Thanks to the built-in Wi-Fi module, the MG4120 can scan and copy documents at any point in the house. Canon Easy Photo-Print applications enable wireless printing from mobile devices on iOS or Android platforms fast and easy, without the assistance of a PC. Direct access to cloud applications allows MG4120 owners to print their favorite photos stored in online albums (including Picasa Web Albums), using the Online Album Photo Print by PIXMA Cloud Link. The MG4120 printer also includes a wide selection of templates, such as calendars, envelopes, forms, notes, etc., that are available for print in a single click.

With the new MG4120 printer you can quickly print high quality documents and photos at home: a 4×6-inch borderless photo at default settings is printed in approximately 44 seconds, and the speed of printing according to ISO 9.9 pages per minute in black-and-white and 5.7 pages per minute in color. For those who often use the printer, Canon offers ink cartridges with a larger resource. Compared with standard ink-they provide a cost savings of 50%. The new model is perfect for printing both text documents and photos. The print head powered by FINE Technology with 2 pl ink droplets, combined with the printing resolution of 4800 DPI guarantees stunning photos and clear text. MG4120 has a handy LCD display diagonal of 2.3 inches, and Auto Duplex Print function to automatically print on both sides to save paper.

A bundle of software for scanning and printing photos and documents is included by default. For example, the lovers of photography would use facial recognition and scene analysis provided by Software Auto Photo Fix II technology, which helps eliminate common flaws in images. You can also print pictures from video Full HD, shot by a series of Canon digital SLR or compact camera. Several images can be combined to create a sense of movement on the printed photos – this feature is provide by Merge Frames, and the Layout Print feature allows you to select a short video, create a story out of key frames and print the sequence.

The machine is connected to a PC via a USB port and displays the “Print” complex models from CAD-files, the device is packaged with programs designed to create and output three-dimensional models. To get the mock-up, the user puts a bar on a special platform, the printer gets calibrated and starts the job. The printing process is time consuming. The model is created on one side only — only half of the figure. To obtain a full three-dimensional object you need to print the two halves and glue them together. Afterwards, you’d most probably need to paint it to your liking. Yes, lots of efforts, but the cost of the printer is only about a thousand dollars.

The video below gives you an idea how all this looks like:

Unlike most modern printers, this model is a fully autonomous device with a large touch screen and computer platform. User prints out any material, the source of which can be a full-pledged personal computer, laptop or desktop, mobile device, smartphone or tablet. However, before actual printing user can edit the image with the simple image editor.

Since the display size of the printer corresponds to A4 paper size, the user sees the actual image that will be printed out. To start printing you only need to touch and slide down with your finger on the screen. Worth mentioning is the ink level indicator: when cartridges run low on ink, the image on the screen fades unevenly, once again confirming the main idea of  the concept — “You see what you print.”

Chocolate print

Scientists at the University of Exeter (England) have noticed that chocolate has similar properties. These considerations led them to build a computer-controlled 3D-printer that prints with chocolate. Of course, not everything went smooth, working with chocolate was a bit more complicated. It is not as flexible, so pouring it through a standard feeder was difficult, and maintaining a stable form of the printed prototype was not easy, too. To fix these issues, the authors developed intelligent systems of heating and cooling, rather complicated and expensive to maintain. This makes the idea of 3D-printers chocolate machines going into mass production unrealistic in the nearest future. However, the service of printing chocolate figurines, whether it’s household items or jewelry, might well arise. Girls will definitely appreciate a chocolate necklace for Valentine’s Day!

The new printers are equipped with 600 MHz dual-core processor and have 1 Gbps network adapter. The dual-core processor also manages the printing preparations and simultaneous printing of various tasks, so the company believes that the devices are suitable for workgroups of 10-20 people. With two 100-sheet paper trays, total input capacity of Samsung ML-4510/501X series increased up to 620 sheets.

In printers of Samsung ML-4510/501X series, the drum needs to be replaced after printing 60,000 pages, and high capacity toner cartridge, Samsung ML-501,X allows you to print up to 20 000 pages. To save toner, you can select ECO mode, which automatically enables duplex printing and skips blank pages. Samsung ML-4510/501X series printers produce noise level of less than 54 dBA and are operated using a 4.3-inch LCD touch screen (the ML-4510ND and ML-5010ND also have a numeric keypad). In addition, the USB port in the models Samsung ML-5010ND/5015ND makes it possible to print from a flash drive.

The device is a combination of an Android-smartphone and servo motors, the latter control the movement of each of the seven markers. An “adapter” between the phone and motors is the IOIO programmable board. The Cellular Wall Printer receives messages on a smartphone (SMS, Twitter or Facebook), which it prints on any wall (or surface, for that matter).

The inventor claims that the device copes with printing well even when the printer operator moves. You can get the whole idea by watching this video:

Printing speed of Phaser 6000/6010 amounts to 10 and 12 color pages per minute, respectively, and the first page out time is just 17 seconds. The maximum monthly printing volume of 30,000 is the evidence of high reliability devices. The Phaser 6010 is different from the Phaser 6000 by availability of network connection, multi-purpose tray and enhanced intuitive control panel. Xerox Phaser 6000/6010 ensure accurate reproduction of the original color and form up to 16 colors in each pixel. The resulting images have a resolution of 600×600 dpi.

The printers implement HiQ LED printing technology developed by Xerox and Nippon Electric Glass Co Ltd. Printheads are made of bars containing 14,592 LEDs, and are controlled by a special chip controlling the regularity of the lamps light. New technology ensures a uniform fill, clean lines and solves the problem of “jagged” contours. Another guarantee of flawless reproduction of details is an artificially farmed Xerox EA Eco toner. The toner is produced by using a chemical process of “growing” particles, rather than traditional mechanical grinding, thus ensuring accurate reproduction of fine color details and give images a glossy look. In addition, the new printers Phaser 6000/6010 first use a technology that previously used only in professional machines: the devices have temperature and humidity sensors, which allows for the automatic fine-tune the settings of printing.

Using Kinect camera to capture images of conference attendees at TEI 2011, a team of engineers has applied the data to print the figures on the three-dimensional printers. The Fabricate Yourself Initiative is part of the Interactive Fabrication founded by a researcher Karl D.D. Willis).

The system demonstrated at the conference, consists of a Mac and a connected Kinect controller. The camera gets three-dimensional images of people standing in front of it, and then sends them to a computer as STL-files. Before the image is printed with Dimension uPrint, a 3D-model obtains connecting faces (like a puzzle piece) using which printed figures can be combined into a large “wall”.

They’ve made it very interesting. Imagine that in the next few years the streets become full of instant photo booths, where you can instantly get a 3D-figurine of you. Unfortunately, so far the printing speed of 3D-printers leaves a lot to be desired, as well as the cost of such a hardware, but progress does not stand still.

Both MFPs are equipped with a scanner with a 30-35-sheets feeder, have at their disposal wireless adapters such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0. The devices are capable of storing received faxes to external memory. Printing is possible not only from the computer, but also from a PictBridge-enabled camera as well as from a external USB drive, which can store scanned images.

The controls are located on the front panel, composed of a shield and a group of function buttons.

Resolution of the MX420 is 4800 × 1200 dpi for the 4-color pigment ink jet printer (2 pl droplet size) and 2400 × 4800 dpi for the CIS-scanner. The senior model MX833 suports two-sided scanning and printing, as well as a higher resolution: 9600 × 2400 dpi (1 pl droplet size) for printing and 2400 × 4800 dpi scanning. Another feature of the MX833 is the use of the second shade of black, which results in a higher printing speed.

Like any other printer, this unit is equipped with standard CMYK-cartridges, the printing resolution is 4800 dots per inch. High speed is ensured by new robotic elements that operate at 300% faster than in previous models. The printer has with internal lighting, as well as a monitor, which displays the status of printing; the device is compatible with any computers running Windows XP and above and Mac OS X 10.6 and above.

The series consists of three Bravo 4100 models: 4100 AutoPrinter has an input container for 100 discs and the price of $1995 dollars. 4010 Disc Publisher features not only the printing unit, but also a CD / DVD recording system, the cost is 2995 dollars. And, finally, the model 4102 has two modules for CDs burning and a price tag of 3295 dollars.