I got a look at the Cube printer recently and wasn't really impressed. Their target market is kids, and so the whole system from printer to the software used to run it is dumbed down and not at all customizable. The print quality was not great either. For a printer in this home user/hobbyist class, I think most people would be better off with a Makerbot, or if you want to build it yourself for a cheaper price, look at a Reprap. If you want to see other options, here's a huge list of them: 3D printers under $1000. These little printers can't really be compared to the commercial ones like Z-corp and the ones used by Shapeways and other 3D print services. The commercial printers often cost upwards of 100K, and have much bigger build space, better resolution, and better quality in general. The home printers are good for getting quick results for concept testing and for simple low resolution functioning parts.

Thanks Tig, I will pass this along. Baz

It's like off-shore casinos...

Update, No-cost Windows 8 desktop development returns with Express for Desktop http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/no-cost-windows-8-desktop-development-returns-with-express-for-desktop/

Some heads-up: http://googleblog.blogspot.hu/2012/06/never-ending-quest-for-perfect-map.html and the "what happens to my GE models" announcement: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/3dwh/-GQj7OlZshA/discussion

A really good table

one of my favorites. [image: sDyV_quitter.jpg] [image: Hrav_ba.jpg]

@unknownuser said: Al, Curious what error message you get when trying to save an image. (is it something like "fails to recognise the drive") I ask because I have a 1tb Seagate Goflex ext. drive I purchased of October 2011 to which I have no problem with saving a Win7 drive image. Charlie The error is something like "I/O error while writing to drive" You can see if the drive i unsupportable by typing in: Fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo F: (replacing F: with the drive letter) It is the Bytes per Physical in bold below which is the problem. "Not Supported" means that the drive does not report the number of bytes to Windows, so Windows does not know that it is not a 512 byte drive. NTFS Volume Serial Number : 0x7420b59d20b566b0 Version : 3.1 Number Sectors : 0x000000002baa0a1f Total Clusters : 0x000000002baa0a1f Free Clusters : 0x000000002b78d793 Total Reserved : 0x00000000000df800 Bytes Per Sector : 4096 Bytes Per Physical Sector : <Not Supported> <------- Bytes Per Cluster : 4096 Bytes Per FileRecord Segment : 4096 Clusters Per FileRecord Segment : 1 Mft Valid Data Length : 0x0000000000d00000 Mft Start Lcn : 0x00000000000c0000 Mft2 Start Lcn : 0x0000000015d5050f Mft Zone Start : 0x00000000000c0100 Mft Zone End : 0x00000000000cc900 RM Identifier: 230A744D-C625-11E0-9ECD-101F740C3A98

Well anyway, that will turn the search function into a directory listing - something Google has just suspended to provide.

Yeah I'd love to play with this option, though I can't understand the lingo of much of the tips and seems you have to dig around everywhere to find the right info. Little is up to date! Plus the proposed use for commercial works attract massive licensing fees.

Reminds me also of the grid shell, although some use steel fasteners, some are apparently all wood joinery.

If only they'd shown us stuff like this in school.

@pugz1983 said: Then the Diabolo will be a toy also not known to children nowadays. It's like yo-yo-ing but with sticks. Might be a good game to port to the Nintendo Wii Are you kidding. My son (10 yr) and daughter (6yr) are crazy about their diablo's. They are doing tricks with that thing that amazes me every time I see them practising. (I can't even keep the damn thing rollin ...)

Coverage of the return of the Dragon-X to Earth, splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, is on NASA-TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html Good Luck to the entire Space-X team and NASA.

@solo said: @unknownuser said: I thought Al Gore invented the Earth. Boo, see you starting to consider other creators...

I heard about Flame on the News a few days ago and had in mind to check it out. Thanks for the links Urgen. Stuxnet x20: Massive cyber spy virus 'Flame' hits Iran, Israel http://youtu.be/mmwzhPx69-U I note that its said to be Win only at present but a powerful data collection virus. On the news it reported that this thing can take capture pics of the users and send them to wherever, USA and Israel possibly according to Net reports. Also Skype chats etc etc. Yes indeed, Flame is most definitely a weapon, a 'cybernet super weapon', in one of the wars that is ongoing presently.

@unknownuser said: Don't use Outlook and IE I generally do not like to "prescribe" what people should do (as a forum admin I get lots of emails seeking help with login issues) but I would (kind of) take this suggestion seriously. Even if it comes from Pilou. No, seriously. Get a "real" browser and get a "real" email client. That's it.

"Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. Is a great book about comics, but it goes into a lot of detail about the difference in abstraction and realism, and the importance of it. I can't recommend the book enough. http://scottmccloud.com/2-print/1-uc/index.html