Print a book

It seems that the boundaries between the virtual and the visual have blurred a little more. A new machine will be deployed in 2007 that can print a book, with glossy cover, in seven minutes. So when you walk into a book store and they don't have the book you want, no more, 'it will arrive in two to three weeks' no, none of that, instead 'it will be ready in seven to eight minutes'.

As this technology advances we will enter a stage of development where book shipping will no longer be necessary! Instead books will be printed on location, on demand. Publishers will be sidelined, with there only really being a need for an author and advertising.

While we're at it, why not just have these machines migrate into the homes? Sound far fetched? People thought computers would never make it into every home only twenty years ago. First these machines will set up in the big book stores and libraries, from there they will move to your local corner bookshops (which will only need to carry a stock of one of each book, just for browsing purposes) and from there into the corner of your study.

Transportations costs will drop, as the raw materials needed for book printing can generally be got locally, and we become just that little bit more environmentally friendly, as each book travels a great deal less in its lifetime.