And the first rumblings of a rights-management system for controlling the sharing of physical things are appearing: The IP-hoarding firm Intellectual Ventures received a patent in October for a 3-D printer feature that blocks the creation of verboten objects.

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Each new printer uses the FastFront feature for easy changing of ink and paper from the front of the printer and can also produce beautiful, borderless edge-to-edge 4 x 6-inch photos in approximately 44 seconds6 at a maximum color resolution of 4800 x 2400 dpi7.

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We feature computer cords, printer cords, dead-format USB cables, mini-USB cables, Ethernet, DVI, VGA, Firewire this, Firewire that.

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The other nifty new feature we like is wireless printer sharing.

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They said that by using stereolithography, their printer could offer "layer thicknesses and feature sizes that are worlds ahead of what is possible with" the existing technique used by budget printers, which melt plastic and squeeze it through a nozzle to build up each layer of an object.

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By making the email address automatic on each printer and enlisting a network of partners, HP is taking the product from a niche feature to a standard aspect of behavior, and encouraging print through the creativity of others.

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We found that feature to work just fine, providing the base station is somewhere convenient to place a printer.

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The open-cage printer will work using "fused filament fabrication" with 1.75mm filament, and will also feature 100 micron layer resolution (0.1 millimeter), rigid aluminum construction, an open-source software tool chain and optional heated build platform.

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