3-D Printing: The Hype Cycle is About to Meet the Adoption Cycle

3-D printing has been heralded as the "next industrial revolution," capable of changing the way we do things in just about every industry, from manufacturing to medicine to space travel. But what makes this year an inflection point for the technology is a combination of affordable printers hitting the market, consumer-adoption readiness and a maturation of the ecosystem needed to support 3-D printing.

Take New York-based MakerBot, which recently introduced the Replicator 2 printer. The company thinks the product will move the technology from being something people play with to something they actually use to create things.