Monday, February 6, 2012

This Was The Day Everything Changed


3D-Printed Pirate Bay Ship of the Day: Last month, the Pirate Bay added downloads of physical objects (or, at least, the files necessary to create them on a 3D printer).

Now the first “physibles” have started to appear in the real world.

Canadian Pirate Bay user Charles Randall downloaded a 3D model of the torrent site’s iconic pirate ship and had it printed by 3D printing service Shapeways.com.

“I was entertained by telling shapeways.com that I owned the copyright on the design though, something they force you to accept in order to have the model printed. But I guess, in a way, we all do,” Randall said.

The model cost around $100 for printing, materials, and shipping, but those who own their own 3D printers can produce one for less.


I hate the term physibles. There has to be a more elegant word for this whole 3D printing revolution. Things will not be the same from this moment on. We are closer than ever to teleportation and replicator technology. I like the design and lines of this cute pirate ship model.

The whole process fascinates me. I hope they get the technology down to a more consumer level soon - first at businesses set up to produce these physibles and then at home. The evolution is inevitable. Now the trick will be to see if this technology all stays obscure, becomes just a fad or really changes our civilization.

3 comments:

The Wordsmith Mill said...

Really interesting Cal. Thanks

DrGoat said...

I've been seeing the beginnings of the things you see in sci-fi movies lately too. They used this 3-D printing method to make a titanium jaw for some person whose own had deteriorated. Take that down the road to it's logical conclusion and you got something like the device in the 5th Element that reconstructs what's her name.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I can't wait until we can grow our own replacement organs in the fridge next to the steak that is growing in a petri dish for dinner.