SXSW

There have been very few technologies that have thought my interest lately. There is the Basis watch but I haven't had the chance to try that out since it's been sold out for a long period (I'm still waiting!). But the past week has been SXSW (South by Southwest) conference where it's a weird mix of music, films, education, and technology (Keep it weird, Austin). There are a few things that peeked my interest:

One has to be the 3D scanner by MakerBot. While there are already scanners in the market already, this would bring it to more casual users and would be much more convenient for individuals/small businesses. This would change the way prototyping is done similarly to how they created the affordable 3D printer.

Another device that got my attention is the Gigabot; essential it's a huge 3D printer. This would increase the possibilities for prototyping beyond MakerBot's Replicator 2.

Both of these all change how products will be developed especially by individuals with ideas. I see it as an opening for a market similarly to what the mobile operating systems did for applications like games; an individual with an idea can actually create something and it has a opportunity to become popular and marketable. Customizability will be revolutionized with affordable 3D scanner and printers.

This also has tons of implications for change in the educational system too. This could opening up minds to engineering more easily just like what Arduino has done for microprocessors or Legos has done with robotics. The more affordable these printers become, the more it will be available to schools to produce hands-on experiences (more similar to the real world). Projects will go to a different level.

Leap Motion was also there but it wasn't announced at SXSW. I hope I can demo it soon!

The next few days should be interesting. Tomorrow, I try to get my Google I/O tickets; it'll ultimately decide of I take a vacation to San Francisco in May. Then, Samsung will announce the Galaxy S4 which will probably not meet all of the ridiculous hype that it had put up in the past week.