3 ms·

oddly enough, there is a market for do-it-yourself still. I don't know how big, but interest in sparkfun, make magazine, makerbot, and arduino signifies it's an

by iamwil 17y ago

oddly enough, there is a market for do-it-yourself still. I don't know how big, but interest in sparkfun, make magazine, makerbot, and arduino signifies it's anything but dead to me.

paulgerhardt 17y ago
Limor Fried (founder of Adafruit) gave an ignite talk that was posted a few days ago. From the looks of it, most Open Source Hardware outfits are grossing around a million a year. http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-baby-businesses-designing-and-selling-open-source-hardware-making-millions/ http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-baby-...
thunk 17y ago
That's precisely where Radio Shack should be focusing its effort. They should outfit their stores with high-end 3d printers and fabrication machines and retool themselves as a sort of Hardware Kinko's. Someone's going to fill that niche Real Soon Now, regardless.
- ebiester 17y ago
  It's still too soon. That said, when it is time, Radio Shack can always move into that space too. However, what's more likely is that fab machines will come down in price quickly enough that people can have their own.
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    Larger 3D printers are still a bit off. The mechanics get increasingly tricky when you move beyond a certain size. That said, modern ink-jets would be marvels of precision mechanics when I was in college. Things change in a decade or so.
  - thunk 17y ago
    Sooner than you may think [1]. And we all have printers in our home, but even now go to specialty shops for our more exotic or higher volume jobs. Why would it be any different with 3D printing? And since, in this vision, they'll also be stocking all the electronics prototyping hardware, they'll be a one-stop shop for the emergent DIY robotics scene. Radio Shack should absolutely be planning for this now if they have aspirations in this direction. [1] http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3d+printer+cost+dropping&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3d+printer+cost+dro...

by iamwil 17y ago

oddly enough, there is a market for do-it-yourself still. I don't know how big, but interest in sparkfun, make magazine, makerbot, and arduino signifies it's anything but dead to me.

paulgerhardt 17y ago

Limor Fried (founder of Adafruit) gave an ignite talk that was posted a few days ago. From the looks of it, most Open Source Hardware outfits are grossing around a million a year. http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-baby-businesses-designing-and-selling-open-source-hardware-making-millions/ http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-baby-...

thunk 17y ago

That's precisely where Radio Shack should be focusing its effort. They should outfit their stores with high-end 3d printers and fabrication machines and retool themselves as a sort of Hardware Kinko's. Someone's going to fill that niche Real Soon Now, regardless.

ebiester 17y ago
It's still too soon. That said, when it is time, Radio Shack can always move into that space too. However, what's more likely is that fab machines will come down in price quickly enough that people can have their own.
- rbanffy 17y ago
  Larger 3D printers are still a bit off. The mechanics get increasingly tricky when you move beyond a certain size. That said, modern ink-jets would be marvels of precision mechanics when I was in college. Things change in a decade or so.
- thunk 17y ago
  Sooner than you may think [1]. And we all have printers in our home, but even now go to specialty shops for our more exotic or higher volume jobs. Why would it be any different with 3D printing? And since, in this vision, they'll also be stocking all the electronics prototyping hardware, they'll be a one-stop shop for the emergent DIY robotics scene. Radio Shack should absolutely be planning for this now if they have aspirations in this direction. [1] http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3d+printer+cost+dropping&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3d+printer+cost+dro...