Our old friend and honorary Tectorian (at least until he inevitably moves back here) John Mardlin, who moved recently to the Communitech Hub in Kitchener-Waterloo tipped us off on a cool new innovative printing technology.

John is working with a new tech company, Structur3D printing, that has just launched Discov3ry.

It’s an add-on product for desktop 3D printers, that will enable them to print more than just rigid plastics. Now makers can work with more friendly, affordable and flexible materials including silicone, latex, ceramics, icing sugar and even nutella:

The nutella gets Structur3D the press, but the exciting part is when the team will be able to enable printing of silicone for biomedical applications, as well as emergent uses we haven’t yet imagined.

Structur3D is running a kickstarter campaign that has been pretty successful so far, beating our funding goal in the first 24 hours.

Says John Mardlin: “I’m thrilled to be helping to empower the creativity and entrepreneurialism of the maker community.”

>>UPDATE: Amazon Fire Phone: Bing For Search, Nokia For Maps

Amazon has launched its Fire Phone, a $199 smartphone with 3D cameras and all the Amazon services you could ever imagine.

The Fire Phone has a 4.7-inch HD display, aluminum buttons, a Qualcomm processor, Adreno 330 graphics, and 2GB of RAM.

There’s also a 13-megapixel camera, an f/2.0 lens, and optical image stabilization. Bezos compared the Fire Phone to the iPhone 5S and the Samsung Galaxy S5, saying that no matter the situation the Fire Phone will take better shots. There’s a quick-access shutter button on the side, and unlimited cloud storage for your photos.

It all runs on Amazon’s Android-based Fire OS.

The 3D aspect of the phone seems to be aimed at providing “shifting” wallpaper and lockscreen that changes depending on how you look at it.

There are also 3D Maps: looking for a restaurant and at the Empire State Building and the view changes every time you tilt your phone.

It’s also part of the navigation of the device — a tilt of the phone opens up a navigation drawer, or scrolls through options.

No word when the Amazon Fire will make it to Canada, though!

Each May, Tech Crunch hosts Disrupt New York, a technology festival with 25 discussion panels, 27 startup demos, and a hackathon.

Since this weekend is VICFest, we thought we would share some musically themed innovations unveiled at Disrupt.

Acoustic Stream

Billing itself as “the guitarist’s wireless 4-in-1 companion,” Acoustic Stream is a mobile app that is intended to be a “Swiss-Army Knife” for guitarists. Boasting four wireless features in one, it covers all bases from songwriting and live performance to instrument protection, all in a compact, snazzy-looking transmitter and an easy-to-use app for Android and iOS.

Roadie Tuner

Also unveiled at Disrupt, Roadie Tuner is “the ultimate guitarist’s tool,” and is an automated robotic guitar tuner and the first device capable of tracking the quality of strings, informing users of when strings are about to snap and need replacing.

It’s complemented by a mobile app that allows users to switch between alternate tunings, create their own custom tunings, and keep track of their instrument’s maintenance information.

Fret Pen

Apparently Fret Pen is “the tiniest guitar you will ever play,” a super portable guitar practice device you can take anywhere. Pop off the cap, snap the ball-point end into the guitar body and pluck the tiny string; a Bluetooth-connected smartphone acts as a wireless amp that can make a host of sounds, “from clean acoustic to dirty garage.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxopieB7Hoo]

Kickstarter is taking on space exploration. While a crowded-funded planetary probe has been in the news, there’s another Kickstarter project that is putting space exploration within reach of… everyone!

Calling asteroids “the best real estate in the Solar System,” Planetary Resources bills ARKYD as “the first private space telescope and a stepping-stone to near-Earth asteroids.”

Planetary Resources is an American company formed in November 2010, and their stated goal is to “expand Earth’s natural resource base” by developing and deploying the technologies for asteroid mining.

The first step to mining asteroids, the company believes, is launching small (30–50 kg) low-cost space telescopes for both Earth observation and astronomy.

The same telescope satellite capabilities that Planetary Resources hopes to sell to customers can be used to survey and intensively examine near-Earth asteroids.

Planetary Resources is offering several versions of its space telescope.

ARKYD 100

The ARKYD 100, is, according to Planetary Resources, a low-earth, commercial space telescope “within reach of the private citizen.” According to the company:

The ARKYD 100 Space Telescope provides spectacular views of the Earth’s surface and deep space, including the rich, virtually unexplored areas between our planet and the Sun. Central to its configuration and functionality is a precision imaging system. With arc-second resolution, the ARKYD 100 spacecraft camera will provide detailed celestial and Earth observations where you want them, and when you want them. The ARKYD 100 is capable of surveying for near-Earth asteroids during one orbit, then be retasked for rain forest observation on the next. The possibilities for utility and engagement are only limited by the imagination of the user.

Planetary Resources says the telescope will be offered to the public “soon.”

ARKYD 200

The ARKYD 200 adds “propulsion capabilities and additional scientific instrumentation” to the ARKYD 100 Space Telescope to create a probe that can actually travel to an asteroid.

So far, more than 17,000 Kickstarter backers have pledged $1.5M in funding, blowing the company’s original goal of $1M out of the water… into orbit.