Printing is still an important part of any business, regardless the natural for business desire to slash the costs by printing less. Printing is still not a technology “green” enough for the adepts of paperless office, but it has greatly improved in recent years.

For instance, Xerox, apart from the laser and inkjet printer printers, has been actively promoting its solid ink technology as more “environmentally-friendly” with a “reduced carbon footprint.”

Actually, the mother of solid ink technology was in 1991 the Tektronix that developed it as a printing technology for office use. 9 years later, in 2000, Xerox acquired the Tektronix and added it as a brand line together with other lines of its printing products.

So, here is what you may want to know about solid inks. (more…)

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“Inkjet prints cannot be recycled for new newsprint or copying paper just as old newspapers or magazines,” claims INGEDE, International Association of the Deinking Industry.

It turns out, the recycling process doesn’t remove the ink from inkjet prints; the new paper comes out shaded. The recycling paper mills can still cope with single inkjet prints from households or offices. But what printer manufacturers plan to introduce at the “Drupa” fair, the world’s largest printing and paper exhibition, jeopardizes the paper recycling cycle: Direct mail or newspapers printed with inkjet are like a sponge full of ink – and even in small amounts of such printed products can cause the graphic paper recycling to collapse.

For a couple of years INGEDE has been trying to solve this problem together with printer manufacturers and other members of the paper chain, but futile. Quite the opposite – those printer manufacturers focused on excellent recyclable dry toners now also offer inkjet systems for high volumes.

The association believes that publishers and mailing designers need to be informed, as even a single publisher investing in this kind of equipment could severely harm paper recycling all over Europe. INGEDE plans an intensive information campaign in the forefront of the “Drupa” fair. Clearly, inkjet printed news and direct mail do not fit into the higher-grade paper recycling system. That is why possibly this kind of printed products have to be clearly visible marked as “not recyclable”.

The dry toner performs very well in the paper recycling process that originally has been developed for the removal of offset and gravure inks. A series of tests by different European research institutes on behalf of INGEDE has confirmed these findings.

For those of us who are environmentally conscious, all the above means we’d better stick to laser printers, if we want to be greener.

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Today’s business world is more demanding for ability to conduct business almost anywhere. As a mobile professional, you may find it handy to print on-the-go, and Canon gives you this opportunity.

The new PIXMA iP100 Mobile Printer from Canon U.S.A, successfully addresses printing needs on-the-go and delivers text and graphics for printing a business presentation or a contract. It prints borderless color photos from the car or even at the beach. This printer has increased color resolution and is faster than previous models. The lightweight Canon PIXMA iP100 Mobile Printer fits easily onto a desk or into a case making it the perfect laptop companion for business or personal travel.

The PIXMA iP100 Mobile Printer’s new design includes increased color resolution to a maximum 9600 x 2400 dpi, one picoliter droplet size (the first-ever mobile printer to have a minimum), and increased print speed. Additionally, the printer will use 2 black inks, one a pigment-based black ink for text and another for printing photos. The total volume of the pigment black ink tank has been increased by 50%.

The Canon PIXMA iP100 is the first mobile printer to have Auto Image Fix technology. With a laptop, this technology automatically recognizes the scenes in photographs and optimizes printing settings according to the scene type, such as Portrait, Scenery, Snapshot, etc.

With print speeds of up to 20 pages-per-minute for black and up to 14 ppm for color, this printer can deliver projects faster than previous models. The PictBridge port allows printing 4-x 6 inch to 8-x 10 inch and legal size pictures from a compatible digital camera or DV camcorder without a computer.

The PIXMA iP100 Mobile Printer features a standard USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection. Besides, business professionals have the option to print wirelessly from the built-in IrDA port or from select Bluetooth enabled cellular phones and computers with the new optional user installable Bluetooth Unit BU-30 (not included).

Canon offers the optional LK-62 Lithium Ion battery that last enough to make 290 pages per three-hour charge. Also, Mobile professionals will benefit from the optional Automobile Power Unit to power their PIXMA iP100 Mobile Printer directly through a car power socket.

The iP100 Mobile Printer is available for $249.99. The LK-62 battery costs an additional $99.99, and a compatible Automobile Power Unit (PU-200U) sells for $89.99.

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Previously we have established that original HP ink cartridges have at least 2 levels of protection: genuine labels and “best before” dates. How about the toner cartridges?

Monochrome laser is the most common printing technology for offices. According to HP, replacement of a toner cartridges renews 2/3 of the whole printing mechanism. So it’s worth making sure the cartridge you buy is not a freud.

For demonstration purposes we used HP Q2612A and C7115T toner cartridges. Here are several signs to tell you the cartridge you hold is a genuine HP toner cartridge:

• specific location of the hologram label
• air-proof package of the cartridge inside the box
• protective tape in cartridge
• production codes on the cartidge casing and on the box

(more…)

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When your printer is out of ink, the problem of replacement cartridges arises. Today’s printer ink market offers you original, compatible, remanufactured, refilled, etc. cartridges to replenish your stock of ink. Every option has its pros and cons, but if you choose to buy original cartridges, make sure the quality you get is worth the money.

Remember, the cartridges are responsible for 90% of the printouts quality regardless the type of printing – matrix, inkjet or laser.

The thing is, along with original cartridges (produced by a company for own printers) and compatible cartridge (produced or remanufactured by third-party companies) there are counterfeit cartridges produced by some backstreet companies in conditions far from those on a factory.

Counterfeit cartridges are one of the most hazardous types of consumables as they affect both customers and manufacturers. Many people confuse counterfeit cartridges with compatible ones. That makes them think there’s no difference between original and compatible cartridges, but this is one.

From this article you will learn how to identify the original HP cartridges. (more…)

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Saving money on ink and toner cartridges has come your way. Now on you may save up to 15% off you order with new discount system and have a free gift from TonerCartridgeDepot.com.

The new discounts includes:

• Volume discounts that apply to all printer supplies
• Special discounts on remanufactured cartridges only
• Discount coupons

The free gift — 1 GB flash drive — is yours for any order above $270 placed at
Toner Cartridge Depot.

Volume discounts

You will benefit from a range of volume discounts and save up to 6% when shopping for printer cartridges:

• 3% off orders from $2000.00 to $2999.99;
• 5% off orders from $3000.00 to $4999.99;
• 6% off orders over $5000.00.

Discounts on remanufactured cartridges

Regularly, a remanufactured toner cartridge is cheaper than the original cartridge by $20-$100. You may enjoy even better saving when order remanufactured cartridges:

• 5% off orders from $100.00 to $499.99;
• 10% off orders from $500.00 to $999.99;
• 15% off orders over $1000.00.

Discount coupons

You may get a one-time discount coupon to buy printer supplies in TonerCartridgeDepot.com. All you need is to sign up to mailing list or help us add new products:

• $3 discount coupon is awarded for subscription to our newsletter;
• $5 discount coupon is awarded for help in adding products to our shop via Not Found Items service.

The service automatically shows up when your search for products fails. We add a product you couldn’t find, you’ll get the discount coupon by e-mail. Simple as that!

All discounts may accumulate into one big discount, e.g. if you buy several original and remanufactured cartridges, you will get both volume and additional discounts. ON top of that, you may get a free gift — 1 GB flash drive.

Remember, free shipping is available on all orders made at
Toner Cartridge Depot.

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Hello! Today we have some hi-tech news again, the “we found another use for inkjet printer” kind of news.

So, there is a company, FUJIFILM Dimatix, that supplies drop-on-demand inkjet printheads for industrial applications. The company recently announced that researchers at the Department of Chemistry at Colorado State University used its cartridge-based Dimatix Materials Printer (DMP) to devise a method of developing new materials for producing hydrogen from water and sunlight.

The researchers used a Materials Printer to do the necessary calculations and precisely print arrays of finely-graded compounds onto special transparent substrates.

The new method allowed the researchers to isolate a particular chemical compound that has potential for water photoelectrolysis. Water photoelectrolysis is a conversion of sunlight into an electrical current that divides water into hydrogen and oxygen. This process is critical for energy-efficient hydrogen production.

The printer uses the Dimatix Materials Cartridge that has 16 nozzles linearly spaced at 254 microns with typical drop sizes of 1 and 10 picoliters. These cartridges allowed the researchers to accurately determine individual droplet volumes of the compound gradients, the number of nozzles firing, the jetting waveform for individual nozzles and the frequency of nozzle firing. Such level of customization makes it a great printer, indeed.

The compound optimized during the research is made of three common elements – aluminum, cobalt and iron. The researchers hope that the method can be used to find new solar water splitting materials that are both functional and inexpensive.

As oil prices go up, discovery of new materials for the production of alternative fuels is very appealing.

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