see the future

While I think that it's a damn shame that bookstors are going under (because there is nothing like a nice, densely-packed bookstore), that's just the way things go. On the bright side, just at the time that it looks like you'll be forced to buy on-line or at Wal-Mart, they've created a machine that can print a book and bind it in just minutes. Suddenly, everything that is available digitally can be bound and placed on your shelf, with no shipping or inventory involved. How cool is that? Because, let's face it, however cool a Kindle may be, it's just not as good as an actual paper book.

Now, if they could just come up with a means of browsing in these new "book" stores that reproduces the leisure of searching through actual books...

via Gerry Canavan

Addendum: Well, crap. The video I had which showed the book-maker in action seems to have been withdrawn or something. It's not even on the original link where I got it.
Oh, and now that I think of it, I can see someplace like Walmart being the ones who invest in these machines, giving more of our consumer dollar to them. Wee.