What Yoda Taught Me About 3-D Printing
Inexpensive 3-D printers aimed at consumers are toys, not the factories of the future.
Business
You Must Make the New Machines
Economist Ricardo Hausmann says the U.S. has a chance to invent the manufacturing technology of tomorrow.
To Market
Everything from a $125,000 genome analyzer to a credit card featuring a touch pad.
Manufacturing in the Balance
Inexpensive labor has defined the last decade in manufacturing. The future may belong to technology.
China's Challenge
If China wants an innovation-based economy, it will need to make political and institutional changes.
The Difference Between Makers and Manufacturers
Fans of 3-D printers and digital design tools argue that these technologies will transform the way we make goods. But can the “maker” movement really produce more than iPhone covers and jewelry?
The Mobile Business Got Tougher This Year
One basic market trend—consumers’ rapidly shifting attention to mobile devices—forced many Web, software, and hardware companies to take big risks this year.
Manipulating Light to Double Solar Power Output
An ARPA-E project will use advanced, nanostructured materials to make solar cells that convert far more of the energy in sunlight into electricity.
Flexible Solar Cells Can Stick to Just About Any Surface
Researchers describe a way to make solar cells that can be applied like stickers to different surfaces, broadening applications.
Akamai’s New CEO Aims to Speed Up Mobile Computing
Co-founder—and now CEO—Tom Leighton plans data-prioritization trials with Ericsson and massive use of distributed devices for transmitting video.
