December 20, 2012

• Horse Escapes. Barn Door To Be Closed.

  You would think that after the utter failure of the RIAA, the MPAA, and every other such organization to control the spread of digital files, that someone as cutting-edge as Makerbot would know better. But, no. Instead of doing the honest thing, and saying, "Look, there's really no point in wiping these files from our server when they can be distributed globally in seconds, no matter what", they are doing the usual thing -- which means, trying to look like they're "doing something" when there's nothing that can be done.

  We are still at the Altair 8800 stage of 3-D printing, at best. I doubt things will improve quite as fast as computers, but each year seems to bring higher resolution and faster printing. The "killer app" isn't there yet (and I doubt it will be weapon manufacture, despite the pun potential), but it will come, and, like most "killer apps", it will not be expected or foreseen until its so ubiquitous we can't remember how we did without it. (I suspect that custom sex toys will be a big part of it; I'm sure most women don't enjoy going into sleazy "adult" stores and seeing if the 2013 Peter Norths are in yet.)

  • 9:50 am
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