As we continue to read about the changing nature of how we access media, use the internet and morph or social networking into the online world we’ve talked about something interesting future changes and I had to write about an observation I made on Saturday in the area of new tools that will yet again change our way of life.

Have you ever heard the Red Volvo story? In one of my marketing classes in Business School our instructor asked the class if Volvo made their cars in red. No one was sure. What he said was – yes they do and he wanted us to email him in the next few weeks if we saw one. Guess what – we all saw at least one, most of us saw several. The point being you are not always aware of what you see until you are in a heightened state of awareness. Well that happened to me this weekend with 3D printing.

I was walking through the Cambridgeside Galleria and I saw a booth in the food court. There were some post-graduate students from Northeastern University and they had a camera set up that would take your picture and a 3D printer would then create a bust of your head from your picture. Out of curiosity I wanted to do it – but one as a student I am on a limit budget and two having a bust made of myself felt a bit narcissistic. I did talk to the students and got some brochures about the 3D printer. Turns out one example they show is printing customs shoes – a commercial application not one for home (at least not yet) but all that ooohing and ahhhhing in class seems to have been preempted by reality already!! I don’t think I would have realized what technology they were using if we had not just talked about it in class – so thanks to Prof Mele for opening my mind up to a new way of looking at the world of printing and purchasing. There is also a a really interesting article in last October’s issue of Business Week about the coming 3D printing revolution.

The fact that the media is not adapting quickly to the new ways consumers will use their product is nuts! Clearly, things will continue to evolve at a rapid pace and they really need to be rethinking how become part of the Groundswell – or they will get buried underneath it!

If you are interested in learning more about what the students are Northeastern University are doing check out the following links:
ZScanner 700 and ZPrinters

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