Stratasys Launches Multi Material Color 3D Printer

Stratasys is shaking up the 3D printing game with today's introduction of the first and only machine that combines color with multi-material 3D printing.

The Objet500 Connex3 Color Multi-material 3D Printer is more than just a mouthful—it features a unique triple-jetting technology, which allows for an almost unlimited combinations of materials and color. It pops out a finished product, no assembly or painting required.

The name of the printer Objet500 Connex3 Color Multi-material 3D Printer---doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but could have implications for design, engineering and manufacturing.
                                                   

         
While 3D printing is capturing the imagination of consumers to some degree, the real action in the sector revolves around manufacturing and the supply chain.

According to Wired.com, Stratasys, owner of the Markerbot range of 3D printers, claims that the combinations for creating base materials with different rigidity, flexibility, and color combinations are “virtually unlimited.” This printer has the ability to print using different materials and the capabilities to print pretty much any color combination.

The 3D printer combines traditional 2D printer color options with the multi-material printing capabilities. It features “Triple-jetting” technology that allows three base materials, reducing the need for separate runs to paint, thus decreasing the production time needed. Stratasys estimates that it can help to reduce the time that it takes to bring prototypes to market by 50 percent.

While there are other 3D printers, such as the ProJet5500X , these printers only offer a small range of colors including black, white, and gray. The Object500 Connex3 offers not only a wide variety of colors but materials as well.

AAP Leaders Not Providing information on Party Funding: Centre to HC

New Delhi: The Centre today told the Delhi High Court that AAP leaders, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have not provided the information sought by them on the funding received by the party.

"We have asked for certain details from them regarding bank accounts and other information vide our letter dated November 4, 2013.

We had also sent another letter to them. But there is no answer," Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra, appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs, told the court.
                                                       

Meanwhile, the bench headed by justice Pradeep Nandrajog asked petitioner advocate M L Sharma to also implead AAP as one of the respondents in the PIL filed by him seeking lodging of a criminal case against founding members of the party, including Kejriwal, for allegedly receiving foreign funds in violation of law.

"AAP is a registered political party. Why you have not made them a party? File an amended memo of parties by next date of hearing i.e. February 5," the bench said. Besides Kejriwal, the petitioner has made AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan as party in his PIL.

The high court had earlier asked the Centre to look into "afresh" the accounts of AAP to find out the source of money received by it after its inception.

The order had came after the Centre had filed a report in which it had said that an evaluation of the accounts of civil society of Team Anna was done in 2012 and a report was filed before another bench of the high court last year in a similar PIL filed by the petitioner earlier.

Bus Ride Costliest in Kerala in South India

Kochi: Private bus operators are demanding yet another hike after the one implemented over a year ago. And with the Fare Revision Committee appointed by the government supporting the claims of bus owners, it seems another ticket fare hike is on the cards.

But, obviously, the UDF government does not want to go in for a hike immediately as the Lok Sabha polls are round the corner. The hike is very much on the card ones the elections are over.Nearly 35, 000 private buses operate in the state, forming the backbone of the public transportation system.
                                           

The hike is contemplated despite the fact that the state is among the costliest for commuters in the country when it comes to public transportation. The current minimum charge here is Rs 6 against Rs 3 in Tamil Nadu and Rs 4 in Karnataka.click here for more information about Bus Ride Costliest The income per km in Kerala is the highest in South India because of the high density of population and subsequent demand for public transport.

Experts point out that the Fare Revision Committee submitted inflated expenditure figures to the government and another hike close on the heels of the tax rise on autos and taxis proposed in the Budget would lead to commuters deserting the public transport system in the state.

“The committee headed by Justice Ramachandran basically relied on a NATPAC study that showed the average number of passengers per bus as 32 whereas the private bus owners themselves submitted it as 50.

If we take the latter figure then the minimum charge would come to only Rs 3 and the per km charge 33 paise,” said Dijo Kappen of the Pala-based Centre for Consumer Education, who approached the high court against frequent bus fare hikes.

When contacted, NATPAC scientist T. Elangovan stood by the study. “The last year saw diesel prices going up by 12 per cent and wages by 15 per cent (Rs 680 from Rs 580). The insurance charge has also gone up besides spare part costs,” he said.

RPF Staff Shortage Affects Security on Trains

While the South Western railway (SWR) division claims that the helpline, created soon after the July 2012 incident when a wo­man was molested and pushed out of a train, has helped reduce crimes agai­nst women on trains, the culprits are taking advantage of lack of guards during day time.

The railway protection force (RPF) is unable to deploy guards during day due to a shortage of staff. While the helpline rece­ived 213 complaints since August 2012, when it was set up, it received 101 complaints in 2012 and 112 in 2013. Among them, 10 cases were related to misbehaviour with women.
                                             

In one of the cases, the wife of railway personnel was allegedly molested. In another, a group of men harassed a woman and even got into quarrel with her husband. They even tried to push them out of the train. SWR division has pasted stickers of helpline on at least 40 trains which operate from Mysore.

While a train should have four security guards at night, only three are being deployed. According to SWR division sources, though as many as 391 personnel have been sanctioned for RPF Staff Shortage, it currently has only 319, including seven women constables.

In the past thirty years only 40 additional security personnel have been sanctioned for the division, out of which only 27 posts were filled in 2010.

While the Mysore station alone has eight entry poi­nts, it has only one door frame metal detector. Arou­nd 25,000 to 30,000 passengers use the station on any given day. The division needs at least 200 more personnel to handle the rush, sources said.

‘Fellow Martians’ to Meet in Bangalore Today

Bangalore: “Fellow Martians” to meet in Bengaluru? Well, this is not a do of little green men from Mars, but of 62 Indians among 1,058 aspirants worldwide short-listed by Mars One - a crowd-funded project of a Dutch non-profit organization to send 24 to 40 people on a one-way voyage to Mars to build a permanent settlement on the red planet.

They will gather here at the “Million Martian Me­eting” on Saturday to get to known their co-passe­ngers, and about what mo­tivated them to res­pond to the most daring call in history to volunteer to be the first inhabitants of that planet.                            

And, though there are four more rounds of physical and psychological evaluation for these astronaut-aspirants, some like Sandeep Ku­mar Laik, an automation test engineer in a mu­lti-national company in Bengaluru and Am­ulya Nidhi Rastogi, a student of mechanical engineering student from Gurgaon, are getting ready with a list of things they would like to carry with them to Mars.

“As a console gaming freak, I wish I could carry my console (PS3) there along with my favourite songs or movies and PDF copy of the books I like to read,” says Sandeep. And Amulya’s baggage wou­ld include gifts from his parents, girlfriend and friends though he has not started packing his bag yet.

Though Amulya and Vinod Kotiya, a project manager at NTPC Ltd, New Delhi, and father of an 18 month-old baby girl, who has also made the first cut, are concerned about the hazards in­vo­lved—a 6-8 month journey th­rough space, high levels of cosmic radiation and du­st storms on Mars, they are confident that they would be able to overcome them. 

AAP Likely to Announce First List of Candidates For Lok Sabha Polls

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party is likely to announce the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections by January 26.

Sources in the party said it will announce candidates for few seats in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana Bihar and Maharashtra. The first list is likely to include the names of senior party leaders and prominent faces.
                                                                 

"First and second round of screening candidates for a few seats was completed last week. We should hopefully release the list of candidates by January 26. "The party may announce potential candidates for a seat and then shortlist one after consulting the active members of the party," said a source.

At its National Executive Committee meeting early this month, party leaders had announced that the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha Polls would be declared between January 15 to 20, but the "tremendous" response and number of applications it received delayed the process.

"The deadline to submit the forms by aspirants wanting to contest Lok Sabha seats was January 15.

However, we are still receiving forms. We have received maximum forms from Delhi and Haryana. In Delhi alone, the ratio is 65 people to 1 seat," party spokesperson Dilip Pandey said.

The party has so far received 2600 forms from 200 Lok Sabha constituencies from aspirants willing to contest elections.

Top Players 'Intrigued' By IPTL - Bhupathi

(Reuters) - If Novak Djokovic is to be believed then Mahesh Bhupathi has lit the touchpaper for a revolution in tennis.

The doubles specialist is the driving force behind the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), launched earlier this week to great fanfare with a dazzling list of top-rank players already signed up.

World number one Djokovic will be joined in the inaugural edition, scheduled for December 2014, by 11-times grand slam winner Rafa Nadal and U.S. Open holder Andy Murray. Retired grand slam champions Pete Sampras and Carlos Moya will also take part.
                                                             

Among the women, 15-times major winner Serena Williams and twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka will be the headline acts.

"The players are intrigued and willing to commit and I think we will bring a whole new set of fans to the sport, with a fast-paced entertaining short concept like this," Bhupathi told Reuters in an interview at the French Open in Paris click here for more information about IPTL - Bhupathi .

The only notable absentees, for now, are Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer, but don't be fooled into thinking the Swiss is not behind the idea - he is.

Whether or not the league, that will take place in six as yet unspecified cities across Asia and will feature players drafted into teams to compete in one-set shootout tennis, soars into orbit or falls flat remains to be seen.

Bhupathi, however, is adamant about one thing - it will be a serious competition and not a glorified exhibition.