An anonymous reader writes:
Increasingly restrictive intellectual property laws may make it difficult or even impossible to produce consumer electronics devices in the near future. If they aren't killed off by the growing mass of trivial patents for everything from double clicking to "look and feel", they may bump up against the DMCA for permitting the creation or playback of pirated content.
But the new developments in 3D printing and other DIY hardware innovations may could chnage all this by opening the door to DIY hardware. Just as VLC makes the issue of whether Windows Media Player can play pirated DVDs obsolete, freely downloadable blueprints for open source iPods that can be "printed out" on a desktop rapid prototyping device could spell the end for hardware monopolies.
This article by Charcoal Design explorers the evolution of consumer technology over the last 20 years, and suggests that desktop manufacturing of simple electronic devices such as media players could be the next big thing to hit the consumer hardware market.