A New Industrial Age is Being Built on Sensors, 3D Printing and the Cloud

‘);//–”;
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placementDiff = applyInsert($(this), moduleDivString);
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loopCounter++;
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// clone Related Stories module m-15 to come in after 2nd para in article body for mobile breakpoint display
var $relatedStories = $(‘.related-promo-wrapper’);
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var $insiderPromo = $(‘.insider-promo-wrapper’);
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cumulativeHeight = 0;
var leftPlacementTarget = tagHeight = leftPlacementTarget) {
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with an immediately preceding small or medium image left avoid.
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if (!(isLeftAvoid($(this)) ($(this).hasClass(‘small’) || $(this).hasClass(‘inline-small’) || $(this).hasClass(‘medium’) || $(this).hasClass(‘inline-medium’) || $(this).hasClass(‘apart’) ))) {
cumulativeHeight += $(this).height() + grafHeight;
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if (leftPlacementIndex != null elementNotNearEnd($leftPlacementElement, leftPixelWindow)) {
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console.log(” insert into index “+leftPlacementIndex);
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$(“#drr-container”).children().eq(leftPlacementIndex).before(“

“);
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IDG.GPT.trackOmniture();

// Add Right rail module content
for (var i=0; i= 0) {
referrerValue = getReferrerArticle(previousUrl); // sets _article if ajax returns article
if (prev_article != null) {
if (prev_article.categories instanceof Array prev_article.categories.length 0) {
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* @param jqo Original jquery object target
* @param divString The div to be inserted.
* @return Difference in height between original placement target and final target.
* Checks first 6 elements for an allowable placement (600 pixel window).
* If none, check nearby for elements that are not right avoids.
* If none, place element before current target.
*/
function applyInsert(jqo, divString) {
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console.log(“About to add this element’s height to heigh diff offset”);
console.log($(this));
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height += $(this).height() + grafHeight;
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if (offset 300) {
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console.log(“isRightAvoid: found pre. return true”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.is(“figure”) jqo.hasClass(‘large’)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isRightAvoid: found figure.large return true”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.is(“figure”) jqo.hasClass(‘medium’) jqo.hasClass(‘inline’)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isRightAvoid: found figure has class medium and inline.”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.hasClass(‘download-asset’)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isRightAvoid: found class download-asset return true”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.is(“aside”) jqo.hasClass(‘tableLarge’)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isRightAvoid: found class tableLarge return true”);
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return true;
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console.log(“isRightAvoid: found class reject. return true”);
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return true;
}
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return false;
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// Return true if element has class ‘reject’: will not place drr modules/ads next to these elements
function isRightReject(jqo) {
console.log(“in isRightReject”);
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if (jqo.hasClass(“reject”)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isRightReject: found ‘reject’ class”);
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return true;
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return false;
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return false;
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// Returns true if height of all elements after this one is more than 500; false otherwise
function elementNotNearEnd(element, pixelWindow) {
if (pixelWindow == null) {
pixelWindow = 500;
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if (element == null) {
return false;
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var remainingHeight = 0;
var children = $(“#drr-container”).children().slice(element.index());
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return false;
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children.each(function(i){
remainingHeight += $(this).height();
});
if ( remainingHeight pixelWindow) {
return true;
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else {
if (debug) {
console.log(“Element too close to end. Remaining height is: ” + remainingHeight + ” and window is ” + pixelWindow);
}
return false;
}
}

/**
* Return true if need to avoid this element when placing left module.
*/
function isLeftAvoid(jqo) {
if (jqo.is(“figure”)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isLeftAvoid: found figure. return true”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.is(“aside.pullquote”)) {
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console.log(“isLeftAvoid: found pullquote. return true”);
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return true;
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console.log(“isLeftAvoid: found pre. return true”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.is(“div.gist”)) {
if (debug) {
console.log(“isLeftAvoid: found github code block. return true”);
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return true;
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if (jqo.hasClass(“statsTable”)) {
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console.log(“isLeftAvoid: found class statsTable. return true”);
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return true;
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return false;
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/**
* return true if there are no figures before the target placement that might bleed down into placement element
*/
function noPrevFigures($originalTarget) {
var targetIndex = $originalTarget.index();
var numElementsLookBack = 5;
var figureIndex = null;
var figureHeight = null;
var startIndex = targetIndex – numElementsLookBack

Before the Revolutionary War, sheets of tin imported from England were fashioned by people working at home into plates, cups and candle holders. They shared production techniques with one another and collectively produced enough products to give rise to a distribution system known as Yankee Peddlers.

Today, the raw tools of individual production are sensors, circuit boards, 3D printers, open-source development platforms and cloud services. Kickstarter, not horseback peddlers, is providing the initial capital.

In time, the tin-making business created a foundation for hardware manufacturing. Idea generation was infectious as production capabilities improved and new companies were rapidly formed. The Silicon Valley of this industrial age was the Northeast. In one city — New Britain, Conn. — a patent expert, James Shepard, determined that by 1899 this city was at “the head of the inventive world” in patents issued per capita.

That was 115 years ago. But something similar is under way today.

In San Francisco, Jason Aramburu is running a Kickstarter campaign for his product, the Edyn smart garden system. It has raised $262,000 so far.

How he produced this system offers a roadmap to a new industrial age that will rely heavily on Internet of Things technologies, the cloud and low-cost design and fabrication tools.

In the United Kingdom, there’s Samuel Cox. He assembled a microprocessor, accelerometer, ultrasonic sensors, rechargeable battery, cellular GSM and GPS into a floating shell that he built himself. A prototype of the device, called the Flood Beacon, cost about $700 to make and be can positioned to measure water depth. It was designed to help keep track flood waters in real time.

Aramburu and Cox each taught themselves how to build these systems, and what they are doing represents a broader trend that is getting White House attention.

The so-called Maker Movement, enabled by design software, desktop machine tools, laser cutters and 3D printers, is “enabling more Americans to design and build almost anything,” and “represents a huge opportunity for the United States,” said the White House in a statement at the start of demonstrations this week of the technologies.

This story, “A New Industrial Age is Being Built on Sensors, 3D Printing and the Cloud” was originally published by

Computerworld
.

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Article source: http://feeds.cio.com/~r/cio/feed/solution/1375/~3/fEkTKwsM6Ps/A_New_Industrial_Age_is_Being_Built_on_Sensors_3D_Printing_and_the_Cloud