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Gest: Redesigning Human-Computer Interaction

It’s one thing to design a product that improves the way something works, makes things fun, or helps you explore new ways of doing things. It’s quite another to change routine, daily behavior, like typing or using a keyboard. That’s the challenge Gest is taking on. Gest is, in the company’s own words, a digital […]

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How to Clean PolyJet Parts

A lot of hard work goes into making 3D printed parts shine once they come off the build bed. As revolutionary as 3D printing has been for hardware development, there’s still some manual labor that goes into every part. Here’s a quick tutorial that shows how we clean PolyJet parts fresh off the build bed […]

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3 Steps to Go From Digital to Physical

We talk a lot about iteration here at Fictiv because it’s the foundation for lean hardware development and lean hardware development is the key to bringing successful hardware products to market. Iteration refers to the cyclic process of refining a design until you’ve achieved the established product requirements, outlined in your PRD (product requirements document). […]

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The True Cost of Machine Ownership

One of the most popular questions I get from hardware companies concerns the pros and cons of 3D printer ownership. The question generally goes something like, if i’m iterating all the time, doesn’t it make sense for me to buy my own machine that I can access whenever I need it? That’s precisely the question I […]

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Living Hinge Design: How to Design a Living Hinge

If you’ve worked with consumer electronics, you’ll have come across living hinges. They are found in a wide variety of components – clamshell packaging, attached bottle caps, and electronic cases, just to name a few. They are low cost, easy to manufacture, and have little wear or friction involved in operation — understandably a popular […]

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3D TLC: Best Practices at One of the Bay Area’s Top 3D Print Shops

Moddler is widely known as one of the top boutique 3D print shops in the Bay Area. Founded by vfx veteran and Emmy Award winner John Vegher, the company enjoys a glittering line-up of clients and a solid reputation for quality, care, and customer service. Moddler’s focus on producing the highest quality parts for their customers, regardless […]

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Accelerating Through Success: Start Local, Scale Global

Every startup knows about accelerators, but not every startup knows how to read between the lines of an accelerator experience to transform those golden nuggets of expertise, resources, and connections that these organizations offer into a viable new brand. In this week’s Spotlight we share the story of Peeple, the smart caller ID for your front […]

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Part Incubator, Consulting Firm & Makerspace: Radicand is a Radical New Collaboratory for Hardware Startups

We’ve all heard of the digital divide. But in Silicon Valley, there’s another kind of gap—the chasm between software and hardware. Hardware developers have watched for years as their software dev friends pulled down free pieces of code from GitHub, spun off app after app from their dorm rooms and garages, and wooed millions of […]

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Industrial Design vs Mechanical Engineering [VIDEO]

We recently hosted experts from 3 of the top product design firms in the country, Whipsaw, Mindtribe, and Synapse as well as over a hundred San Francisco designers and engineers to explore the give and take between design and engineering in the development of hardware products. We captured the discussion on video and look forward to continuing the conversation!

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3 Most Common Product Development Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Every day, we work with young hardware startups to help them bring new products to market. While there is no deficit of passion and motivation in these zealous hardware entrepreneurs, we do see them make mistakes from time to time. Here are the 3 most common mistakes we see and strategies to avoid them so […]