There’s no doubt that Adobe Photoshop CS3 is probably the most popular and powerful image editing software on the market today. There are so many features packed into Photoshop that many people get overwhelmed at the very thought of Photoshop’s extensive photo editing power. However, if all you need to do is retouch photos, create designs, or even design a website template, then there is life beyond Photoshop. They may not be as powerful, but they may just be the answer that you’re looking for.

Apart from having so many features that most ordinary users will never take advantage of, Photoshop’s other big downfall is its high price tag. Adobe Photoshop CS3 is currently priced at over £330, and the Photoshop CS3 Extended version is priced over £500. If you’re looking for an application for basic image editing and design, then Photoshop may be a waste of your hard earned money. On the other hand, if you’re into more advanced graphic design, then Photoshop may the right software for your specific needs, but make sure to check out Photoshop alternatives first to see if there’s another less expensive software out there that will suit your needs for a lesser price tag, or even for free.

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Hewlett Packard continues to be a major printing partner for many offices and enterprises in today’s world. Their latest successful office printer, Officejet Pro L7680 is a perfect blend of some great features, great print quality and most importantly, at a minimum cost-per-print. It’s a multi-function printer that can scan, copy and fax along with printing.

This HP inkjet printer is built on thermal printing technology. It consists of four individual ink cartridges, cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Top printing resolution is equivalent to laser quality at 4800 X 1200 dpi.

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A rival to the legendary PoGo was born earlier this year with Planon PrintStik PS910. At the time of its release, it was probably the only other truly mobile printer competing with Polaroid’s brainchild.

PS910 is a thermal printer and is capable of printing A4 size. It has a battery to provide ultra-mobility and can connect through Bluetooth technology and USB port. The printer costs £150 while a set of three A4 paper cassettes cost £5. A variant, PS950 comes with a hard carrying case and a car charger for an extra price.

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The entry level printer from Epson, Stylus SX100 was launched at the backdrop of increasing printing costs and was touted as an economical printer with superior print quality. It’s a multi-functional printer with individual cartridges and can copy and scan as well. Although the starting price of the printer when released was an excess of £60, it’s available today at under £30. Maybe its recession or maybe it’s a consumer catching exercise!

Text printing is good enough for homes and not-so-professional environments. Colour graphics is average with some banding observed across solid colours. Photo prints fared the best, with sharp, crisp photo outputs.

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In a bid to create a wider market, HP has launched a new application on Apple App store meant for iPhone and iPod touch. This program will give users an easier option to print photos directly onto any Wi-Fi enabled HP printer.

The application, HP iPrint Photo will give users the extra leverage to print photos of any kind on wireless HP printers from iPhones and iPods. The software is compatible with the Apple Bonjour technology and multi-touch feature.

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Being eco-friendly is the toast of the world in this generation and we live up to the hype with the introduction of new ways of serving the nature. The latest trend after befriending with printers, papers and the landfills is a new font, ecofont, that has the potential to save ink, significantly.

Ecofont is designed by a Dutch web and media design group, Spranq. It is basically a regular font with a set of systematic and symmetric holes imbibed in them. The figure below displays the font in subject.

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The manufacturer of instant photography, Polaroid has filed for bankruptcy. No! It’s not the recession which will probably be the first thought on all our minds; it’s fraud instead. The culprit behind the company’s potential downfall is the one of its founders, Tom Petters.

Petters is charged with over twenty criminal cases including mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He had produced fake documents to finance sham companies and made up losses amounting to £5m.

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The latest entry level colour laser printer from HP, Laserjet CP1515n has made quite a buzz within a short span of time. It’s the most basic form of a colour laser printer that can do nothing else other than printing. This networking feature on this printer is probably the only thing worth mentioning.

It’s time to put it to test and check out the mettle this one’s made of. As we had mentioned earlier, the lack of decent paper capacity and the absence of a second tray could very well hold against it. Duplex printing option is also missing from this printer along with a host of other popular features; but it’s a start-up printer after all.

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Colour laser printer from premiere desktop manufacturer Dell, 2135CN is perhaps not one of those printers that strike you initially, at least from the outset. It’s a multi-function printer that can scan, copy and fax along with basic colour laser printing.

This printer is probably one of those that were inspired from the era of dinosaurs. It is huge, hefty and bulky. Its dimensions are big enough to occupy a desktop all by itself, maybe even more. Its weight is unheard of, at 30 kilograms. In the age of mobility, it is definitely surprising to find this specimen.

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