The RepRap blog has been jumping lately. And I’ve been wondering how the feed system would start to evolve since early on when I’d discussed injection molding systems with Dr. Bowyer. His “integrated auger” idea posted here is a nice solution. No one said the raw material had to be an amorphous plastic chip.
Clickable Culture points to and has an entry on an AdAge article (registration req’d) discussing the marketing power inherent in Microsoft’s new XBox 360 console. From their post:
Unlike any other in-game marketing network, the new Xbox Live could offer marketers data on every player’s move through the Xbox Live system, every gaming and lifestyle preference, and every purchase.
Not news, but as expected, this new capability is moving into the mainstream discourse. When AdAge or another publication explains how vectors work and how it’s possible to “sense” what a player is doing in the game (e.g. looking at their billboard for 12.93252 seconds), then let’s see how excited they all really get… beyond the obvious numbers. One guy, Jamie Berger from IGN, has some good advice to all the drooling hawkers out there though:
Marketers need to tailor their approach and make it special and unique to the platform “not just an ad, but a brand experience,?” Mr. Berger said. “They need to use the medium in a way that adds value to the consumer and show that they’re embracing the gaming culture.”
(Edit: there’s also another article on AdAge titled “AdAge.com’s Advergame Chronicles – Tracking the Rise of a New Marketing Venue“, but that’s paid content, sorry. I’m cheap.)
The NYTimes is carrying an article that’s worth a quick read: “The Game Is Virtual. The Profit Is Real.” Not much there that hasn’t been covered by other recent articles on the subject but it’s not that long. Registration required.
I have to confess to being a bit perplexed. It seems my “rocket launcher” example is getting some attention… but for mostly limited reasons it seems to me. Fab the videogame data to make toys? It goes well beyond that. If I only wanted to make a game model into a real object I’d rip the data straight from the game instead of hijacking the data as I did (and I’m pretty sure plenty of people have done this already). Truth is, the real objective behind that attempt was not achieved (the Quake model was merely a test). And the point behind that post wasn’t really fabbing.
At least one person got a big part of it… I hope the others did too but maybe just aren’t really discussing it.
Excellent article over on BusinessWeek online discussing product life-cycle management (PLM) software leader UGS. From the article:
Click an icon on any PC loaded with UGS software, and you’re ushered into a digital forum, with a three-dimensional workspace and folders of information along one side. Marketers can post ideas for new products. Engineers can design 3D prototypes. And manufacturers can lay out a new assembly line, complete with every piece of equipment necessary. Tens of thousands of people can participate on a single project from anywhere there’s a Web connection.
I noticed mention of Dassault (read more about their acquisition of ABAQUS here), but didn’t see mention of PTC which I’m aware has been into VR for a number of years and has apparently done well with their Windchill application. Have to wonder where something like Croquet fits into this secretive and proprietary world. Might it eventually be the Linux of PLM?