Lately there has been a focus on 3D, and I am not referring to 3D television sets. I'm talking about 3D printing. Today I want to take a step back and bring to your attention what comes before 3D printing. The answer of course is 3D designing. There are many high-end programs to help you design and model in 3D space, several are AutoCad, Maya, 3D StudioMax, Lightwave and Rhino 3D among others. These are all wonderfully robust feature packed pieces of software, however, these are aimed primarily at professionals in the industry. Any of these programs would be a fairly significant investment for a hobbyist, maker or someone just interested in testing the waters.

I want to focus on two main providers of free 3D software. They have similarities and differences and hopefully one of them will fit your needs. Both providers offer free software to get you designing in no time.

• Blender - It has been a player in the 3D design world for a handful of years. The product is robust in its features offering: a customizab…

The Shape of Design is a thought provoking read regarding makers and design by Frank Chimero. The work is a quick read and provides insight that is useful whether you are a maker an entrepreneur or a startup team. The idea this book gets across is that the "Why" is more important than the "How". The process as the product is seen as ideal not the end outcome.

I hope it is an enjoyable read for you as well.

Business Insider is a great source of information. Earlier today I located an interesting article on the site that had summarized 33 startups that failed. The summaries include insight into the reasons each startup failed and includes a link to the full article if one exists.

To succeed in the future, we must learn from the past.

Calling all makers, inventors, and handymen! We have a a post today for you! I want to take the time to introduce a cool project that is in the works by the folks at ShopBot Tools Inc. out of Durham, NC.
I bring to you...HandiBot�! After watching some videos on how it works, I believe this could be a tool for the masses since most industries have gone to mobile application-based products. This project is currently being crowd-funded on Kickstarter. Last I checked, they were around $13,000 away from their $125,000 goal. That's rockin'!
Here I am going to list some of the things the HandiBot� team has initial ideas for the mobile-based apps for this wonderful contraption:

• Cutting varibale size holes in registered positions with pocketing, countersinking, etc.


• Will act as a small CNC mill capable of high precision such as PC boards and capable of working with various materials such as aluminum.


• With a diamond drag, you will be able to create precise etchings on glass and metal and also do small engravi…

Hopefully as an entrepreneur or as a team launching a venture your curiosity is at a high level. Curiosity helps make your venture an adventure, so keep it going. If finding something to learn is puzzling you, perhaps the list below will present a solution to you.

Some options:

• WealthLift - Cost: Free - This is a great place to learn about investing. You choose companies that will out perform or under perform other companies within the market. There are courses that teach different aspects of investing as well as pair it with a forum that has some great discussion and exchange of ideas. I personally use this service and find it to be interesting and thought provoking.
• Duolingo - Cost: Free - This is the best place in my opinion to learn another language. They offer quite a few to learn, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and English. You learn by typing in English and the other language you are learning. You can use your microphone to speak the words in the language you are learning and also tr…