Invetech / Organovo Create First Commercially Available Organ Printer

By Peter Lavelle
Friday 26 February 14:26 GMT

Product development firm Invetech will soon dispatch the world’s first production model organ printer to biotechnology company Organovo. The bio-printer will facilitate clinical trials that should let simple tissues – including muscle, skin and blood vessels – be employed in surgery within 5 years. Of course, the machine promises a ready alternative to patients languishing on donor lists.

Organovo commissioned Invetech to build the bio-printers last May, for the purpose of eventual commercial sale. Now nearing delivery, the printers – costing $200,000 each – will become available to research institutions worldwide.

According to Organovo CEO Keith Murphy, the bio-printers enable several varieties of organ and tissue to be replicated. He said: "Researchers can place liver cells on a preformed scaffold, support kidney cells with a co-printed scaffold, or form adjacent layers of epithelial and stromal soft tissue that grow into a mature tooth. Ultimately the idea would be for surgeons to have tissue on demand for various uses.”

Initially though, the tissues produced with the printers will be less sophisticated. The boon of distributing the machines is that it catalyses research – potentially prompting the quicker development of more complex printing. Ultimately, printed organs need not even resemble the originals to complete the same functions.

The bio-printers work similarly to inkjet printers – but with a third dimension. Instead of ink droplets, a cell polymer is deposited through the printer head in the desire shape. A ‘scaffold’ of water-soluble material provides the vacuum in complex shapes – for example, the void through which blood flows in a blood vessel. This soluble hydrogel emerges via a second printer head.

Invetech’s bioprinters fit inside the standard bio-safety cabinet for sterile use. They should begin shipping to medical research establishments worldwide this year and next.

Sources

Phillip Torrone, ‘Printing Body Hearts: Making A Bit Of Me @ The Economist,’ MakeZine.com, 23 February 2010.
Alex, ‘Bio-Printer Will (One Day) Print Organs For Transplant,’ Neatorama.com, 25 February 2010.
Anonymous, ‘Making A Bit Of Me,’ Economist.com, 18 February 2010.
Anonymous, ‘Invetech Delivers Organovo’s First Commercial 3D Bio-Printer For Manufacturing Human Organs And Tissue,’ Organovo.com, 1 December 2009.

Brother International Seeks Media Agency For Product Launch

By Peter Lavelle
Thursday 25 February 12:13 GMT

Electronics brand Brother are seeking a media agency for a multi-medium campaign, preceding the launch of a new product in late 2010.

Brother – which manufacturers ink cartridges among other things – began searching for an advertising agency in October 2009. The details of the project brief and budget however, are not yet confirmed.

The new project will not affect Brother’s existing relationships with other media agencies across Europe, according to Advertising and Communications Manager Antony Peart.

Last year Brother allied with Sony Pictures to create a Ghostbusters-themed range of ink cartridges. Promotional packs gave consumers the chance to win a holiday to New York, after playing a Ghostbusters game online.

Sources

Anne Cassidy, ‘Brother Hunts Media Agency For 2010 Launch,’ CampaignLive.co.uk, 25 February 2010.

Pencil Printer Returns With Jaunty Video

By Peter Lavelle
Wednesday 24 February 12:27 GMT

Peering back into the reaches of time (three weeks ago to be precise), Printerinks.com News reported the pencil printer – a conceptual design by Hoyoung Lee, making printouts of pencil stubs. The pencil printer boasted a lovely curvaceous design, making it the most stylish printer never built.

Perceiving this, Lee has created a video illustrating how the pencil printer might work – and it includes a singularly jaunty soundtrack! Get your printing groove on by watching the YouTube clip above.

Sources

Radhika Seth, ‘Pencil Printer Part Two,’ YankoDesign.com, 23 February 2010.

HP To Roll Out Photo Labs Across All Tesco Extras

By Peter Lavelle
Wednesday 24 February 11:13 GMT

Hewlett Packard have announced an agreement with Tesco to introduce ML1000D Photo Labs to all Tesco Extra Stores. Beginning this April, Tesco Extra customers can print everything from photos to posters and calendars at 140 supermarkets.

HP’s mini-lab is the only device capable of printing single-sided photos and duplex photo book pages available in retail. The machine delivers up to 1500 prints an hour available in 16 possible sizes, and prints are guaranteed for 200 years.

The agreement extends a partnership begun in March 2009 between Tesco and Hewlett Packard, when HP introduced Photo Centre 4.0 labs into Tesco supermarkets.

Speaking then, Rohit de Souza, VP of Retail Publishing Solutions at Hewlett Packard said: “HP is helping Tesco seize new growth opportunities and tap into the vast publishing marketplace that exists today.”

The retail publishing market is expected to grow by $36 billion in the next several years.

Sources

Anonymous, ‘HP PhotoSmart ML1000D Photo Lab,’ PhotographyMonthly.com, 17 September 2009.
Cherie Britt, ‘HP And Tesco Partner To Provide Affordable, Convenient Photo Publishing Solutions To Customers,’ HP.com, 2 March 2009.
Cherie Britt, ‘HP And Tesco Sign Agreement To Roll Out HP ML1000D Dry Lab Technology Across All Tesco Extra Stores,’ HP.com, 20 February 2010.
Justin Sorkin, ‘Tesco And HP Agree On Deal To Roll Out ML1000D Technology Across Tesco Extra Outlets,’ TopNews.us, 20 February 2010.

Oce Shareholders Request Court Investigation Of Canon’s Takeover Bid

By Peter Lavelle
Wednesday 24 February 10:00 GMT

Océ shareholders Hermes Asset Management have filed a request with the Amsterdam Enterprise Chamber to investigate Japanese electronics brand Canon’s takeover bid for the Dutch printer manufacturer.

Hermes – alongside shareholders Universities Superannuation Scheme and Orbis Portfolio Management – believe Canon’s €730 million bid for 85% of Océ undervalues the company. Their collective stake in Océ is near 15%.

Hermes have requested that the Amsterdam Enterprise Chamber at the Court of Appeals investigate the negotiations between Canon and Océ that initiated the takeover bid. Further, Hermes request the reversal of certain resolutions passed during an Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting held on 12 February. These include the elimination of voting rights on preference shares, which Hermes says protect minority shareholder rights.

Speaking in a press statement, Océ said they “regret this step and will oppose the request.”

The Dutch Enterprise Chamber is scheduled to hear Hermes’ case on 3 March. The offer tendered by Canon is due to expire on 1 March. However, Hermes have welcomed the extension of the tender deadline, so that Océ shareholders may take the court’s findings into account.

Sources

Adam Dewitz, ‘Oce Holders Take Legal Action To Challenge Canon Bid,’ TheDigitalNirvana.com, 22 February 2010.
Anonymous, ‘Canon/Oce: Hermes and USS File Request At Dutch Enterprise Chamber,’ WhatTheyThink.com, 23 February 2010.
Anonymous, ‘Oce Shareholders Adopt Proposed Resolutions,’ WhatTheyThink.com, 15 February 2010.
Harro Ten Wolde, ‘Oce Shareholders Ask Court To Look Into Canon Offer,’ Reuters.com, 22 February 2010.
Maud Van Gaal, ‘Oce Shareholders Ask Court To Protect Interests After Canon Bid,’ BusinessWeek.com, 22 February 2010.
Robert Daniel, ‘Orbis Won’t Tender 10% Of Oce To Canon Offer,’ MarketWatch.com, 23 February 2010.

Inkjet Wars: Kodak Vs Hewlett Packard

By Peter Lavelle
Tuesday 23 February 12:53 GMT

Back in 2007 Kodak entered the printer market with a revolutionary business plan: charge slightly more for inkjet printers than other manufacturers, but charge half for ink cartridges.

They released the EasyShare 5300: an inkjet with cartridges 50% cheaper than HP’s equivalent model, the PhotoSmart C5180. They created an advert campaign, warning consumers that ink cartridges sold by other manufacturers cost more than crude oil.

Moreover, Kodak employed a new pigment-based dying process in their printers, which certified their images for 120 years. This contrasted favourably with the single year guaranteed by Hewlett Packard. Finally, Kodak promised they’d save consumers $110 annually.

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In 2007 Kodak sold 520,000 printers. Impressive? Not really, when you consider that 61 million inkjet multifunction printers were sold that year.

Yet Kodak’s entry caused red alert at Hewlett Packard headquarters - both because Kodak aimed a stake at the heart of HP’s business model, and because Kodak targeted the most profitable consumers.

After all, Kodak’s promises of incredible savings wouldn’t mean anything to consumers for whom printers are dusty plastic boxes. It’s the printing maniacs – that 20% of inkjet consumers who purchase 80% of cartridges – with whom Kodak’s new strategy might resonate.

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Since 2007 then, the two brands have been launching grapeshot at each other. Kodak designed the (Star Trek influenced?) printandprosper.com to accompany their EasyShare launch.

This website details the savings available with Kodak, and explains why other brands are soulless profit mongers. Hewlett Packard receive the worst beating from this website - arguably because the 63 cartridges types available from HP contrast with the 3 from Kodak.

In reply, Hewlett Packard launched The Truth About Printing – a site targeted like a cruise missile at Kodak.

It illustrates an infinite queue of frowning Kodak consumers desperate to return their EasyShares, and promises $50 toward an HP printer. That’s the printing equivalent of removing your gloves.

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More recently, this tussle has moved off the net and into the courts. Last year HP filed a complaint with the lengthily titled National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (his friends call him NAD) that Kodak’s claim to save consumers $110 annually was inaccurate.

Kodak failed even to send a representative to the complaints proceeding. Instead, they released a short press statement saying their advertising claims had already been substantiated.

NAD responded by bundling the case off to the Federal Trade Commission.

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Last December, the FTC decided that Kodak could claim their $110 savings – but on a minimum of four pages printed daily.

This tweaked text recognises that consumers must guzzle an ink minimum before Kodak’s claims become viable. Kodak has asserted this alteration to their advertising vindicates them.

On the other hand, Hewlett Packard continue making hay. They most recently quoted a Lyra Research report that 50% of consumers never reach Kodak’s savings threshold.

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Who then does provide the cheapest printing? And do Kodak’s (seemingly) lower priced cartridges compromise quality? Comparisons of Kodak and Hewlett Packard’s printers are available through Google, though they report different things.

Broadly speaking – Kodak’s EasyShares give equal quality to HP’s PhotoSmarts, so long as Kodak photo paper is employed. This however cuts the potential savings of Kodak’s ink cartridges. By comparison, the PhotoSmarts offer a more vibrant printout – but degrade quickly.

Therefore neither brand is the undisputed champion of printing – putting to one side the minefield of ink cartridge pricing. The division between Kodak and Hewlett Packard will continue - while the consumer watches on, uncertain.

Sources

Jeff Burtolucci, ‘Printer Makers Clash Over Advertising Claims,’ PCWorld.com, 22 February 2010.
Michael Dow, ‘Kodak Vs HP: The Challenge,’ HardwareGeeks.com, 13 June 2009.
Scott Merrill, ‘Cage Match! HP Versus Kodak,’ CrunchGear.com, 9 September 2009.
Robert L Mitchell, ‘Kodak’s ESP-7: Print Quality Varies With Paper Type,’ ComputerWorld.com, 20 October 2009.
Taeho Lim, ‘HP Calls Out Kodak On Ink Cost Saving Claims,’ CartridgeNews.com, 30 September 2009.

Women In Charge At Xerox - So What?

By Peter Lavelle
Monday 22 February 20:12 GMT

Recently Adam Byrant of NYTimes.com posted a profile of Xerox CEO Ursula Burns – the first African American woman to chair a company of Xerox’s stature. The article charts Burns’ 30 year rise through the company – her beginnings as a summer intern in 1980 – and her relations with former CEO Anne Mulcahy. The two women are credited with orchestrating Xerox’s move from hardware to IT services – culminating in the recent acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion. It is possible Burns and Mulcahy saved Xerox from bankruptcy.

Understandably perhaps, a whole series of accolades have poured into Burns’ lap since becoming Xerox CEO in 2009. Her status as an African-American woman makes her unique among the corporate America bigwigs. Yet what is refreshing about the NYTimes.com article is how completely a non-issue is Burns’ race. Xerox appears a complete meritocracy, and Burns herself is bemused by the tributes she’s received. Other writers – including Philip N. Cohen - have tried to make an issue from Burns’ gender. His article though has a gaping hole where the subject matter ought to be. Far from demonstrating the importance of gender to Burns' success, Cohen's insubstantial analysis reveals it as a non-issue for the Xerox CEO. Ultimately, Burns has become the Xerox chief not as a woman nor African-American, but as a talented individual. Rightly so.

Sources

Adam Byrant, 'Xerox's New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture,' NYTimes.com, 20 February 2010.
Philip P. Cohen, 'Women In Charge At Xerox,' HuffingtonPost.com, 21 February 2010.

Lexmark Study Reveals European Printing Habits

By Peter Lavelle
Friday 19 February 2010 10:50 GMT

Lexmark have released a new study detailing the printing habits of European professionals and home users. Conducted on the ink cartridge manufacturer’s behalf by market research company Information Resources, Inc (ICI) the study reveals that 58% of Europeans print mostly in black. Further, 74% of Europeans print between 0-30 pages weekly.

The study offers assurance for people concerned their printing habits are abnormal. For example, 1% of recipients in the 5 European nations surveyed* print entirely in colour. This 1 percentile may feel their colour cartridge habits make them unique. Alternately, they may choose to match the printing habits of most Europeans by replacing their colour cartridges with black cartridges.

Lexmark also reveals that 38% of professionals at work print more than 100 pages weekly. Other white collar Europeans may be concerned this makes them appear less productive than their print-happy colleagues, and print more frequently. 2% of white collar Europeans at work print less than 10 pages weekly. These people may find themselves compensating for their statistical inadequacy by printing documents several times.

The ICI study was conducted in April 2009 using interviews, focus groups and in-store observations. This probably means ICI researchers followed around the people wearing suits, or hid themselves in the ‘computer peripherals’ aisle at the supermarket.

The Lexmark results are available here.

*France, Germany, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom

Sources

Richard Thomas, ‘Professionals Focused on Reducing Costs,’ Lexmark.co.uk, 15 February 2010.

HP Sees Resurgence In PC And Printer Sales

By Peter Lavelle
Thursday 18 February 15:51 GMT

Electronics brand HP has encountered a resurgence in PC and printer sales, generating a 25% leap in net profit for 2010’s 1st fiscal quarter, which closed in January.

PC sales for Hewlett Packard rose 20% to $10.6bn, while printer shipments increased 16% - compared to the same period in 2009. The figures suggest the technology market is recovering, having fallen flat during the global recession.

Hewlett Packard reported net profits of $2.3bn for the first quarter – more than $0.4bn more than last year. Net revenue was up 8% from last year and totalled $31.2bn.

Given this, the company has raised its fiscal forecast for 2010, from $118bn revenue to $121.5bn.

Speaking in the press release, HP CEO Mark Hurd said: "The strength of our portfolio, leaner cost structure and accelerating market momentum give us the confidence to raise our full-year outlook.”

However, revenues were not up across all Hewlett Packard’s portfolio. The Services sector – largely responsible for bolstering HP’s finances in the recession – saw a 1% fall in revenue. Revenues at HP Software were stable at $878m.

Sources

Austine Modine, ‘HP’s PC and Printer Sales Back from the Depths,’ TheRegister.co.uk, 17 February 2010.

Antone Gonsalves, ‘HP Profits Jump 25%,’ InformationWeek.com, 18 February 2010.

Reports Of The Printer’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

By Peter Lavelle
Thursday 18th February 2010 14:03 GMT

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet.com has declared his printer ready for the morgue.

Once, the technology journalist never surfed the net without his faithful device. Sheet after sheet of immaculate print-out was deposited onto the document tray. The whirr that accompanied a completed print was birdsong in March.

Now, the dust settled on the chassis dampens the sunlight, and the top cover hides a spider’s nest. Black ink trickles from the disused cartridges like drool, and the green LED flickers – like an injured man struggling to stay awake. Only the occasional whirr reminds Kingsley-Hughes that his printer exists.

Of course, Kingsley-Hughes is a technology journalist. He spends his days testing how many apps make an iPhone explode, and sneering at Internet Explorer 7 users. He pines to upload himself to the web, and escape fleshy existence.

Given this, what else could Kingsley-Hughes throw toward his printer but sneers?

Meanwhile, back in reality 32% of offices are stuffing their printers with greater quantities of paper than ever before, according to a recent AIIM release. Consumer ink revenues – now $100 million globally – will skyrocket again on 2011, according to Lyra Research. And printouts are warm like freshly baked bread.

Nothing stops Kingsley-Hughes dropping from silicon heaven and giving his printer’s eulogy. He might download an iPhone app to dig the peripheral’s grave. Everyone else will be taking sheaves of warm paper from the document tray.

Sources

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ‘The Slow Demise Of The Printer,’ ZDnet.com, 17 February 2010.

Image

Beth Hoffman, ‘Night of the Living Dead Printer,’ Flickr.com, 8 January 2009.

AIIM Study: Offices Continue To Use Paper

By Peter Lavelle
Wednesday 17 February 12:52 GMT

Offices are standing behind paper, in spite of the widespread presence of scanning devices, according to a recent release from the Association for Information and Image Management.

The release finds that offices prefer not to abolish paper storage, though digital document management systems are established, instead retaining their paper copies as ‘back up.’ 69% of the 882 companies surveyed by AIIM don’t destroy their paper copies even after scanning – while 32% archive their documents off-site.

The report also unearthed continuing doubts that scanners capture images accurately – 25% of scanned documents from all 882 companies are photocopied before scanning. However, only 6.5% of scanned documents require quality screening, suggesting the tendency of capture technology to break down has been rectified.

25% of offices meanwhile doubt the legality of scanned documents, retaining paper copies to cover themselves. According to AIIM, this activity has no legal basis.

The report also discovered that digital document management increased paper consumption among 32% of offices – suggesting scanners can in fact cripple “paperless” initiatives. Admittedly though, another 32% decreased their paper consumption.

Commenting on the report, AIIM’s President John Mancini said offices have an “obsession with holding onto paper.” According to Mancini, the savings of abolishing paper storage are huge – yet companies continue to retain paper copies.

The AIIM report - “Document Scanning and Capture: local, central, outsource - what’s working best?” – is available for download here.

Sources

Doug Miles, ‘Document Scanning and Capture: local, central, outsource – what’s working best?’ Aiim.org, 12 February 2010.

Strike Hit Fujitsu Wins £300m DWP Contract

By Peter Lavelle
Wednesday 17 February 10:45 GMT

Electronics brand Fujitsu have won a £300m contract to supply PCs to the Department of Work and Pensions, beating off competition from the present supplier HP Enterprise Systems (formerly EDS.)

In a 6 year contract for the DWP, Fujitsu will install a thin client IT infrastructure – which doesn’t mean their desktop computers come with weight limits. Instead, thin client PCs run their core functions via an external server.

This potentially saves the cash-strapped DWP millions, and pours £300m into Fujitsu’s coffers. The contract will involve up to 140,000 desktops until 2015.

Yet the contract demonstrates the DWP’s sense of irony. Rumour has it the Department opted against HP Enterprise Systems because of the strike action affecting the IT firm. Last month, 1000 IT engineers contracted at the DWP threw aside their microchip wrenches.

Yet Fujitsu has recently been beset by strikes too – concerning its pension scheme. Members of union Unite agreed to extend their strike action into February last week.

For a government department concerned with employee welfare, this is worth blushing about.

Yet DWP CIO Joe Harley has extolled the benefits of Fujitsu. Speaking to Information Age, he said Fujitsu “provides a number of benefits, including little or no maintenance required to the kit and reductions in power consumption which supports our sustainability agenda.”

Since 2008 the DWP has contracted half its IT services, in an attempt to reduce expenditure. The Department’s full procurement agenda is available here.

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Procurement is not the only agenda being pursued by DWP – Mary Gibson of Nottingham was recently threatened with legal action by the DWP, if she neglected to pay back 1p.

The threat referred to a crisis loan Gibson thought had been repaid. How many services the DWP would have been made to close without the penny is unclear.

Sources

Alexandra Pulin, ‘Fujitsu Wins Department Of Work and Pensions Contract From HP,’ TechEye.net, 16 February 2010.
Andrew Donoghue, ‘DWP Swaps Strike-Hit HP For Strike Hit Fujitsu,’ EWeekEurope.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Desire Athow, ‘Fujitsu To Roll Out Thin Clients In £300 Million DWP Contract,’ ITPortal.com, 16 February 2010.
John Oates, ‘Fujitsu Grabs Billion Pound HP Contract,’ TheRegister.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Sunil Kumar, ‘Fujitsu Ties Contract With HP,’ TopNews.co.uk, 16 February 2010.

Are The Hewlett Packard Layoffs Justified?

By Peter Lavelle
Tuesday 16th February 17:33 GMT

Should a company lay off their employees only as a last resort? Ought an employer retain a worker at the expense of profit, if doing so is fiscally viable?

Those are the questions raised by 2 columnists this week – debating whether printer brand Hewlett Packard’s decision to make redundant 75,505 workers last decade is justified.

Their queries are pertinent – January saw strikes from HP employees in the UK for the first time, objecting to the removal of a £2000 bonus scheme, while 3400 HP employees were made redundant during 2009’s first half.

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In a 13 February 2010 article by Chris O’Brien for MercuryNews.com entitled ‘Lessons From Hewlett Packard’s Massive Job Cuts,’ O’Brien argues that the large restructuring undergone by HP last decade doesn’t justify their job losses.

He points to similar sized cuts in the motoring industry – General Motors have announced 210,000 since 2001, for example – to prove HP has been excessive.

After all, vehicle manufacturing is spluttering in and out of bankruptcy – while HP announced profits every year except one last decade, doubling their profit since 2000. Given this performance, are 75,505 losses justified?

Yet O’Brien’s argument doesn’t give sufficient weight to the restructuring undergone by Hewlett Packard since 2000.

He points out that since 2000, HP ‘trimmed’ almost as many employees as hired – 84,000. Yet within this same period, HP acquired two companies that shifted its focus away from personal computers to IT services: Compaq and EDS (recently renamed HP Enterprise Services.)

Purchased as recently as 2008, HP IT services contracts made 8% profit – $1.4 billion in operating profit – in Q4 of 2009’s $2.4 billion profit. In the same period, sales for hardware such as personal computers were down.

Hence, why should Hewlett Packard be obliged to retain jobs from a less profitable sector, when they’re refocusing?

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InformationWeek.com writer Bob Evans takes up this argument in his 15 February post: ‘Hewlett Packard and Oracle Layoffs Are Ugly But Essential.’ He asks ‘Are we going to cripple our leading corporations’ by encouraging uncompetitive policies – such as ‘employment is a right.’

Evan’s point is valid; yet his article is a master class in demonising yourself with the winning argument. Reading him, you can imagine Evans kicking aside a puppy that crosses his path, crying ‘Time is money!’

In short, Evans doesn’t leave room for the possibility that HP are the teensiest bit in the wrong.

For example, in February 2009 CEO Mark Hurd announced blanket pay cuts for HP’s 304,000(!) strong workforce – and knocked 20% off his $1.5 million base pay. Yet Hurd received $24.2 million in his total pay package in 2009.

Is this justified when HP is slashing its work force? Or – as O’Brien suggests in his MercuryNews.com article – could this money have been spent retraining people, instead of subjecting them to the sack?

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Finally, O’Brien is wrong to chastise HP for making redundancies that have ultimately helped the business. HP employs 304,000 people today – who perhaps would be jobless but for HP’s tough policy toward sacking those no longer needed.

Evans though is wrong to treat Hewlett Packard as a profit-making machine – what is business for, if not the benefit of people? Not hoarding money?

Between their perspectives, a middle ground is possible – one of remaining profitable, while recognising the ultimately obligation to people. With luck, Hewlett Packard will pursue this.

Sources

Bob Evans, ‘Hewlett Packard and Oracle Layoffs Are Ugly But Essential,’ InformationWeek.com, 15 February 2010.
Chris O’Brien, ‘Lessons from Hewlett-Packard's massive job cuts’ MercuryNews.com, 13 February 2010.
Daya Boran, ‘HP Pay Cut is a Bail Out,’ WebGuild.org, 20 February 2009.
Kelly Fiveash, ‘HP Faces First Ever UK Strike Action,’ TheRegister.co.uk, 28 October 2009.
Jordan Robertson, ‘Hewlett Packard CEO Got $24 Pay Package in 2009,’ MercuryNews.com, 12 January 2010.
Matt Burns, ‘Pay Cuts, Not Lay Offs, Coming To HP,’ CrunchGear.com, 21 February 2009.

UK Newspaper Sales In Double Digit Decline

By Peter Lavelle
Tuesday 16 February 11:30 GMT

UK quality dailies including The Guardian and The Times have experienced double digit declines in sales figures, according to new figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The Audit Bureau, which tracks sales figures for newspapers and magazines worldwide, noted that The Times encountered the biggest year-on-year plummet among UK newspapers – dropping 17.69% in January to 508, 250 copies.

The Guardian, meanwhile, experienced a 15.76% decline in circulation, though keeping above 300,000. Month-on-month The Guardian circulation increased in fact in January by 0.58%.

The Daily Telegraph reported a 11.76% drop in circulation rates, putting the newspaper’s sales below 700,000 for the first time.

This plummet in part reflects the paper’s decision to abandon bulk distribution – a mechanism by which restaurants etc. receive multiple copies for a nominal fee, then distribute these freely.

Only three newspapers – The Independent, The Daily Mail, and The Financial Times – now employ this circulation-bolstering tactic.

Newspaper sales at the lower end fared slightly better. The Sun raised its circulation back above 3 million copies, thanks to a month-on-month January increase of 5.02%. The paper though declined 4.43% year-on-year.

Of the tabloids, only The Star managed a year-on-year increase – at 1.41%. This reflects owner Richard Desmond’s decision to drop the paper’s price to 20p back in November 2008.

The Audit Bureau had some good news for print editions, however. Though the first half of 2009 saw circulations fall 1.8% for the UK’s 100 top-selling magazines, sales were flat during the second half. This suggest the print industry is weathering the recession.

Meanwhile, Political satire Private Eye enjoyed its highest circulation since 1992 in 2008’s second half - selling 210,218 copies. Editor Iain Hislip told The Times: “The Eye’s circulation figures are like John Terry’s shorts. In the past they may have gone down - but now they are firmly up again.”

Sources

Alexi Monstrous, ‘Private Eye Records Best Circulation In Eighteen Years,’ TimesOnline.co.uk 11 February 2010.
Chris Tryhorn, ‘ABCS: Daily Telegraph Slides Below 700,000 Sales,’ Guardian.co.uk, 12 February 2010.
Ewingsc, ‘Shock! Horror! Newspaper Readership Results,’ Uncensored.co.nz, 15 February 2010.
Anonymous, ‘ABC: Sun Back Over 3 Million But Star Is Only Climber,’ PressGazette.co.uk, 12 February.

Xerox Closes ACS Takeover For $6.4 Bn

By Peter Lavelle
Monday 15th February 14:18 GMT

Shareholders at Xerox have voted overwhelmingly to support the takeover of IT services company ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) for $6.4 billion. The takeover makes a $22 billion process outsourcing giant out of Xerox, which already enjoys a global lead in document management, according to analysts NelsonHall.

ACS is the largest business process outsourcing firm on the planet, and a Fortune 500 company. More than 4.4 million employees enjoy human resource services from ACS, while the company processes 12+ million student loan applications annually.

The acquisition will lessen Xerox’s reliance on print, enabling the office copier brand to exploit the predicted $45 billion expansion in document management by 2013. According to Angele Boyd, the Group VP of Document Management at IDC, "Xerox is working aggressively toward becoming more focused on information management and business processes and less reliant on printed documents.”

Henceforth ACS will operate as ACS, A Xerox Company, while Lyn Blodgett will continue to head the company, having been elected by the Xerox Board of Directors.

The 78,000 employees at ACS may not notice any difference under their new managers. For example, the 400 ACS call centre representatives working at Oregon’s North Bend will continue working as usual. Meanwhile at Florida’s Kidcare, ACS will continue providing IT services for the child healthcare insurer’s 260,000 enrolees.

ACS spokesmen Kevin Lightfoot told TheWorldLink.com to expect business as usual. “The objective is to grow the overall business,” he said.

Sources

Richard Lee, ‘Xerox Purchase Of ACS Comes With Strings,’ StamfordAdvocate.com, 5 February 2010.
Nate Traylor, ‘Xerox Zeros In On ACS,’ TheWorldLink.com, 13 February 2010.
David Hodges, ‘ACS Is Now A Xerox Company,’ Talahesee.com, 13 February 2010.
Becky Dziedzic, ‘Xerox Leads Global Services Management Market,’ Marketwatch.com, 11 February 2010.

Océ CEO Calls Canon Takeover Bid ‘Fair And Reasonable’

By Peter Lavelle

Océ CEO Rokus van Iperen has called Canon’s takeover bid of the Dutch printer brand ‘fair and reasonable,’ in comments preceding a shareholder’s vote later today.

Canon’s $1.19 billion bid for 85% of Océ shares received opposition from shareholders Hermes Asset Management and Orbis Portfolio Management last month. The companies – who control 13.3% of Océ shares – believe Canon’s proposed bid undervalues Océ.

According to van Iperan, the takeover has support from both Canon and Océ boards.

In light of the proposed takeover meanwhile, Océ has ceased their strategic alliance with Konica Minolta in developing cutsheet monochrome and colour output devices.

A renewed OEM sales agreement means Konica will continue to supply Océ with office printing systems, while the firms will exchange cutsheet monochrome printing systems.

Sources

Anonymous, ‘Océ and Konica Minolta reviewed their strategic alliance,’ Packagingessentials.com, 11 February 2010.
Anonymous, ‘Canon's (CAJ) Takeover Bid 'Fair and Reasonable,' Oce's CEO Rokus van Iperen Says,’ Streetinsider.com, 12 February 2010.

HP Notebook Shipments To Fall Behind Taiwanese Makers

By Peter Lavelle

The notebook shipments of global vendor HP are predicted to fall behind Taiwanese makers Quanta Computers and Compal Electronics in 2010, according to anonymous industry sources.

In addition, Quanta and Compal shipments are expected to exceed those of fellow Taiwanese brand Acer – who have been competing with HP for first position.

Quanta Computer and Compal Electronics are expected to ship 50 million and 46-48 million laptops this year globally. By comparison, Hewlett Packard are predicted to ship only 45 million notebooks, and Acer a lesser 40 million units.

The shift is surprising, because Acer overtook Dell to the worldwide second place in 2008. In Q3 of that year, Acer shipped only 1.5 million fewer notebooks than Hewlett Packard, and appeared to be eating into HP’s 20.1% market share.

Today’s predictions will allow Quanta and Compal to command lower upstream material costs, in the production of their notebooks. Given this, vendors including HP may transfer procurement control of materials to their manufacturers, to reduce costs. This would further improve the Taiwanese makers’ position.

Sources

Bruce Einhorn, ‘The mysterious case of HP and the Taiwanese,’ BusinessWeek.com 7 March 2006.
Edward Berridge, ‘Asian notebook makers expect to overtake HP,’ TheInquirer.net, 12 February 2010.
Justin Mass, ‘Acer closing gap on HP in notebook market,’ Techspot.com, 10 August 2009.
Jose Vilches, ‘Acer passes Dell in global notebook shipments,’ Techspot.com, 5 March 2008.
Max Wang, ‘Quanta and Compal notebook shipments in 2010 to surpass HP and Acer shipments,’ Digitimes.com, 12 February 2010.

Motorola Droid Hack Enables USB Printer Use

By Peter Lavelle

Modders Mike Baker and Mike Kershaw have pioneered a Motorola Droid hack, enabling the smartphone to host Linux-based USB devices like printers and cameras.

The Droid hack doesn’t require a re-installation of the Android OS, though owners must splice several cables together. Details are available at Chris Paget’s blog.

Presently the Android OS has limited driver support – meaning that few peripherals are enabled with the Droid hack, even in USB Host Mode. Paget promises this will change though, as hackers exploit the Android operating system.

Sources

Chris Paget, ‘USB Host Mode on Motorola Droid,’ Tombom.co.uk, 9 February 2010.
Kevin Parish, ‘Droid Hack Controls Printers, Cameras, Others,’ Tomsguide.com, 10 February 2010.
Vladislav Savov, ‘Droid Gets A USB Hack Enabling It to Control Printers and Cameras, Humans Put on Alert,’ Endgadget.com, 10 Februrary 2010.

Canon Oce Takeover Update: Oce To Address Shareholder Concerns

By Peter Lavelle

The management at Dutch office equipment brand Océ have sent a letter to shareholders, promising to ease their concerns that the $1.17b takeover bid from Canon for 85% of Océ undervalues the firm. The meeting will happen on Friday.

Last month Hermes Asset Management and Orbis Portfolio Management, who own together 13.3% of Océ shares, told Océ management they would withhold their tender.

The firms want reassurance that Océ will safeguard minority shareholder interests, if Canon gains a controlling share. In addition, they request an outline of the savings to be made from the proposed takeover.

Yesterday Hermes received a letter from Océ Chief Executive Rokus Van Iperan saying he would address questions to this effect in an extraordinary shareholders meeting on 12 February. Hermes said it looked forward to the meeting.

In recent days, Canon has rejected calls from Hermes to raise their $1.17b takeover bid. Instead, given the possibility that their 85% claim will be rejected, Canon may offer to buy 70% of Océ for the same amount – a marked premium.

This move compromises Hermes’ power to ask a higher price, while encouraging other shareholders to tender their stake.

Canon has indicated that it will let Océ operate alone for the first three years. It is possible the Japanese brand will seek 100% of Océ after that period.

Speaking to ProPrint.com, Océ Senior Vice-President Jan Hol said that shareholders “have three weeks to go to make up their minds in regards to tendering their shares.”

Assuming that Hermes’ concerns are resolved, the Canon Océ takeover will be completed two weeks after.

Sources

Steven Kiernan, ‘Oce Gives Update on Canon Deal and Reveals Ipex Plans,’ ProPrint.com, 10 February 2010.
Mariko Yasu, ‘Canon Says It Will Stick To Oce Offer, Defying Funds,’ BusinessWeek.com, 10 February 2010.
Maud van Gaal, ‘Oce Will Answer Canon Bid Questions st Meeting, Hermes Says,’ Bloomberg.com, 9 February 2010.
Harro ted Wolde, ‘Oce to Address Concerns on Canon Offer – Hermes,’ Reuters.com, 9 February 2010.

HP Unveils Global First: Wind Cooled Data Centre

Printer manufacturers Hewlett Packard have unveiled the world’s first wind cooled data centre: an IT services and management hub cooled by entirely external means.

Located in North West England, the facility maintains a fixed 24C temperate owing to eight 2.1 stainless steel and plastic intake fans. Modular filters remove impurities such as dust before the air is circulated, where it runs through the flooring and over the server racks. There the air is finally exhausted.

The Billingham facility is the most energy efficient hub built by Hewlett Packard: for every 1.2 watts spent on powering the server racks, 1 watt is spent cooling them. This gives the wind cooled data centre a 1.2 PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) measurement – when 1.5 PUE is the mark for an energy efficient site.

This is only feasible though because of the region’s temperate climate. Temperatures at Billingham exceed 24C for only 20 hours a year. Even this increase though necessitates electric coolers to keep the server racks regulated.

By contrast, when the outside temperate drops too much exhausted air is recirculated.

In addition to the intake fans, the Billingham facility uses light coloured server racks. These reflect sunlight more easily, saving 40% on electric lighting. What’s more, rain water is collected to increase the facility’s humidity. When the outside air becomes too dry, spray from the 80,000 litre tanks is released.

HP believes they’ll make power savings of £2.4m from the wind cooled data centre.

The IT services and management hub houses HP’s electronic data, and is very secure. A high perimeter fence lines the facility, while the corridors are accessed with biometric readings. When HP opened the facility to journalists last week, cameras were forbidden.

Yet the intake fans contribute to security, by making the facility more anonymous. To the unsuspecting observer, the wind cooled data centre would appear your average treatment plant. In fact the Billingham hub is not only really efficient, but the central nervous system for Hewlett Packard’s IT services.

[Via PCWorld.com]

Visconti Releases Pen Made With Lava

The designers at Florence company Visconti Pens must expect a clientele of secret agents. How else to explain the shatter proof pen they’re releasing that’s built with lava?

The new fountain pen endures boiling liquids up to 300C, and features a palladium nib - a substitute for white gold. It contains no alloys. These traits make the Visconti lava pen a calligrapher’s dream, according to the press release:

“You will feel like you are writing on a cloud. We call the experience of writing with our palladium nib, Dreamtouch™ because it's like writing on air."*

The Visconti lava pen is part of the Homo Sapiens range, with available nibs ranging from Extra Fine to Stub. The fountain pen retails for $595, though a pencil version costs $345. What Visconti charges for lava cartridges is not stated.

*Of course, the unauthorised experience of Dreamtouch may result in legal action. Writers unsure if the fluidity of their fountain pen infringes on Visconti’s trademark should consult their solicitor.

Adventures In Office Imaging: Destroy Your Printer Contest!

Remove yourself from your cubicle and take a brief glance in the bathroom mirror.

Does sweat steam from your underarms and dampen your shirt? Does a pulsing vein make your forehead asymmetrical? Do your feet include opposable thumbs?

If so – chances are good you are an office monkey, burdened with stress.

What auspicious timing then, that Adventures in Office Imaging have announced their second annual Destroy Your Printer Video competition!

No longer must you bore holes in the back of your supervisor’s head with that electric drill of a glance.

Instead, video yourself releasing years of pent-up rage – and win closure, and $100 for the charity of your choice!

Details here, white collared ones.

Epson Announces Buy Back Scheme

Epson has announced a Buy Back Scheme, enabling companies to remove their outdated equipment – regardless of brand or model – and make savings to new Epson machines.

From yesterday (9 February) the scheme was available to customers of Epson resellers. Resellers submit a quote to Epson on the customer’s behalf, and quotes are determined case-by-case.

The Epson Buy Back includes de-installation, but is contingent on firms replacing their equipment with Epson products. It covers all peripherals – including inkjet printers, laser printers, scanners, projectors, and also dot matrix printers.

The scheme also gives companies peace of mind that their equipment is being disposed responsibly. Epson dismantles or recycles old models according to European Union WEEED (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) standards.

For more information (and a hilariously 80s image of two businessmen shaking hands) visit Epson’s website.

Canon Europe Survey Optimistic About Printing’s Future

Image: Images.com

The printing industry has weathered a difficult storm in 2009 and can look forward to a bright future, according to Canon Europe’s 3rd annual survey of print service providers.

Conducted by Prof. Emiratus Frank Romano and a graduate team from the USA’s Rochester Institute Of Technology, the survey in fact found that digital printing output rose by 27.2% in Western Europe in 2009 - while lithograph outputs fell 18.1%.

The figures suggest digital equipment offered a lease of life to the 840 printers surveyed. Though clients required smaller print runs during the recession, firms with digital equipment could provide these – unlike litho printers, whose equipment limited them to providing large runs no longer in demand.

This may explain why 81 of the printers surveyed in 2008 were no longer in business or had merged.

The survey also found that 86% of printers felt signage printing with wide format machines helped to weather the downturn. A large market for display printing in 2010 might drive future growth – which printers felt optimistic about.

Finally, printers who focused on select markets and provided multi-media services to their customers felt these helped them survive the recession. Printers used value-added services to differentiate themselves and promote loyalty.

The Canon press release for the survey – which is available in full from May 2010 – is available here.

Asian Heartthrob Sponsors Printer Inks

The Asian singer and actor Christian Bautista has a signed a contract with Malayan ink cartridge brand Ink All-You-Can to provide sponsorship. From Valentine’s Day, customers who stop by Ink All-You-Can in Metro Manili will receive the limited edition CD: Bautista’s ‘Romance Revisited.’

CEO and President of Ink All-You-Can Jerry Ilao said of the endorsement: "Mr. Bautista is one of the most multi-faceted artists in the country today. His versatility as a singer, actor and entrepreneur is very much consistent with Ink All-You-Can’s campaign of offering unlimited printing solutions to Filipino consumers.”

Right.

Who Does Fiorina’s Demon Sheep Really Target?

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina’s ‘demon sheep’ political ad has bought the US Senate hopeful centre stage. The video attacks fellow Republican primary contender Tom Campbell - branding him ‘Fiscally Conservative In Name Only’ (hence the sheep in wolf’s clothing imagery.)

Yet the newspapers have barely spent a breath on Fiorina’s claims; and the 650,000 people who’ve caught the YouTube video are unlikely to feel Campbell’s fiscal reputation has been muddied.

Instead, the 250+ Google News articles on the vid put a magnifying glass to Fiorina’s success in social media – and whether it will tank her campaign.

For example, in a 2 February article for HuffingtonPost.com Jason Linkins recognises in the video not a campaign ad but a grab for the social media market.

The video makes ‘Fiscally Conservative In Name Only’ into a mangled acronym. Linkins says regarding this: “Oh, sweetie. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but stop trying to make "FUH-SEE-NO" work because it is not happening.”

He shrieks as though Fiorina had championed an ill-thought out fashion craze. He assumes (rightly) that FCINO has value not as a political label but a popular term, and assumes the role of public barometer of its failure.

By the same thinking Fiorina’s ad has value not as political theatre (it’s inept) but as a social media exercise. Fiorina has earned exposure rare in national political races, let alone the Republican primary of a US Senate election.

Hence the question is not: Is Fiorina’s attack on Campbell fair? Instead, the question is: What kind of attention has the ex-HP CEO earned herself? Followed by: How will the vid affect her campaign?

The web’s shared gaze looms over Fiorina – but as someone at which to laugh, or accept for office?

At Cnet.com, Chris Matyszczyk recalls the parable of Tom Cruise in his 5 February article. The diminutive star wrecked Oprah’s upholstery in 2005, picking up countless YouTube hits for the pleasure. Yet he might have been driving nails through the coffin of his reputation.

In short, the internet’s gaze is not uncritical.

Fiorina might follow up the ‘demon sheep’ video by appearing naked in public, and it might win her similarly stratospheric exposure. Yet (unless the species declared itself insolvent at the bank of morality) the stunt would involve driving her Senate campaign off a nearby cliff.

The net is a concert hall where ten million violinists play together. It’s tempting to start whacking yourself about the noggin with the instrument to stand out. The other violinists will goggle. But after that eyeful they’ll resume playing – and you’ll be bloodied and alone.

Of course, Fiorina’s demon sheep isn’t self-mutilation with a musical instrument - but it’s the same concept. The ex-Hewlett Packard CEO may think she’d unearthed a recipe for social media success. Her campaign promises more political ads in a similar vein.

Yet even if the net’s stare does not abandon her, with each release Fiorina becomes more bloodied. By the campaign’s end, her features may be misshapen completely.

Former HP CEO’s Demon Sheep Political Ad

Carly Fiorina’s candidacy for the US Senate had received scant media attention until recently. Michael Hiltzik wrote for LATimes.com in November last year, arguing that the former Hewlett Packard CEO was unsuited to hold political office.

The ink cartridge brand’s stock fell 60% under Fiorina’s stewardship from 1999-2005. Moreover, Fiorina failed to vote in 75% of California state elections since 2000 (though HP spent $4.7m in political lobbying during her tenure.)

Aside from Hiltzik’s broadside though, the former HP CEO’s campaign had been smooth sailing.

That is – until last week, when Fiorina released her first campaign ad. Directed at fellow Republican candidate Tom Campbell, the ad depicts Campbell as a demon sheep – a free-spending wolf among the fiscally conservative flock.

The ad’s political message is lost though – in lightning strikes, glowing red eyes, and a sinister voice-over booming ‘Piety’ and ‘Purity.’

Newspaper reviews were scathing.

Since release however, the ad has become an internet hit racking nearly 650,000 YouTube hits. What’s more, Fiorina is reportedly smiling at the exposure.

A spokeswoman on her campaign, Julie Soderland, told Reuters on Friday 5 February: "We're very happy with how effective this controversial and eye-catching web video has been because it's drawn attention to Tom Campbell's record as a fiscal liberal.”

But journalists are debating whether Fiorina’s ad has helped her campaign in spite of the views.

Peter Greer at CSMonitor.com called the video “a cargo ship full of crazy” in his 5 February article. He observes that the media consultant responsible for the video also created adverts for John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Dena Cassella at Digitaltrends.com meanwhile says that Fiorina’s marketing camp can expect to design the monsters for the next Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

The effect of Fiorina’s demon sheep ad won’t be known until the ballots are counted for the Republican primary.

Yet the former CEO’s campaign team is treating any publicity as good publicity. According to Soderland “you can expect to see more shocking content out of our campaign moving forward.”

Will Amazon Launch Tablet To Compete With Apple iPad?

Reports that Amazon has acquired New York touch screen start-up Touchco may prompt a curious ‘Hm!’ from observers. As Brad Stone at NYTimes.com wrote on 3 February, the move “suggests” Amazon intend head-to-head battle with Apple’s iPad.

Touchco possess a touch screen technology not only less expensive than Apple’s but more responsive. This will enable Amazon to integrate the Kindle with the multi-media functions lacking from their e-reader.

The question is: why? Does Amazon expect to retain its e-reader market share against Apple’s tablet?

No commentator believes this is possible. Ramon Neuz at HuffingtonPost.com argues that Amazon must find itself on “the losing side” of a scuffle with Apple.

The Kindle’s reign of the e-reader market depended less on Amazon’s device than its lack of competitors. Matched against Apple – a company so powerful Steve Jobs is hailed a deity – Amazon must crumple.

Moreover, the Kindle also faces a challenger in HP’s forthcoming tablet this year. So the platform monopoly that protected Amazon’s lead of a non-existence pack is over.

Neither will Amazon preserve its place by opening the Kindle to third party software. The Kindle lacks the functionality to make it an attractive games platform – unlike the iPhone.

John Paczkowski puts it best: the most we can expect is “a slow motion version of pong.” Perhaps a Kindle integrated with Touchco technology would offer greater promise; yet Amazon’s acquisition of third party developer Lexcycle indicates that games will serve the current Kindle.

Whether Amazon can offer anything to compete with the iPhone app store seems doubtful.

Finally – Amazon recently conceded the rights to set publisher MacMillan’s e-book prices to MacMillan themselves. No longer will Kindle e-novels be sold below price.

The defeat – compounded by publishers lining up to release their back catalogues on the iPad – amounts to the release of Amazon’s grip on e-reader texts.

The iPad’s announcement hence finds Amazon in a position of weakness from all angles.

Colin Sebastian of analyst firm Lizard Capital told NYTimes.com: “If touch screens were added to the Kindle or other Amazon devices it would bring them up to date with the plethora of other screens consumers are becoming used to.”

Touchco could make the Kindle technically competitive then. Yet if Amazon compete against the iPad, they do so without a unique product nor stronger brand. Perhaps they ought ask themselves: “Why bother?” than tempt defeat.

PrePeat Prints On Same Sheet 1,000 Times

Fans of the TV show ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ might find themselves misty-eyed watching this printer. Paper enters the Japanese PrePeat wearing one outfit (sort of) and leaves wearing another – caked in mascara and warbling Elton John.

If only.

In fact the PrePeat doesn’t make karaoke singers out of documents – but does reprint them up to 1,000 times. Thanks to a thermal printer head and heat-sensitive plastic paper, documents are erased and reprinted – using a single sheet.

Any softwood trees in the audience shouldn't relax yet though. The PrePeat leaves a $5,517 sized crater in your savings account, while 1,000 sheets at $3,300 add insult to injury. Better break out the piggy bank if you plan to become the Matthew Kelly of office peripherals.

[Via Popsci.com]

Printing With A Pencil Stub?

Today the illustrious list of conceptual designs involving printers becomes still more illustrious. Take your feather pen and boldly write ‘Pencil Stub Printer’ on that parchment – below ‘PritStik: The World’s Smallest Printer,’ perhaps.

The Pencil Stub Printer has emerged from the innovative noggin of designer Hoyoung Lee. Earlier inventor of the solar powered road printer, Lee perhaps spends his days wondering how to combine printers with unrelated objects. Most surprising - he is not the sole member of this niche. The meal printer from two MIT post-grads combines a less obvious object than even pencil stubs with printers.

Long may their labours result in oddities such as this. Welcome to the list, pencil stub printer.

[Via Ethiopian Review]

Ink Cartridge Labeling At A Standstill?

Last month a face-off between labelling regulators and ink cartridge brands looked inevitable.

According to Steve Everly’s post at LATimes.com, the US Conference of Weights and Measures would compel manufacturers to improve their labelling standards.

No longer would Lexmark cartridges list misleading printout yields. No longer would HP hide the ink volume of their cartridges. Instead consumers would pick up an OEM cartridge – they’d see that it housed 20ml of ink – they’d realise it cost £24.99 – and they’d snort with disgust.

Years later and OEM cartridge profits would plummet an estimated $5 billion.

Of course that was last month, and the brilliant dawn of realisation hasn’t happened. There are two possibilities: (1) the labelling regulators and toner brands are still debating or (2) LATimes.com ‘sexed up’ the conference for readers.

That a journalist would distort facts for page views we can scarce believe. Post-conference though, because ink labelling standards remain the same, we must accept this truth. The Weights and Measures Conference solved nothing.

Yet there has been fallout in the blogging world.

On 2 February Taeho Lim at CatridgeNews.com outlined his scheme to help consumers keep track of their toner use. He proposes that consumers who know their rate of ink consumption could make more informed decisions, and that printer software ought display this.

In short, he takes the consumer desire for more information as literal. By doing this Lim misses the point of the labelling furore completely.

The absence of accurate labelling is a problem because OEM brands are hiding the real cost of ink from consumers. That consumers wish to precede each purchase with a quantitative analysis of how the last cartridge fared (as Lam suggests) is unlikely.

Dean Gallea of Consumer Reports even argues that the most useful information for consumers is that already given by OEM brands: pageyield. To label the volume of ink contained in a cartridge will not tell consumers how many prints the cartridge contains; some printouts use more ink than others.

Instead, stating the volume of ink on the cartridge is important because it tells consumers how much they’re paying per litre. It lets consumers compare what they pay with the cost of production. It reveals OEM brands for the price gougers they (likely) are.

Charles le Compte of Lyra Research puts it best: volume information “sets in motion a dynamic that will drive down cartridge prices over time.” Once the consumer not only complains but proves he’s being overcharged, prices must tumble.

Before The Conference of Weights and Measures, chief Max Gray told American Public Media why he targeted ink cartridge labeling: “All of this lack of clarity… led me to feel that maybe this should be addressed.”

To what end addressed?

Gray may intend that OEM brands give all possible facts, as Lim outlines. He may be launching a covert attack to make OEM brands lower their prices. The conference last month solved nothing: ink cartridge labels remain unclear.

With any luck what Gray intends will become clear in the near future.

Can The iPad Revolutionise Education?

You may wonder that journalists didn’t take aerial photographs of the Apple iPad’s announcement; they’re hell bent on considering the tablet from all angles.

The topic circulating on websites recently (before the fruit goes rotten) is: Can the iPad revolutionise education? Of course, there’s scant fuelling this journalistic fire: Steve Jobs neglected schools in the iPad’s press release.

This doesn’t stop websites like Tauw.com dredging up speeches Jobs made fifteen years ago as evidence that he wants textbooks replaced with tablets. Nor does it prevent The Wall Street Journal intimating that college students are buying e-textbooks in droves – leaving paper textbooks in the gutter.

Let’s examine their claims.

In a 2nd February article for The Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Trachtenberg and Yukari Iwatani Kane read print a rather premature eulogy. They report that US education publishers have signed software firm ScrollMotion Ltd to adapt old textbooks for electronic platforms – like the iPad.

They quote market research firm Compass Intelligence that technology spending in US education “could” expand by almost $15 billion by 2013. They report education consultant Jeanne Hayes’ belief that the iPad’s price will “interest” schools.

In short they have speculation.

Here’s what Rik Kranenburg, Group President of Higher Education with publisher McGraw-Hill Cross said: "People have been talking about the impact of technology on education for 25 years. It feels like it is really going to happen in 2010.”

With due respect to Kranenburg, the people who felt it was going to happen two decades ago weren’t pretending. A feeling proves nothing; it’s the evidence by which people throw away money gambling.

The closest The Wall Street Journal post comes to Apple’s college-conquering ambitions is by consulting unnamed “people familiar with Apple’s thinking.”

Elsewhere, the 25 January article by Michael Grothaus for Tauw.com also discusses the potential impact of the iPad on education. Grothaus’s post is superior to The Wall Street Journal for two reasons: (1) it references Jobs’ speeches to derive his print-crushing schools agenda and (2) it represents itself as speculation.

Envisioning a future without textbooks, Jobs told an education conference in Texas two years ago that computers provide “far more current material to our students.” Grothaus uses this to argue that Jobs “maybe sees the [iPad] tablet as a dynamic textbook.”

This is a baseless speculation in that Jobs has not outlined his education plans for the iPad; but it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

Hence neither Tauw.com nor The Wall Street Journal have evidence that Jobs intends the iPad to replace print.

Tough Love For Xerox blogger Michael J recognises as much in his article: “iPad SchmiPad.” He suggests a group of “usual suspects” aligned against print are using iPad hype for commercial benefit. These are chiefly digital education companies including PLC Pearson Education and Kaplan Inc.

Whether these companies are truly aligned against print is speculation too. If their agenda is genuine however, it’s tragic seeing newspapers like The Wall Street Journal buying into their industry killing.

Reliable Tech Brands Survey 2009 Results

The results of PCWorld.com’s survey of reliable tech brands in 2009 have been released. The survey polled around 45,000 visitors to PCWorld.com about the “mechanical soundness” and the “quality of tech support” of their products – including printers.

The key observations? Canon scored highest among popular brands – rating ‘Better’ for 7/9 surveyed criteria. Hewlett Packard scored lowest – ranking a dismal ‘Worse’ for 6/9 surveyed criteria and 0/9 for ‘Better’.

PCWorld.com’s writer Christopher Null begins his 26 January report with the moot observation that reliability is important to consumers. He appeals to factual data as a more reliable test of a brand’s reliability (natch) than anecdote.

However, it is difficult to see anything factual in PCWorld.com’s survey; the exact method of polling is unstated. Were the 45,000 recipients given nine options from which to choose, or are the released graphs a reconstruction of PCWorld.com’s raw data? If boxes marked ‘n/a’ indicate that PCWorld ‘received too few responses to rate the company on this measure,’ how many was their minimum?

Were respondents polled only once, or could repeat visitors register their opinions again? Might this skew the results? - after all, consumers are most vocal when complaining.

In short, why has PCWorld.com not deigned to report the methodology of their survey? Why are their graphs not bolstered by raw numbers? The value of the survey to PCWorld.com’s marketing department is obvious; perhaps they are reluctant to share their data with their competitors.

Perhaps PCWorld.com believes consumers will trust blindly to something representing itself as factual. Null states that consumers can “obtain some hard data” from the PCWorld.com survey; in fact, the only statistic is that 45,000 visitors were polled.

What is troubling is that PCWorld.com (a commercial entity not a journalistic one) uses the data withheld from consumers as a basis to question printer brands. Rather – PCWorld.com assumes the function of a journalist (to inform readers) while withholding the numbers that legitimise their assuming this function.

The report features the response of Joel Schilling – VP at Hewlett Packard’s American Customer Support Operations – to his company’s “dismal” ranking. What is surprising is not Schilling’s statement, but that he took PCWorld.com seriously.

Probably there is something in PCWorld.com’s survey; and their results have interest (Hewlett Packard ranking last? In 2008 they had 34% global market share!) The 48,000 respondents aside though, whether the survey is more reliable than a friend’s anecdote is another matter.

Xerox Patents Rise 16% In 2009

You’d be forgiven for scanning past the headline that Xerox increased their patents by 16% last year. But when that company is responsible for recent inventions such as: (1) solid ink cartridges and (2) erasable paper, paying attention might prove worthwhile.

According to a 30 January 2010 report at Azooptics.com, the US Patent Office stamped 706 applications from Xerox last year – putting the ink cartridge manufacturer in the top 25 receivers of patents.

So what wondrous inventions number among those patents? XeroxTechnology.com lists such patents as U.S. 6,187,512: ‘Process for halomethylation of high performance polymers’ and U.S. 7,340,199: ‘Image forming device.’

Admittedly these aren’t too exciting-sounding – but no doubt they’ll be lynchpins in tomorrow’s printers. We’re excited to see the high performance polymers in action - especially when they’re the final product of a total $1.5b annual funding!

Jumbo Squid Arrive In California

Excuse the departure from ink cartridges, but reports that jumbo squid have invaded California beaches are too exciting to ignore!

According to Mike Krumboltz at Buzz.Yahoo.com, hundreds of uncooked calamari steaks arrived recently at Newport Beach. Weighing up to 60lb and growing 6ft in length, the jumbo squid are being caught by sports fishermen – eager to reel themselves a tentacle.

One such fisherman – the Manager of Newport Landing Sportfishing, Robert Woodbury – spoke to LATimes.com: "When they're lifted out of the water… they become a giant squirt gun. Chances are you're gonna take a faceful or a chestful of water -- and probably ink -- when you pull them out."

According to Woodbury, 400 squid have been caught since Friday – though the largest have evaded capture. Newport locals are planning twilight trips to catch the ink squirters before they migrate.

The jumbo squid have appeared in Newport Beach because the oxygen-deprived zones in which they thrive are spreading. Once found 1000ft below sea level, climate change means shallow waters have recently become hospitable to the squid.

What’s more, the shark and tuna naturally hostile to the squid are absent – thanks to overfishing. The squid are unchallenged for their krill edibles.

Though residents of Newport are benefiting from the jumbo squid’s migration, scientists are concerned. Bruce Robison of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station told the LA Times that "Hake has been clobbered, apparently, by these squid.”

HP MagCloud Brings Zine Printing Up To Date

Do you contribute to websites like Wikia? Ever thought you’d reach a wider audience with a paper magazine, but thought the cost of printing made it impossible? If so then MagCloud – the internet publisher from ink cartridge manufacturer Hewlett Packard – could bring your dream to a cost effective reality.

HP MagCloud enables web communities to produce stand-alone print versions of their web pages. Members decide the articles for inclusion (printed at 20c each) and create a front and back cover – then upload them to the MagCloud website. Once they’ve approved the proofs, the community buys only as many copies as desired.

The beauty of HP MagCloud is that unsold copies of the magazines are never printed – unlike traditional printing. Instead, each issue remains publicly available online – even after the community has moved on, others can order copies of their magazine. This is because advances in printing make a once costly process relatively painless – see customised greeting cards company Moonpig for proof.

At a time when publishers are struggling to become relevant in the digital realm, HP MagCloud gives print real appeal for people who consume content online. The print application has received almost universally good reviews online – except from Derrick Harris of Gigaom.com, for misusing the term ‘cloud computing.’ To bring your articles off the internet, HP MagCloud could be worth looking at!

PrintStik: The World’s Smallest Printer

Have you ever taken a printer as a travelling companion? They’re like people addicted to home comforts – who take their widescreen TV though it means carrying miles of extension cord. They might be fantastic people, but the baggage they insist on means they’re better left at home.

Until now. We can’t recommend buying new friends when you go travelling. However, we can point to PlanOn’s PrintStik PS905ME: the world’s smallest printer. The PrintStik measures 2x2x11 inches – less than a 30cm ruler. Were it a person, you’d call it anorexic.

What’s more, the PrintStik weighs only 1.5lb – including the rolls of thermal paper and ink cartridges. Holding the Printstik is like holding a pebble - managed even by the weediest print-needy person. Jack the Printstik to your laptop or PDA, and you’re print happy anywhere.

Of course, all this portability doesn’t come without a cost. Paul Jasper of PCWorld.com writes that the Printstik print-outs recall an ‘old fashioned fax machine.’ This is because the Printstik forgoes inkjets in favour of thermal heating – convenient, but not very pretty.

Moreover, the Printstik’s cartridges generate only 20 sheets before they wither – and cost $25 for a packet of 3. A speedy deduction (or copying someone that’s already done the work) tells you that’s 33c for each printout. The printout from an average inkjet is roughly 10 times cheaper.

On the greener side, the Printstik uses rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer batteries. These beauties: (1) keep the landfills manageable and (2) use less energy than plug-in printers. You can print green while printing on the green!

Whether printing anywhere compensates for the Printstik’s quality the buyer must judge for themselves. PlanOn’s website lists the Printstik at $199-$349 – depending on whether you opt for a Nylon case and car charger. The Printstik won’t replace your inkjet, but might beat a 50 mile extension cord.