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DT Daily: 3D printed car, Beatles mono box set, iPod Classic fades out

Today on DT Daily: The possible future of automobile manufacturing, the Beatles return – in mono, and we say goodbye to an old friend.

We’re used to seeing the huge assembly lines and robots used to assemble modern cars, but the folks over at Local Motors may have found a better way: just print your car out.

That’s right, Local Motors is 3-D printing most all of the key parts of a car, which they call the Strati, and it’s not being done in some clean room or laboratory – they’re putting it together right on the show floor at the International Manufacturing Technology expo in Chicago. The little 2-seater consists of just 44 3-D printed parts. Compare that to the 30,000 parts most cars have, on average.

Local Motors hopes to drive the runabout off the show floor, and if successful, their project may mark a major change in the way carmakers look at the future of making automobiles.

Their music is part of the fabric of America – and Europe. Even today, the catchy melodies and sonic  innovations of the Beatles still have people humming “Yesterday” and “Twist and Shout.”

But many people don’t remember that most of the Beatles’ albums were released in mono, not stereo, and a newly remastered box set – on vinyl no less – has been released to celebrate over five decades of the Fab Four’s influence. DT contributor Mike Mettler talked at length with project supervisor Steve Berkowitz, who brought the mono recordings back to life in a meticulous restoration effort based off the original tapes used in the recording studio decades ago.

Check out his interview here and dig that turntable out of the closet – this is a Beatles record collection very much worth having.

While the tech world is all abuzz about the new iPhone 6 and the new Apple Watch, a small change at the Apple store on Tuesday did not go entirely unnoticed. That’s right, the traditional iPod is now history.

The iPod Classic was the last iPod you could get in the original screen-and-click-wheel format, and now, it’s gone. Just the Touch, Nano and Shuffle remain. Steve jobs introduced the original iPod in 2001, so it’s had a great run. Along the way, the iPod and iTunes revolutionized both music players and the music industry, letting people buy music one song at a time instead of buying whole albums or CDs. And those colorful ads? Who can forget those?

We’ve got the original iPod ad and all of the high-energy “color” ads below, so check ‘em out if you need a boost today.

Your host today is Jillian Rabe.

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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