Brief overview of the state of the art in 3D printers

Disclaimer:
I'm being impartial here, if you have any comments or disagree with anything feel free to comment and I'll correct / update the post.
Also, this is meant to cover home printers only.

Miicraft

High resolution printer @ $2k (> 0.1mm)
DLP projector + resin
http://www.indiegogo.com/miicraft


Makerbot
Industry standard, good support, strong community
Plastic Extrusion
A bit expensive IMO. (up to $2000)
http://store.makerbot.com


Printrbot
Good printer based on reprap, started in kickstarter
Great price ($500-$700)
Plastic Extrusion
Easy to build
http://printrbot.com/

Makibot
On-going, crowdfunded
Great price (claimed to cost $300)
Plastic Extrusion
http://makibox.com/

Prusa Mendel
Traditional reprap printer based on the Mendel
Probably the easiest to build from all repraps ( but still not that easy)
Simple to customize with many improvements available online.
Price greatly depends on where you buy the parts and your own build choices..
Prusa Mendel assembly instructions: http://garyhodgson.com/reprap/prusa-mendel-visual-instructions/
http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa

Software:
OpenSCAD (http://www.openscad.org)


Open source list of models: thingiverse.com (by Makerbot)

3rd party / Order by internet websites:
shapeways.com (slow delivery but cheap)
sculpteo.com (faster but more expensive)

For parts:
GRRF.de (German RepRap Foundation)
thingfarm.org (UK Based)
eBay:  http://qs.kapouta.com/h
Or a list of providers: http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_Mendel_Buyers_Guide

Random links

 It turns out that the human genome contains about 100,000 fragments of endogenous retroviruses, making up about eight percent of all our DNA.

http://qs.kapouta.com/e

But over the past four years, Sasai has used mouse embryonic stem cells to grow well-organized, three-dimensional cerebral-cortex¹, pituitary-gland² and optic-cup³ tissue. His latest result marks the first time that anyone has managed a similar feat using human cells.

http://qs.kapouta.com/f

 

http://qs.kapouta.com/g

Lunch @ home..