Printer Industry Blog

Why Overpackaging Is Not OK and How You Can Avoid It

Stan Retner — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:14:39 +0000

Products seem to be delivered to the consumer in ever more packaging these days. And the consumer is forced to pay for it in the end — not just environmentally but financially as well. Tax dollars go to pay to reuse or recycle excess packaging — or to truck it to a landfill site.

In European Union countries an appropriate law came into force which makes overpackaging illegal. As part of the Europe-wide rules on packaging, packaging must now be manufactured so that “its volume and weight is limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance of the packed product for the consumer.”

In Germany, for example, you can see a distinct difference in the way products are packaged. The same products you can buy in the United States are available there with less packaging, less-toxic or non-toxic components and more recyclability because manufacturers must comply with federal laws that require them to design their products for the environment, not the dump.

Historically, the United States hasn’t been big on that kind of federal legislation. This is the land where the consumer is king or queen, so it’s up to us to make this kind of change happen.

One-third of American garbage is packaging materials, according to the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington.

And there’s not necessarily a good reason for it. Many companies are simply following convention and haven’t looked into better ways to package their products.

Not only is minimal packaging better for the environment, it also costs less to produce. Companies can save a lot of money when they reduce packaging.

Printer cartridges add to the problem of overpackaging, too. This picture speaks for itself:

The small grey object you can see in the middle of the picture is an ink cartridge, most of the rest of the stuff you see is waste. The cartridge comes in a small sealed plastic pouch, which is in a box with various papers. This is then packaged in an entirely unnecessary plastic container which is virtually impossible to open.

This is one thing.

Another thing is that when you buy ink and toner cartridges online, seller often add styrofoam packing peanuts or other filler to prevent possible damage of cartridge in parcel. Taking into account that a toner cartridge box usually already contains protective filler (for instance, HP toner cartridge is surrounded by an air-filled safety “jacket” in box), it even increases overpackaging and, eventually, lanfill.

More important is that these styrofoam packing peanuts cost you additional money.

However there are some advices to reduce packaging waste, be more ecologically consious and also save some movey:

Avoid snacks and other foods wrapped in individual serving sizes. Instead, buy bigger bags of the snacks and put smaller servings in paper bags.
Buy personal hygiene and home-cleaning products in bulk when possible.
Buy cereal in bags instead of boxes, which usually contain bags inside.
Buy loose fruits and vegetables instead of those packaged in Styrofoam trays and shrink-wrap. Fix your own fresh-fruit cups instead of buying cut-up fruit in plastic containers.
Avoid buying products packaged in blister packs (molded plastic attached to cardboard.) Although sometimes blister packs serve a hygienic purpose (making sure cosmetics or medicines aren’t tampered with, for instance), they are often unnecessary.
Use fewer individual serving-size bottles of water and juices.
Buy ink and toner cartridge at Toner Cartridge Depot.

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The Real Laser Printer - The Zing Laser Engraving system

Stan Retner — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:19:02 +0000

What we’re used to call “laser printers” are actually toner printer as they use toner in the first place to produce text and images. Yes, the toner is applied using laser, but that’s next step, if you reverse the process of image forming.

And now we can witness a real laser printer — Epilog Zing Laser.

(more…)

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Yellow Markings Left by Color Laser Printers Decoded

Stan Retner — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:04:08 +0000

Previously we reported the discovery of yellow dots made by color laser printers and the reaction of European Union Committee on this issue.

A study done by Electronic Frontier Foundation finds that most color laser printers add an identifying code on every page you print. This code is actually microscopic yellow dots printed on each page in a grid pattern. Normally these dots are invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen using a blue LED light.

The information in the yellow dots varies, some have just the serial number of the printer and others also have the date printed. On the picture below you can see the date and time when page was printed and the serial number of the printer.

Originally the technology was implemented to help secret services track and find counterfeiter who use color laser printers to forge money or securities. But now that color laser printers are becoming more affordable and more user gets them home, these tracking dots are making privacy advocates worry.

“There’s nothing about this technology that limits its application to counterfeit investigations,” stated Seth Schoen with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Some people who aren’t doing anything wrong may have their privacy threatened.”

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HP OfficeJet H470b, World Fastest Mobile Printer

Stan Retner — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:17:43 +0000

HP introduces the world’s fastest mobile printer (based on the published specifications), the HP OfficeJet H470b.

As any decent mobile printer, the OfficeJet H470b supports optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The printer is compatible to numerous operational systems such as Windows, Macintosh, Palm, Tablet PC, Pocket PC, and Symbian.

The printer work well without a PC, just connect it your notebook, PDA, digital camera, cell phone, or even memory cards and go print!

With the HP OfficeJet H470b Mobile Printer, you can get your documents and graphics at fastest-in-class speeds of up to 22 pagers per minute in black and 18 ppm in color, which is a lot for a mobile printer.

The long-lasting Lithium-Ion battery enables the printer to deliver up to 480 pages per charge. You can also use your car’s power by using the 12v auto power adapter.

The OfficeJet H470b is very light to carry around, it weigh only 5 lbs, yet it’s durable. Don’t be afraid of dropping it by a coincidence — the printer is drop-tested from heights of up to 0.5 meters.

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Buyers Laboratory Inc. Awards HP and Oce Printers

Stan Retner — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:10:50 +0000

Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), “the office equipment industry’s leading independent authority and provider of competitive intelligence, testing and reviews on multifunction (MFP), copier, printer and fax products”. BLI semi-annually present its “Pick” award to the products that perform the best in their respective categories throughout BLI’s in-depth lab test.

During the test, BLI evaluates all critical performance areas, including reliability, image quality, productivity, print drivers, feedback to workstations, administrative utilities, ease of use, network setup, toner yield, cost of ownership and more.

HP Selected in Three Color Printer Categories

The HP Color LaserJet CP6015dn received a BLI “Pick” award in the large workgroup color printer category, while the multifunction printer based on the same engine, the Color LaserJet CM6040f, was recognized in the printer MFP category. “The CP6015dn and the CM6040f offer users dark text, smooth lines and good color output at a competitive price,” said BLI Senior Test Technician Tony Maceri. “And with HP’s standard security features and extensive color access controls, business users have multiple options to control the output devices on their networks.”

Meanwhile, Oce, a global leader in digital document management and delivery solutions was recently awarded four Spring 2008 “Pick of the Year” awards from BLI, too.

Three Oce color devices, the Oce cm4521, Oce cm5520 and Oce cm6520, won “Outstanding Segment 4 Business Color MFP” Pick of the Year awards; the Oce im4512 achieved the “Outstanding Segment 4 Monochrome MFP” Pick of the Year award. “We are honored to receive the level of prestige given to our devices by being awarded these ‘Picks’,” said Tom O’Neill, Director Product Marketing, Oce North America, Document Printing Systems. “BLI’s testing criteria and opinions are highly respected and winning these Segment 4 awards really shows our devices are in a class of their own.”

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Lexmark X9575 Professional Review

Stan Retner — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:55:48 +0000

The X9575 is the flagman ship of Lexmark’s Professional series of inkjet multifunctions designed to serve business needs. (The unit has a range of connection options and a number of PC-less features that make it a suitable addition to the home or small office. However, the printing speeds and photo quality leave a bit to be desired.)

The X9575 is rich in connectivity options: you can connect it using USB, Ethernet and 802.11g Wi-Fi.

The front control panel of the multifunction features a color LCD for previewing photos and navigating the menu. Next to the display is a PictBridge port for direct printing and a multi-card reader. The printer has an automatic duplexing feature, allowing businesses to save money through double-sided printing.

(more…)

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How to Calibrate A Photo Printer at Home

Stan Retner — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:48:26 +0000

Using your photo printer to the fullest does not require expensive equipment. This is a step-by-step guide for those who want to calibrate his photo printer at home.

Ink + paper = something unexpected

You should know that ink is either a solution of coloring agents or a water suspense of solid color particles. And paper is some porous surface with certain roughness, own whiteness, thickness and reflecting power.

So when ink meets paper, rarely something good comes out of it (especially when they are made by different brands) under default printing settings: the results of this interaction are often hard to predict. Bu there’s something you can do about it.

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Brother Launches MFC-6490CW, New Professional Tabloid Printer

Stan Retner — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Last Friday Brother introduced its new multifunctional inkjet printer — the MFC-6490CW.

This printer is the first in a new line of “Professional Series” printers. It is also first Brother’s color inkjet to print, copy, scan, and fax on 11 x 17-inch tabloid sized paper.

The MFC-6490CW can print at speeds of up to 35 ppm in black, 28 ppm in color at up to 600 x 1200-dpi resolution. When copying, you can achieve speed of up to 23 copies per minute in black, 20 in color. The scanning unit supports resolutions up to 19200 dpi

The printer uses 4 separate color ink cartridges for imaging.

The Brother MFC-6490CW is well-equipped: it has a 50 sheet Automatic Document Feeder, dual paper trays that can hold up to 400 sheets, and Super G3 33.6Kbps fax modem.

You can connect this printer via USB 2.0, but it also supports Ethernet and 802.11g-compatible Wi-Fi connectivity.

The MFC-6490CW has a built-in 3.3-inch widescreen display and allows for direct photo printing from digital camera media cards, USB flash drives or PictBridge-enabled cameras.

The printer is TWAIN-compliant and compatible with Mac OS X 10.2.4 or later. The bundled software includes Presto PageManager OCR.

The printer is available at an estimated street price of $299.

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Epson Re-launches While HP Reorganizes

Stan Retner — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:17:49 +0000

Hello! We are back with a short printer industry news show.

Last week Canon Australia re-started the PIXMA inkjet printer brand with a substantial ad campaign and in-store promotion initiative, heralding a strong shift to a brand-focused sales approach.

Canon has invested something like $12 million in the PIXMA campaign, a big move in the company’s brand-building strategy.

The ad campaign with the tagline “Why Print When You Can PIXMA?” and a new PIXMA sub-brand logo was launched on TV, print and online media last week and in-store from 1 May. The campaign focuses on the creative possibilities users can discover with a.

The campaign is also supported by the PIXMA microsite, at www.canon.com.au/PIXMA, where a band mum hosts a series of activities, including sharing ideas on items to create with a PIXMA printer and choosing the right PIXMA printer for the consumers’ needs.

The advertising initiative is supported in-store. Points-of-sale will be supplied with collateral, which includes posters, wobblers, shelf strips, printer sleeves and claims forms.

Among the items promoted in-store will be a nationwide competition from 1 May until 31 July, which includes a grand prize World Tour worth $25,000. This includes travel credit that can be used for flights, trips, tours, accommodation and concerts.

Meanwhile, HP is up to make some rearrangements within the company, namely in its printing division. Usually a bad sign (reorganizations are usually done when a division is performing poorly,) this reorganization is more like an adaptation of the business to the realities of the market.

The old structure has a drawback that parts were separate from the devices, so things like ink and paper were separate from InkJet and LaserJet. Now all that deals with inkjet printing will be in the InkJet unit and LaserJet supplies like toner will live together with the printer.

InkJet and its supplies will be combined into one group, while LaserJet and enterprise, due to their natural union, will become a separate group. “We basically said ‘hey, let’s make this tighter’, so we can be more agile, reduce cost structure, enable growth and enhance the customer experience,” said Alyson Griffin, a spokesperson for HP, in an interview to InternetNews.com

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