The Wonderful World of Thingiverse

Do you have some tape but no tape dispenser? Or perhaps you need a doohickey for storing your earbuds? Well, if you've got a 3D printer and an Internet connection, the newly updated website Thingiverse can supply you with the necessary designs.

Thingiverse, founded in 2008, is a design library from the folks at MakerBot Industries, the Brooklyn-based company that is designing and building open-source 3D printers. On Thingiverse, people can download the plans for obsjects, tweak them, and share their improved versions. As CEO Bre Pettis explained, "You just download this digital design or you create one yourself, and the thing is made right there for you. ... Up until now, you've been able to download books, you've been able to download movies, you can download music. Well, now you can download things. And, once you download the digital design, you can just crank up your MakerBot, fire it up, and print it out."

On the site, people are sharing plans for all manner of useful gizmos, and a few not-so-useful objects as well. Below, a sample of Thingiverse's offerings, the tip of the creativity iceberg.

via Wired's Chris Anderson.