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20
magazine
www.binfo.co.uk
innovations
i
Laptops for cash
A new website is offering UK businesses the opportunity to
turn unwanted equipment into cash. Launched by consumer
gadget recycling brand Dineromob, CashForLaptops provides
WEEE-approved disposal and recycling of laptops, PCs,
networking equipment, monitors, printers and photocopiers.
Businesses just have to log on, upload a description of the
unwanted machine, arrange a date for secure collection and
then get paid. Any data is securely removed from PCs using
CESG or US DoD approved wiping services. The equipment
is then either refurbished and reused or broken down into
component parts and recycled.
www.cashforlaptops.org.uk
A desk for our times
Economical, sustainable and
recyclable, the FlutePRO is a
workstation fit for our times.
Winner of a FIRA Innovation Award
2013, the cardboard workstation is
the result of four years’ R&D and
more than £1m of investment by
Flute Office founders Rod Fountain
and Mary DorringtonWard, who sold
their conventional furniture dealership
in 2008 to develop something more
relevant to the needs of businesses in
the 21st Century.
Flute Office CEO Rod Fountain
said: “We realised that what we used
to sell – expensive, heavy, inflexible,
unsustainable furniture – was not going
to survive the rapid changes in business
and working culture.”
FlutePRO products, designed and
manufactured in the UK, are completely
different. They are made from
cardboard, can be assembled quickly
without any tools and are available in a
range of colours and finishes including a
drywipe surface.
When a customer’s requirements
change, Flute Office takes back its
furniture and uses 100% of the raw
materials to make brand new products
that meet the customer’s new
specification.
The FlutePRO is ideal for start-ups
as well as established companies that
want the freedom to quickly change
office designs and layouts.
Fountain said: “Fast-growing
companies often don’t know what
their future needs are going to be,
even just a few months down the road.
The psychology of this is basically
‘let’s do something now that will be
fit for purpose and inspiring while we
decide what might be appropriate
for the longer term’. But there is a
real expectation that the ‘temporary’
solution will turn out to be so good and
so flexible that people will want to stick
with it.”
The FlutePRO desk has passed the
same British and European standards
for strength, stability, safety and fire
resistance as any other commercial
product. Despite weighing only 15kg, it
can take a top load of 1,700kg.
www.fluteoffice.com
Anyone who has dreamt of being able to take a 3D object,
scan it and create a perfect facsimile will welcome the news
that 3D printing specialist MakerBot is developing a 3D
scanner that will enable users to ‘copy’ 3D objects on a 3D
printer.
Using lasers and cameras to replicate physical objects in digital
form, the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is the latest
addition to MakerBot’s 3D Ecosystem, which already includes 3D
printers, design software and downloadable 3D designs.
Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot, said: “The MakerBot Digitizer
Desktop 3D Scanner is an innovative new way to take a physical
object, scan it, and create a digital file – without any design, CAD
software or 3D modelling experience at all – and then print the
item again and again on a MakerBot Replicator 2 (illustrated) or
MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer.”
He added: “The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is a
great tool for archiving, prototyping, replicating, and digitizing
prototypes, models, parts, artefacts, artwork, sculptures, clay
figures, jewelry, etc. If something gets broken, you can just scan it
and print it again.”
Makerbot introduced its first 3D printer four years ago and
has been gaining market share ever since. The company estimates
that in 2012, one in every four 3D printers sold was a MakerBot
model. To date, it has sold more than 15,000 MakerBot Desktop
3D Printers to engineers, designers, researchers and hobbyists
worldwide.
www.makerbot.com/digitizer
3D copier unveiled
Bringing drawings to life
Children and adults who love the idea of 3D printing but don’t have the
technical expertise to create their own designs are the target for a clever
sketching tool that converts line drawings made on a tablet, smartphone or
computer into a 3D shape that can be output on a 3D printer. The Doodle
3DWiFi Box, which sits between your tablet/computer and a 3D printer,
can also make 3D models of drawings, logos or still images captured with
a smartphone/tablet camera. It is currently under development. To find out
more, visit
http://doodle3d.com/kickstarter
.