MIT Has New 3D-PrinterThat Makes Objects With Shape Memory

Sean Buckley reports at Engadget in MIT's new 3D-printer makes objects that remember their shape.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

Addibot 3D-Printing Roving Robot on Wheels by Inventor Robert Flitsch

A 3D-Printing Roving Robot ? Andrew Zaleski reports at Popular Science on inventor Robert Flitsch and his Addibot wheeled robot.

3D Selfies In The Trend

BBC Science and Environment News has the story of "3D selfies" as being strong in the trend at

'We print people': The world of 3D portraiture

Giant 3D Printer Makes Rooms for Houses

CNET Crave has the story at Giant 3D printer starts spitting out a house.

London Fashion Week Features 3D Printing Weaves by Pringle of Scotland

Pringle of Scotland Weaves 3D Printing into Fashion at London Fashion Week.

Legal Product Liability and 3-D Printing

Stanford Law Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom is featured by Clifton B. Parker at Stanford University News in 3-D printing creates product liability issues, Stanford scholar says, referring to her authored essay in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review at 3-D Printing and Product Liability: Identifying the Obstacles, 162 U. Pa. L. Rev. Online 35 (2013).

Innovation-Blocking 3D Printing Patent on Producing Parts by Selective Sintering Expires

Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing had the story yesterday at Key 3D printing patent expired yesterday, writing:

"Yesterday marked the expiry of US Patent 5597589, "Apparatus for producing parts by selective sintering." This is one of the core patents in the 3D printing world -- the patent that allows 3D printer companies to charge more for fine nylon powder than Michelin-starred restaurants charge for filet mignon. The high cost of consumables in 3D printing has been a major barrier to innovation in the field -- selective laser sintering produces a fine finish that the patent-free fused deposition modeling technique used in Reprap-style printers can't match -- and now the brakes are coming off. "

This is another example of how patents do not foster innovation and progress, but achieve exactly the opposite.