Continuing on from my previous post on the Mcor Matrix 3D printer that uses paper as its raw material, I hope to provide here a review of other recent developments relating to 3D printing hardware.  Not all of these are immediately relevant to the idea of consumers printing objects in their own home, but do [...]

Over the last few months, I’ve noticed that 3D printing technology, and the businesses that are based on it, are receiving a much higher level of attention in the mainstream business and technology media.  Coupled with this is a noticeable expansion in the number of companies that are engaged in the provision of services to [...]

Online custom clothing company Spreadshirt, recently announced an investment of €10 million by Kennet Partners, a leading private equity firm, and existing investor Accel Partners.
Spreadshirt allows customers to personalized goods to purchase for themselves, with a minimum order of one.   In addition, Spreadshirt extends this capability to partners, large and small, who want to offer [...]

1.  If you’re a parent of a young baby or toddler, this press release might be of interest to you:  A company called MyPacifier will sell you a child’s pacifier with the name of the child on it - probably most useful if your child is in a creche or playschool.  The press release tells [...]

1.  Jeff Howe, author of the Crowdsourcing book, has written an interesting and comprehensive blog post about the possible future online business models that might be adopted by the print media.
2.  RPI, a provider of automated, mass-customized manufacturing and fulfillment for the [...]

The music industry has faced considerable strategic challenges in recent years, not least the trend towards reduced revenues caused by file sharing, but also the shift in market power from labels towards online aggregators such as Apple iTunes. Another side-effect of the world wide web on the music industry has been the trend towards dis-intermediation, [...]

An article in LimaOhio.com includes information on American Trim, a company from Lima, Ohio in the U.S. that is held up by the local Mayor as an example of a enterprise that has successfully pursued a mass customization strategy. American Trim manufactures parts for appliances and heavy trucks.
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In FXStreet.com, John Mauldin wrote a [...]

The Inventorspot website has a news item on the new customized travel guides being produced by Dorling Kindersley (DK) Travel.
They are similar in concept to Offbeat Guides, which were covered on this site recently.
The Inventorspot article considers the DK Travel customized travel guide to be a superior offering to the Offbeat Guide, although it should [...]

Cincom, which provides software solutions for configuration of complex products (often called product configurators), has started two separate blogs to engage with its customer base.
The first of these blogs is called Complex Selling Made Effective, with articles written by contributors from Cincom, principally Louis Columbus and Dale Wolf of Cincom Manufacturing Business Solutions. While [...]

Could 2009 be the year that crowdsourcing takes root in the area of car design? My last 2008 post here described how Caterham, a specialist British sports car maker, is crowdsourcing the design of its next car. In late December, an article in the Boston-based XConomy website described how Local Motors, a startup company in [...]

Caterham, the specialist British sports car manufacturer, has launched a crowdsourcing initiative for the design of its next model, in association with PerformancePR, an automotive public relations company.  The project, named Splitwheel, which is described as “a revolutionary online project to design and build a new performance car based on the collective decision-making of its [...]

David Sifry, the founder and former CEO of Technorati, has announced a first public beta (test version) for a new personalized travel guide service called Offbeat Guides.
Offbeat Guides create personalized, up-to-date travel guides that cover over 30,000 travel destinations, using a combination of search technology and curation by both amateur and professional travel experts.  [...]

Two design software companies this week had significant announcements. Delcam, based in the UK, will later this year launch a new version of its CopyCAD reverse engineering package. CopyCAD Pro will be the first product development system to offer “Tribrid Modelling”, by adding triangle modelling to the combination of surface and solid modelling [...]

In an article proposing how banks can retain customers in the current financial climate, one of the tactics that CRM Buyer website advises banks to offer mass customization:
“Banks have a real opportunity to leverage data and technology and to personalize every customer’s experience. In contact centers, for example, new analytics-based technology can draw on data [...]

ZD Net reports that Intel is joining with Asus to create WePC, which serves as a sales site for Asus but is also an effort to gain community input in the PC design process.
Make Your Own Jeans, which provides made-to-measure denim fashions at affordable prices, has announced a new add-on service that allows clients to [...]