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One of the simplest forms of personal computer communication that has been developed over recent years is the touch screen. Below are some examples of their uses in modern society:

Public Information Displays – One of the most common places to find a touch screen display is on public information systems such as tourism displays, trade show displays and information kiosks. The reason behind this is because of the ease of use a touch screen offers. It is less intimidating than other input devices, especially for novice users.

Retail Systems – Touchscreens can be utilized very effectively within the retail and restaurant sectors by improving the speed of transactions with customers. With a touch screen system such as a cash register, an order entry station or even seat reservation systems, employees can work much faster and the training of employees becomes simpler. With the size of the unit being much smaller than the equivalent data entry systems, counter space is also increased.

Customer Self-Service – It is a fact that nobody likes waiting in line or queuing for things, and it is a problem that can be overcome by using touch screens. Self-service touch screen terminals are being used to improve customer service at stores, restaurants and transportation hubs. ATMs and airline e-ticket terminals are other examples of self-service stations that often use touch screens. Customers can complete transactions themselves; saving them time and allowing them to get on with their day.

Computer Training – As touch screen interfaces are more user-friendly than other types of input devices, training time for computer novices can be significantly reduced. They also help to make the learning process more fun and interactive. Studies have shown that courses that involve large parts of touch screen computer training are more popular with students than courses which do not make use of the technology.

Assistive Technology – For some people, using a keyboard or mouse can be a challenging task. The touch screen input system makes it easier for these people to use computers in everyday life by incorporating on screen keyboards and other assistive technology in data input processes.

Industrial And Manufacturing – Within the last few years, the integration of touch screen systems into industrial parts and product manufacturing has increased dramatically. Because of the ease of use, the speed of data input and the simplified visual communication of options, touch screens offer an unparalleled alternative to older data input systems.

Find Out More – Touch Screen Computer

Technology computers, Technology, touch screens, touchscreens

3D printing and rapid prototyping technology (RPT) is on the verge of improving product availability for consumers. The technology once employed only by manufacturing industries is about to become available for customer use in their home or small business. Rapid prototyping technology will give an almost limitless ability for production to the average consumer. Just imagine that you have lost a button to your favorite suit or dress and there’s no time to purchase another. Is there a way to solve it? Once produced you sew it on and you are on your way. 3D printing is able to apply this rapid prototyping technology for the consumer and in a variety of applications. The technology for 3D printers is computer assisted design software instructing the printer to build a 3 dimensional model step by step until an exact reproduction is produced. Just think of the possibilities for consumers that 3D printers using rapid prototyping technology proposes, they are too vast to number.

3D Printing used for 3D Toys and Models. The use of 3D printing for making toys and models for the customer right in their home is only one of many applications of rapid prototyping technology. In this application the consumer would purchase or download a (CAD) software package for the toy they wanted to make and upload it into the hard-drive. One of many models of 3D printing could then begin to manufacture the toy or model for the consumer. Options such as customizing monograms or colors for the lucky recipient of the toy would be available to the customer. In a short period of time a customized toy would be ready for packaging, wrapping and gift giving. That special train or model car that you couldn’t locate for purchase could be produced by 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology. 3D printing would really open up a lot of alternatives for consumers if it comes to producing just the right toys or models.

3D printing: the advantages of rapid prototyping in the home. As the implications for 3D printing and rapid prototyping continue to unfold the ramifications for the customer to manufacture products at home are immense. If a new household item is desired by the consumer they can simply purchase a CAD file, upload it and copy it. Maybe that new kitchen tool seen on television appeals to the customer, 3D printers have the capability to produce it right in the home. Or maybe a birthday is coming up and you saw the perfect gift, 3D printers can create that gift with rapid prototyping technique (more illustrations can be see at materialise.com/rapid-prototyping).

As we show it at Rapid Prototyping Website, rapid prototyping technology and 3D printings open up a whole host of new options by allowing the consumer to play a larger role in the design and manufacture of products they wish to purchase. Please visit Rapid Prototyping Website to see how 3D printing lets consumers to customize, design and manufacture many products on their own and in their own homes.

Technology prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping of toys, Technology, toys

The ongoing distribution of JavaME-capable mobile phones makes it no longer necessary for developers to become smartphone specialists with a profound knowledge in hardware and OS. Mobile software development should be simple to learn and quick results are the main goal.

A severe aspect when building a first prototype based on an initial, promising idea is to use the right tools. The production setup should be done rapidly. The workflows must be easy to learn and to handle. All that is what Python is well-known for and that makes it an attractive opportunity for testing user interfaces, impulsive ideas or rapid prototyping on smartphones in general.

Building stand-alone applications which can be installed on a device similar to native applications, is as well possible. And to underline the strong relation to the native programming language, C++ code snippets can be embedded within conventional modules.

In many existent an approach for developing Python applications for the S60 platform is demonstrated. Of course rapid prototyping is one of many methods to produce and deploy scripts on the target and the community is still working on even more effective instruments to make this process more comfortable for the developer. Compared to the JavaME and Symbian platforms, there is still no IDE available, which combines coding and deployment. Nevertheless, the available tools present a wide range of opportunities to produce applicable software which is, from a functional point of view, comparable to other mobile platforms. Nokia’s Python port is restricted to S60 2nd and 3rd Edition phones, which is only a fractional amount compared to the phone support of JavaME.

The mentioned aspects result in a disadvantage, due to the fact that Python is an interpreted language- the performance is much poorer. At Rapid Prototyping Website we demonstrate the results of performance measurements about PyS60 and JavaME. Maybe Python is also not the top language for implementing a commercial application. The plain text of the application’s code is right there for everyone to access. As you can see from Rapid Prototyping Website, even when packaging a Python script in stand-alone form using rapid prototyping, the code is accessible in script of the interpreter at runtime. However, many mobile platform developers use PyS60 to prototype products before producing commercial software, especially when trying to access features on the phone like camera and networking or performing GUI experiments.

The power of rapid prototyping is that it allows very easy access to these elements in a few lines of code. It is a straightforward way of developing a proof of concept on which one can quickly try ideas (you may view examples at materialise.com). So Python is best suited to custom programs, for specific interests or generating user interfaces, if needed in a short span of time for e.g. customer presentations. Python for S60 is supposed to be an upcoming competitor for native applications and if not used for high-performance applications it is definitely more than just a tool for rapid prototyping.

Technology mobile platforms, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping of mobile phones, Technology

Abstract Mobile application production has become more and more important during the last couple of years since the number of devices increases quickly and the capabilities of phones enable a new variety of services. This trend requires new opportunities for creating innovative software in an efficient and comfortable manner. With Python for S60 (PyS60), Nokia brought the Python programming language to S60 phones, which offers new ways of mobile application development and rapid prototyping. This article gives an introduction to PyS60, deals with the development process of applications and explains differences to common approaches when using the native Symbian C++ or JavaME platform.

The number of smartphones on the market has been increasing continually over the last couple of years, due to the changing way that people connect, interact and work. There is a need in small mobile devices and the ability to provide anytime, anywhere access to information in a simple and effective way. According to iSuppli1 analysts, there have been 2.7 billion cellular subscribers globally in 2009 and forecasts about 3 billion subscribers by end of 2010. Perhaps this market is growing faster than every other technologic sector. This increasing amount of devices associates the need of new services and applications along with platforms on which they are developed and deployed. As you can see at Rapid Prototyping Website, nowadays the mobile phone has become a multimedia all-rounder, which enables the user to make photos and videos, enter the world-wide web or using it as a multimedia player.

Since the beginning of this trend, far-sighted software developers began to write applications for mobile platforms, to benefit from an upcoming industry of rapid prototyping. The drawbacks of the huge amount of possibilities offered by the mobile platforms are recognized. Limited hardware-capabilities, low CPU speed and small displays require clever software concepts and remarkable development skills, to make an application be efficient or suitable. At Rapid Prototyping Website we may show you how different software platforms are established among the variety of phone manufacturers. Some build on their personal proprietary operating system whereas others employ published platforms, which enable third party developers to use native APIs to access phone-specific capabilities for their applications. Among these, Symbian OS, developed by the Symbian Ltd.2, turned out to be one of the key players on the market. But this great mobile platform comes along with the drawbacks of handling high-performance idioms of the C++ programming language, which was used to write the operating system itself.

The solution was Python for S60 (PyS60), an interpreted script language port for Symbian OS mobile phones. As you may see at www.materialise.com, Python is known for its simple concepts and slim language specification of around 100 pages. But not only beginners should take advantage from this opportunity of rapid prototyping. The easy approach could make fast and conceptual development possible for even the experienced ones.

Technology mobile platforms, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping of mobile phones, Technology

What has happened? How could we lose the process view? Specialization! Since the beginning of this century, specialization has made barriers between the different functional areas. Everyone has become a specialist. This is owing to the incredible amount of knowledge an individual must utilize in their function. What have we lost owing to this specialization? We have lost the ability to look at a problem from a broader viewpoint. This myopia, this single minded target in automotive industry created the wall between Design Engineering and Manufacturing.

What have we re-gained? Multi-functional teams can create a better product in less time and lower total cost than each of the individual groups working independently.

An example is the automotive industry which brings product, process, and production teams together at the beginning of the design phase. Equipment and part vendors, marketing, sales and distribution are also included on the team. They collaborate on each phase of the design process. A sample result of the rapid prototyping utilization: GM Canada manufactured a new sports car engine in 4 years rather than the usual 7 years. An example from a Hewlett-Packard team effort produced a new printer, conceived and brought to a high volume market in under a year from the traditional 3 year development cycle period.

“… the single most important reason for delays in production activities is the absence of multi-functional (and outsider) envisions on development projects from the start”, Quote from Tom Peters book Thriving on Chaos ­ Handbook for a Management Revolution.

One objective of DFM is improved communication, either through electronic means or face-to-face. An advantage of the flow of information from a CAD system is that the geometry is passed directly to a post processor that creates the program for a arithmetical control (NC) machine and the tooling used to verify the part is done correctly. Alternatively, the information can be passed to a rapid prototyping instrument (aka 3D Fax machine) or a simulation program to verify component design. This electronic communication can happen side by side or around the world. It helps improve the messaging between the designer, the manufacturing engineer and the mechanism operator.

Output from the CAD system can also be developed through a Computerized Process Planning (CAPP) system to create operator instructions for the rapid prototyping instrument. At Rapid Prototyping Website we can demonstrate how these may be displayed when needed at the operator’s computer or via a wireless interface to a portable device. No more lost or obsolete drawings!

A product that pulls all the information in the manufacturing knowledge base together with the other elements mentioned above with reference to Rapid Prototyping Website, achieves DFM via another acronym, CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) or otherwise CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) or else PIM (Product Information Management).

There are many products in automotive industry that provide excellent examples of this state of art combination. Visit Rapid Prototyping Website to see how the artificial intelligence and natural language are being used to simplify their use.

Technology automotive, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping in automotive industry, Technology