Ms. Vogelaar.

The Manufacturing Maven

When 3D-printing startup Shapeways held a ribbon-cutting for its new “factory of the future” last month, more pols were in attendance than at a Hurricane Sandy press conference: Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Empire State Development Corporation President Ken Adams all made the trip to the cavernous building that will house 50 3D printers, churning out as many as 5 million products every year.

In the heart of Long Island City’s formerly bustling industrial district, Shapeways is bringing manufacturing back to the five boroughs, one 3D-printed sprocket at a time. Customers submit their own designs, and Shapeways makes them into reality, using massive machines that “print” the objects, layer by layer. You name it, Shapeways can probably print it, in one of 30 materials.

For the hobbyist who wants the perfect model rocket part, it’s an inexpensive alternative to a $2,199 Makerbot Replicator 2. For the hustler trying to cobble together a prototype or even an entire product line (be it robot parts or geometric jewelry) on a tight turnaround, it’s a real alternative to outsourcing. The company even has a marketplace where entrepreneurial designers can create their own stores, making Shapeways the Etsy of 3D printing. It’s almost enough to make you think the company sprang into existence as the result of a mind-meld between the city’s creative types and our tech-loving mayor.

Leading the charge is co-founder Marleen Vogelaar, who oversees production in both New York City and the Netherlands. As chief operations officer, she cheerfully rides herd on the whole enterprise. “What is most important to me is that my operations team treats every one of those single objects as the personal dream of the person who bought it,” Ms. Vogelaar told The Observer. That’s rather tough when one is doing futuristic fabrication at scale, as opposed to making iterative updates to some recommendation engine. Ms. Vogelaar spends her time sourcing flexible new plastics even as she checks in every day with her teams to make sure those big machines are still running smoothly.

“We were the first ones in the U.S. building a very high-scale, personalized manufacturing facility,” she said. Hopefully, for Long Island City’s sake, they won’t be the last.

Next: Anil Dash, Activate and ThinkUp: Amiable Agitator

Back to the beginning.

Mayor Bloomberg.

Bright and early this morning, we hopped aboard an F train and ventured not into Midtown, home of Betabeat, but rather deeper into Queens. Our destination: The Queens Business Solutions Center, an unassuming government building located on Jamaica Avenue and surrounded by bargain stores. Waiting, freshly printed, on every single seat: An updated copy of the city's digital roadmap, dated August 2012.

Mayor Bloomberg had shlepped out to discuss his plan to bring small businesses into the Internet Age. The means: the Small Business Toolkit, a program incorporating both in-person classes at business solutions centers across the five boroughs, and a new online library of how-to guides developed in cooperation with local tech companies Mashable, Tumblr, Google and Weebly to help neighborhood entrepreneurs figure out this whole Internet thing.

While startups in the Union Square vicinity focus on disruption, few have been addressing the many neighborhood business that aren't even online, and don't know how to get there. Perhaps the administration got the memo about that bodega tech gap?

Arrayed behind him: A small mob of people including State Senator Malcolm Smith and a lineup of tech folk. Tumblr's Mark Coatney and Mashable SVP Stacey Green were at the front of the room, while Google's William Floyd and Weebly's Nick Dellis lurked elsewhere in the crowd.

Mayor Bloomberg promised the new toolkit would "enable businesses to continue to innovate and to continue to expand and continue to create the jobs that our growing city needs."

It didn't cost the taxpayers a cent, he was careful to point out, and it's free to anyone looking to build his brand online.

Much of the content seems to have been developed by Mashable, though Google and Weebly both contributed relevant guides. Tumblr also offered free themes customized for business.

Besides the guides, however, small business owners looking to bone up on the Internet can sign up for free, in-person courses. The inaugural class will be held in the very same location as the presser, on September 20. Topics will include how to launch a website, mobile payments, and the like. Teaching the class: Chief Digital Officer Rachel Haot, née Sterne.

"She's changed her name and maybe [Ed Note: Maybe? We're pretty sure it's a done deal!] her marital status," said Mayor Bloomberg, "but she hasn't changed what she is doing. She is making a big difference in this city, helping people get jobs and companies employ them."

Said Sen. Smith: "Today, as you have heard from the Mayor, we basically have said to the small business world, 'you are very important to us.'"

Well, very important might take more than a few classes and how-to guides, but judging from the remarks of Small Business Services commish Rob Walsh, the programs are something people want: "I was out in Brighton Beach yesterday, meeting with a number of small business [owners] from the Russian community," he said. "They're building their businesses, they're building their storefronts, and they need help in terms of getting on the Internet. They need help in developing their websites."

The Mayor spun it out a little more, offering a peek into the mind of the corner store owner: "They read about it, and they have friends who have businesses, and it's working for them and they say, well what about me? And they don't even know what the questions to ask are," he said.

"Their expertise is to select merchandise or know how to market it or know how to make food," he said. "Their exerptise is not the technical side."

Represent. (Photo: flickr.com/edogisgod)

Hot on the heels of launching the borough's own tech meetup and the announcement of new tech classes launching in the fall, the Daily News reports that the Coalition for Queens is partnering with a Long Island City packaging company in an attempt to create a new tech incubator.

All that talk of Brooklyn must've lit a fire under someone.

The coalition and the company Plaxall (which sounds like the corporate villain in a Ridley Scott flick) have submitted a project proposal to the local Regional Economic Development Council for an Anable Basin Tech Incubator. But before anyone packs up to move, we should note that the plan will have to compete with many, many other proposals for state funding.

The likely home would be one of Plaxall's warehouses, near the riverfront and right off Vernon Boulevard--and right across the water from CornellNYC:

“Our goal is to turn western Queens into a tech hub for New York City,” said Plaxall President Andrew Kirby. “It could help to attract the best and brightest of young innovators to the city to live and work and create exciting new businesses.”

But, of course, this wouldn't be a New York tech story without some element of whimsy:

Plaxall and the Coalition are also exploring turning an old ferry boat into a floating beer garden, Kirby said. They are also look to host weekend markets on a parking lot nearby.

Anything to keep people from noticing that sketchy strip under Queensboro Plaza, a mere 15-minute walk away. We can't see startup folk frequenting the gentlemen's club Scandals (please note that proper pronunciation requires a husky whisper).

Shhhh.

Update: Contrary to a previous source, there’s at least one man behind this rally with an email address. The man in charge of the not quite non-existent but ever-elusive press-passes, Eytan Kobre, told Betabeat in an email that “to my knowledge, all available press passes are spoken for.” If only it hadn’t taken three weeks, six phone numbers and a call to another newspaper to find him. Mr. Kobre said he would "check further and try to get back" to us but that's the line we've been getting all along. Ichud HaKehillos may be online but organized, they are not.

Update: It turns out that the Five Towns Jewish Times will be at Citi Field on May 20th, at least. Now on our sixth phone number ("the mailbox is full. Goodbye") Betabeat's attendance looks more promising, if not yet a sure thing.

After three weeks of getting the run-around (“Uh, I don’t know, call this number”) it seems that the rally of “Jews against the Internet” at Citi Field on May 20 is looking to exclude reporters as well as women. We asked, not The Times? The Post? The Daily News? Nope.

In retrospect, we should have purchased tickets. The rally is organized by Ichud HaKehillos, an Orthodox Jewish organization aimed at educating the masses regarding responsible use of technology, and we realized gaining access would probably be a unique experience after the moratorium on vaginas.

But after taking our information down on three separate occasions and promising to get back to us, one of the organizers gave us a flat-out no. The last number we tried led us straight to a voicemail explaining that there are no more tickets available for buses to the event.

When we called asking for an email address, the man who answered said they didn’t have one because “we don’t have the Internet.”

Actually, Ichud HaKehillos does have the Internet, and a website:

Ichud HaKehillos is an organization that was founded with the purpose of educating the masses regarding responsible use of technology. Backed ... by Reb Matisyahu Salomon, shlita, and the Skulener Rebbe, shlita, after many years of trying to keep families disconnected from the rapid advancements of modern-day technology, this organization rose out of a realization that fighting technology is an exercise in futility and is doomed to failure.

Gawker reports that the sold-out event, where tickets were originally $10 dollars (wait, you have to pay to rally against something?) are now appearing marked up on eBay. Citi Field holds 45,000 people, and apparently some original ticket holders aren't against making a couple of bucks on the web, even if the Internet is inherently evil. The top bid for two tickets is $124.50. A single ticket has a top bid of $75, but if you want to lock it down for sure, buy it right now for $1,800.

Betabeat continues to call the two three four phone numbers that Ichud HaKehillos representatives gave us. They won't admit they have the Internet, but they seem pretty proud of all their phones.

Like this, except everyone is Jewish and there is no baseball.

Update: No women are permitted to attend the rally, so it looks like Ladybeat will be invading the bleachers in drag. 

By definition, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community cleaves to the old ways over modern societal norms. Thus it finds itself even more at odds with the technological wave of apps and gadgets transforming American culture.

And the time has come, apparently, to make that opposition known.

The Jewish Press reports that a massive rally is being planned for Sunday, May 20th at Citi Field in Queens "to combat the evils of the Internet and the damages caused by advanced electronic devices."

The rabbis behind the rally don't specify which "evils" and "damages," in particular, they are railing against. Merely noting that they want to save a generation from "the ravages of advanced technology."

However, a message signed by a number of Israeli rabbis in the Haredi press offers some clarification under the following headline, "A Letter from our Masters the Great Men of Israel Shlita In Preparation for the International Conference in the U.S. Against the Scourge of Technology,"

"It is well known that in recent times that through the Internet many serious family-related problems have been created, and it all happens because of it, and something must be done so they won’t be hurt. And since this touches almost everyone, we must assemble together to protect and be protected, and we hope that through this gathering in search of ideas we will be helped from Heaven to save the many, and may it be that we will be successful in encouraging the public not to stumble over this obstacle, and the Lord will guide us in a truthful path.

We'll definitely be showing up at the rally, if only to hear more about these "family-related problems." Probably something more insidious than just Angry Birds at the dinner table, right? But, why Citi Field? Well, the event organizers are expecting quite a show:

"This will be a mass rally never before seen in the history of Orthodox Jewry in the U.S. It will be a gathering of  unity of all the Jews living in the U.S., a gathering to disseminate information and a prayer rally for the success of Klal-Israel’s war on the Technology which threatens the sanctity of the homes of Israel."

"All the Jews" in America sounds a tad ambitious for a turnout goal, but JDN reports that the organizers have managed to raise $1.5 million from "private philanthropists" to produce the event. Just imagine how many iPads that could buy you!

Hmm, robots must be in hiding (via Resorts World Casino)

There a few things that set Resorts World Casino, which opens its doors at 1 p.m. today, apart from its Las Vegas brethren. First of all: it's in Queens, which means its New York City's first casino. Secondly, it might technically be a "racino" since its connected to the Aqueduct racetrack in South Ozone Park. But what really distinguishes the joint--which features 5,000 gambling terminals, 6,500 parking spaces, Chinese dim sum, and the Asian dice game sic bo--is the robots.

As the New York Times reports, the electronic baccarat tables, and possibly the electronic craps and sic bo tables as well, will be run by the precursors to Skynet robot dealers:

The casino imitates the glitz and frenzy of Caesars Palace or Bally’s without running afoul of state laws and regulations that allow electronic gambling, but not human dealers, at the tracks. The baccarat tables feature real cards shuffled and dealt by robotlike mechanical arms.

“We have a situation in which elected state officials are breaching the Constitution,” said the Rev. Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative Christian political group. “A robotic arm dealing cards is just as insidious as a human being.”

"Just as" insidious? We take it the good Reverend is not a big Battlestar Galactica fan.

iThief via The Daily News

Here's a bit of freudenschade to distract distraught Apple acolytes. A tech-savvy Queens woman caught the man who stole her iPhone on camera by installing an app called iGotYa.

Unlike Apple's free Find My iPhone software, which shows the approximate location of the device, iGotYa will take take a photo of whenever someone's unsuccessfully trying to unlock your iPhone and email it to the owner. So, if you throw back a few too many, chances are you'll wake to a self-portrait in your inbox.

The only catch for the app is that you have to jailbreak your phone first. The police are asking the public to help find the man in the photograph, who is still at large. Thankfully the thief was just a pickpocket and the iPhone owner sustained no injuries. But Betabeat is sending iGotYa to our dinged-up friend at the Wee Hours column in case bad luck should strike twice.