SciFi & Fantasy Romania

Un reportaj de azi sau de ieri. Un reportaj despre o lume pe care nu o vedem la televizor.

Imprimarea 3D există deja. Dacă ai $10.000 iţi poţi cumpara o imprimantă 3D, sau dacă eşti îndemânatic (şi ai $2.500) îţi poţi construi una.

Wired a scris în mai multe rânduri despre asta:
Is home 3D scanning and printing within reach?
Fab@Home: Open Source 3D Printer Kit

Popular Science a publicat un interviu cu Hod Lipson (creatorul Fab@Home)
The Desktop Factory

Un fragment din interviu (observaţi referinţa la iTunes Store :-)):

Q: With all of the programs and product designs posted on Fab@Home, are you making a profit?
A: We’ve put everything out in a completely free way, no limitations. The Altair people never became rich, but they made history. We’re after that kind of impact. We just want people to use the technology to free their design creativity. Similar to sharing MP3s, people can exchange blueprints of product designs on the site. Maybe someday they’ll earn 99 cents every time their blueprint is printed.

Q: That sounds like an intellectual-property nightmare.
A: Oh yeah. This is going to make MP3 copyrights look like a piece of cake.

Fab@Home este un proiect open source (”everything in Fab@Home is free and open-source under the BSD License”). Pe site se gasesc toate informaţiile necesare pentru a vă construi propria imprimantă 3D. Câteva idei interesante găsiţi la Fab@Home:Gallery.

Şi toate astea nu se întâmplă doar în America. Internetul este adus cu autobuzul, motocicleta sau chiar cu bicicleta până în cel mai îndepartat sat din India sau Cambodia. Vezi de exemplu articolul de pe TreeHugger The Postman Always Pings Twice: A Bus Brings lnternet to the Developing World.

United Villages şi-a propus să conecteze cele două miliarde de oameni din zonele rurale subdezvoltate la economia digitală.

It is a digital pony express: five Motomen ride their routes five days a week, downloading and uploading e-mail. The system uses a receiver box powered by the motorcycle’s battery. The driver need only roll slowly past the school to download all the village’s outgoing e-mail and deliver incoming e-mail. The school’s computer system and antenna are powered by solar panels. Newly collected data is stored for the day in a computer strapped to the back of the motorcycle. At dusk, the motorcycles converge on the provincial capital, Ban Lung, where an advanced school is equipped with a satellite dish, allowing a bulk e-mail exchange with the outside world.

The system also made it easier for villagers to buy essential products such as fertilisers, pesticides, books and medicines, Mr Hasson added. “What we’ve done is created a catalogue of those products that they can order at the kiosk and get them delivered the next day via the bus,” he said.

“We’re bringing e-commerce to rural India.”

Oamenii din cel mai îndepărtat sat vor putea descărca ultimul model de sapă şi îl vor imprima la imprimanta 3D a satului.

Asta e SF sau reportaj la CNN?