The Future of 3D Printing Looks a Lot Like Kinko’s

3D printing may be in your future, but it won’t work like you might think. So says Microsoft researcher Tom Blank, who isn’t quite convinced that consumers are going to run out and buy their own 3D printers. The problem is that 3D printers...don’t pass the “wife acceptance test,” Blank’s term for a technology’s approachability.

Blank compares the coming world of 3D printing to the way the average person today handles the printing of photographs: Rather than keep a photo printer in their homes, most people ship their printing jobs to the local FedEx Store or Staples.