THE NEWS IN PRINT

It’s a perennial problem with fresh print-outs sticking to your hand, hence spoiling the print and the money you spent on it; not to mention the effort to get the stain off your hand. HP in collaboration with International Paper has found a solution to bring a quick end to the aforementioned problem.

ColorLok as the technology is christened dries up three times faster than the standard paper. But, that doesn’t assure that the ink would not smear but with a lesser chance.

HP claims that the black prints appear 40% brighter on this paper than on other standard papers. The bolder prints are a result of ink staying on top of the paper rather than seeping through it.

The brighter prints are observed not only on the monochrome prints but on colour as well. This results in the prints to appear uniform, vivid and downright vibrant.

All HP’s Everyday Papers including Multipurpose, Office and Color Inkjet papers are based on ColorLok technology.

Photography expert Ilford has launched a compilation of their products meant for families. The pack consists of different qualities of inkjet photo papers. The aim is to demonstrate how different weights and surfaces of photo paper can enhance images.

Discovery Pack contains:
- Premium Plus Glossy 270gsm - 20 sheets - Used by the professionals to achieve optimal studio quality. Ideal for creating special photographs such as weddings, college graduations or important family moments
- Premium Photo Glossy 250gsm - 20 sheets - Perfect for framing your latest holiday photographs
- Premium Plus Pearl 270gsm - 10 sheets - For those everlasting portraits. The added value of this product is that the unique surface does not show fingerprints after handling.

Discovery Pack is compatible with standard inkjet printers.

To optimize prints, ICC profiles can be downloaded off the Ilford website.

Andrew Stewart, sales and marketing director, Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH said – “By launching the ILFORD Discovery Pack, we hope to dispel the myth that you need a technical background to print great images and instead, show people how they can play with their pictures by varying the type of photo paper surface and weight.”

Discovery Pack is currently available in the market through JP Distribution.

Wireless printing is a thing of today. What about those printers we bought that aren’t wireless? Replace them? Heck no, at least for HP printers.

HP has introduced a wireless printing kit that provides wired printers the capability of printing wirelessly even from a PC that isn’t wireless. The kit works on most HP printers today. Here’s the list of printers that is supported by the kit.

The wireless kit works on the 802.11g technology. The kit consists of a PC transmitter connected through USB and a printer receiver. The designated software that comes with the kit needs to be installed which runs a wizard for easy configuration.

The kit costs around £35 and is available on the leading online stores. It’s a decent price to make your wired printer wireless, even from a wired PC.

Wireless is the new age of printing. One of the important features that a consumer looks in a computer is the ability of a printer to print wirelessly; Bluetooth technology is widely used. We have talked about several wireless printers on this website and there is one component/accessory that is absolutely necessary to make your wireless printers work. To be able to communicate with the Bluetooth enabled printer, a workstation needs to have a Bluetooth transmitter; most don’t come with one.

I tested a few Bluetooth adapters available in the market and found the Linksys adapter to be the optimum one considering the features and price. This adapter has a range of 100 meters and can connect up to seven Bluetooth 1.1 devices. The adapter not only connects to printers but also to other devices like mobile phones, PDAs, file servers, mouse, keyboard and any other Bluetooth enabled accessory.

The Linksys Bluetooth adapter works on Windows systems and connects to a USB 2.0 port. The manufacturer has offered a 1 year warranty. It has a reasonable price tag of £20. It’s a must have and a good buy.

Remember the magic slate? It’s a piece of board which can be written on by applying pressure. The contents can be erased my moving a slider between the two walls of the slate. A similar erasable paper is being developed by Xerox and the contents can be deleted as needed. It prints using a printer that uses no inks; instead uses light.

The reusable paper is printed on and erased, by exposing to light having a certain wavelength. It needs to be printed using a special printer with UV light source. The printed material doesn’t fade, smudge nor smear when touched. Researchers have so far cycled the paper by printing and erasing on it for around 50 times. On the downside, prints degrade after a few hours and eventually return to its blank form.

Here’s the technology behind this paper: The paper developed by Xerox apparently includes photochromic compounds (such as spiropyran) which exhibit heliochromic properties. That is, they darken when exposed to U.V. radiation and fade in the absence of U.V. light. Photochromic compounds are used in the manufacturing of certain sunglasses due to their ability to darken and regain their transparency quickly. However, a distinct difference from sunglasses is that Xerox’s erasable paper can remain darkened for many hours. The U.V. light source, called a light bar, is integrated into a printer which illuminates specific parts of the erasable paper, creating the desired text or image on the paper. The printer can also erase the paper using a different wavelength—making the paper reusable.

The reusable paper still has a long way to go. The paper currently prints in black as the targetted usage is for draft copies. The printing resolution is at a low 150 dpi. Other things that would influence the enhancement of this technology would be the cost factors incurred. Unless and until the price of the printer and paper stays close to inkjets, it would be quite impossible for it to make an impact.

via TFOT

It is a misconception that a printer has everything to do with the quality of photos printed. A printer delivers ink and precision but there has to be a medium that can withhold the ink in the design intended. The truth is that the photo paper plays an equally important role in displaying the clarity and depth in photos.

In my printing experience, I have found that Canon has the best photo printers and has owned over others by quite a margin. There is a significant difference that was observed when photos printed over non Canon paper were compared to those printed on Canon photo paper. Photos on Canon photo paper displayed excellent colour rendition and studio quality prints.

Canon photo paper pro is on the expensive side costing £5 for twenty 4” X 6” sheets. You get what you pay for. Canon claims that this photo paper is fade resistant for 25 years and it borderless printing. The age of white borders has surely gone out into the invisible mode.

If you are particular about your photo prints, Canon printer along with Canon photo paper pro should be your ideal choice.

Researchers at Xerox Labs have invented the first mechanical fiber paper which is environmentally friendly and cost effective. This ‘green’ paper could be used with traditional printers as well as for digital printing which was a challenge in the earlier attempts. MF papers previously had operational problems such as curling and dusting which prevented it from being used for digital prints.

The new paper researched is environmentally friendly as it utilizes 90% of the trees felled as against 45% for the traditional digital paper. MF paper consumes less water and chemicals for its production and can suffice with hydroelectricity to partially power the pulping process. The process of MF paper production reduces fossil fuel use and reduces the emission of greenhouse gases by 75%. Its light weight is ideal for transactional printers and snail mails as it reduces shipping costs.

But, it has its disadvantages as well - High Yield Business Paper has a level of 84 brightness on a scale of one to 100 with 100 being the brightest and is whitened using a chlorine-free process. This softer shade allows for easy reading, making it ideal for short-run books, educational printing such as supplemental course books and worksheets, and temporary business documents, which do not need a long archival life.

84/100 is dull when compared to other high end paper that is used for digital printing. Also, being treated with chlorine might not be the most-preferred choice for enterprises, printers and consumers. More importantly, the environmentally friendly paper which cannot be archived is not a very attractive product. As a consumer, I am not sure if I would be interested in something that wouldn’t last and is bright enough. But for enterprises, cost reduction is on top of the agenda and might fall into the net of mechanical fiber paper.

via Yahoo Finance