College is a time of excitement and endless opportunity, but it’s also the land filled with unfinished projects, a truly staggering amount of research papers, and more deadlines than you care to count. If you are currently enrolled in an institute of higher education, the majority of you must be pretty happy for summer break, but it’s never too early to start prepping for next year. Which is why below, you’ll find a list of the top five tech toys you should look into grabbing for next semester:
5. Rendor:
If you’re majoring in anything that requires you to work with 3D-scans—which could be anything from art to engineering—then you should probably look into this app, created by Replica Labs for the iPhone.
Using Rendor, you can create a 3D-scan of nearly any object, simply by placing it on a specially designed printed grid and then taking a video of it from every possible angle. The app then pieces together the object’s shape based on its position on the grid, before generating a usable 3D file.
Users will be able to work with a full, 360° view of the scanned object, with the addition of the printed grid also allowing them to view bulges or hollows in the scan. While it’s not available quite yet—you’ll have to wait until July—it looks like it’s going to be a far more accurate tool than other variations on the same theme, like the app by Autodesk.
4. Pencil:
This iPad stylus, in combination with the iPad Paper app, has been around for a while, but it’s still one of the tools students should really look into using, as it’s a brilliant way of digital drawing for any college class or project.
The app essentially turns your iPad into a sketch pad, and it’s just been updated: Apple has released a new version that uses surface pressure technology, which means that you can achieve different line widths—wide for shading, thin for detail—just by angling the Pencil, in the same way you would if you were drawing with an actual pencil or charcoal. If you twist the stylus, you can now create marker lines with the same kind of precision.
3. The LIX Pen:
3D-printing is something that’s becoming more and more popular every day, especially in colleges. But for those unfortunate souls who don’t have access to very expensive 3D-printers, the LIX pen is the next best thing.
The pen is filled with a plant-based PLA filament, which is slowly heated to 300°. Simply attach the pen at its base to a small jack and attach the other end to your computer—the power flowing through the jack will heat the filament, enabling you to draw 3D creations right in the air.
As you can see above, the LIX pen is both a simpler and much cheaper method of creating a 3D-model than 3D-printing: compared to a 3D-printer, this pen is a steal at $140.00, making it perfect for you guys. Although, unlike 3D-printing, you should probably have at least a smidge of artistic ability in order to use it. Minor detail.
Most colleges still make you pay for printing, because this is a cold, cold world. And, despite all of our technological advances, most printers are still bulky, temperamental things that you can’t exactly carry with you. Meaning that when you’re already in class before you realize you forget to print out that ridiculously important paper that’s worth 50% of your grade on the absolute last day you can hand it in….
Yeah. Well, lucky for you, Zuta Labs invented the Mini Mobile Printer, which you can use to print your paper right there in class, at your desk, in around ten minutes. Look how tiny and cute it is:
Zuta’s printer is portable, attached to your smartphone, and pretty fast for its size, which is the holy trifecta of any college gadget. The Mini Mobile will work with Android, iOS, Linux and Windows systems, and will print around 1.2 pages a minute.
You want one. Be honest.
This coffee mug occupies the number one spot because it can brew coffee on the go and for once a company actually means on the go —the mug includes a brewing mechanism and a temperature regulator that allows you to brew coffee whenever you need it. Which, if you happen to be a college student, is always.
All you have to do in order to make your perfect cup of coffee is add water. And, if your coffee happens to be cold when you take a sip, all you have to do is press the button in the middle. The mug will warm it up in a matter of minutes.
Well, there you are. I hope at least one of these gadgets makes your college experience a little easier. Good luck!
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