Fabbers

This is technology that will probably become omnipresent in your life time. As a photocopier copies a two dimensional image a fabber copies a three dimensional image. Turn a three dimensional image in your computer into a solid object resting in your hand.

This isn't Star Trek. We're not talking here of 'replicating' something from the constituent molecules up, but if your looking for a simple, solid or even hollow object made of specific materials you can get that from a fabber either from materials poured, dripped or carved.

And of course, the technology will get smaller, easier, more advanced and more specialized. You may not have a Fabber on your desk next year, but you might have one next decade. Imagine a world where even simple objects, from mass produced art, to toys to tools, even objects as complicated as consumer electronics eventually can be generated automatically from a 3D computer model.

At the moment, you can already use it to bring the objects and characters from Second Life into the real world.