P:log Brings Blogging To Prison Inmates

You may wonder just what designer Yejin Mun is thinking with his system to bring blogging to prison inmates. Yet the P:log – a printer and scanner combo with which prisoners can upload their journals anonymously - serves a real purpose. The loneliness of prison life alienates inmates from society. What better way to reconnect than by unleashing their woes on an unsuspecting web?

Fortunately, the anonymity clause puts a stop to any great escapes being hatched by angst-ridden inmates. And we trust that prisoners wouldn’t service the P:log themselves – ink cartridges are deadly in the wrong hands!

[Via Yanko]

New Konica Printers Replenish Own Ink Cartridges

Have you ever exhausted your toner the moment tomorrow’s presentation needs printing? Even if you’re careful to keep a stock of cartridges, a search on Twitter at any given moment (search: ink cartridge) will reveal someone in a panic.

Until recently, these people could only broadcast their panic on the internet (natch) before rushing out. Whether they’d find toner in time was anyone’s guess.

Fortunately, cartridge brand Konica has teamed with Wireless Logic to create printers that make this predicament a thing of the past.

According to a 20 January press release by Wireless Logic, future Konica printers will come equipped with GPRS SIM cards – letting Konica monitor each printer’s toner levels.

Once the printer runs low, new ink cartridges are automatically re-ordered.

The integrated Wireless Logic cards also check the printer’s performance, meaning faults can be detected more quickly. Any problems are registered on Konica’s CS Remote Care Service, and an engineer is dispatched to solve the problem.

Already Konica has noticed a 50% drop in its billing queue from customers using the new printers – who (according to the release) have saved money too.

However, the Wireless Logic release does not address whether consumers can customise the service they receive. For example, can persons opt out of the monitoring service? Do Konica record each person’s printer use for marketing ends?

In May 2006 a report appeared in The New York Times addressing the privacy issues of ‘wireless tracking’ appliances. Writer Kevin J. O’Brien spoke of existing RFID tags in Underground Tube passes – with the potential to track people and their belongings.

Though nothing indicates that Konica’s intent is not innocent, customers ought ask how their information will be used.

Will The Apple iPad Save Print?

It’s impossible that you haven’t heard the news. Even the birds were singing about the announcement of the Apple iPad yesterday – while blog hubs like Technorati have strained under the weight of gossip.

Yet of all the excited parties, people in print & publishing have perhaps the most reason for a speculation-fest. Why? Because few other industries are screaming quite so loudly for the savior that the iPad has the potential to become.

iPad to the Rescue?

Earlier eReaders such as the Amazon Kindle have only hurt existing book revenues. According to a 12 January post by Daniel Fitzgerald at ProPrint.com, Christmas 2009 marked the first year Amazon sold fewer paper books than electronic books.

What’s more, newspapers have been floundering for months to revive their basement-level print income – or make charging for content online viable. Rubert Murdoch recently poured scorn on Google for enabling users to bypass pay walls, for example.

Hence if a group of people ever deserved to break out the karaoke and sing Bonnie Tyler (“I need a hero…”) it’s the hardworking people in print & publishing.

What’s more, Apple is now called the saviour of the music industry thanks to iTunes (perhaps prematurely given how widespread piracy remains.) So why couldn’t the iPad and its partner application iBookstore achieve the same results?

By partnering with Apple, both publishing houses and newspapers can release their content through iBookstore – and bring their industries back from the brink.

Already The New York Times has confirmed an iPad app to make new articles readable on the Apple device. And according to an internal source at the newspaper, Steve Jobs “believes in old media companies and wants them to do well. He believes democracy is hinged on a free press and that depends on there being a professional press."

All of which makes the iPad a great prospect both for publishers.

Doubts About the iPad

Yet if Apple is to be print’s savior it must overcome some obstacles first.

For example, according to General Manager of Griffin Press Ben Jolly, several publishers aren’t ready to exploit the revenues the iPad may bring - not least because publishers have to submit apps themselves to make their websites viewable.

Second is the fact that reading on the iPad is an untested experience. If the device isn’t a commercial success, it won’t give publishers any benefit regardless of how they price their content.

Last is the certainty that a successful iPad will continue to erode the paper book market.

The iPad certainly has the potential to give a new lease of life to print & newspapers. The Apple brand alone (compared with the Amazon Kindle) has the potential to spark an e-reading explosion. But right now too many questions remain to know whether Apple will raise publishing from the ashes, or (without meaning to) hasten its decline.

UK Loyal To Single-Function Printers

Brits are proving themselves more than fair weather friends to single-function printers, according to a 27 January post at PCR-Online.Biz.

Speaking to Nicky Trup, printer product specialist Phil Miller of distributor Micro-P said the United Kingdom is ahead of Europe in not moving to all-in-one printers and sticking to traditional inkjets.

However, the falling price of multifunction printers may break the British resolve.

“The UK has been slow to adopt the transition from single function to multifunction printers in the home and small business, compared to our European counterparts,’ Miller said. Yet Brits may break with their compatriots and abandon their old fashioned inkjets as “the price of multi-function printers continues to fall.”

Several printer manufacturers are preparing to storm the fortress of British loyalty to traditional printers.

For example, Kodak no longer offers single-function printers – compelling Britons loyal to their brand to upgrade to integrated printer-scanners. Further, recent Canon studies reveal that the popularity of single-function printers is dwindling.

The days of the traditional printer appear to be numbered – even for Britons not looking for anything else.

Zyxio SensaWaft Is Exhalirating

Imagine yourself in sudden and desperate need of an ink cartridge. You might need it for your printer; you might be seeking a hitherto untested cocktail mixer.

You decide to visit your favourite ink & toner online retailer (hint hint) but an obstacle then confronts you – you’re handcuffed. Why are you handcuffed? That’s not the issue. But in most circumstances your thirst for toner would go unsated.

Unsated that is unless you’d been prescient enough to purchase the Zyxio SensaWaft. Then the loss of your hands would present no difficulties at all: you’d merely dispatch an expert puff of breath into the SensaWaft’s blow interface, and the much-desired ink cartridge would be ordered in a snap.

‘Ordering ink & toner with this company really is a breeze!’ you might declare and, because of the Zyxio SensaWaft, you really wouldn’t be wrong. Thanks SensaWaft!

But wait – what marvel of early 21st century engineering enables persons to purchase ink without their hands? Not only without their hands – but dispensing with language itself? For answers we must turn to Pierre Bonnat’s 13 January interview with Priya Ganapati of Wired.com.

The CEO of Zyxio believes the keyboard & mouse an antiquated means to interact with computers – with touch screens, voice recognition and the SensaWaft, we can check on Facebook au naturel.

The SensaWaft senses pressure variations in the air up to 7.8 inches from the Micro Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) chip into which the user exhales. Zyxio’s chipset interprets a variety of gestures (fortunately excepting the sneeze or cough) and can be integrated into hardware such as: mp3 players, phones and laptops.

Bonnat notes that “70 percent of the technology is in the software,” - so anyone using the MEMS without the SensaWaft program is wasting their breath.

Zyxio plan to launch the SensaWaft later this year, integrated with a gaming headset. Look forward to buying ink if you’re handcuffed then - but not when you’re out jogging!

New Market For Smellovision Cartridges?

Given the destructive scenes often depicted in cinema, you might query the wisdom of a technology that brings contextual smells to the viewer. Would the firebombing in Avatar be improved by the whiff of burnt plant life in the theatre?

Yet the ubiquity of the smellovision concept made it a product development certainty. Enter Portuguese designer Nuno Teixeira with his SmellIt: a DVD player that employs an embedded ‘Smell CARD’ to bring up to 118 olfactory sensations to the viewer. Using smell cartridges and an internal fan, the SmellIt syncs with the onscreen image to give smells 20 seconds to cross the room.

According to Teixeira, the smell cartridges contain a patented ‘smell gel’ lasting 3 times longer than ink cartridges. Included among the flavours are popcorn, sea, restaurant and unclean(!) Of course, trust Printerinks.com to release a compatible smell cartridge (in a range of flavours!) as soon as SmellIt hits the market.

Xerox Q4 Earnings: Document Management World Dominion Looms

For much of the printer industry, the financial downturn has meant profits flatter than a pancake. Yet the announcement of Q4 revenues by Xerox sees the ink cartridge manufacturer with a negligible 3% dip in revenues, compared to 2009.

CEO Ursula Burns announced Fourth Quarter total revenues of $4.2b in a recent presentation – and declared that the acquisition of BPO (business process outsourcing) company ACS would make Xerox ‘the world leader in business process and document management.’

Xerox recently received its fourth consecutive award for Excellence in Technology Service and Support from prestigious global marketing information firm J.D. Power & Associates. Citing ‘An Outstanding Customer Experience,’ the award will prove useful to Xerox’s credentials as a managed print services provider.

This is especially the case because sales of both black and white & colour equipment fell 11% in the Fourth Quarter, owing to a non-existent demand for printers.

Xerox paid $6.4 billion for ACS – in the ink cartridge brand’s largest ever market acquisition.

Yet Burns also announced that Xerox is cutting 5% of its workforce loose – a total of 2500 staff. The cuts derive from Burns’ strategy of “cost and expense management” while the economic recovery is ongoing, and also include a £250m restructuring charge.

"We delivered a strong close to a difficult year, with solid operational results that reflect our disciplined approach to generating cash and reducing costs," Burns said.

"During the fourth quarter, we saw signs of improvement in several areas including developing markets, and we remain quite confident in our strong global competitive position."

HP MusicStation: Wasted Effort?

Image: http://dryicons.com

A question for any illegal file-sharers in the audience: Would a download service packaged with a Hewlett Packard PC convince you to stop your evil habits? How about the chance to download 10 DRM (digital rights management) free tracks per month for £1 each? No? Might a 14-day free trial not convince you?

If you’ve answered ‘No,’ then already MusicStation – the music service being packed with new HP computers – is short another customer. Yet according to today’s article at The Independent, record labels including Warner and Sony Music are hoping the collaboration with cloud computing firm Omnifone will reduce piracy.

An endeavour between 4 major labels and several independents, MusicStation counts one more to the 400 legal music services available globally. What distinguishes MusicStation from the already popular iTunes and Spotify is unclear – except that it comes pre-packaged with HP computers, and covers Europe.

What’s more, the rhetoric of Rob Wells, Senior Vice President of Digital at Universal suggests MusicStation isn’t meant to compete with iTunes. Speaking with The Independent, he said:

“With its huge scale and user base, HP's 10 country introduction of Omnifone's MusicStation unlimited music service for the PC will help encourage legitimate access to digital music content from Universal Music and all the other major and independent labels."

What is telling here is the phrase ‘help encourage legitimate music access.’ Already legal downloads are widely available – yet according to a 21 January report by The Times, the music industry continues to be decimated by illegal sharing.

Far from competing with iTunes then – nor offering a service with any new benefits to consumers – nor encouraging a transition from CD to digital - MusicStation is an attempt do something (anything!) to deter piracy. Yet as we’ve already discovered, MusicStation offers terms no self-respecting file-sharer would accept.

Perhaps the collaboration with HP will succeed. Yet were the new service a genuine innovation, Mr. Wells wouldn’t aim at changing the attitudes of his market. Far from ‘encouraging’ anything, he’d be selling the benefits of his product.

Office Copier Celebrates 50 Printerific Years!

For members of generation YouTube, the 50th anniversary of the copier machine prompts two possible reactions: (1) dull-eyed indifference or (2) panic-eyed incomprehension. For obvious reasons, the latter reaction is by far the preferred.

‘Words are digital!’ comes the cry of these hapless youths from sewer-like bedrooms. ‘How can printing words be possible?’ At which time their (we hope) less ignorant parents whack them with that otherwise obsolete object - the ‘book.’

For anyone born more than 5 minutes ago though, the 50th birthday of Xerox’s first copier machine ought be celebrated. Who cannot recall the fluorescent light of a working copier without a smile?

If there be such persons amongst you, throw an icy glance their way. Do so now! Yes – they feel the office chill. Never again will they know a coffee break without ignominy.

For readers not suffering the post-traumatic thump of a blow to the noggin – nor the hatred of a thousand cubicled eyes – the copier of course revolutionised office life. No longer had documents to be copied by hand! Imagine the delight of the secretaries of 1960!

Indeed, we need not imagine - the delight is documented in a 22 January post by Stephanie Mehta for CNN.com. Quoth Mehta one Joseph C Wilson in September 1959, President of (then) Harold Xerox Inc: “they feel great pride when their copies all look like originals."

This strikes your humble Inks Correspondent as a surreal thing in which to take pride. Yet it was a different time; the office copier a novelty.

The original Xerox 914 (so dubbed because it copied 9 by 14 inch documents) weighed 650lbs and copied 7 pages per minute. What improvement this marked on the secretaries we cannot say – though chances are that they weighed less.

The Xerox 914 popularised copying, though even for Xerox it was not the first office copier. Before 1960 Xerox sold the Model A – a hand-operated copier criticised for being cumbersome (less cumbersome than a 650lb cube copying at glacial speeds!)

Moreover, printing presses had been in vogue since William Caxton in the fifteenth century.

The innovation of Xerox’s 914 – and what made the model infamous - was to market the copier as a democratising technology.

Speaking to CNN.com, Xerox’s Vice President of Global Software Solutions Stephen P Hoover said the 914 "gave people access to information and capabilities they just didn't have. It really changed how work was done."

Today Xerox is not only a synonym for copying but an informal verb. Aside from Google, what other brand is so closely linked with the process it pioneered?

Yet according to CNN.com, investors in 1958 saw no potential in the Xerox copier. Consulting firm Arthur D. Little Inc. (who ironically enough, predicted that paper would be obsolete in offices by 1990) told IBM that the 914 had ‘no future in office copying.’

Thank goodness they were wrong.

Packaged Printer Ink may be held to Labeling Standards

There has been much discussion lately regarding the cost of ink. As manufacturers lower their price on printers, they in turn raise the prices on cartridges that allow you to continue printing. If only you could compare how much ink is contained in a cartridge prior to purchase.

The National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) 95th Interim Meeting is being held 24 - 27 January, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. The NCWM is an organization of weights and measures officials of the states, counties and cities of the United States, federal agencies and private sector representatives. These meetings bring together government officials and representatives of business, industry, trade associations, and consumer organizations on subjects related to the field of weights and measures technology, administration and enforcement. NIST participates to promote uniformity among the states in laws, regulations, methods, and testing equipment that comprise the regulatory control of commercial weighing and measuring devices and other trade and commerce issues.

One of the significant agenda items that will be considered is the Method of Sale of Commodities Regulation, including Packaged Printer Ink and Toner Cartridges. The NCWM Laws and Regulations Committee (L&R Committee) will discuss a proposed method of ink sales that would clarify the labeling requirements for packaged inkjet and toner cartridges to ensure that consumers are informed about the net quantity of contents of these products so that value comparisons can be made.

One recent consumer advocate study estimated that consumers could save billions of dollars a year if they were armed with full information about how much it would cost to operate various printers. The American Consumer Institute, in a study in late 2008, said that consumers were being lured into a bad deal by buying the lower cost printers and then overpaying an estimated $6 billion per year for Original Manufacturers ink cartridges. The push for more exact information, including a "liquid measure" has finally gotten enough attention to urge this meeting between NCWM regulators and manufacturers over how the cartridges are to be labelled.

An attorney for Lexmark argues that ink use varies due to print quality chosen, and that the cost of the ink is only a small part of the cartridge, a sophisticated micro-machines’, cost and therefore disclosing ink volumes would actually be misleading to consumers. NCWM is told to expect a fight from such manufacturers accustomed to being exempt from labelling laws.

Many ink and toner manufacturers and retailers, such as Printerinks.com, do self regulate, providing customers with an average page yield like shown below. If you are purchasing a new printer it is highly recommended that you do some research to find page yield per cartridge on your own, at least until all manufacturers are required to follow suit, labelling printer ink and toner cartridges with such measurements.

Racist Facial Recognition Software Returns

Only 3 weeks ago Printerinks.com News reported on the Hewlett Packard webcam that failed to recognise non-caucasian users. Uncovered by Afro-American Desi Cryer, he accused HP’s facial recognition software of racism in his humorous YouTube video. He prompted a fast response from Hewlett Packard - while the video logs nearly 2 million views.

Now it transpires that glitchy facial recognition software is not unique to Hewlett Packard. According to a 22 January 2010 article by Adam Rose at Time.com, the software in Nikon and Sony digital cameras is also racially biased.

Unlike the HP Pavilion webcam though, which has trouble registering darker skin pigments, the Nikon Coolpix S630 takes narrow eyelids for shut eyelids. Discovered by Taiwanese-American strategy consultant Joz Wang last year, the Coopix S630 kept asking ‘Did someone blink?’ when she snapped her brother. Only when Wang’s brother stare bug-eyed did the facial recognition software register him.

“I thought the camera was broken!” Wang told Time.com. Like Desi Cryer, she posted proof of the glitchy software online (see above) – and soon received publicity through Gizmodo.com. Responses were quick to point to the especial irony of the Coolpix S630’s glitch. The camera’s manufacturers – Nikon – are Asian.

Paperless Office? What Paperless Office?

As printing co-habits with the digital, the ‘paperless office’ is proving a myth.

What are the chances you’ll print this article? Not great, say figures as influential as Bill Gates. In October 2005 the Microsoft chairman told The Times that print was going the way of flared trousers and buying a daily newspaper. He told Joe Bolger: “We’re right on the verge of something that could become mainstream.” The paperless office – first prophesied in a 1975 Business Week article – was poised to change from a marketing cliché into reality.

Of course, Gates made his (less than) historic claim half a decade ago, and we’re still waiting. So what happened? In fact, the mistake of the Microsoft chairman mirrors that of Business Week - which thought paper would be passé before the 1980s were through. Business Week quoted Vincent E. Giuliano of Arthur D. Little, Inc: “by 1990, most record-handling will be electronic." Perhaps the temptation of trend-mongering made Gates and Business Week unrealistic?

Yet the fact remains that you’re unlikely to hold this article between your fingers. So how to reconcile the enduring value of print to the fact that relatively few articles are printed? Does the sheer volume of text available (thanks to the internet) mean we’re printing more selectively? Has the time spent staring at a computer monitor led us to underestimate the vitality of print?

According to HP Vice President of Consumer Inkjet Solutions Tuan Tran, this is probably the case.

Speaking in a 23 January interview with MercuryNews.com’s Chris O’Brien, Mr. Tran estimates that the quantity of documents printed has increased 4-5% annually since the early 1990s. We’re not pursuing the paperless office – printing is too “pervasive a human need” to be eliminated by digital trend-mongers. We’ve just placed a greater threshold on what articles make it to paper.

Given the proliferation of text on the net this was inevitable. You’d have drowned in the volume of words available on the net – were they physically present. Moreover, given the non-existent threshold for publishing on the internet, you’d have drowned in almost certain gibberish (call it alphabet soup.)

Yet HP behavioural and ethnographic studies show our attitude to print is unchanged. It remains a valued means of recording data - with an emotional charge unequalled by the internet.

According to MercuryNews.com, Hewlett Packard acknowledges 3 key reasons why printing remains valued: documentation, comprehension and cherishing. Broken down, it amounts to this: we trust paper more than the net to preserve our documents; we find things easier to understand if we’re holding them; we’ve greater attachment to things if they’re physical. The 2.5 billion photos uploaded each month on Facebook can’t compare to the sentimental value of a framed image.

“I spent hours over the holiday break taking all of our photos and putting them in a leather-bound album," Tran said. "It's a much more personal thing to hand someone. It's an emotional, communicative thing."

So print isn’t going anywhere. Yet isn’t there some means to integrate the digital realm with the paper one more closely? This is exactly what HP is pursuing. For example, the introduction of wireless printers reconciles the emotional benefits of the document with the ‘instant access’ ethos of the internet. Far from pursuing the paperless office then, we’re using digital technology to make printing more accessible – without doing away with its benefits.

MIT Food Printer Is G-astronomical

Did you know that the word ‘gastronomy’ derives from the Ancient Greek for ‘food’ and ‘knowledge’? Today we place emphasis on the ‘food’ part of the equation – yet in earlier centuries the concept was tied to everything from painting to geology. Preparing and enjoying food were activities known in relation to all human existence.

Two members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have it in mind to revive the ‘knowledge’ side of the concept. Their contribution to what is already called ‘molecular gastronomy’ is a food printer – enabling you to produce nutritious meals (without waste) simply with the use of pre-prepared cartridges.

Named ‘Cornucopia,’ the concept is described as a ‘personal food factory’ on MIT’s webpage. The brainchild of Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran, the 3D food printer works by “storing, precisely mixing, depositing and cooking layers of ingredients.” Though now in the conceptual stages, the pair is proceeding to build a working version.

Theoretically the food printer can accurately recreate the user’s favourite meal, without the waste associated with preparing food. Ingredients are kept refrigerated in canisters until wanted. Yet the Cornucopia might also supply gastronomes with hitherto impossible taste sensations – thanks to the novel combination of ingredients.

Fancy an ice cream steak? If this pair from MIT succeed, your salivation is nigh. (Yes, all credit to McDonalds.)

Brother Offers Copiers For Haitian Crisis

Earlier this week Printerinks.com News reported that HP and Canon were making 6 figure contributions to aid efforts in Haiti. The printer brands were but two of several dozen US corporations making sizeable donations to help the quake victims.

Now Japanese printer brand Brother has announced it own contribution. Their Canadian branch will provide the Haitian community in Canada at La Maison d’Haiti with Brother-brand peripherals – to help with their crisis management unit. They will also contribute $10,000 to the Canadian Red Cross.

In addition, the Japanese branch of the 5 billion dollar company is donating $55,000 (or 5 million Yen) to the Red Cross.

Speaking in the press release Director of Brother Canada Martin Featherstone said: "This devastating tragedy leaves the international community and the people of Haiti at a loss for words. As you all know, the needs in this part of the world are enormous and therefore, we encourage the Canadian business community to contribute, in their own way, to this humanitarian cause, which is monumental in its scope.”

Estimated death tolls for the aftermath of the quake have exceeded 200,000, according to government officials in Haiti.

To make a contribution to aid efforts in Haiti please visit this contacts list.

New AutoDesk: Sexiest Printer Ever?

There can’t be many competitors for the title of ‘sexiest printer,’ for the simple reason that document printing belongs to the inhibited realm of the office. A Google search for the term returns multiple hits for the Samsung ML1630 and, bizarrely, the Zebra P1101.

The Samsung has a certain post-Matrix charm – but the Zebra? We’re in dire straits when this hippopotamus (which it resembles more than a zebra) gets called sexiest anything – let alone sexiest printer. Yet the new AutoDesk conceptual images by designer Aaron Hughes might just convince us that printers can be sexy. This may be because the illustrations make it easy to forget you’re staring at a printer: as Ruchi of Waylou.com writes in a 21 January post, the Autodesk might have been the brainchild of Stark Industries. How could anything so clearly designed for space shuttle missions print documents?

AutoDesk have not indicated that the Hughes design will pass beyond the conceptual stage. Yet we’re already convinced these images beat out the meagre competition. Even on paper this AutoDesk surely deserves the title: sexiest printer.

Man Proposes With Light Writing

Most couples save the photo album for after the wedding. But when Carolina resident Derick stumbled on a novel way to propose to girlfriend Emily, his Canon 7D digital camera saw some major use. To generate his light-writing proposal, Derick employed 2 friends and took more than 800 exposures over 3 nights.

Their website hosts a Making Of video – but (perhaps thanks to links from Neatorama) it’s currently down.

Hands Off For $100,000 HP ‘Wall Of Touch’

Are you the owner of a large corporation? Or do you have $100,000 spare and enjoy making sure people know it? Then the HP ‘Wall of Touch’ should be your next purchase.

Unveiled this week, the Hewlett Packard devices ties together nine 1080p resolution touch screens for 129 inches total length. It displays news, runs video chats, lets you update Twitter – and does this without needing you to touch the screen.

Hewlett Packard integrated touch screen technology into their laptops back in 2007. Though the screens were pristine, the same could not be said of the fingers pressing on them. This was fine – as long as consumers harboured ambitions to become window cleaners.

Yet for publicly displayed touch screens – bought for prestige - it was necessary that they remain immaculate. The ‘Wall of Touch’ hence senses the user’s presence – responding to gestures made near the screen, making touch redundant.

It does this using optical cameras and a magnetic strip, rather than the capacitive overlays familiar in touch screens. A z800 workstation keeps the screens ticking over.

Prototypes of the gesture-sensitive screens are already displayed at the NBA Headquarters and the Continental Airlines counter at Houston Airport. Yet according Phil McKinney (speaking in The Wall Street Journal video above) Hewlett Packard have received several requests to build more of the $100,000 screens.

When they’re made commercially available in 2011, interested parties will be able to spring for cheaper versions. Yet for features like HD video conferencing, the hefty price tag will remain.

Epson Digital Photo Frame Insecure About Itself

Tough Love For Xerox writer Michael J writes that the notion of digital technology replacing print is the “figment of some politician’s imagination.” We’re inclined to agree – and what better proof than the Epson digital photo frame which doubles as a printer? Far from proving the redundancy of print, Epson’s new release demonstrates that digital technology is insecure about itself.

Described by Epson America’s Consumer Inkjets General Production Manager Stacey Tieu as a “convenient, portable printer,” we wonder why Epson fussed with the digital photo frame. As a printer, the PictureMate Show is too bulky for displaying on the mantelpiece. The printer’s whirring is also likely to interrupt any sentimental moments you may have admiring the displayed image.

What’s more, Epson are adamant about the quality of the PictureMate Show’s printing. Images are guaranteed for 96 years under glass and 200 years in a photo album – presumably for people passing the photos to their grandkids, rather than enjoying a lifespan more than twice the average. Epson doesn’t mention how long the PictureMate itself lasts – meaning that though digital images may last forever, it doesn’t mean much if they’re shown on a 1 year warranty device.

All in all, we’re surprised the PictureMate hasn’t taken to lopping off its digital display. At the very least the mobile printer must be suffering an identity crisis. Suffering that is – until the battery runs dead. Then the gadget doesn’t do anything.

3D Printer Announced By HP

Three-Dimensional printing has been discussed and coveted for quite some time, but has only been available by outsourcing. Now Hewlett Packard, one of the best known names in printing, has stepped up and is ready to penetrate the market through a worldwide distribution agreement with Stratasys. HP was the first to capture a dominant position in large format printers, and will rapidly follow suit with Desktop 3D printers.

The new HP uPrint 3D, the entry level model of the exclusive line of 3D printers, allows architects, designers, engineers and others to create 8 inch, 3D plastic models and prototypes in up to eight colours directly from a true desktop printer. The printer will take computer generated digital designs from CAD software and print using Stratasys’ patented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology.

The HP branded 3D printer will be manufactured by Stratasys, HP's Graphic Solutions Business will execute the distribution agreement and ultimately the new HP Desktop 3D printer will be available for shipment in March, 2010.

Sand Printer Provides Seagulls With Reading Material

Ever wanted to print a document viewable from space? Without petitioning HP to make a 100ft tall printer with ink cartridges to match, you couldn’t have found much luck.

Until now that is – because the sand printer by conceptual designers Zanadesign produces letters several feet tall. The only things to worry about are the tide, and that the Spanish wheel only prints the words ‘Cadiz 2012.’

The brainchild of Tomás Silva Alonso, a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, the sand printer is powered by positioning small children inside the circumference, and convincing them to push.

Though the words ‘Cadiz 2012’ commemorate 200 years of the Spanish constitution, meaning that the wheel was created in the spirit of peace, how the children are made to push we can’t imagine.

The sand printer came into being after Alonso sent the idea to Cadiz council, winning first prize in a ‘Promote Cadiz 2012’ competition. The council soon contacted Alonso, and asked him to develop a working model.

Made of inorganic materials, the sand printer impacts on the beach without making a negative lasting impression on the environment. What’s more, it gives the seagulls something to peruse whilst chewing on stolen chips.

Ink Cartridges Reborn As Ball-Point Pens

The pen is mightier than the printer for ink cartridge recyclers ‘Close the Loop.’



The humble ink cartridge has become a source of real creativity lately. Companies are eager to recycle their cartridges but unwilling to simply hand them over to recycle firms!

Last week, we reported on the Etsy seller turning his empty cartridges into fetching lamps. According to a 19 January post at Kentucky.com by Scott Sloan, a Kentucky firm are now creating pens from their ink cartridges.

‘Close the Loop,’ a seller of Lexmark ink cartridges operating out of North Kentucky, developed the recycled pens with Lexmark’s blessing over eighteen months.

Until now ‘Close the Loop’ has made revenue from sorting out the ink cartridge material of printer companies. Yet they plan to retail their pens from mid-2010 – which make use of the ink retained in the mostly emptied cartridges.

Speaking with Kentucky.com, ‘Close The Loop’ Vice President Josh Tocash said: "We had been storing the ink thinking there had to be ways we could make this ink usable.”

The ink in ink cartridges is a surprisingly complex compound, derived from several colours. Because of this it is normally unable to be recycled, and contributes greatly to CO2 levels when burnt.

Yet ‘Close the Loop’ discovered the ink proved effective in pens; and after months of incorporating the ink cartridge parts into a design, emerged with a pen made from 84% recycled materials.

John Gagel, Lexmark’s Manager of Sustainable Practices, Environmental, Health & Safety, told Kentucky.com: “We’re working toward getting it 100%.”

Lexmark is eager for its ink cartridges to be effectively re-used. The printer brand recently held a forum introducing its partners to product development engineers, aimed at making ink cartridges useful once they’re exhausted.

"It gives us the best opportunity to give them a new life," Gagel said.

In the meantime, ‘Close the Loop’ are searching for a retail partner for their pen. They’re eager to work with printers to revise the pen’s design into something marketable. Tocash said: "You can turn it into any shape you have a mould for.’

Gagel added: "I think we've got a good shot of being widely accepted from those looking for what you can purchase around sustainability."

Xerox CEO Ranks In Most Powerful Women List

Xerox CEO Ursula Burns has been named among the 75 most powerful women in business by BlackEnterprise.com. Praised as a woman ‘positioned to change global commerce’ in the article, she took charge of printer and ink cartridge brand Xerox in July 2009.

Burns is the first African American woman to head a Standard & Poor’s 100 Corporation, and previously served as the President Xerox’s Business Group Operations. She joined the ink cartridge brand in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern, and from there worked up the copier manufacturer’s ranks.

According to BlackEnterprise.com, Burns intends to cut a larger slice of the £132 billion technology industry pie for Xerox through a combination of acquisition and natural growth.

This isn’t the first time the Xerox CEO has appeared on a ‘Most Powerful Women’ list. In August, Burns ranked #14 in Forbes ‘100 Most Powerful Women In The World.’

Printer Brands Pledge Up To $1m Combined Haiti Relief

Dozens of US companies have pledged 6 figure sums to aid Haiti relief in the last week. According to a (frequently updated) list by the US Chamber of Commerce, among the larger contributors are: Microsoft, which has donated $1.25m, and PepsiCo, which is pledging $1m.

Other contributors include Crocs, which is donating thousands of pairs of shoes, and Nestle, which has donated $1m in bottled water.

Leading printer brands are also adding to Haiti relief. According to a 15 January press release by Hewlett Packard, the household name has contributed $500,000 to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.

HP will also match $250,000 in contributions from its employees, coming to a possible $750,000.

The Canon Group has also pledged $220,000 to aid victims of the earthquake, which struck Haiti last week.

Speaking in the Canon Press Release, President and Chief Executive Officer at Canon USA Joe Adachi said: "A tragedy of this magnitude requires support from the global community and it is our hope that our contribution, along with all of the aid coming in from around the world, will help the people of Haiti begin the rebuilding and healing process."

According to a 17 January report at USAToday.com, US donations are set to exceed the $2b pledged after the Asian tsunami two years ago.

Notable pledges outside the corporate world include: $1m contributed by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to Doctors Without Borders, and $500,000 contributed by The New York Yankees.

Sal Fabens of United Way Worldwide says that cash is the most useful pledge, because donations of food etc. may not be able to reach the disaster-struck areas.

If you’d like to pledge Haiti relief, you’ll find information at the Facebook page.

Xerox Targeted Advertising Speaks Directly To You

Are you tired of TV shows that bear not the slightest relation to your interests? Think that watching the box would be time better spent if the program’s characters mentioned topics you enjoy? How about Hugh Laurie making mention of your local supermarket in an episode of House? Or is that too specific?

Whether or not you’re adverse to Gregory House M.D. making remarks about the local Tesco, it could soon happen. According to a 13 January post at GoRumors.com, Xerox has filed a patent for targeted advertising that speaks directly to viewers – altering the TV show’s content based on the viewer’s brand preferences and location.

The Xerox patent application uses for example a store front tailored to a viewer’s preference for sports. The store front becomes that of a leading trainers brand because the viewer enjoys running – and the character speaking refers to that trainers brand. The Xerox patent suggests this targeted advertising could even include lip-syncing.

Alternately, if the viewer has a known preference for handbags, the character might refer to Prada.

The Xerox patent is intended above all else for targeted advertising. The printing brand hopes that this will re-invigorate TV advertising – which in recent years has suffered falling revenues. According to a 14 January post at MediaPost.com by Joe Mandese, television channels are eager to compensate for advert avoidance.

The patent may also open targeted advertising to a wider array of firms than before. Until now, the insertion of a brand name into a TV show was the privilege of corporations, who paid millions to TV producers.

Yet the Xerox patent argues that local companies could benefit too, because the technology tailors for specific audiences. This improves on existing product placement, which “cannot be customized for smaller regions.”

Consumers may be less pleased by the patent. Already the use of targeted advertising on Google means computer users are haunted by companies eerily familiar with their preferences. The extension of this strategy to television means consumers may feel they are constantly being harangued by companies – companies with no respect for privacy.

GoRumors.com meanwhile argues the patent could be detrimental to the TV programs. Presently advertisers target their audience based on the program’s genre and its popularity – meaning (in theory) the best shows receive the highest revenues. Yet the targeted advertising envisioned by Xerox would destroy this correlation.

Of course, Xerox only filed the patent with the US Patent & Trademark Office last week. So there’s no way of telling how far off this kind of advertising might be.

Recycled Ink Cartridge Lamps

Do you want to recycle your empty ink cartridges, but aren’t certain how to go about it? You might do battle with an octopus and return your ink to its original source. You might apply to any of the Recycling Programs run by the brand manufacturers. You might – if you’re really inventive – take a cue from Boxlightbox.

Tired of discarding the empty ink cartridges his company was generating, this Etsy seller did the sensible thing. He turned them into lamps to generate additional income. Available in several colours and ranging from $30-$150, Boxlightbox’s prove there’s life for ink cartridges even once they’ve been exhausted.

Xerox Invents Erasable Paper; Hairdryer Manufacturers Rejoice

Fans of pelting balls of waste paper into trashcans – beware. Researchers at Xerox have released word of a new erasable paper that makes your pastime redundant.

According to a 12 December report by T. M. Washington at Posterous.com, the images printed on the Xerox erasable paper last only a day. Subjecting the sheets to heat or light makes the images disappear more quickly though – as shown in a video by Xerox (see above.)

For offices eager to test the Xerox invention, this of course raises the question: how best to subject the erasable paper to heat? The Xerox video features a hairdryer – potentially sparking a new office supplies market for home appliance brands.

Though still in the preliminary stages, scientists at the Palo Alto Research Center believe Xerox erasable paper could be commercially available in 5-10 years. According to the Xerox press release, Xerox estimate 40% of sheets printed in offices are discarded after 1 day – suggesting a huge market for erasable paper.

Part of a Xerox initiative to develop “dynamic documents,” erasable paper became possible when scientists discovered how to create temporary images. Creating images with a special compound means they change colour when hit by certain wavelengths, then gradually disappear.

Scientists at PARC are developing a counterpart printer for Xerox’s erasable paper – which uses a specific frequency of light to generate images on the sheets. According to the Xerox press release, many clients have expressed an interest in “transient documents.” It will be years though, before erasable paper is commercially ready.

Paul Smith, Manager of Xerox Corporation’s materials design & synthesis lab, said: "Despite our reliance on computers to share and process information, there is still a strong dependence on the printed page for reading and absorbing content. Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds.”

This is completely true; unless of course, you enjoy pelting balls of waste paper into trashcans.

Nexus One Complaints Shake Church Of Google

There exists a cult of individuals who believe Google the closest thing to God ever encountered. With the search engine indexing more than 9.5 billion web pages accessible from every corner of the globe, what entity comes closer to omnipresence?

Of course, if Google is God, the Nexus One mobile is a flawed first act of creation. Since launching on 5 January 2010, Google has received a torrent of complaints that may keep the search engine busy well into the Seventh Day.

According to a 9 January post at Slashgear.com by Paul Fang, the most frequent complaints include: (1) poor 3G connectivity, (2) trouble with the touch screen, (3) a contract termination fee more costly than the phone itself, (4) customer service more theoretical than not.

The most pressing concern is Google’s customer service. The search engine divinity opted only to provide email support, promising to answer complaints after one or two days. For people with faulty Nexus Ones, this response rate is painfully slow.

The problem is made worse because the Nexus One is available only direct from Google. With other phones, consumers direct their complaints at the mobile operator or vendor – with established customer service operations, they’re adept at responding to concerns. Yet Google’s decision means it has received the full wrath of its customer base.

Google has also received complaints about the Nexus One’s poor 3G coverage, carried by T-Mobile. According to a 12 January post by Priya Ganapati at Wired.com, the Google mobile either fails to connect or picks up the slower EDGE network.

And if a customer decides to end their contract with Google, the cancellation fee costs more than the Nexus One itself. Cancel within 180 days and consumers receive a $200 fee from T-Mobile, in addition to a $350 ‘equipment recovery’ fee from Google.

This adds up to more than the $530 consumers can pay to receive the phone unlocked.

Speaking to InformationWeek.com on January 12, Ken Dulaney of Garter said he thinks Google will eventually have to provide support with a retail store, perhaps through existing mobile operators. “The online model is not a good one,” he said.

A statement by Google meanwhile addresses the existing complaints: "We work quickly to solve any customer support issues as they come up, and we are trying to be as open and transparent as possible through our online customer help forums. We'll continue to address all issues in as timely of a manner as possible."

Google may yet change consumers’ minds about the Nexus One. Either way, the search engine’s record is no longer spotless; the laity of the Church of Google may have had their faith shattered forever.

Lexmark Wins Innovations Award With Cheap Ink

The anxiously anticipated Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2010 has come to a conclusion this week. At CES companies introduce their latest and greatest. It takes a terrific gadget to win these CES awards, and this year Lexmark has done it.

Lexmark won the CES Innovations award for their new Lexmark Platinum Pro905 Inkjet All-in-one printer. Award winners are selected by a panel of judges including independent industry designers, engineers and journalists. This award winning premium printer was debuted at CES 2010 and is targeted at small business customers looking to save on the cost of inks while enjoying platinum features found in an all-in-one printer, including a copier, scanner, fax, Wi-Fi and functionality with the new LexPrint iPhone app.

The Platinum Pro905 is slightly higher priced at purchase, however is touted as a significant long term money saver, offering significantly lower priced ink cartridges that each print about 500 pages.

Vicar Blesses Mobile Phones & Laptops

Image: Times Online

Have you ever thought your office equipment might benefit from the Lord’s blessing? Then the Rev. Canon David Parrott of London’s St. Lawrence Jewry church may be the man to find.

According to an 11 January 2010 post by Raphael G. Satter at WashingtonPost.com, the vicar recently blessed a heap of laptops and mobile phones on the altar of his seventeenth-century church.

The blessing was an update of a traditional back-to-work ceremony called ‘Plow Monday,’ in which vicars blessed the farming implements of villagers. Dating back to the fifteenth century, Parrott felt the ceremony pertinent to today’s work devices.

His St. Lawrence Jewry is the Official Church of the Corporation of the City of London, at the heart of the Capital’s financial district. Parrott intended the blessing to remind workers of the Square Mile that God reaches them in many ways.

Speaking to WashingtonPost.com, he said: "It's the technology that is our daily working tool, and it's a technology we should bless."

New Print Functions in Windows 7

I just upgraded to Microsoft Windows 7, as have many avid computer users glad to see Windows 7 finally hit streets and hard drives everywhere. With Windows 7, Microsoft aims to please both consumers and businesses large and small. You may not have noticed, but there are quite a few new print management functions that you will want to take advantage of.

Windows 7 more robust Print Management functionality provides a central administration point for sharing printers on a network and managing print server and network printer tasks.

Windows 7 also allows users to easily share printers on a network and easily print to multiple printers depending on location, say home or office.

Windows 7 Print Management displays more data, such as ink, toner and paper levels on printers with web based management. You can view details about the current status of printers and print servers on the network with Print Management. Print Management can also be used to install printer connections to a group of client computers simultaneously, monitor print queues remotely and find printers that have error conditions, great for IT Technicians. It can even send e-mail notifications when printers need attention. With all of these additional functions, Windows 7 now allows you to print anytime, anywhere without error.

Lady Gaga Named Polaroid Creative Director

Question: What do corporations with global brand recognition do to revive flagging fortunes? Answer: Hire pop stars as their Creative Directors, and give them license to invent specialty products.

At least, that’s Polaroid’s answer to this question. To reignite their dwindling star, they’ve hired Lady Gaga to create a line of products with the Polaroid name, and generally make them fashionable again.

According to an 8 January 2010 post by David Goldman and Julianne Pepitone at CNN.com, Polaroid intend to reinvent themselves, with Gaga’s signing part of this new campaign.

Though Polaroid was saved from bankruptcy in May last year, the brand is relaunching itself as a licensing firm – selling far more items than the instamatic for which Polaroid is famous.

The upshot of this? We may soon see printers bearing the mark of Lady Gaga available for purchase. We may also see TVs, cameras, and whatever else the songstress decides might benefit from her fashion sense.

Speaking in Polaroid’s Press Release, Gaga said: "The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes in the vein of fashion/technology/photography innovation--blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era--and we are excited to collaborate on these ventures with the Polaroid brand.

“Lifestyle, music, art, fashion: I am so excited to extend myself behind the scenes as a designer, and to as my father puts it--finally, have a real job."

Inkjet Printing To Replace Organ Donation?

Earlier this week Printerinks.com News reported that OEM printer ink is more expensive than human blood.

We theorised two courses of economising to shocked consumers: (1) opt for a quality compatible ink cartridge or (2) simply print documents in their own blood. For many reasons, the first option struck us as preferable.

But now scientists may have legitimate cause for filling their cartridges with claret. According to a 22 October 2008 Cosmos Online post, Japanese scientist Makoto Nakamura is using inkjet printing technology in an attempt to “print” human organs.

In the same way that ink is used to print documents, Nakamura employs human cells – jetting out thousands per second to produce a 3D human organ.

The goal is to create alternative organs for patients languishing on donor lists. Speaking with Cosmos Online, Nakamura said: ‘Ultimately I would like to make a heart.’

Such organs could be mass produced using a patient’s cells – removing the possibility of rejection. Though Nakamura thinks it may take 20 years to “print” a heart, once the technology is workable it could eliminate organ shortages at a stroke.

According to the Japanese scientist, his organ printer works “like building a huge skyscraper on a micro level using different kinds of cells and other materials instead of steel beams, concrete and glass.” To date, Nakamura’s micro-huge skyscraper organs have not exceeded one millimetre in diameter, and combine only two cell types.

Yet Nakamura’s printer is incredibly precise. It works by layering cells, capable of adjustments in the order of one thousandth of a millimetre. Though this may sound slow, the device creates 1.5cm worth of cells every minute.

And because ink particles are roughly the size of human cells, it’s based on a normal inkjet printer.

Nakamura was among the first to make this discovery, back in 2003. At the time, he placed a call with Epson customer services, telling the advisor that he wanted to print cells.

Though initially rebuffed, he eventually made contact with a sympathetic official at the company – which has given him technical support.

French Hospital Gets Ambient With HP Latex Ink

In the French region of Normandy, patients of the Deauville Hospital are finding life an altogether more relaxing affair than formerly.

They gaze about, and the corridors are smattered with soothing images of the countryside and sleepy towns. The walls imitate the texture of grass, or sand, meaning that patients need only stare intently to imagine themselves in a leafy meadow or secluded beach.

The cause of all this sudden relaxation? A number of wide format graphics produced in collaboration between the hospital’s director Tanguy de la Bourdonnaye, the photographer Bruno Macé, and the architect Marc Jitiaux.

By fixing on the concept ‘Inside, Outside,’ the dynamic trio created images that positively compel patients and staff to pause in their activities, and sigh contentedly.

Since September 2009, members of the hospital have enjoyed the ‘care’ space, which was produced using Hewlett Packard’s latex ink printers.

These devices print without the ‘voluble organic compounds’ normally found in ink, and are odourless. The images could hence be mounted without violating the Deauville Hospital’s health & safety regulations – which for some reason frowns on patients choking on ink particles.

M. Macé took his recreations of the outside world from the area surrounding Deauville, in waiting rooms and bedrooms. Aiming at trompe l'oeil’ (or ‘trick the eye’ for the Francophone-impaired), patients can enjoy the picturesque innards of a Bordeaux home without ever leaving their bed.

It was M. Macé who suggested using the odourless latex ink that has enabled staff to enjoy the scenes.

In a 20 December 2009 post on Global Print Monitor, M. de le Bourdonnaye is quoted: "Our story is a good example of why it is so important to choose the right printer, even if fine art printing isn't your core business.

“HP Latex technology provides a key benefit for businesses looking to produce prints for public places, where odours and VOCs are a cause for concern."

Autistic Children Access The Net With HP TouchSmart PCs

The folks at HP Middle East have donated several TouchSmart PCs to the Dubai Autism Centre. Using simple multi-touch gestures, such as rotating, flicking, pinching and pressing, these TouchSmart PCs give autistic children access to a host of applications. For example, with TouchSmart Canvas users can organise photos, while with TouchSmart Live TV users can pause and record online TV shows.

The TouchSmart computers let autistic children use PCs with far greater ease than a keyboard and mouse. Previously, schools such as the Hope Technology School in California have used TouchSmart PCs with their own assistive communication software. The school enabled autistic children to record their voices and then select clips, in order to construct sentences and play them back.

The new Touchsmart PCs are commercially available to buy too, and include the TouchSmart 600 PC and HP Pavilion DV3 with TouchSmart. Users with previous versions of HP’s autism support software will be able to update to the new TouchSmart 3.0 versions. Touchsmart 3.0 boasts not only new visuals and higher levels of personalisation, but also an improved interface.

Hewlett Packard’s donation to the Dubai Autism Centre is not the printing brand’s only charitable offering. In August 2008, Mccormick.Northwestern.Edu reported that HP donated 3 TouchSmart PCs to ArticuLab, the research group at a US university. ArticuLab helps autistic children improve their social skills with PC technology.

HP Printer Ink More Costly Than Human Blood

Are you sick to death of the outrageous prices HP charge for their official black ink cartridges? You might (and here’s the shameless plug) avoid paying through the nose by purchasing from a remanufactured ink vendor. Or, if you’re hopelessly attached to the contents of the wallet, you might print documents with your own blood.

This, according to a bar chart created by Clementine at ReflectionOf.Me, is almost half the price of HP black ink # 45. All you need is an emptied ink cartridge and a blood donor pack. That woozy sensation you’re feeling as you fill the cartridge? That, dear reader, is what saving feels like - glorious, glorious saving.

Looking for details before you undertake this (admittedly drastic) procedure? HP’s black ink retails for $0.70 per mL, as opposed to $0.40 per mL for human blood. Need some liquid courage before you start? That’s no problem, because according to the bar chart, vodka retails for almost nothing. And if the whole thing goes wrong and you find yourself in the hospital – that’s okay too, because penicillin for only $0.05 per mL.

So get printing – and who knows? Before long HP might unveil its new ‘Vampire’ laser series.

HP Facial Recognition Software Is “Racist”

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At a time when the BBC gives a national platform to racists, with the recent inclusion of the BNP’s Nick Griffin on Question Time, the battle to eradicate racism is hard fought. Yet the struggle is not made easier when new releases from PC brands as ubiquitous as Hewlett Packard discriminate against skin colour!

The facial recognition software packaged with HP’s webcam fails to recognise black people, according to a YouTube video that has gone viral. Reported two weeks ago by Jennifer Van Grove at Mashable.com, the video’s protagonists – one white, one black – use the buggy webcam to demonstrate its selective facial recognition.

Desi Cryer, who stars in the video, goes on to accuse the HP webcam of being “racist.”

The YouTube video is intended in a spirit of fun; Cryer is clearly enjoying himself, and his colleague Wanda Zamen spends the duration giggling. Yet the video has shed light on a serious glitch in HP’s facial recognition software. Moreover, Cryer’s accusation has prompted Hewlett Packard to respond with especial care.

A post by Frosty at HP’s blog two weeks ago notes tactfully that the facial recognition software “didn’t work for a customer.” Without referring to skin colour, he explains that the webcam’s software “might have difficulty “seeing” contrast [in areas of the face] in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.”

Frosty doesn’t offer an explanation for how this glitch in the cam’s facial recognition software went unnoticed. In a response to the post, Tarhero posits that it indicates a less than racially balanced testing phase at Hewlett Packard!

Since Frosty’s post, the global brand has received queries about whether its facial recognition software is compatible with other non-caucasian skin tones.

Talking with Mashable.com meanwhile, Zamen has justified the sensationalist nature of the YouTube video. She underplays the racist claim, stating: “We do not really think that a machine can be racist, or that HP is purposely creating software that excludes people of color. We think it is just a glitch.”

Whether HP’s facial recognition software is racist or not, the YouTube video prompted a quick response from the brand. And as Zamen comments: “we are glad that it has folks talking.”