Since I've been on a bit of a trend watching kick, I thought I'd share the latest and greatest...introducing...Shapeways.Shapeways claims to be the first affordable 3D printing company out there. Just upload your design, they print it and they ship it to you - it's easy. Within ten working days you'll hold your own design in your hands.
The only caveat is that it requires some really sophisticated and expensive software to create these designs, which I'm guessing (insert sarcasm here) most people don't have on their computer. I think Paul Glazowski of Mashable had it perfect when he said, " But perhaps its designation as a “consumer co-creation community” is a bit far-fetched. Consumers, for one, have little interest or even reasonable aptitude when it comes to 3D modeling software. It’s simply too complex for the casual user to effectively grapple with. Also, some designer utilities tend to carry with them considerable cost."
Regardless, I think it's incredible that someone wanted to found a company to truly help empower consumers and artists to create the impossible. So Shapeways, congrats! I signed up for my own account, now all I need is some software.
Check out some of things that have already been created:
