http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE

This is way cool. Obviously a 3D printer of this size has to be prohibitively expensive right now, but it should be interesting to see how this technology evolves over the next 10-20 years. (The one real downside I can see is that it would render most if not all manufacturing jobs obsolete.  :()

Who knows? Maybe when I'm retired I can download a motorcycle or a classic car piece by piece and assemble it in my garage.  8)

This is way cool. Obviously a 3D printer of this size has to be prohibitively expensive right now, but it should be interesting to see how this technology evolves over the next 10-20 years. (The one real downside I can see is that it would render most if not all manufacturing jobs obsolete.  :()


Cheap 3D printing doesn't make manufacturing jobs obsolete.  It makes the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs obsolete.

You know how you can go to the library and get a book, even if you don't own a printer? 

Well, it's going to be like that.  Already, today, you can already go to a TechShop (commercial chain of open workshops) or your local Hackerspace (independent, non-profit movement).  You'll likely pay no more than the cost of the material to do the printing. 

If I want a million widgets, I'll still outsource it to China.  But if I want a dozen widgets - one to test it, one to fix what went wrong, and ten for my friends, I no longer have to send it to China and wait a week.  I can do it within the space of a weekend.  If ABS doesn't provide enough resolution, I can print it in ABS, dip it in any sort of varnish, sand it down by hand until it's absolutely perfect, make a plaster mold of it, and go lost-wax on it.  Or just skip the ABS and laser-sinter the wax positive directly.

Obligatory reading: Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age.  In a world in which anything can be produced automagically, the really neat products are the ones that people can build themselves.  It's a huge jump from 3D printing to the nanotech matter compiler, but if the 3D printer is the matter compiler of the 2010s, the garage shop consisting of a 3D printer and someone with a little arts-and-crafts know-how is the person able to create the things that can't be made in China. 

Need real-world proof?  Here are thousands of crafters who don't even need the 3D printer.  Manufacturing isn't dead.  It's just going back to its roots.  Manu - by hand.  Facture - to make.

I'm still waiting for the last high-tech device to turn up in my driveway, KITT.  (Der Hoff is optional.)  ;)

http://www.22dakika.org/imaj/yok/kitt.jpg

I'm still waiting for the last high-tech device to turn up in my driveway, KITT.  (Der Hoff is optional.)  ;)

http://www.22dakika.org/imaj/yok/kitt.jpg



A talking car? Don't we have that already?  ???

A talking car? Don't we have that already?  ???


um... I don't.  Maybe some people do.  I want one that can drive itself and come rescue me when I'm knocked out-cold in a burning warehouse.  :-\\  :-http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/06/mio_knight_rider_gps_has_voice.php

I'm still waiting for the last high-tech device to turn up in my driveway, KITT.  (Der Hoff is optional.)  ;)

http://www.22dakika.org/imaj/yok/kitt.jpg


Do you remember seeing Back To The Future 2 in 1989 and thinking to yourself how the future would be if everyone had hoverboards and flying cars?

And isn't it kind of disappointing that it's 2012 and we still don't have them?  :(

um... I don't.  Maybe some people do.  I want one that can drive itself and come rescue me when I'm knocked out-cold in a burning warehouse.  :-\\  :-http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/06/mio_knight_rider_gps_has_voice.php


Wow, now that is really one cool device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE

This is way cool. Obviously a 3D printer of this size has to be prohibitively expensive right now, but it should be interesting to see how this technology evolves over the next 10-20 years. (The one real downside I can see is that it would render most if not all manufacturing jobs obsolete.  :()

Who knows? Maybe when I'm retired I can download a motorcycle or a classic car piece by piece and assemble it in my garage.  8)


I know many manufacturers that have been using 3D printers for years. 

>:(
I know many manufacturers that have been using 3D printers for years.


I just wonder how much longer it will be until they're practical and affordable for the average person.

Do you remember seeing Back To The Future 2 in 1989 and thinking to yourself how the future would be if everyone had hoverboards and flying cars?

And isn't it kind of disappointing that it's 2012 and we still don't have them?  :(


It's likely there won't be practical flying cars and hoverboards for a long time, possibly for another 70-100 years.

Even in 1989 people should have not expected ubiquitous fly cars and hoverboards by 2015, they should have expected widespread tablet computers and declining phone booth usage though ;D.

It's likely there won't be practical flying cars and hoverboards for a long time, possibly for another 70-100 years.


70-100 years? By that time I'll be an old man.

It's likely there won't be practical flying cars and hoverboards for a long time, possibly for another 70-100 years.

Even in 1989 people should have not expected ubiquitous fly cars and hoverboards by 2015, they should have expected widespread tablet computers and declining phone booth usage though ;D.


It is kind of cool how so far Star Trek has predicted cell phones:

http://www.popfunk.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/star-trek-technology-capt-0191.jpg




and Bluetooths:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xCX2O0FWfjw/Tm4M5moZuWI/AAAAAAAAAQU/7E2_QZD0b2c/s400/bluetooh.png




and iPads...

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/padd.jpg

:o :o :o

It is kind of cool how so far Star Trek has predicted cell phones:

http://www.popfunk.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/star-trek-technology-capt-0191.jpg




and Bluetooths:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xCX2O0FWfjw/Tm4M5moZuWI/AAAAAAAAAQU/7E2_QZD0b2c/s400/bluetooh.png




and iPads...

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/padd.jpg

:o :o :o


Wow that's cool.

It is kind of cool how so far Star Trek has predicted cell phones:

and iPads...

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/padd.jpg

:o :o :o


Actually today's tablet computers are alot more advanced than those 23rd century tablets Star Trek envisioned in the '60s-'90s.

I think there will be great advancements and innovation in nanotechnology and biotechnology in the next few decades.

http://www.likecool.com/Style/Watch/Fossil%20Wrist%20Net%20Dick%20Tracy/1.jpg

I can't wait till they come out with Dick Tracy watches.