Here is another example of expanding application of inkjet technology. Last week Hewlett Packard announced that it had used its ink-jet printer cartridge technology to create a patch that releases drugs through the skin in a controlled and painless way.

The company said it has entered into a licensing agreement with Crospon, an Irish medical device developer, who will manufacture the invention and make it available to pharmaceutical firms as soon as 2010.

Patches that deliver medication through skin has long been around, for instance smoking patches. However they didn’t work for drugs that can’t be absorbed through the skin, and could only provide continuous flow of just one medication.

The new patch acts very much like a ink cartridge that squirts different colors. It uses micro-hypodermic needles controlled by a microprocessor to deliver particular drugs below the skin several at specified doses and time. This allows for timing sensitive medication delivery, which means it can be used for the treatment of diabetes, cardiac disease or hormonal imbalances.

The price of the patch is expected to be relatively inexpensive because it is based on the same technology that has long been employed in HP ink cartridges.

Researchers from IBM Corporation in collaboration with scientists from ETH Zurich Science and Technology Universityannounced the development of a new printing method that allows placing nanosize particles on a precise location.

The technology makes it possible to manipulate particles smaller than 100 nanometers, which delivers resolution equivalent to 100,000 dots per inch. Compare that to maximum resolution of 1,500 dots per inch of current offset printers.

IBM cautions the technology has many years to pass before any commercial application is possible. So far, they demonstrated the effectiveness of the developed method by printing an image of the sun. Back then in the 17th century, the sun was alchemist’s symbol for gold, so the researchers used 20,000 gold particles, 60 nanometers in diameter each, to create the image (courtesy of IBM).

This printing process is expected to have a dramatic impact on biomedicine, electronics and information technology, according to ScientificAmerican.com:

Still just a conceptual construct, the nano-printing process could be applied to biomedicine to help screen for diseases by graphically illustrating the locations of, say, cancer cells or heart attack markers in a patient’s body.

In the information technology world, nanoprinting could be used to achieve the controlled placement of catalytic seed particles for growing semiconducting nanowires. Such nanowires are promising candidates for future transistors in microchips.

Oki Data the other day announced new black and white printers – OKI B2200 and OKI B2400 Series. According to the company, the new printers are both the fastest and smallest in its class and designed to replace inkjet printer in small and home offices. Oki Data is marketing the devices as printers “ideal for those who are tight on budget and space, but can’t sacrifice productivity”.

The B2200 and B2400 Series printers are small, indeed. They measure space saving 12.6” x 8.0” x 7.1”. Given the size, printers demonstrate fastest speed in their class of up to 21 pages per minute at resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi. B2200 and B2400 Series prints the first page in just 6 seconds.

The B2200 and B2400 Series monochrome printers include models with and without standard networking capabilities. Estimated retail prices are $149 for B2200, $229 for B2200n, $179 for B2400 and $249 for B2400n. The printers are available starting from September in North and South America exclusively through OKI Printing Solutions authorized solution providers.

Epson unveiled two new compact photo printers – PictureMate PM260 Dash and the PictureMate PM290 Zoom – targeting the home users who don’t want to go photo store to get professional photo prints. Both devices are selling for $99.99 and $199.99 respectively.

The two new PictureMates are capable of printing 4×6-inch borderless pictures as fast as 37 seconds per picture. Both printers feature 3.6-inch color LCD displays that allow choosing and editing the photos to be printed. Some basic editing options are available to help improve images by removing the red eye effect or cropping unwanted segments out. The two devices offer 18 page layout options, including five new portrait layouts, all without needing a computer. Also, color filters are supported to create monochrome and sepia-toned prints.

Epson PictureMate PM260 Dash and Epson PictureMate PM290 Zoom are PictBridge-enabled and have built-in memory card slots for most popular memory card types. The printer can also be enhanced with a Bluetooth module for wireless image transfer.

What makes one compact photo printer different from the other, is that Epson PictureMate PM290 Zoom has a built-in CD-recorder, so images can be recorded directly to a CD from memory card.