http://no-retro.com/home Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:47:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As I said in the last post, things have been pretty busy for me recently, both in my consultancy work (an on-going project which I hope to be able to show soon) and my PhD research. Last week I had my first year report assessment and passed, with the requirement ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/08/09/rapid-manufacturing-leads-to-new-design-processes-in-the-work-of-assa-ashuach-and-lionel-theodore-dean/ Right now I'm writing up the first year report for my PhD - good for organising my thoughts and getting some arguments into a coherent state, but not so good in terms of allowing time to write here. So in the absence of a proper post, here are some stories ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/06/27/some-interesting-links/ (Thanks go to Duann Scott for bringing this to my attention. You can read his thoughts over at the Ponoko blog). 3DVia is a suite of software tools from Dassault Systèmes, makers of Solidworks and Catia. And whilst it includes 3DVia MP - an authoring platform for games content, and 3DVia ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/06/03/dassault-systemes-3dvia-gives-some-clues-about-the-future-of-consumer-generated-3d-content/ It's virtually impossible to be interested in fabbing or mass customisation and not know about the cool stuff Ponoko are doing, both in enabling consumers to manufacture self designed products and in providing a marketplace for those products to be sold. And the news that they are establishing a global ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/05/22/some-environmental-considerations-of-rapid-manufacturing/ Bearing in mind I used to work for Nokia, I guess it's inevitable that I follow what's going on in the mobile phone world closer than most. But in the last couple of months I've seen a few things that are particularly relevant to my research, so this post will ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/04/28/mass-customisation-and-mobile-phones/ So far I have looked at ways in which rapid manufacturing technologies might become available to consumers, and the reasons why product design for rapid manufacturing is easier than for mass manufacturing. In the final part of this extended post I want to address the only other remaining hurdle to ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/04/08/consumer-adoption-of-rapid-manufacturing-technologies-part-3/ PingMag is a dual-language (japanese-english) online magazine design based in Tokyo. It recently ran an interview I made with Brendan Walker, an ex-aeronautical engineer whose company Aerial specialises in the creation of 'thrilling experiences'. The published article was changed slightly from the one I submitted, so here it is as ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/03/28/pingmag-interview-with-brendan-walker/ Yesterday I made a presentation at Nokia's Demand Supply Network Foresight seminar, held at Nokia's global headquarters in Espoo, just outside Helsinki. The seminars are held biannually and simultaneously webcast to other locations, the idea is to introduce new thinking from outside Nokia's areas of expertise, and to broaden the ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/03/19/presentation-at-nokias-dsn-foresight-seminar/ If all goes to plan it should be about five weeks until the frame and forks are ready, which is why I set today as the deadline by which I had to decide what colour the frame will be painted. Because I've gone for a lugless construction there's no possibility ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/03/03/learning-from-bespoke-design-a-custom-built-bike-update/ In the previous post I outlined some of the current developments in rapid manufacturing, and what lessons could be learned from the consumer adoption of technologies in the past. Access to a technology is only part of the picture though; if these technologies are to be used by consumers it ... http://no-retro.com/home/2008/02/15/110/