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Yup, only plastic is also misleading since they need some conductive antenna. It's still very interesting and impressive, but somebody please fix the title.
by comboy 9y ago
Yup, only plastic is also misleading since they need some conductive antenna. It's still very interesting and impressive, but somebody please fix the title.
- teilo 9y agoThis is really just a form of passive radar. It's using ambient signals instead of an active beam, but the analysis techniques used are essentially equivalent. It's like stealth technology in reverse. You are intentionally creating a recognizable radar signature.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jackhack 9y agoAll this to replace a slip of paper (aka "shopping list"). We have gone barking mad.
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoHa, your cell phone is sort of like that. All that to replace, just waiting until you get home to make the call. To be fair, this 3D trick also replaces remembering, driving, buying, restocking.
- icebraining 9y agodriving, buying, restocking How so? You can already order online. All this devices replaces is the clicks it takes to do that. A cellphone means you don't have to choose between receiving calls or going out. It's incomparable in its utility.
- PascLeRasc 9y agoUgh, just like all those trillions of man-hours spent making cars just to replace some simple horses. What a world we live in!
- drb91 9y agoWell, horses are more renewable than petrol.... personally I think the jury’s still out on that one. Just because people call it progress doesn’t mean the world is a better place.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoInternal combustion engines are more important than just cars. They enabled powered flight. They enabled heavy construction and mining machinery. They enabled plenty of other high-impact things in our lives. And at the very least, they don't stink as much - towns eventually drowning in horse manure was a real fear in the times just before the first automobile. That said, we're now on the verge of switching most of ICE uses into electricity, which can be made more renewable than horses. We'll be good, if we can make the transition.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoReplacing shopping list was but one of the use cases given. I agree it's a ridiculous one, but there's plenty of actually useful applications for things interacting with RF that can be mass-produced cheaply.
- jstanley 9y agoThe antenna is made of a conductive plastic.
- stephengillie 9y agoFrom the article: > In this case, the antenna is contained in a 3-D printed object made of conductive printing filament that mixes plastic with copper. So this appears to be some sort of copper-plastic alloy that prints well and is conductive after printing. This part seems more revolutionary than the commercial aspect.