This ketchup problem will probably be something you’ll recognize from your own experiences: the first squeeze of a bottle of ketchup often comes along with an annoying amount of water. However, you must be a massive ketchup fan to set up a project to solve the ‘ketchup problem’.  Well, North Liberty High School seniors Tyler Richards and Jonathan Thompson admit that they are, and they have therefore found a way to get rid of the water inside the bottles. They have been using 3D printing techniques to solve this everyday problem.

Did you know there is a word for the process that leads to the separation of tomato paste and water? Well, there is and it’s called syneresis. The senior students listed above have now found an easy way for a proper kind of syneresis. They have designed a cap, which looks a bit like an inverted mushroom. It however stops the water from getting out of the bottle, as it stays at the bottom of the cap. The ketchup is then pushed to the top of the cap, ready to be released from the bottle. The result is that no more water loss will take place during the process, which means your burger or hotdog will solely have ketchup on it and no more slimy, drippy water.

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Remember Project Tango, Google’s new 3D mapping project for smartphones? The system automatically measures the space around a user, providing them with a detailed 3D map of the environment. The system will now be used to help space robots move in any possible direction, thereby assisting humans in space. NASA announced this collaboration with Google, where Google will help NASA’s SPHERES robots on board the International Space Station (ISS).

The SPHERES (pictured above) will probably not fit the picture of the average robot. While the old-skool, classic robots are basically human-shaped, the SPHERES look like footballs, which are produced in different colors. Despite of looking very colorful, the robots have one big disadvantage: they have a hard time navigating the space station, as they simply aren’t human beings. On a basic level, they are able to navigate the space around them, but they can’t properly detect objects in the space station. Objects however are basically what the inside of a space station is about.

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As a journalist, you sometimes need to be a little skeptical on certain news facts. A news bulletin from earlier this month about ten houses which were built in only 24 hours therefore seemed too good to be true – but: newsworthy. But as new pictures of this housing project went viral this week, there is no reason to doubt about this 3D printing project anymore. And that means: the Chinese have found a way to mass-produce extremely cheap houses, costing only 4800 dollars per unit.

A team in Shanghai printed out these houses, solely using recycled materials. They used a technique where they printed out all parts of the house separately. Using this new method, they were enabled to 3D print as many as ten 650 sq. foot houses in less than a day. The company behind the project is called Shanghai WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co and they have been posting new photos about their project, which are displayed in this article.

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The world of 3d Printing is filled with unique and strange creations from makers across the world. From DIY drone kits to Ukuleles, people are only limited by what their imagination can dream up. In New York City there is only one dragon though and that’s the 4.5 foot long 3d printed dragon by Kurt “The Bot-Guy” Wendt.

I had the chance to see Kurt’s creation at the recent 3D Printshow and Inside 3D Conference and Expo and he shared what went into the process of creating the dragon.

Printed on a MakerBot CupCake, there are over 250 pieces of ABS plastic that make up the Dragon and hundreds of hours were put into printing time, development, design and assembly. There was no glue involved in the assembly as the individual pieces were formed together using Acetone. The Blue on the Spikes on the Back and the Pink coloring inside the mouth is a liquid Kurt created by putting plastic pieces in a Jar with Acetone and then “painting” with it.

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3D photo apps for smartphones: currently it surely is a big, massive hype. Only a couple of days ago, we wrote an article about a new Kickstarter initiative LazeeEye, and Google is currently working on Project Tango, a phone app that can map the entire space around a user. Microsoft didn’t want to stay behind, as they have now announced an app to accurately 3D scan people’s faces. Microsoft Research has said that their app will eventually allow users to make a high quality 3D print of their heads.

With a 3D scanner, they will be able to scan a person’s face from different angles, something which is also called 3D reconstruction. Already a variety of parties are working on this technique, but Microsoft wants to add something to the game by making their app as simple as taking a regular picture. The team writes: “the Skynet UI design aims to enhance user experience to lower the barriers between common consumers and 3D reconstruction.”

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It’s 2014 and 3D printing has become something big companies want to experiment with. Amazon, Hema and even Hershey’s: they are all giant chains, which are trying their luck with additive manufacturing. Office chain Staples is one of them and the company has been experimenting with 3D printing in Europe. It’s now expanding its services to the United States, where the company has started offering two 3D printing services in New York City and Los Angeles. Customers can print out their own designs in these stores.

They are currently pilot stores, but if they prove to become successful further service points may be added in different American stores, so says the company. For this service, the company is working together with 3D printing giant 3D Systems.

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A week ago we found out about Realize, Inc., a company which produces 3D printed ukuleles – in conjunction with Outdoor Ukulele. And while the sound of most 3D printed instruments doesn’t even come close to that of their handcrafted counterparts, the additive manufactured ukulele actually sounded surprisingly good.

The 3D printed ukulele is made of plastic, but you can hardly see that this is an actual prototype of an instrument. This is also contributed to the fact that the instrument has a very clean sound, which is getting closer and closer to the sound of an actual, handcrafted ukulele. Apparently, this has also been the goal of the team, as they wanted to produce a 3D printed ukulele in the exact same scale of a handmade one. Every detail, including the frets and suchlike, were copied from a regular model.

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3D printing and the copyright law: it’s a difficult marriage. When normally a 3D print file is out on the internet, everyone is free to use it to print out their own object. In other words: the open-source world makes it hard to make money out of 3D print files. Authentise however is a promising company that wants to add some structure to the online jungle, by adding a streaming service to the 3D printing world.

Let’s first explain something more about Authentise: this company uses an approach to 3D printing which is similar to Spotify’s approach to pop music or Netflix’s approach to movies and series. It makes it impossible for customers to store and share 3D print files from companies. This means brands such as Disney could offer their 3D print files online, after which users can download them and get their Mickey Mouse figurines printed on their own 3D printer. After this printing process no file will remain to be shared. This means in a future world big companies might more and more implement a 3D files service instead of selling actual objects in stores. The company has launched its first API to stream 3D print files: a perfect occasion to have a little chat with their CEO Andre Wegner.

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