Pettis, 39, runs MakerBot Industries, which produces the world’s most popular consumer 3D printers. The latest MakerBot machine—the Replicator—takes up about as much space as a small microwave. It receives 3D images from a computer and then sets to work turning them into real objects by melting plastic and squirting it out of a nozzle. The Replicator lays one layer of super-thin plastic on top of another until the object—a toy castle, an LED flashlight, a Windsor chair—is done.

Founded in 2009, MakerBot used to specialize in selling hobbyist 3D printer kits that people would need to assemble on their own. Hardcore types can still go the kit route, but in a bid to make consumer 3D printing mainstream, MakerBot now sells pre-assembled machines. The Replicator just hit the market and has two nozzles so you can print with different colored plastics at the same time, a bigger surface to print on, and a sleeker overall design. It costs $1,749.

A few months ago, I stopped by the BotCave, the gritty Brooklyn headquarters of MakerBot. It is an underground lair full of electronics gear, shipping paraphernalia, and even a vending machine that offers up spools of plastic, instead of candy bars. Workers like Colin Butgereit, a onetime aspiring welder, grab parts from various boxes and lay them out on a work surface to bring the Replicators to life. It takes Butgereit about six hours to make a machine by hand. “I believe I am the fastest,” he says.

Pettis boasts about bringing some manufacturing chops back to Brooklyn. “These streets used to be lined with manufacturing companies,” he says. “Show me another one now besides us.” Fair enough. But Pettis does not exactly ooze “titan of industry.” “We like what we are doing and are having a good time,” he says. “We treat our customers as our friends. They are the coolest people in the world, and we’re supporting them being creative.” Meanwhile, the manufacturing floor at the BotCave seems more reminiscent of a college dorm room than a Toyota production line, with its barely controlled chaos and super-funky startup aesthetic.

During my visit, Pettis, a former school teacher, douses my hair with cornstarch and then uses a laser to make a 3D scan of my head. After the scan, he points me toward the bathroom so that I can rinse the cornstarch out in the sink—a process that, as it turns out, leaves my hair goopy at first and later a dusty mess. Still, I receive a printed version of my head soon enough and I got to tap into a bit of the grassroots aesthetic that has helped MakerBot sell more than 10,000 of its machines.

MakerBot has received more than $10 million in venture capital from a huge variety of sources and has put that money to good work so far. Pettis is just about the only 3D printing celebrity—holding his own, for example, during an appearance on The Colbert Report last June. Using a hand-held laser scanner, Pettis captured a three-dimensional image of Stephen Colbert’s head and then printed it on the spot. “We no longer have to rely on the Chinese for our plastic pieces of crap,” Colbert said. “Because what’s cheaper than a Chinese worker? A robot.” Pettis also presented Colbert with a chimera, fusing Colbert’s head to the body of an eagle, perched atop the dome of the Capitol Building.

Moving forward, though, MakerBot will face much stiffer competition. 3D Systems (DDD), one of the commercial 3D printing giants, has just come out with the Cube, a pre-assembled consumer 3D printer that looks flashier than the Replicator and costs about $400 less.

“The way I see is that we’re just at the beginning of this market,” Pettis says. “In technology circles, people know about this stuff and maybe know someone who has a 3D printer. The next step is moving to where you go to a neighbor’s house to get a new doorknob printed or something like that. We will get there in the next year or two. In 10 years, having a MakerBot will be so normal. It will be like having a microwave.”

Read more articles like this at www.businessweek.com

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So you’ve heard us talk about cloud computing, but you still might be wondering if this is something my business needs?

Consider this:
- Cloud computing can be great for bigger operations because they have the advantage of spreading their costs over a larger server base.
- With 30-40 percent more server utilization in in-house data centers, you are allowing more users in more different places to complete more computing loads throughout the day. This is great for businesses more employees working remotely!
- Cloud installations use virtualization– meaning, you no longer need to have 2 power supplies in each server; the death of any one particular serer doesn’t matter to the delivery of IT services.
- Server purchase headaches are eliminated with cloud computing because it generally has one data center budget and clear responsibilities assigned to one person with decision making authority.
- Save energy and capital costs! See Graph for comparisons.

I can not stress enough how efficient and easier it is being on the Cloud!

Contact us today for more information on how your business could be thriving from Cloud 9!
Office 713- 863- 8900 or sales@seamlesssolutions.com
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Read more on this topic at:

http://blog.comptia.org/2012/04/27/channeltrends-adding-structure-to-the-cloud/

http://gigaom.com/cleantech/4-reasons-why-cloud-computing-is-efficient/

Bets on cloud, security and information optimisation

By Anh Nguyen | Computerworld UK | Published 12:48, 08 May 12

HP’s CEO and president Meg Whitman has announced a commitment to boosting investment in research and development (R&D), declaring that innovation at the company was “alive and well”.

The hardware giant, which holds more than 36,000 patents, spent $3.2 billion (£1.98 billion) on R&D in 2011, up from $2.96 billion the previous year.

“One of my objectives is to increase that [R&D investment] dramatically over the next few years,” Whitman told the HP Software Universe conference in London today.

“We are bringing this research to market a lot faster than in the past. We don’t market it very well [but] innovation is alive and well at HP.”

Whitman, former CEO at eBay, took over from Leo Apotheker as head of HP around eight months ago.

In her keynote speech, she acknowledged the company’s recent difficulties, from its multiple CEO changes to “turmoil in the boardroom”.

Despite this, she said: “I have fallen in love with HP.”

She echoed a recent promise made by Mark Hurd, former HP CEO and now co-president of Oracle, saying that HP was simplifying its operations and portfolios to make it easier for customers to do business with the company.

More specifically, Whitman said that HP would be focusing on three areas – what she referred to as “three corporate bets” – namely, cloud computing, security and information optimisation.

We are already a leader in cloud,” she said. “The HP cloud is leading in private cloud with nearly 600 customers implementations. Our enterprise managed service business operates nearly 200 private clouds.”

Whitman said that HP would focus on delivering security products that not only monitor the perimeter “like a security camera” but also provide insight on the source of threats.

Furthermore, she acknowledged the roles of Autonomy and Vertica, the data analytics firms HP bought last year to develop its information optimisation division, in helping customers get more insight from their big data.

“CEOs want meaning out of this data, to see entirely new insights into their business,” said Whitman.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/infrastructure/3356216/hp-ceo-pledges-dramatic-boost-in-rd/

So what are the benefits of cloud computing?

- The power of renting computing resources, which helps users avoid the costs of owning, maintaing, and upgrading their own hardware and software. This is particularly good in situations that require higher levels of computing resources because it reduces the overhead, lowers the risk of technology investment, and gives the user access to a larger selection of tools and technologies.

- It provides the disaster recovery and backup benefits of goegraphically distributing computing resources and data.

- It offers the ability for users to access resources regardless of geographic location, operating system, or device.

- Cloud computing allows for resources to be added on demand so that companies or individuals can scale their “instances” based on their needs vs. budget.

- It also allows for increased data security and integrity by centralizing storage and offering high-level security solutions at lower costs.

Here at Seamless Solutions we offer cloud computing with Microsoft 365. Give us a call at 713- 863- 8900 for more information!

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Over the next four years, tablet computers will become the tool of choice for consumers and businesses, overtaking laptops and PCs, Forrester Research predicts. According to analyst
Frank Gillett, there will be 760 million tablets in global circulation by 2016
– most of them being sold to consumers — with users relying on wireless
docking “frames” installed in places such as conference rooms and
coffee shops to power and connect their devices. Computerworld

With a warrant in hand from a federal judge authorizing the sweep, the Microsoft lawyers and technical personnel gathered evidence and deactivated Web servers ostensibly used by criminals in a scheme to infect computers and steal personal data. At the same time, Microsoft seized control of hundreds of Web addresses that it says were used as part of the same scheme.

The sweep was part of a civil suit brought by Microsoft in its increasingly aggressive campaign to take the lead in combating such crimes, rather than waiting for law enforcement agencies to act. The company’s targets were equipment used to control the botnets, which criminals, known as bot-herders, use for ill intent.

Microsoft has a big interest in making the Internet a safer place. Despite inroads made by Apple and others in some parts of the technology business, Microsoft’s Windows operating system still runs the vast majority of the computers connected to the Internet. The prevalence of its software has made Windows the most appealing target for online criminals, and the security holes they discover in the software are a persistent nuisance for Windows users.

Microsoft’s involvement in what had been considered largely a law enforcement function — fighting computer crime — is the brainchild of Richard Boscovich, a former federal prosecutor who is a senior lawyer in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit. That group watches over fraud that could affect the company’s products and reputation.

Mr. Boscovich, who handled drug, computer and financial crime cases in Miami in his former job, devised a novel legal strategy to underpin the growing number of Microsoft’s civil suits against bot-herders. Among other things, he argued that the culprits behind botnets were violating Microsoft’s trademarks through fake e-mails they used to spread their malicious software.

Mr. Boscovich said the Friday sweep was meant to send a message to the criminals behind the scheme, whose identities are unknown. “We’re letting them know we’re looking at them,” said Mr. Boscovich after participating in the Pennsylvania raid, in Scranton.

Before Friday’s sweep, Microsoft attacked three botnets in the last couple of years through civil suits. In each case, Microsoft obtained court orders that permitted it to seize Web addresses and computers associated with the botnets without first notifying the owners of the property. The secrecy was necessary, Microsoft argued, to prevent criminals from re-establishing new communications links to their infected computers.

Some security experts said Microsoft’s tactics had been effective, even if they had not eradicated the scourge of botnets.

“Taking the disruption into the courthouse was a brilliant idea and is helping the rest of the industry to reconsider what actions are possible, and that action is needed and can succeed,” said Richard Perlotto, director at the Shadowserver Foundation, a nonprofit group that tracks data about tools used for online fraud and forms of computer crime.

Mr. Perlotto and Microsoft said they did not see civil legal action against people who commit online crime as a replacement for law enforcement action, which can result in much stiffer criminal penalties. “We equate this to a neighborhood watch,” Mr. Boscovich said.

Jose Nazario, a senior security researcher at Arbor Networks, an Internet security firm, said that Microsoft’s record against botnets had been a “mixed bag” and that some of its gains were only temporary. After an earlier action against a botnet known as Waledac, for example, the software behind it was modified slightly to create a new botnet.

“You can take out a botnet, but unless you take down the coders and put the clients behind bars, they’re just going to go ahead and do this again,” Mr. Nazario said.

Repost of New York Times

SN XXXXXXXXX.     We did not get the hole punch, however,  it is available.  The machine is very fast, hold lots of paper, prints on regular copy paper as well as stock paper. I love the way it makes booklets and staples in the center fold of the paper. (You  cannot make a booklet  with stock paper because of the weight  and the folding part.)

The only problem we had was a little ring had come loose from the end cap tray . We were printing with  a light weight stock paper and it would not pull through. Called  Seamless, they sent a repair tech out right away and he fixed the problem. A little ring had come off the roller, probably when it was assembled.   No problems since.

We have called them here for minor things and it was because  no one read the manual first before calling for  help. Or perhaps  forgot how to open the door and find a paper jam or something simple.  They have always been so good about getting here  within a short period of time.  I think we have called them here 3 times and 2 of those times could probably have been avoided if someone had taken the manual and read “how to”.

I especially love the  red trail it shows if there is a paper jam.  It shows exactly where to go and it’s so easy to pull out a piece of paper that for some reason would not flow through the machine . We do a lot of printing and use lots of ink. The replacement of an ink cartridges is so easy, just take one out and drop in a new one.

We all very pleased with the machine and service and I believe you will be as well.

Sue (charitable organization)

“We believe being positioned in the Leaders quadrant by Gartner affirms that the innovation in Lexmark’s sophisticated smart MFPs extends us beyond just output and into providing productivity-enhancing workflow solutions,” said Marty Canning, Lexmark executive vice president and president of Imaging Solutions and Services. “When adding our award-winning devices with enterprise content management from Perceptive Software, we go even further to help our customers solve pain points, move information faster and work more efficiently.”

 For the full story, please click here.

¹ Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant for MFPs and Printers, Worldwide, Sharon McNee, Federico De Silva, October 24, 2011.

“I work with several directors and all inpatient units within this hospital and often call for service.  Andre is ALWAYS very helpful and timely with the answers to my calls.  He consistently goes above and beyond whenever he is here in the hospital.  For instance, if he is working on one of my copiers and I inform him of other issues on the same machine, he will fully break the system apart and solves those issues.  He has to sometimes order extra parts, and always completes the repairs necessary.  Here at the hospital, the physicians and nurses don’t often have time to call in repairs and I sometimes don’t even know what is wrong with the machines, so when Andre is down, he is always willing to do the “detective” work needed to make the repairs.”

At Seamless Solutions we work everyday to deliver great customer service.

The changes affect the deductions for purchases of equipment. One is called the Section 179 deduction, a name taken from a provision of the Internal Revenue Code. The other is called bonus depreciation. Congress approved the breaks as an economic stimulus move — they were intended to make it easier for small businesses to expand and hire workers. Although the economy is still slow, the breaks are being scaled back.

Ed Smith, a tax partner at the accounting and consulting firm BDO in Boston, says he’s talking with clients about whether it makes sense to buy equipment before the changes take effect. “Understand that we’re not going to have this deduction in the next couple of years,” he said.

Read the whole story at the Houston Chronical