The UPS Store reported today that it will become the first nationwide retailer to test in-store 3-D printing services. Select UPS Store locations will offer 3-D printing services beginning in the San Diego area with plans to expand more broadly within the U.S. in the near future. The company said it made the move based
In the latest sign that 3-D printing is getting closer to the mainstream, organizers of the 2014 International CES reported yesterday that the technology will be highlighted in a new “3D Printing TechZone” at next year’s show. The annual Las Vegas-based consumer electronics show will feature 20 such market-specific zones. The public profile of 3-D
In yet another sign of how quickly 3-D printing is growing, Stratasys announced yesterday that it will acquire MakerBot in a stock-for-stock transaction initially valued at $403 million — not including performance-based incentives that could increase the total to more than $600 million (based on Wednesday’s stock price). It was just last week that we
Research published online this week in the latest edition of Advanced Materials could make possible a generation of miniaturized robots that until now have lacked sufficiently small and powerful batteries to operate. To create the grain-of-sand-sized lithium-ion microbatteries (shown above), researchers 3-D printed interlaced stacks of battery electrodes less than the width of a human hair, according
As VentureBeat and several other sites noted this week, Amazon.com recently added a new section focused on 3-D printers and their related supplies, joining Staples as a major retailer supporting the technology. So far, 3-D printers aren’t exactly splashed across the Amazon homepage under “The Perfect Gift For Dad” heading — instead they’re tucked away
