David Caputo is is actually Lamont Cranston, wealthy, young man-about-town.

The DIY revolution is taking on a new shape as rapid prototyping technology becomes more accessible to the general population. This service has been available since the late 1980’s but is notoriously expensive and generally only used by companies and professionals. Today there are groups of individuals who are looking to lower the $20,000 entry fee and producing an open source 3D printer for approximately $500. There are several types of different machines capable of taking a design from hard disk to object. I hope to illustrate a few of these technologies and show how they are being made to serve the individual rather than the corporation.

First I’d like to touch on the Laser Cutter. These are machines starting around $8,000 for basic models that are capable of cutting some light thin sheet materials. The more expensive models can cut a larger variety of materials and thicknesses but can also begin costing $20,000 and up. There is a lot you can do with one of these machines but you need to remember that it only cut’s sheet materials so making a 3D object requires some kind of construction technique or layering. (more…)

Above Sea Level? American Sign Language? Argininosuccinate lyase? Nope. What does the title of this post refer to? For me it refers to a phrase buried deep in my past when I used to use AOL. You would constantly see this pop up in chat rooms and, although I am no longer a user of chat rooms, I am sure it still does today. Age / Sex / Location. I made a little php page in honor of this memory from my early years on the world wide web. Just a random little thing that can help you out if your ever caught in a chat room and posed that brain teaser of a question.

http://davidcaputo.net/ASL/ 

It would seem that these three priori are the basis of forming any sort of relationship with someone, fantasized, virtualized or otherwise. You can build an entire drama around an individual by knowing these 3 facts. How old are you, are you male or female and where are you right now. My iPhone is constantly asking me for the later of those three whenever I open a new app. Even if that app really has no feature that would, at first glance, need my location. I am waiting with trepidation for the day that it asks me for the other two pieces of information.

I was digging through my bookmarks and I found this really great blog on Typography called “I Love Typography”

I have been obsessed with type for a long time. As a designer its kind of a typical trait. I find a lot of people don’t understand it and I am constantly apologetic for my random comments on why Papyrus should be banned from use or how I wish they would have used Univers or Trad Gothic for the NYC Subway Signage. I feel that most designers must have similar stories. I know Matteo Bologna of Mucca claimed himself to be a type masturbator and had to apoligize to any non-designers in audience at a recent AIGA Lecture.

I wonder though, why is it that a lot of people are blind to the nuances of the words around them. Am I just over generalizing and have a sort of “Nascar Blindness” on this?

I saw a video that Bre Pettis posted about making sympathy dolls and it made me want to make some of my own. I have gads of old clothing that are so ruined that I can’t give them away but they are perfect for scrapping together some plush robots.I think it came out pretty well for my first robot. It hangs from the ceiling by a thread that comes out of its poor broken robot heart.My future plans include making them writhe in emotional pain while they hang helplessly from their heart strings.