How Manufacturing Could Get Better With a Dose of Networked Data

(2) Social, being a known quantity, is easy to invest in and so commoditized. Where the internet interfaces with things -- computer vision, makerbots, etc. are all where personal computers were back when the Apple I came into play.

(3) Hacker spaces are the new incubators :-)

(4) "Things" might be harder to solve, but there are a lot of problems solvable only by software people. Take any of the tools you take for granted while developing software and look for it in the world of arduinos and makerbots.