Author Archives: David Berkowitz, Editor in Chief.

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I am an army vet–Henceforth 33% of our efforts will go to support fellow Veterans for the next 90 days!

2045-custom-ribbon-magnet-sticker-Support-Our-Veterans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am an army vet, and my dad was an airforce vet. I feel the need to help my fellow vets as well as those folks with autism. We want to help folks with autism and vets get jobs, appreciate technology and we want to use tech to raise funds to help people as well !

Our primary focus is autism education and using tech to help those with autism.autism image

However, Since  I am a veteran who has struggled in my life to get work, to pay bills and get employment at times too. Therefore 1/3 of my efforts will also go to help fellow veterans get work, enjoyment out of life and to make a place for themselves. We want to make a difference for those with autism like myself and my kids and veterans as well.

If anyone can help us to help local veterans organizations or autism please do so:




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Cubicity/twoBEars filament review!

We recently received filament samples from Cubicity here in the USA, they sent us samples made by twoBEars:

The  Company
twoBEars was founded in 2013 to devolop bio-material for 3D-Printing, rapid prototyping and additive manufaturing.

Their Philosophy
twoBEars develops and sells only products, produced by sustainable processes. We and our business are focused on the benefit for humans AND environment.

Their Goals
twoBEars has the target to develop biopolymers with different features out of renewable raw materials and offer these materials under fair conditions to you, customers. We do not want to use polymers , which belongs to the food chain, because of ethic conflict.
Our sustainable management balance the social, environmental and financial aspects of our business.

 

We especially liked the green algae based filament. It has a smell like the ocean, but it works well, and is interesting in its texture.

Algae-Fuel 3D Printing Filament (2.2lbs/1kg Spool)Algae-Fuel 3D Printing FilamentWe would definitely recommend the algae based filament to anyone that needs an interesting, rougher material. It reminds me of Carbon Fiber in the way it feels to the touch. It produced  a cool unique odor while printing which is different than the typical filament.

bioFila Sustainable 3D Printing Filament

They also offer samples as well to try out see–>Free Filament Samples

We tested samples of 2 Biofila 1.75 samples of the Linen and Silk, which produced nice output.

We had a small amount of linen and recycled abs that worked well on a Printrbot and Robo3d printer.

 

We appreciate the opportunity to test their filament and really liked it. We also received a really nice filament cleaning cube from Voltivo set that help keep the filament from getting dirty and dusty and reduces clogging of the print head–>3DP Essentials - Filament Cleaner

For more information see Cubicity!

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Solidoodle Press-Preview !!

We were given a Solidoodle Press to test and review and use to help autism too for a bit.

sdoodle press review

So far we are impressed by the design and its’ compact size.

We like that it is a fully enclosed device.

According to Solidoodle:

The Solidoodle Press is a one-touch 3D printer designed to fit in your home. A consumer machine with no manual calibration required to get started. Just take it out of the box and start printing with our new SoliPrint software.

Product Comparison: Not sure what to buy? Check out our comparison chart to see which printer is right for you.

Filament: The Solidoodle Press has a proprietary spool. While you can use other filament, we recommend Solidoodle filament for your printer.

Warranty: All printers come with a limited warranty.

SoliCare: Extend your warranty coverage with SoliCare! For coverage above and beyond our standard warranty, SoliCare covers any defects or malfunctions in your new Solidoodle Press printer shipped within the United States for one year after it ships to you, whether due to manufacturing, shipping, normal wear and tear, or accident.

International Shipping: For international orders, customs fees, import taxes and VAT may apply and are not included in the shipping costs charged by Solidoodle. Please note that we cannot estimate your country’s import taxes at this time. For an estimate we suggest using this Duty Calculator.

We have been able to print some small objects with the printer and are working on a review of it.

We appreciate receiving the printer and look forward to future testing and reviewing of it.

We would love to test and review other 3d printers and drones as well. In terms of the design of the printer, it is very appealing to look at and would fit in well in ones home or office.

There are several options as far as the software, you can use Soliprint, Solidoodle’s proprietary software, Mattercontrol from Matterhackers, Simplify 3d or Repetier with a slicer like sl3cr.

 

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TSeiha Design trying to help autism with T-Shirts! Worth checking out!

pay it forward

We ran into these folks on twitter who are trying to make a difference for autism.

It seems to be a good cause definitely worth checking out and helping!

Please take a look!

PRESS RELEASE
Alicia Fritz Herman
TSeiha Design
(+62)89697372375
aliciafh@tseihadesign.com
www.tseihadesign.webflow.io
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Crowdfunded Premium Design Supports Disabilities With A Kick
Gresik, East Java – August, 25th 2015 – Indonesia based premium art and design, retail startup TSeiha Design will launch its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign using the name of Pay It Forward for a production plant to resource people with disabilities.
Alicia Fritz Herman is a severely autistic designer who has suffered undetected disabilities for years. Devastated by many undetected cases of children with disabilities combined with poverty, living out of school in Indonesia, Alicia took the lead by founding TSeiha Design as the first step toward her mission. Consequently, she innovated the idea to resource people with disabilities for her beliefs behind those weaknesses of disabilities, there is a diamond people cannot see from their perspective, each having a special talent.
“I want to pay it forward to society, so we can develop a better life for people with disabilities and for children as our future. Let us create good karma together.”
TSeiha Design has set a first goal of raising $200.000 to run a production plant for a premium art fashion industry in Indonesia. This amount will buying printing machines, computers, apparel materials, rent a place and hire more people to enable the production to run smoothly, also online store sites to run both the international and Indonesian market. TSeiha Design represents our independence to express how we really feel, the power of self-love, and a feeling of pride regardless of who we are.
Pay It Forward #IGiveMyAll – Hope has to be bigger than your circumstances will alive on Indiegogo on Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 morning EST.
Campaign link: http://igg.me/at/tseiha-payitforward
Alicia Fritz Herman founded TSeiha Design on December 22nd, 2014 with a tagline, “Crazily Unique”.
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Our Pleasant experience with the Mbot by Makeblock.

We recently received a Blue wee robot called the Mbot from Makeblock. I assembled it with of one my teen aged sons. It was a fairly simple process and would be a great science project for Middle School or Elementary school or possibly high school science or computer classes.

mbot parts

After the robot was assembled we put it through its’ paces.

I also took it to a local autism organization and let the young folks there play with it too.

They kids liked the remote controlled operations and the follow the line on paper modes.

I also tried some programming with it and it performed well in that mode too.

mbot 3

In term of design the device is mostly made of metal, has nice solid wheels covered in rubber, and was a really amazing little device. It operated well on concrete, tile floors and carpet as well. I wish we would have such excellent devices when I was a kid in the 1980’s.

The young folks, autism educators, my teen aged sons and daughter and I were quite impressed with the Mbot.

We would love to test and review some of their cool robots too especially the ones with treads.

according to Makeblock–>

mBot is a low cost, easy-to-run robot kit for kids to get hands-on experience about graphical programming, electronics, robotics. It is an all-in-one solution for robotics learning and designed for STEM education.
Cute shape with easy assembly is our goal. mBot contains only about 45 pieces in total, so it is easy to have a sense of achievement for kids to assemble in 10 mins quickly.

I would definitely agree we really liked the wee robot.

For those who want to learn how to program:

Since Scratch2.0 is very popular in teachers and students as a graphical programming software, it has almost been proved to be the most easy-to-use graphical programming tool. So based on Scratch 2.0, we develop a new software mBlock to use Scratch-style coding to program Arduino and robots.

They offer a free download too of the software download link

Here is a link to Makerblock’s site to take a look at the mbot and learn more about these cool devices–> site link

mbot 1

We are huge fans of Makerblock and their educational learning tools.

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Testing the Davinci 1.0a from XYZ Printing!

We were recently loaned a Davinci 1.0A printer to test and review.

dav.1

So far as first impressions it is very commercial in its’ design almost like a microwave, which is nice for the office environment.

img_product_side_right

It self calibrates and is quite easy to set up out of the box to get it up and running.

The print quality so far has been rather decent as long as one occasionally cleans the print head.

We tested it with the abs filament and were impressed.

I am not entirely sure if it can print with soft PLA so that phone cases can be printed with it or not.

Here is  one of the test prints that was printed on it–>


dav img 1

We will have more details in a future article.

So far we like the design, ease of setup and use, and the build quality is decent.

We wish that it could print on materials other than pla and abs.

In addition, the software is works well but not as flexible as other software such as matter control from matterhackers.

For more information go to XYZ Printing!

We will have a video up soon, and more information on the Davinci 1.0a as well.

Overall it is a nice device that is very solid and well constructed and is definitely a decent value for the money.

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Help us to become makers for autism, donate for a 3d printer and supplies.

We are trying to use technology like 3d printers to become makers for autism!

We are trying to raise the money to buy a 3d printer or 2 and supplies.

Our plan is to the use the printer for autism educational projects and fundraising events.

We are also trying to become a non-profit foundation for tech and the arts too!

Please help us get the funds to make a difference!

 

Robo3d.1

MORE 3D PRINT




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The Yezz Monaco 47 Windows Smartphone

We recently had the opportunity to review the Yezz Monaco 47.

If you like Windows phones then you will really like this phone.

See more info at YEZZ!

yez mon 47 pcit 1

Overall we liked it a great deal.

On the plus side it offers:

–> A nice quality camera for videos and photos
–> A nice design, it feels good in the hand
–> It is very light weight, almost surprisingly light
–> It comes with several backs and acccessories
–> It performed well as a business phone

yezz 2

yezz 3

On the downside:

–>It could use a longer battery life, it is not bad, but could be better
–>It could be faster
–>The sound level over speakerphone and blue tooth though decent,could be a bit louder.

Here are the detailed specifications:

Height: 5.35
Width: 2.65
Depth: 0.28
Weight: 4.23
Network: GSM Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900
2G Networks: Dual SIM Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G Networks: HSPA Connection – 850/1900 MHz Bands
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi / Hotspot / Wi-Fi Direct
Headphone: Jack stereo
Connectivity: EDGE/GPRS/3G Connection
SIM Card: Dual SIM (Mini SIM)
Screen Size: 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches
Memory Card Slot: microSD, up to 128 GB
Internal Memory: 8 GB, 1 GB RAM
Camera: 13 MP Primary Camera/5 MP Front Camera
Bluetooth: v4.0, A2DP
Extra Features: panorama
Battery: Li-Ion 1550 mAh battery
Stand-by battery time: Up to 480 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G)
Talk time battery time: Up to 16 h (2G) / Up to 7 h 30 min (3G)
USB: Yes, microUSB
Radio: FM Radio
Games: Yes
Flashlight: Yes
Video: Yes
Music/Video player: Yes
Java: No
Analog TV: No
Multimedia Player: Yes
Organizer: Yes
Calendar: Yes
3.5 mm jack: Yes
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
Predictive Text Input: Yes
Sound Recorder: Yes
Calculator: Yes
Stopwatch: Yes
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass
MP4/WMV/H.264 player: Yes
MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player: Yes
Google Search, Maps, Gmail: Yes
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa: Yes
Voice memo/dial: Yes

I have been using it as a daily driver for several weeks and it has performed well.

I was able to do all of my work related things with the phone with few complaints and it has performed solidly overall.

I have used other Windows phones and I would rank it up there with the best of them.

I would definitely recommend the device to anyone who needs a Windows smart phone with a nice design and style.

I appreciated the opportunity to test and review this nice device and overall I liked it.

In comparison to the Lumia devices, this one definitely held its’ own.

yezz 2

I would definitely consider YEZZ and its’ devices for future phone needs.

I found a nice unboxing video on Youtube with regards to the Monaco 47–>

Watch this video on YouTube.