How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tu1kY5edUhSzEuKf9LXAdoK9G79ptlnnQ1rXqn1cVI6aYW7Cc1jguF3n0oRE6xBXQu1_WA36_YkBX0yMEcgkS_HxF5FzRHNk3xpD80rwVggFmL8aEuMz1Hx-SMEr-w8vFg1keO8scug/s1600/3d-printer-guns3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tu1kY5edUhSzEuKf9LXAdoK9G79ptlnnQ1rXqn1cVI6aYW7Cc1jguF3n0oRE6xBXQu1_WA36_YkBX0yMEcgkS_HxF5FzRHNk3xpD80rwVggFmL8aEuMz1Hx-SMEr-w8vFg1keO8scug/s400/3d-printer-guns3.jpg" title="How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/how-much-money-can-3d-printing-actually.html">How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year?</a></h2> <div> A wave of giddy headlines has announced that a new academic study proves that buying a 3D printer is not only affordable — but a money-saver. In fact, the research is said to show that the gizmos save users so much money (by allowing them to print stuff they’d otherwise have to buy), they essentially pay for themselves in a year (Case in point: "Household 3D Printers Can Pay For Themselves In A Year," raves Gizmodo.)</div> <div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Not so fast. The actual study – as opposed to the abstract or university summations of it — is pretty interesting, but it also raises a few questions. I got curious precisely because I love the idea of 3D printers, can think of lots of fun things to do with one, and would love to inform my wife that the data is in, and we have to spend $1,500 to $2,000 on one of these things, pronto. It’s the financially responsible thing to do! Think of all the money we'll save!</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Reading the study, however, I realized that this conversation would have to wait. Instead I needed to get one of the researchers involved, Joshua Pearce of Michigan Technological University, to clarify a few things for me.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> First, some basics. To investigate the economics of consumer-level 3D printing today, Pearce and his colleagues came up with a list of 20 objects for which 3D designs are readily downloadable from the open-source Thingiverse site. They concluded the cost of buying these goods on the open market would cost somewhere between $312 and $1,944. The cost of printing all 20? A mere $18.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The researchers neatly addressed some obvious potential objections. They were pretty conservative in their marketplace cost estimates (often ignoring potential shipping charges, for instance) and stuck to realistically fast and easy printing jobs. Finally: Many of the printable wonders found in the Thingiverse fall in the realm of toys, art projects, and weird fun; nothing wrong with that, but the researchers rightly picked stuff that was more practical, in order to make a replacement-cost argument.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Still, the coverage I saw was vague or selective about that 20-item list. 3D printers work by building solid objects out of a melted filament, and I was having trouble imagining what 20 plastic little doodads I might need to buy in a given year. It seems to me that to make a case about how much money a 3D printer might save, you have to start by establishing a baseline about likely spending.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> First, on the low end, buying these twenty items could cost as little as $312, per the study, and not $1,944. Second, looking at the full list in a table at the end of the paper (below), every individual item on the list seemed reasonable. But as a group they struck me as odd. What’s are the chances of someone needing an iPhone 5 dock and an iPhone 4 dock? A set of shower curtain rings seemed like the sort of thing one might have to replace at some point, and I suppose it’s possible that I’ll covet a “pierogi mold” some day. </div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year? How much money can 3D printing ACTUALLY save you in a year? A wave of gi...

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More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QluxoGsH467u0ljAUa8UlUq24XKyFb2eFnnDi8G3nRoyJv-XKhFbm2CJriQx0aT0jTh7scnCv8U8SD8hMjXOwO7i4QtIqB299LxqYhGT2a2az38ueA4nPM7jJ5iS4ryHZ7a8eC8i9YI/s1600/More+investors+hold+bullish+U.S.+bond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey images" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QluxoGsH467u0ljAUa8UlUq24XKyFb2eFnnDi8G3nRoyJv-XKhFbm2CJriQx0aT0jTh7scnCv8U8SD8hMjXOwO7i4QtIqB299LxqYhGT2a2az38ueA4nPM7jJ5iS4ryHZ7a8eC8i9YI/s400/More+investors+hold+bullish+U.S.+bond.jpg" title="More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey pictue" width="400" /></a>More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey</h1> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> </h3> <div> NEW YORK (Reuters) - More investors raised their positions in longer-dated U.S. Treasuries holdings in the latest week in advance of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, according to a survey released on Tuesday.<br /> A total of 19 percent of its Treasuries clients said on Monday they were "long" in their duration on U.S. government debt, or owning more longer-dated Treasuries than their benchmarks, up from 11 percent a week earlier, the latest J.P. Morgan Securities survey showed.<br /> This was the highest share of its clients who said they were long in their duration in about five months.<br /> By holding more longer-dated Treasuries, investors add duration or interest rate risk to their portfolios in anticipation of a market rally when longer-dated bonds generate higher returns than shorter-dated debt.<br /> Treasuries prices have slid and their yields have jumped in recent weeks due to worries the U.S. central bank might reduce its $85 billion monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities later this year, as the U.S. economy has shown tentative signs of sustainable growth.<br /> The rebound in Treasuries longs likely stemmed from bargain-minded investors who bought them after their longer-dated yields rose to 14-month highs last week.<br /> There has also been a persistent view the Fed will stick with its current pace of bond purchases as long as unemployment remains high and inflation runs below its 2 percent target.<br /> Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes traded 7/32 lower in price early Tuesday with a yield of 2.203 percent, up 2.5 basis points from late on Monday. The 10-year yield reached a 14-month high of 2.293 percent a week ago. (US/)<br /> The Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank's policy-setting body, will convene later Tuesday. It is expected to release a policy statement and economic forecasts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by a conference with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. (FED/DIARY)<br /> The bond market has stabilized in recent days, although intraday volatility remained high. This suggested there are fewer investors who are "short" in their Treasuries duration, or own fewer longer-dated Treasuries than their benchmarks.<br /> In J.P. Morgan's latest survey, a total of 15 percent of its Treasuries clients said they were "short," down from 28 percent a week earlier.<br /> The share of "longs" exceeded "shorts" by 4 percentage points in the latest week, compared with a week ago when shorts exceeded longs by 17 points, J.P. Morgan said.<br /> The share of investors who said they held Treasuries equal to their benchmarks rose to 66 percent, from 61 a week earlier.<br /> Among active clients, who are viewed as making speculative bets in Treasuries, 77 percent said their longer-dated Treasuries holdings matched their benchmarks, up from 61 percent the prior week.<br /> The survey showed 15 percent of active "longs," up from 8 percent the prior week.<br /> Only 8 percent of active clients said they were short in duration versus their benchmarks, down sharply from 31 percent a week earlier.<br /> J.P. Morgan surveys 40 to 60 of its Treasuries clients weekly, of which 60 percent are fund managers, 25 percent are speculative accounts and 15 percent are central banks and sovereign wealth funds.</div> </div>

More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey NEW YORK (Reuters) - More investors raised their positions in longer-da...

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