Priced at just US$499, XYZprinting Inc’s (三緯) new 3D printer, the da Vinci 1.0, caused a stir at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, wowing the editors of Reviewed.com, who selected it for an Editor’s Choice Award.
The firm’s entry-level 3D printer beat out 27 other products to earn the endorsement from the Web site, which presented the awards in partnership with show organizer the Consumer Electronics Association.
Judges praised the da Vinci 1.0 as an “affordable and approachable 3D printing” device, comparing it to products from other brands that use the same fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology, but generally cost more than US$1,400.
XYZprinting, a unit of Taiwanese electronics conglomerate Kinpo Group (金仁寶集團), is scheduled to start shipping its da Vinci 1.0 printers to China this month, with the product to debut in Japan and the US next month, and in Europe in March, chairman Simon Shen (沈軾榮) said last month.
The company has set a 100,000-unit global sales target for printers for this year and 1 million over the next three years, Shen said.
Last year, there were only a handful of 3D printing companies at the CES gadget expo, but this year, there were 30 and there would have been more if organizers had not turned others away because they could not fit them in.
The 3D printing area of the show floor drew dense crowds that gawked at the devices and their creations, which ranged from toys to tea cups to cases for Apple Inc’s iPhones.
With 3D printing, “we’re moving to a world of mass customization,” Consumer Electronics Association analys Shawn Dubravac said.
What started with custom-printed T-shirts in the style of CafePress can now happen in all kinds of industries, he said, but added that it is still a small field and he expects that just fewer than 100,000 3D printers will be sold this year.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
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