New Scientist.  Inkjet printers for "spray on" displays. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Being able to spray on circuits is a very cool use of tech. Spary on nonconductive layers between your circuits and you can have some pretty dense cusctom circuitry in a small space. One of the problems is that the metal that is used has to be sprayed on hot, which precludes using plastic as a substrate. However, if the inkjet heads were filled with carbon nanotubes [2], they could be sprayed on cool and have conductivity similar to copper. This assumes that you can somehow line up the nanotubes as you spray them on.

For the home hobbyist, this could also lead to some serious effects for the garage shop, if tied in with my previous ideas on home manufacturing.

More links:

• Circutree Flexible Thinking
• Business 2.0 The Promise of Plastic Transistors

10:47:03 AM    

Excellent question from John Robb:

WSJ.  >>>Sony, which is known for its TVs, also has recently been producing stylish PCs whose robust sales have been resisting the PC slump. "We think consumers will use their TVs like a server to download and manage most of their entertainment audio and video content, because TVs will always serve the captive audience," he explained.  To facilitate this, Sony has developed a prototype product called the Personal Network Home Storage System, which can store as many as 450 hours of DVD movie content, 1,500 CDs, and 600,000 high-resolution images. Using a wireless home network, consumers will be able to use their TV to manage and interact with their Walkmans, PlayStations, and video cameras. Mr. Ando also hinted that, by 2003, every TV as well as nearly every product Sony produces will come standard with an Internet Protocol address.<<<

Which digital consumer vision wins? 

1)  Increasingly mobile PCs (tablets, laptops, and wearables)  vs.

2) PC Home Servers (beefy multi-user devices with smart screens and home management) vs.

3) PSD (Personal Storage Devices like the iPod) vs.

4) Storage-enhanced TVs?  [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

9:36:09 AM