Wow - reporting on 3D printing is soaring to ever more hyperbolic heights. Going off what Marvin asked below, I think that we're seeing the democratization of p

Wow - reporting on 3D printing is soaring to ever more hyperbolic heights. Going off what Marvin asked below, I think that we're seeing the democratization of prototyping / dev tools: 3D printing is a part, but so is TechShop, Maker movement, etc. - however the next thing still to come is the democratization of production. Solving manufacturing is a much larger problem than a one processes panacea. The real revolution should be framed as "digital manufacturing" - this is making the production process open and connected. 3D printing is sort of the gateway drug as I see it for the automation / accessibility of most every manufacturing process. 3D printing specifically, we're hitting some material science / engineering problems that are far harder than what's being done in making the RepRap clones. 3D printing has largely the same range of materials as it did 15 years ago - none of them are close to being as good as even low grade injection molded plastic. Instead, why not digitize / automate the rest of the 100's of processes (like milling, injection molding, etc.) - software will always be faster to develop than material science issues that we're hitting. Disclosure: I was the founder of a 3D printing company, CloudFab, and I work with various advanced manufacturing tech.