3D Printers to Dip Below $5,000 USD This Year

[HenryTo]

One more step towards "buying" customized products, such as different sized toothbrushes, totally customized shoes, clothing, and other gadgets, etc.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7199

[HenryTo]

Bioprinting is now the rage - there are other uses for it aside from creating actual organs that could be transplanted, but for now, the technology is still in the very beginning stages:

http://singularityhub.com/2009/12/03/organovo-has-its-first-commercial-3d-bioprinter/

[HenryTo]

The next step would be to invent a 3D printer that could "print" simple electronics - but until that happens (and by that time, China would've moved to "higher order" manufacturing), offshoring manufacturing is still not dead:

http://singularityhub.com/2009/04/09/3d-printing-and-self-replicating-machines-in-your-living-room-seriously/

If we achieve a breakthrough in this technology within the next five years, this would mean that many countries in Africa will never have a chance to industralize.

[HenryTo]

3-D printing of the masses, as Shapeways brings this to the home by allowing folks to submit their designs on the company's website:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/21152/page1/

[HenryTo]

3D printer in action. A must-see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaxThAawD_Y&mode=related&search

[HenryTo]

Right - the days of making money the Rothschilds way (buying too late and selling too early, and multiplying the family fortune in one single day) or the Daniel Drew, or the Livermore way is pretty much over. Of course, one can stilll gain a lot of insights from reading their biographies and their emotions during those periods. Guys like Warren Buffett and Philip Fisher recognized this early on - and they both made a fortune because they were able to recognize this (the former especially so since he recognized early on that the Ben Graham way of investing in stocks just did not apply anymore).

Even the Fed has evolved to a more knowledgeable and market-orientated body compared to how they were even 10 years ago. Ditto the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, and even central banks among developing countries. The days of relying on the Central Bank's mistakes in order to make money (such as Soros' and Goldman Sachs' "loot" in 1992 in the currency markets at the expense of the Bank of England) are also effectively over.

That is why sites like the Motley Fool did not close down (it would have probably closed down during the subsequent bear market if the site had started in the mid 1960s, as opposed to the mid 1990s) - and has even thrived.

Of course, that doesn't mean a 20% correction won't come sooner or later, but unless we experience another mania similar to the late 1990s mania, I just don't see a 40% to 50% bear market in the S&P 500 anytime soon.

On the other hand, technologies like this can be very destructive for companies that do not change with the times. So there could be much and many more individual bankruptcies along the way, but both the U.S. and world economy should continue to thrive going forward.

[dash]

[diesel]

Absolutely amazing technology. It reminds me of all those Ted Talks that show that human progress in on an exponential growth curve rather than a linear one. In light of this maybe Richard Russell is correct in saying: