When we think of CES, we think of big companies like Sony, Microsoft, Samsung, and Google. One small company out of New York City wants to change all of that with its latest product that will debut on the CES floor tomorrow.

MakerBot, the company out of NYC led by geek and world-renowned tinkerer Bre Pettis, will be showing off a new 3D printer called “The MakerBot Replicator”. The company has been making huge waves since 2009, with the hopes of making 3D printing a mainstream occurence.

Before the company launched, Bre Pettis asked me how cool it would be if you could simply print out a set of forks if you ran out of them. No need to run to the store, just download an open-source plan and print it out on a machine. I replied “Sounds cool”, thinking we were nowhere near that day. Well we are, and the latest product from MakerBot gets the company that much closer to the dream of going mainstream.

The company announced the product on its blog today, and it is now available for pre-order:

The MakerBot Replicator™ is ideal for personalized manufacturing, providing a new way to make the things you want and need. It is also an essential tool for children and students; parents and educators with a MakerBot Replicator™ offer the next generation an opportunity to learn the digital designing skills required to solve the problems of the future. Students with access to a MakerBot have an edge in the future job market. Just like the youth of the 1980’s, who had access to computers, children with access to a MakerBot Replicator™ will become the leaders who make a better tomorrow.

How much will this thing set you back? The base unit costs $1,749 and aesthetically has come a long way from previous models. The items that it can now make have gone from cupcake-size in 2009, to the size of a loaf of bread in 2012.

Here’s MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis, who I can only describe as the next geneartion Mr. Wizard, discussing all of the things that can be possible with one of his 3D printing machines:

If you’re on the floor at CES, this is a demo that you simply can’t miss. Sure, it’s not a TV, but if you daydream about how cool it could be to print out forks or say, a chess set, you can see it all happen up close and personal. I believe that 3D printing has a bright future, and MakerBot has set itself up squarely in the center of the industry.

➤ MakerBot Replicator

Be sure to read all of our CES coverage here.

Since Mission: Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol was extremely heavy on tech and special effects, we’ve been able to have some fun with the expensive tactics used in the movie through promotional apps and sites.

I still use the Action Movie FX app that we wrote about to blow random things up.

In another promotional angle, a company called Glasseye has created a 3D mask maker that uses your face in the process. It’s pretty technical, too:

Mask Maker utilizes ground breaking new technology. It combines Adobe Stage 3D, Flash 11, FaceGen and Beyond Face Reality enabling it to realise complex 3D objects and environments and pioneering lighting within Flash, delivering a truly inspired 3D avatar maker. Your image is then rendered into CCTV footage which allows you to be a part of the movie.

I”m not sure what all of that actually means, but you can upload a photo of yourself to the site or take a new one with your webcam, and it will make a 3D mask out of your face, just like that scene from the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, this is one of the best special effects in the entire flick.

After you supply the app with a still photo, you’ll have to meticulously map out the points on your face with little markers that it provides you with. It only takes a minute or two, but the more attention you put into dropping these markers on your face, the better product you’ll get in the end.

Once you’ve dropped the dots on your face, you get to watch a movie scene starring you. Sounds hokey, but it’s actually quite surreal to see a 3D version of your head on someone else’s body.

Check out mine here:

Once you’ve made your mask, you can share it on Facebook or Twitter or download the photo to your desktop. Sure, it’s a promo for the movie, but it’s fun to get to play with technology that’s like what they used in the blockbuster. Give it a try for yourself.

➤ 3D Mask Maker

If you’re planning a trip to Las Vegas and want to get a real feel for what it’ll be like once you’re there, Google Maps is bringing more dimensions to its service. Three to be exact. The Google Maps team announced today that its rolling out 3D Maps in select cities all over the globe.

Here’s what the team said about today’s release:

Google Maps continuously works to bring you real-life 3D representations of your favorite cities from around the world. Google Maps in 3D combines a functional map with stunning visuals. You can tour an increasing number of cities in 3D and experience the streets and sights right from your computer or Android device.

Since embarking on our 3D mapping efforts, we have amassed a collection of cities that allows you to feel like a jet-setter. We have recently expanded and improved this collection to include more cities in Japan, Europe and the US, to name a few. You can experience a few cities below.

Check out Las Vegas and Rome:

These are the other cities that are available for a 3D tour on Google Maps:

US: Foster City, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Norfolk,Palo Alto, Portland, Redwood City, Riverside, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Sunnyvale.
Europe: Rome, IT, Rotterdam, NL; Seville, ES; Stuttgart, DE, Amsterdam, NL

Along with street view, the amount of detail you can now get from viewing Google Maps is astounding, and the team keeps adding more things to make checking out a map an experience that you can almost touch.

As the new year begins, here are five trends that are likely to make an impact in the online media world in 2011.

Cloud-based media libraries

The idea of ‘iTunes in the cloud’ has been floating around for years and despite rumors throughout 2010, it hasn’t materialized yet. In 2011, we’re likely to see the idea of a personal music library you have access to anywhere with an Internet connection become a reality.

Thus far only small players like mSpot and LaLa (purchased and closed down by Apple in 2010) have addressed cloud-based media solutions in this way. However, only the big players like Apple and Google (rumored to be launching its own music service with a cloud-based element soon) are likely to have the server capacity to make the idea a reliable, scaleable consumer proposition.

A more readable Web

In 2010, the success of the iPad forced publishers to reconsider the way they presented their content and Flipboard was a wakeup call to the idea of reformatting existing content in a more readable way. Expect technologies that allow Flipboard-style experiences on the Web to take a hold in 2011.

We recently covered Treesaver, a company that will soon offer a set of customizable templates that publishers can use to present their content with a highly readable magazine-style app. It appears Flipboard is heading for the browser too. Will it be a fad or a revolution? Time will tell but expect to see a number of experiments in this field this year.

Shakeout in the e-book market

As 2010 drew to a close, the battle for the e-book market notched up a gear with the launch of the Google eBookstore. Meanwhile, Amazon is aggressively advertising its Kindle ecosystem and Barnes & Noble’s latest Nook device has just arrived. That’s not to mention the other players out there like Sony. It’s likely we’ll see some shakeout in 2011, with less successful players pulling out or adjust their strategies significantly.

One thing’s for sure, a wide range of competing formats isn’t good for consumers and the public will most likely opt for the easiest, best supported service. A possible outcome is that some of the less successful players will adopt a more successful rival’s format. Third-party Kindle devices, anyone? With the right economic incentives from Amazon, it could be a win for all concerned.

Online 3D video goes mainstream

3D video on the Web is nothing new; YouTube has hosted 3D videos for some time. However, as Internet-connected 3D TVs start to become affordable and make the idea of watching three-dimensional content more popular, expect to see the concept become more popular online too.

It’s certainly likely that we’ll see big media outlets start pumping out a lot more 3D video but if handheld 3D video cameras can be made popular at a cheap enough pricepoint we could well see an explosion of user-generated three-dimensional content too. By the end of the year, a pair of 3D glasses could be a useful accessory when watching online video.

Beyond that, how about an iPhone 3D? Nintendo’s forthcoming 3DS handheld shows that portable 3D gaming is viable – who will be the first to bring it to the mobile world?

The “Post-blog” Blog

Far from the scrappy upstart competitors to major news outlets that they used to be, blogs are now an important news source that often breaking stories well before traditional outlets. As they mature, expect websites that started as blogs to transform into something different.

Gawker Media head honcho Nick Denton recently wrote an explanation of how his network was “Moving beyond the blog” with a new layout that ditched the decade-old “reverse chronological list of posts” blog format to a more magazine-like template that highlights the biggest stories of the day.

Elsewhere, Mashable has entered into content deals that see some of its stories published in print media as it expands its business beyond the online realm. In 2011, we’ll most likely see more deals of this kind as smart, nimble blogs capitalize on their content production strengths in new ways.