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DT Daily: Amazon embraces 3D printing, Polaris’ Slingshot 3-wheeler, Mad Max reboot

Today on DT Daily: Amazon bets on 3D printing, Polaris unveils their crazy Slingshot 3-wheeler, and Mad Max… is back.

Interested in 3D printing but not sure where to get a printer or even what to do with it? Lucky for you, Amazon.com is on the case.

Amazon’s new 3D-printing section, cleverly found under the ‘Additive Manufacturing Products’ heading, is now a one-stop shop for almost everything in the growing 3-D printed world. From the machines themselves, 3D scanners to the printing materials to how-to books, it looks like Amazon is going all-in on the burgeoning technology. And if you just want to buy some 3-D printed items, well, of course they have that covered as well.

A spread of five departments offers 3-D’d jewelry, housewares, toys and games, and there’s even a ‘custom items’ section where you can personalize your own bits, from cufflinks to bobble heads to… well, if you can imagine it, they can probably print it up for you – for a small fee of course.

If you’ve been searching for a sports car lately and find those Ferraris and Lamborghinis are just out of your price range, may we suggest a Slingshot instead – a Polaris Slingshot, to be exact. Looking like a mashup of a motorcycle, an ATV and something from the Transformers movies, the three-wheeled, low-slung Slingshot is a cornering demon and unlike most anything on the road today.

With over 170hp pushing just 1700 pounds, and two side-by-side seats just inches off the tarmac, the Slingshot, which was just announced, will likely embarrass 4-wheeled sporting machines costing way more than the $20,000 base price. There’s also a gussied-up ‘S-L’ version for $24,000 that adds a windscreen, stereo and other tech, and all the goodies on the SL version can be optioned separately for the base Slingshot as well.

Polaris says the new Slingshot meets 3-wheeled motorcycle regulations in all 50 states, so you may need an endorsement and helmet before you can get behind the wheel and start shaming Porsches.

1979’s Mad Max remains an action movie icon, and for good reason: George Miller’s violent, post-apocalyptic masterpiece was filled with memorable characters, amazing action sequences and bone-crunching stunt work.

It was considered so violent at the time it was banned in several countries! But now, Miller is back with a modern reboot of the story called Mad Max: Fury Road, and instead of Mel Gibson, Tom Hardy is in the supercharged driver’s seat as Max. This time, the crazies in the desert aren’t fighting over fuel, it’s water that’s now the scarce resource. The first trailer just debuted at Comic-Con and it looks absolutely insane.

Max teams up with a contingent of women warriors led by the chameleon-like Charlize Theron and Miller says that once again, stunts and action sequences will be the real deal and NOT just a bunch of CG trickery. Even some veterans of the original film will show up in the new version! Fury Road is set to open in May of 2015, and we’ll be in line early.

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
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