The MakerBot 3D Printer Draws a Crowd

The MakerBot is a 3D printer made in the U.S., and it breaks new ground in affordability and ease of use. Here, the MakerBot is printing a turbine wheel in this photo, but the device can print nearly anything working from AutoCad drawings as well as from a number of other sources. Other desktop 3D printers have been only available as kits or were more expensive. And only a few would really fit on a desk. The MakerBot does both and sells for $2799.00.

The MakerBot, shown here with the crowds that were so heavy it was nearly impossible to actually see the device, can make more than just turbine wheels. Here it’s shown with Lego blocks, a mask, and iPhone case and other objects.

This is what IBM’s Augmented Reality Shopping Assistant looks like in operation. The names of identified products appear on the bottom of the smartphone screen, and a tag appears on each package. When you touch the tag, you get additional information.

This is the BlackBerry Z10 running the SecuSuite from SecuSmart. The orange bar across the top of the screen tells you that you’re in a secure communications environment. In its secure mode, the BlackBerry meets NATO requirements for handling classified information.

Yes, this screen really is as big as it looks to be, and the man standing next to it is normal in size. The touch-screen from MyMultitouch measures 84 inches diagonally. It runs Windows 8 on its 4K high-resolution screen. Buyers lining up include major television networks and logistics companies. This screen sells for about $30,000 in the U.S.

This is the Foresee Interactable, a conference table with a 46-inch display embedded in the top. It’s fully multi-touch-capable, and you can zoom in and out of images or rotate them as needed. In addition, the Interactable table will connect with both local and remote users to create large conferences across many widely distributed locations. The table runs with IBM Sametime and uses the IBM cloud service.

The Power Rocks devices look just like a cell phone charger. But while it’s charging your phone, it’s also charging itself. Power Rocks devices are available in a wide range of capacities, and the larger devices can charge your phone as many as 12 times before it needs to be charged again.

You know that 10-inch Windows 8 tablet that Samsung wouldn’t talk about for weeks before the show? Here it is. It’s an ATIV Tab apparently running Windows 8 Pro instead of Windows RT, and when I tried it, the product operated pretty much as you would expect any tablet.

Samsung marketing employee Brit Lüllau shows the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that debuted in the U.S. March 6. This tablet includes the ability to watch your eyes, and can tell if you’re looking at the tablet. This means it won’t go into standby mode while you’re reading an ebook. This version of the Galaxy Tab runs Android.

Dell was showing a prototype of the Curiosity Mars Rover as a way to show its involvement in NASA’s Mars Lander program. NASA used Dell High-Performance Computing clusters to test the Mars rover’s landing sequence. You can’t, unfortunately, buy the Curiosity Rover from Dell. But it was still cool to look at.