MakerBot Industries

A close up remote

As a kid I received a few remote control toys.  Back then “remote control” was a funny term that wouldn’t be widely recognizable today. ¹  Imagine opening a toy race car – to find out that the remote control is really just a few dials with a reallllly long cord running to the back of the toy. ²  Yes, I suppose the control is, indeed, remote from the toy.

My point with all of this is that although something is technically true, it can still be a little deceptive.  According to a recent article from the TechTalk section on IEEE Spectrum MakerBot was one of only two 3D printers being displayed at CES 2011 in Las Vegas.  The other was a traditional inkjet printer except that it could blend two images so that you get a “3D” view when wearing those blue-red glasses.

So, how about a new slogan for MakerBot?  Perhaps something like, “You don’t need special glasses.”

1. Photo courtesy of jasleen_kaur [↩]
2. If you were lucky it was a long cord.  If you were unlucky, well, then I suppose there’s no real point in putting batteries in it, right? [↩]