It already has. Every new technology seems to come--more and more quickly--up against legal challenges that underscore the difficulties of adapting laws based on older (or ancient) technologies for updated ones. From Betamax to Napster, industries are quick to see the potential impact to their businesses when they lose control of the dissemination of their products, and copyright law is struggling to keep up with rapid advances in technology. One example is 3-D printing, which has already drawn attention from corporate counsels. Ars Technica writer Peter Hanna has a great article, The next Napster? Copyright questions as 3D printing comes of age, on the challenges facing 3-D printing as the technology matures.

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Researchers at the Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the University of Washington campus have announced that they are printing 3-D objects using a very unusual medium--wood. Wood powder, to be more precise, although the researchers point out on their blog that "[m]ost wood flours are really not wood but rather nut shell flours or even tree bark flour," which they mix with a plastic resin glue that hardens the printed object. The process could turn out to be a boon for artists who, like one of the researchers, wants to print wooden sculptures. The lab's blog describes its 3-D printing experiments using other powders including iced tea, salt, and even bone powder, hardened with maltodextrin.

Next time you're in your office but you wish you could print something on your home printer (I'm sure this comes up all the time...), never fear: HP and Google Cloud Print have you covered. All you need is an HP ePrint-enabled printer and a Gmail account and/or access to HP ePrint, and voila! Your wish is their command. With Google Cloud Print, you register your printer with your Google account, and you can print from Google Cloud Print-enabled apps (so for example, you could print from a Gmail app on you smartphone). With HP ePrint Mobile Printing Solution, your Blackberry will let you print from public locations (for example, an airport lounge or local copy store); it will even help you find a local location to print, if your phone uses GPS. Confused? Read more about HP ePrint Mobile Printing and check out HP's video on YouTube for more details.

HP has launched its "Unlocking Your Energy" event in San Francisco to showcase its selection of energy-saving products and services, including home-energy monitoring research. The goal of this research is essentially to understand where consumers are using the most energy in their homes, and then to provide advice on how to respond to minimize this expense. The company also introduced its EcoSolutions store, which offers Energy-Star-qualified Photosmart Deskjet, Laserjet, and Officejet printers, as well as information about the company's trade-in, consumer buy-back, and recycle programs. Also available is the HP Eco Solutions Print Console, which manages a printer's energy, paper, and other consumables. According to HP, "The HP Eco Solutions Print Console sets a reminder to turn the printer off at night. It also reduces paper consumption by setting two-sided printing as the default, and automatically printing multiple pages on each side of the paper. EconoMode sets draft quality printing, saving toner." Right now, however, the Print Console works only with the Laserjet P2055d, P2055dn, and P2055x.