This week’s CES is a showcase of products, but there’s one company out there who wants you to make your own. Makerbot is the latest in 3D printing, a technology that is still quite expensive but also beginning to become more mainstream. Also at CES, there’s the major effort and investment being put in to keep you amused — screens are becoming more ubiquitous in modern life, and companies are trying to find ways to keep up with it.

Cars didn’t used to have much in the way of electronics. There were gears, sure. There were carburetors and pistons and belts. But there weren’t a lot of computers until the last several years. The cars of tomorrow, however, will likely make the computerized  cars of today look like Model Ts by comparison.

All the companies have talked it over and they’ve decided that your TV is really pretty stupid. I know, I know, it hurts to hear that. Everyone likes to think that their TV is some kind of precocious genius. According to the electronics company, your TV just doesn’t measure up. Don’t take it personally, they feel that way about a lot of TVs.

The Consumer Electronics Show is underway in Las Vegas and there will be plenty of hype and hooey regarding a zillion new tech products being displayed. Some of the products already being talked about: ultrabooks and iPod thermostats.

With a near first-place finish in Iowa, Rick Santorum has a lot more name recognition going in to New Hampshire than many would have expected from him a few weeks ago. Many people who haven’t been following the former Pennsylvania senator very closely may be unfamiliar with him and, given his recent success and fame, may be tempted to go to Google and try to find more about him by searching “Santorum.” The results may surprise. Also in the show, the classic video game Flight Simulator is back.

Now there’s a new online way to try to separate the straight dope from the hot air, the brass tacks from the hooey, the truth from the not-so-much-the-truth. Flackcheck.org debuts today. It’s an attempt to accomplish the often dry task of political fact checking and have a few laughs along the way. No mean feat. Also, the latest in egg-cooking technology.

The BlackBerry PlayBook debuted last spring to much ballyhoo but it hasn’t exactly rocketed to the top of the charts. Research In Motion, the company that makes PlayBook and BlackBerry, is now apparently looking to dump inventory by slashing the price of the tablet to $299. It’s a savings of up to $400. Is it worth the price now?

Get ready for the hive mind. A new book explores the future of collaborative knowledge, where networks become more significant than singular experts. It’s already changed the way you work and search for data, and it will cause the world of knowledge to get a bit noisier. Also, the Robot Roundup finds robots that harvest hair follicles, chat on social networks and flirt.

Buckle your seatbelts — 2012 will be a crazy busy year in technology. A lot of amazing stuff going on. How do we know it’s going to be a big year? It’s technology! They’re all big years. From the PATRIOT Act to mesh networking, here are some predictions on what will make technology news in 2012.