Meet your 3D maker

REDMOND, Wash. – July 30, 2013 – In this episode of “On the Whiteboard,” Editor Pamela Woon goes to Makerhaus and its 10,000-square-feet of fabrication prototyping – a membership workshop that features 3D printing for things such as jewelry, toys, and virtually anything you can design with 3D software.


While 3D printing isn’t mainstream – yet – it’s only a matter of time before it is, with the potential to crank out increasingly complex creations as easily as printing a Word document. In fact, customers can buy a 3D printer at Microsoft retail stores this fall and at Staples for $1,299.

With the Windows 8.1 update, the vision of desktop manufacturing started to seem real. We found out Windows 8.1 will have built-in support for 3D printing. And a new project from Microsoft Research pioneers techniques to embed unique information (such as serial numbers) inside 3D printed objects readable by a terahertz scanner as a cost-effective alternative to adding external radio-frequency ID (RFID) tags, electronic chips or bar codes.

About the series

The whiteboard is the starting point for some of technology’s biggest ideas and most compelling stories, and with this new film series, the focus is on just that – the stories, ideas, people, places and things that make Microsoft tick. These micro documentaries will take viewers behind the curtain, but also to the intersection of culture and technology, Woon explains.

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