implants that bone can grow into, optimized shoe soles that vary in support and cushioning, an engine block with 22% weight reduction, and a structure that he intends to use for docking shuttles at a space station.



Watch his recent TED talk here:

Colorful swarms visualize sound

This is a beautiful little animation that has the potential to give you a few meditative minutes getting out of your mind and just resting in your senses. It was made by Seiichi Hishikawa, a Japanese filmmaker, with the intention to visualize sound.

Nokia's bendable displays

Nokia has been working on bendable displays for a while, and have now managed to go from concept to working demonstrator for this technology. The 'Nokia Kinetic' concept is a flexible rectangular device with a bendable touch screen. They kept interaction simple by using only twisting and horizontal bending motions as input, besides touching and sliding. Especially bending the device in order to zoom in and out seems a very natural mapping from action to function, as you either press away or bring closer the center of the screen.

Another device that Nokia has presented with this concept is a beautiful borderless flexible display. This display is embedded in a soft and transparent skin-like material that can detect a finger pressing into it and then stretching the skin in various directions. This may greatly enrich and simplify browsing interactions.



The Nokia Kinetic gives us a good glimpse of where our technological devices are headed. Softer, more expressive, and no more being confining us only to rapid sequential movements for input, technology is about to engage more of our bodily skill. Instead of the miniaturization of devices, there might be more potential in fitting our technology better to our bodies, and making it soft and adaptable.

Watch the movies here: