"The Kiosk" is an EXCELLENT must-read (or listen) science fiction novella by Bruce Sterling which deals with the dystopian future and 3d printing.
Bruce Sterling is a master SF writer famous for his work in fiction and technology theory and he currently lives in Serbia which is in my neighborhood and was once part of Yugoslavia.
The novella is clearly influenced by culture and history of Ex-Yugoslavia which makes it even more appealing to me.
It deals with life of kiosk owner Borislav from East Euroslavia who gets a "Fabrikator" machine. I will not spoil your enjoyment of the audiobook but it gets dark, violent, interesting ... there are 3d printed bullets printed with carbon particles and other 3d printed appliances ... the whole society of main protagonist is shaped by 3d printing...
You can download it here for free, it is read by Peter Cavell and starts around 10:30 into the podcast:
http://www.starshipsofa.com/blog/2010/01/13/aural-delights-no-116-bruce-sterling/It is hour and a half well spent, I listened to it while walking my dog ...
FYI: it is not an optimistic work ...
For a similary themed dystopian short story you can also check out Printcrime by Cory Doctorow:
http://craphound.com/?p=573"The Kiosk" inspired a project:
‘KIOSK’ explores a near future scenario in which digital fabrication is so ubiquitous that we see it appear on our
street corners. With KIOSK the user can ‘appropriate, sample, remix, improve, up/downscale or copy new objects
and 3D-print them on the spot.’ KIOSK operates as a portable 3D copyshop capable of producing a ‘custom made
fix for your broken shoe, materialise an illegal download of Starck’s Juicy Salif orange squeezer that you modified for better performance or quickly print out a present for your sister’s birthday.’ For The Machine Unfold, in collaboration with Indianen, created a new creative digital copy station.
A project commissioned by Z33, House for contemporary art and MU Eindhoven.
With the support of Bits from Bytes and Jo Van Bostraeten.
A collaboration with Indianen.