3-D Printing Is Spurring a Manufacturing Revolution

Soon enough we'll find out if most people _would_ 'steal' a car.

Here's a very detailed article on the subject. http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/vol7-1/bradshaw.asp

Come to think of it, I'll go ahead and submit it on its own.

You might enjoy Cory Doctrow's Print Crime[1] which centers on this exact topic.

[1]: http://craphound.com/?p=573

"You wouldn't download a car"

3D printing of metal is here, if expensive. With that technology in mind, a computer-file gives you the ability to print a specially shaped piece of metal. A piece of metal that turns your legally owned firearm, and turns it into a fully-automatic cop killer that mows down entire preschools.

By the time that idea is exposed to mainstream society, hopefully society's knee-jerk response won't damn the entire industry. (The fact that the piece of metal is easily made today doesn't escape me. Society, however, is not known for acting rationally in response to danger, especially to children.)

Thanks for the mention, Breck. :) If you didn't see this, a few days ago... I think the 'email Shoefitr' note is still in my inbox: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1672993

You sound like you're joking; some did it: http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

Will self-aware computers be able to reproduce? Based on some optimal energy consumption models (in the future, this code will need to make moral judgments)? Someone's definitely already told them how much energy humans throw off. Then they print out a lollipop that's really a brain implant, and ...Poof... they own us. We feed ourselves to them.

Matrix movie theory be damned, this will have big implications.

I've never done it myself, but I'm currently participating in TechStars seattle and have seen some mentors speak to this topic. The general consensus on how to get into the press seems to be three key points: 1) Be an area expert 2) Establish personal relationships 3) Leverage your expertise through personal relationships

More concretely:

Do everything from conduct surveys and independent research, all the way to writing articles that could more or less be published in whole or in part by a target publication. These should be things that have compelling stories in them and are about your industry and your desired press narrative, but not necessarily about your company. Use this process to establish that you are an area expert. Feed this to journalists. Make their jobs easier and make them trust you as an area expert. Once you've built trust and provided value to a journalist, you can ask them to provide value to you. Provide them more article fodder and ensure that your company forms a part of the narrative.

One way is to rank high on Google for the topic, as phrased by a semi informed journalism major. I am so not joking.

Scott Summit got a lot of press after this presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJ8vId4HF8

Not sure where the presentation was held or how he organised it but it's been doing the rounds for a while now.

Help A Reporter Out (HARO) - http://www.helpareporter.com

Be known and easily reachable. Be capable of pithy statements that can flesh out the larger narrative with details. Get the reporters covering the space to know about you, even without a story, so they think of you when related stories come up.

There's also 'Help a Reporter Out', aka 'HARO', where you register yourself as a ready source beforehand:

http://www.helpareporter.com/