Because when it blows up, it's going to rip your face apart. When it fails, it's going to fail and take your hand/cheek/eyes. And I doubt they'll come with a 3d printed emergency room.

It would be much easier to go to the hardware store, and make a gun. And you obviously haven't the foggiest idea as to how 'cheap' 3d printing really is, nor have you compared how much it is to buy a cheap 22 cal.

I actually started out with that argument. But if you can sinter stainless steel, you can harden it just like you normally would (I think).

I'm not saying it's practical, right now. But the word never is perhaps not a good choice.

Laser sintering, but it cannot produce hardened metal needed.

On the other hand, I suppose sintered steel could be hardened. Hrm..

Still is never going to be cheap due to the cost of the lasers, etc.

You are aware that all of these 3d printers use G-Code, right?

Laser sintering of metal parts is not, in any stretch, going to be cheap for a home printer to do. Additionally, laser sintering cannot produce the hardened metal needed for the upper receiver. Go ahead and try it. You'll blow your face off as the barrel eventually bubbles and bursts.

They've printed some of the parts of a gun.

    They still need barrels, and most importantly, firing mechanisms. The printed parts are currently still holding all of the 'metal bits' that make up the gun.

    Besides, the ATF really wouldn't be able to do much about it, unless they where being sold..

The fact is, Samsung's GS3 and the iPhone 5 are the two top kahuna's as far as installed userbase is concerned. They are still neck in neck in competition. Your argument is, 'At least we have 51 iPhone 5s for every 49 GS3's!'. So basically, what IS your point, anyway?

The point is, Samsung has done NOTHING but gain on the iPhone. It would be ignorant not to acknowledge that fact.

You DO know that it's 51% versus 49%, right?

Sadly, there are plenty of uninformed "OMG, the latest XBox! Shiny!" types, who don't give a rat's ass about DRM, "First Sale" or used games. They alone will ensure that M$ will make gobs of money. Especially if Sony follows suit with the next Playstation.

Lotus Magellan. Not as old as some of the real oldies like Viscalc, but in the early 90s it was the absolute best file explorer available. Really haven't see the same ability to browse, manage and view file contents (without launching them) again.
Vintage print ad

Haven't read the details of Peer1's trials and tribulations, but the situation reminds me of the Interdictor blog, about keeping DirectNIC running during Hurricane Katrina. That was one of the most thrilling blogs I've ever read.

"So, will you be following the President's lead and shop local this holiday season, or is the siren song of online shopping convenience and savings too hard to resist?"

I think shopping local is great, and I support many local, independent businesses with my hard-earned cash. But during the holiday shopping season, I suspect the President's shopping experience is far different from mine -- considering I don't have a Secret Service detail to scout ahead to the store(s) I want to visit and clear out any other pesky shoppers so I don't have to stand in interminable lines with the unwashed masses.
So yeah -- at holiday season, I go online.

The made a land-line phone that did the same thing automatically. The Telezapper. You put one on your line and when you or your answering machine picked up, the Telezapper would play those tones (SIT Tones) before your message played. I had one and it worked well. Sadly, today's call center software is wily and has figured out that particular exploit.

Now I just don't pick up calls from number I don't recognize. If it's valid and important, they'll leave a message.

A Pentel Energel 0.5 is my usual instrument to overwhelm mighty swords at my desk, but I almost always carry a Fisher SpacePen too, because it's damn convenient and writes anywhere on anything.