Said Hewlett-Packard's Andrew Bolwell in a recent ABC World News feature on the book,"We think a book like this that's printed only after it's ordered, that's personalized for the end user, is absolutely the future of publishing. You can have your own family cookbook with Grandma's recipe through to Martha Stewart's recipe."

It appears that unbeknown to Bolwell, the future (much like President Obama) has already arrived. RWW has already covered a number of companies where products are produced on an individual basis and personalized to the user. Below is a list of companies that allow users to upload, price and purchase their personalized books:

1. Blurb: Blurb offers users the chance to personalize books in a variety of formats. The quality of this product is extremely striking and buyers can opt for a number of page layouts and finishes. The company is one of the few businesses able to earn healthy revenue in our down economy.

2. Lulu: Similar to Blurb, Lulu also allows customers to personalize and create books. Users can upload photos from their Facebook, Flickr and Photobucket accounts as well as directly from their computers. The finished products are sold in the Lulu online storefront as eBooks or physical hard covers. The company even offers square, compact and wallet sized options.

3. CreateSpace: In late 2007, Amazon launched CreateSpace as an on-demand book publishing service. In addition to being able to create a personalized book and sell it in the Amazon storefront, users can also create Kindle-specific books, audio CDs, MP3s, DVD's and video downloads. While the service isn't as sleek as Lulu or Blurb, the potential to reach the Amazon audience is a huge draw to those looking to earn money with their creative talents.

4. Scribd: Another site with a large audience, Scribd recently launched their own store this past April. With 60 million unique visitors per month, the company is a great platform for those looking to publish their original works. Budding authors can price and publish their books alongside Simon and Schuster titles in the Scribd storefront. For now, the storefront only services the eBook audience.

5. Tastebook: Both Grandma and Martha Stewart's recipes can live side-by-side in this personalized cookbook making site. Featured in a RWW article on recipe resources, this tool offers users the chance to personalize cookbooks and produce them on an individual basis.

The Obama Time Capsule is obviously a very cool project, but it's clear to see that personalized book production is certainly not a new concept. That being said, regardless of whether or not it's a paradigm shifter for publishing, the quality of The Obama Time Capsule, coupled with Smolan's recognition as a TIME photographer and TED speaker will likely still draw fans.

UPDATE: It turns out Obama's Time Capsule IS actually made possible by Blurb's global print partner network, a partnership which exclusively uses the HP Indigo digital printing presses. Other partners include Google, Facebook, AOL, Glam Media and paper manufacturer NewPage.

Then in January of this year, Author Solutions, Inc., who own AuthorHouse and iUniversere -- both POD publishers on the full-service end of the spectrum -- launched a new Lulu-esque service called Wordclay. Wordclay offers a menu of do-it-yourself and premium services including, printing, distribution, editing, and design (or, the iUniverse package offered a la carte). Wordclay currently only offers black and white paperback publishing, with hardcover and color publishing coming later this year.

Earlier this month, Lulu made waves by announcing a partnership with Borders -- the second largest bookseller in the US -- to power kiosks in new concept stores where customers can upload and sell POD books. They'll also provide the muscle for an online print on demand service called Borders Personal Publishing. Participants in the program may have the option to take part in in-store activities, such as author readings and book signings.

It is also probably worth mentioning that along with the release of their Kindle eBook reader (our coverage), Amazon has provided a method for authors to self publish books to the Kindle Marketplace, which has prompted some authors to take rather innovative approaches to the publishing process.

Why all the sudden movement in the POD space? Wordclay president Dave McCauley equates it to the evolution of the music industry. "Really, it's like music," he told me. "10 years ago it was all about big labels, now it's all about the independent artists, with MP3s and MySpace." The book publishing industry is just a little behind the times.

"I think what the industry is trying to do is remove all the barriers," he said. According to McCauley, in the traditional pubishing industry publishers put in a lot of time and money to overcome barriers to get to market -- things like editing, layout, design, distribution, and marketing. What POD publishers are doing, is using web 2.0 tools to try and break down those barriers and put publishing tools in the hands of authors.

For less serious writers, who don't want to get their books on store shelves but rather just want to publish a few copies for family and friends, there are casual POD publishers as well. CafePress has offered print on demand books since 2003 without all the bells and whistles of more author-centric services, and Blurb, which launched at DEMO in 2006, specializes in more visual books and books based on blogs and photo sharing sites.

While there is still a certain negative stigma associated with self publishing, the tools to do it cheaply, easily, and effectively are continually getting better. It's also nice to see that even though, as Steve Jobs says, people don't read anymore, at least what people are writing is being given more of an opportunity to be read.

Amazon is also dangling a carrot for readers to motivate them to participate in the process: anyone who reviews at least 25 ABNA semifinalists is entered to win a prize package including a Kindle, $2000 Amazon gift card, and an HP photo printer. The book excerpts are available as a free downloads until March 2nd, and with over 800 semifinalists still in the running, there are enough for even the most avid reviewers to keep busy (most excerpts are just a few pages long).

After the finalists are chosen, the ultimate winner of the book deal will be chosen via a vote by Amazon customers.

The whole thing has a very "Threadless.com" feel about it. Assuming that they can muster enough reader participation during the voting and review period, Amazon and Penguin are almost guaranteed to have a winner on their hands because whichever book is published, it will come with a pre-built audience of people who are already willing to pay to read the rest of the story that they began with the free excerpt.

Oddly enough, the book excerpts are not available as Amazon Kindle downloads. It seems that Amazon has missed what could be a perfect opportunity to promote their ebook reader device. Theoretically, because users can email any content they want to their Kindle, the ABNA book excerpts are technically available on the device, but Amazon is making a minor mistake in not making it easier for Kindle users to download the 800+ entries that make up the semifinal round.

Earlier this month we wrote about author Daniel Oran, who is using the Kindle to beta test his sophomore book. Oran wrote to us recently to let us know that so far the experiment has been a success. His book currently sits at #14 on the Kindle bestseller list, and has gone as high as #7. It is clear that Kindle users are not opposed to reading new authors on the device -- especially since new authors have the option to publish their books well below market prices (and in the case of ABNA, the excerpts are free).

Amazon is using the contest to promote one of their other recently launched businesses: CreateSpace, a print-on-demand publisher that they launched in August to compete with Lulu. Every entrant to the ABNA contest receives a free proof copy of their book via CreateSpace. Amazon clearly hopes that authors who don't win will decide to go the self publishing route and use Amazon's service rather than Lulu (or a traditional vanity press) to sell books to their friends and relatives.