Category: Business
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The Better Printed Circuit Board Designer: Michael Woodworth & Adam Gravitis of Upverter
Upverter is the “Google Docs” of printed circuit boards (PCBs), allowing multiple designers to work on the same board design simultaneously. Even the manufacturer can check in to provide real-time feedback. This Canadian startup aims to replace unruly and expensive PCB software suites like EAGLE, but Michael claims their true competition is pencil and paper,…
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Crowdfunding as Cultural Production: John Dimatos of Kickstarter
Kickstarter is a self-described “cultural institution,” with over 77,000 successfully crowdfunded projects under its belt and 8,000-10,000 projects live on the site at any given moment. Although you may be familiar with the runaway success campaigns that make it to the evening news: Veronica Mars, the Zach Braff movie, Oculus Rift, OUYA, and Pebble; there…
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Finding your Champions, Campaign Videos, and other Crowdfunding Tips: Steve Tam of Indiegogo
Steve Tam leads marketing and community outreach efforts in Canada for Indiegogo, the world’s largest, open flexible crowdfunding platform. He manages tech, hardware, and design there. Steve gave us a trial run of the talk he was going to give at Dx3 2015, “How to Sell to the Right Customers.” “Who’s our customer?” is the…
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Democratizing Production through 3D Printing: Eleanor Whitney of Shapeways
On March 18th, we toured the Shapeways 3D printing factory in Queens, New York. This 24-hour operation allows anyone to upload a 3D model and have it printed in a wide variety of materials (55+): various plastics, rubber, full-colour sandstone, lost wax metals (outsourced): gold, silver, platinum, steel, and porcelain with food-safe glaze. Their scale…
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Inventing Interaction through Play: Paul Rothman & Jordi Borras of littleBits
littleBits is the rapid prototyping and high quality educational toy for interaction design. An ambitious variety of electronic modules snap together with colourful magnetic connectors to build robots, musical instruments, toys, home automation devices, and wearables. One notable example, Ringly, a “smart ring” which vibrates and illuminates when you get a notification, raised $5.1 million…