LIFE On The Cheap

If you are familiar with my TechGyrl Blog, then you know that I always gripe that I’m not wealthy. I live Life: “On The Cheap” and in case you don’t know what I am referring to well it includes: Shopping at COSTCO, not using a landline for telephone service [Instead I use a “Not-So” Smartphone, instead] not having cable and you can be assured that I still watch everything that needs viewing.

That way any monies left-over can be spent at my discretion that may include splurging on something of high monetary value (relatively speaking of course) or saving.

I don’t spend a lot on technology, in fact my version of Dreamweaver states that it is the property of Macromedia [Adobe now owns Dreamweaver). My reasoning as to why I don’t purchase every bell and whistle is:

1. Much of the new software can be prohibitively expensive.
2. Technology changes too frequently.
3. I am doing fine with what I have now.
My most recent re-Discovery is Paint.net:

Here are some of the things I’ve done after only two days of learning the program:

And:
 


I first used Paint.net years ago when it was a simple alternative to Microsoft’s Paint and granted while the current version isn’t as fast as PhotoShop, Paint.NET is a great raster image program. If you've ever struggled to find Photoshop's hidden gems or can't get familiar with GIMP's unusual UI, spend a little time researching and downloading Plugins, and you'll become a Paint.NET convert. 

3D Printing Gets a Speed Injection

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The Gutenberg printing press, which was invented around A.D. 1440, truly revolutionized the world. It allowed more people to have access to books, which until that time had to be manually copied by hand. Today the world is seeing another revolutionary advance in printing technology, but this time in 3D printing.

A racing car about 285 micrometers long printed at the Vienna University of Technology
The concept of 3D printing isn't that far removed from the traditional printing technique of basically casting ink on a page. It just adds multiple layers that build up an object in 3D. In some cases, it exists around multiple compounds that bond together to create a 3D object.
It isn't actually new -- it has existed for more than a decade. However, researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have developed a 3D printer with nanoprecision that uses two-photon lithography.