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There's a good chance history will eventually look back upon 2012 as the year of the tablet.

If you didn't have a tablet before 2012, there's a good chance you do by now, or are at least seriously considering one.

Just as there was seemingly a new smartphone launch each week of this year, so too was there seemingly a tablet launch.

Samsung, Amazon, Sony, Google, Microsoft -- say any name in tech and odds are they have something to do with a new tablet.

Even Nintendo's new WiiU console would go on sale -- it's primary game controller was a touch screen tablet.

When most of these products launch though, they are just trying to grab some attention before the giant in this space, Apple, unveiled its inevitable next version of the iPad.

With the launch of the iPad mini, Apple certainly did fill that smaller, seven-inch tablet space.

Apple also made news unveiling the long-awaited, slightly longer iPhone 5. Though it sold and continues to sell well and get rave reviews, it wasn't all good news for Apple.

Its homegrown mapping service performed so poorly out of the gate that the tech giant released a statement apologizing for it and suggested users download maps from other developers.

In the meantime, Microsoft, a name that has started to fade a bit from people's minds, made a huge push to regain its former glory as undisputed king of the tech world through its release of Windows 8.

A huge departure from Windows releases of the past, this one is based largely on touch and launched alongside lots of new computers that allow users to do just that. Many that even morph in different ways back and forth from laptop to tablet.

Finally, a slight departure from tablets, it's been slowly gaining steam over the past few years but 2012 may be the year 3D printing really started to trickle down to the masses.

With 3D printers dropping in cost under $2,000 and developers like Makerbot opening an entire store devoted to 3D printers, we may have turned the corner from a time when we buy objects we need and instead just start printing them ourselves.