I was working on a novel in 1998 which had 3d printers as a brand new technology. But now (as usual) life has caught up with fiction. The other idea in the book was going to be kids making wifi mesh networks. Another one that's now out of date.
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This makes all the geeky little butterflies in my stomach flutter. I'll have to start ordering that polymer in bulk. Custom cell phone holder, chess pieces, and desk figurines, here I come!
If HP's 3d printer is anything like their 2d printers it'll probably be cheaper to order 3d printers in bulk and throw them away when they run out of plastic.
I own a Stratasys 3D printer, the uPrint to be exact. They are amazing machines and have saved me ten of thousands of dollars in just a few months. We run our printer nearly non stop during the day without a problem. The highend Stratasys models are even more impressive in terms of speed and finish. I just hope Stratasys doesn't do anything to lessen their quality for HP.
Yep, they could probably be sued under this. Here's the reason why they haven't: they're targeting totally different markets. "Real" engineers would never use a Cupcake CNC to make test parts, as the resolution is so low. So they're not really a threat to their business.
It's not much fun being a SF writer any more.