Entering the Era of Printable Devices?

Can inkjet printing technologies of the near future democratize manufacturing, similar to the way Gutenberg's press democratized knowledge five hundred years ago? A decade from now, will we literally print out working computers, televisions, MP3-playing t-shirts?

Creating a 3D object with computer-controlled fabricators is an extension of the same methods that enable a cathode-ray tube to paint two-dimensional displays on screens by turning on and off the right pixels at the right time – except a 3D printer will have to work in layers, turning on and off the deposition or removal of physical substances at specific 3D coordinates. Lasers that harden a semifluid polymer, or which etch hardened plastics have been used successfully on small (but not micro-scale small) objects.

Z Corporation, a startup in Burlington, Massachusetts, markets an "affordable 3D printing system" that uses a spray nozzle adapted from an HP inkjet printer to spray a liquid that binds powdered solid substances into the desired shape.