Paper envelopes in trouble blame Congress!

I listened, then tweeted about an NPR story this morning, National Envelope Hopes to Lick Bankruptcy Filing. As the setup noted, even the companys communication about the filing came via email, and their short summary indicates the companys bankruptcy, its second in three years, comes as a result of "sign of the paperless, digital times".

But envelope industry association CEO Maynard Benjamin blames Congress (of course) - for shutting down post offices. One of my Twitter follower was irritated with this, echoing my sentiments - "dont you know thats why no one uses USPS anymore? Story made me want to reduce my envelope purchasing even more". (The first part was sarcasm.)

Congress is an easy and justifiable target in many discussions these days, but this one? Really?

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QE226 Chip Resetter Canon is HERE!

The new QE226 resetters came today! So Im posting a buy button here, in case you need one while I work on setting up our new website page.

These resetters will reset the original chips for Canon MX882,  MG6120,  MG8120,  MG5120, IP4820


How do you know which cartridge your printer takes?  Just open your printer and look at the cartridges. On the top theres a number. All cartridges that say CLI-226 or PGI-225 can be reset with this resetter.


All our resetters come with a 6 month warranty, and we are right here in the USA, shipping from Oregon within 24 hours of receipt of funds.


QE226: $36.50 + shipping - goes by weight.
But just to let you know sometimes Paypal seems to charge too much and when it does we do refund money back to you. 

  
  

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Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless Inkjet All In One Photo Printer

dead blends show and facility. Its built-in two-sided publication can book you wadding and ply the surround so you can be economic and eco-friendly all at the equal period. The new Automobile Exposure Fix II picture automatically adjusts and helps to precise your photos and you can prevue images before you indication on its built-in 2.0" LCD. Quality, quick right and superior the utility of your selection with the Gentle Holograph Helm. Making copies? No job. Multiple Colouration Gamut Processing Subject enables your copies to maintain the unity of the underivative. For the detector in you, Machine Icon Way automatically recognizes the typewrite of original you are scanning and saves it with

The Ravine PIXMA MP560 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer lets you easily pic from anywhere around the domiciliate enjoying unconvincing 9600 x 2400 maximum timber dpi1 with a minimum coloration droplet filler of 1pl and a 5 various ink tank system. So, you can exposure gorgeous borderless photos up to 8.5" x 11" or kinky, moral documents and revel unimagined calibre.

Machine Ikon Fix II Canon PIXMA MP560 is built-in engineering automatically categorizes your images into one of team types - Likeness, Scenery, Period Set, Snap with Scenery, and Exposure with Period Scene - then applies optimal human and multi-zone exposure chastisement. So, unexposed areas of the pic testament be optimized, region by expanse and faces that are backlit and under-exposed leave automatically be brightened with correct excuse form to helpfulness ensure statesman right tegument tones for gorgeous images.

Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless Inkjet All-In-One Icon Printer key features:

* Enter it Green - Built-in 2-sided printing helps the surroundings and cuts your product usage by 50%
* Amazingly thick printer with both wireless and built-in 2-sided writing
* Maximum 9600 x 2400 decorate dpi2 for extraordinary pic dimension
* Use the new "Auto Pic Fix II" to automatically adjust and straight your photos
* Easily impress your photos from matched memory cards3 and USB Experience drives
平等期间经济和环保。新汽车修复曝光照片自动调整第二，有助于准确的照片，你可以概说上的图像之前，其内置的2.0“液晶显示器。质量，快捷的权利和上级你的温柔全息头盔选择工具。决策指示副本？没有工作。显色色域处理多个科目可让您的副本维护underivative团结为了您的探测器。，机图标路自动识别扫描原来你是打字，并保存它与
腾彩PIXMA MP560喷墨山沟照片多功能一体机让您轻松地从任何地方享受各地的图片与最低着色液滴的1pl填料和各种墨水系统5 9600 × 2400最高说服力木材dpi1 domiciliate。所以，你可以无边距照片曝光华丽高达8.5“× 11”或淫，陶醉难以想象的文件和道德素质。
二，依康修复机佳能PIXMA MP560是内置在工程自动分类成一个组类型的图像 - 肖像，风景，期间的，扣于景，以期和暴露场景 - 然后应用最优的人力和多区域曝光的惩罚。因此，未曝光的广袤和面孔图片由遗嘱进行优化，区域是逆光下暴露给自动与正确的借口形式，乐于助人确保华丽的图像色调明亮的政治家正确皮层区域。
佳能PIXMA MP560无线喷墨一体打印机图标主要特点：
*输入是绿色 - 内置双面打印环境，帮助节省约50％的产品使用 *令人惊讶的是厚厚的打印机与无线和内置双面书写 *最大9600 × 2400装点非凡dpi2图片尺寸 *使用新的“自动图片修正二”自动调整你的照片和直 *轻松打动匹配的内存cards3从经验和USB驱动你的照片

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Computer Technical Support Guide On How To Repair Windows Vista

Is your Windows Vista-based machine overwhelming with Start-up problem?  Either it may take a long time to come up with welcome-screen or may get struck on half-way.

Reasons could vary; there can be malicious software, faulty device drivers, hardware incompatibilities, corrupt or missing system files, incorrect system configurations and more. Determining the source of the problem is the first stage and it will help you to troubleshoot the system correctly.

Analyze Hardware Related Issues: Usually, you get a notification that asks if you want to run the Memory Diagnostics Tool. Run the program to know details. Memory errors might be caused by faulty random access memory (RAM). To evaluate hard-disk related problem you can explore the individual partition and perform the error-checking. It may need an administrator password or confirmation.

Analyze Software Related Issues: Older programs may undergo compatibility issues. Use Program Compatibility Wizard to change the compatibility settings for the program, or use the programs Compatibility tab to change the settings manually. However, if it fails to correct the problem then you can uninstall that particular software or can update or upgrade it.

System Restore and Safe mode are the next two options to troubleshoot your machine. The former returns your system files to a point in time before you noticed a problem. You will be happy to know that it doesn’t affects or alters documents, photos, or other personal files. It will temporarily disable programs that start themselves when Windows starts.

Online computer repair services can also help you to fix Windows XP Startup issues. From multiple support options viz. e-mail support, phone support and remote support you can choose the best suitable one. Computer Technical Support experts can optimize your machine using the industries’ best tools to enhance the performance.

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Epson Tx121 Resetter Printer Download

Epson Tx121 Printer

Epson Tx121 Resetter Review

Do you find difficulties with your printer? is your Epson Tx121 Error? This situation is very frustrated isnt it? Here we would like to show you how to reset Epson Tx121 by using Epson Tx121 Resetter. The resetter can be downloaded from the download link below, however for you who do not familiar with the way how to reset the printer, you can watch the tutorial video below

Epson Tx121 Resetter Download Link

You can download your epson printer resetter by clicking the download link below

Download

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Amazons NASDAQ AMZN CEO Bezos lighting a fire under Kindle

Amazons (NASDAQ AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos uses nearly the entirety of his annual letter to shareholders to extol the virtues of the companys recently introduced (November 2007) e-book reader, Kindle.

I like his approach, drawing parallels to the origin of the Amazon.com business as a whole, and I particularly enjoyed this passage in the letter:

Lately, networked tools such as desktop computers, laptops,
cell phones and PDAs have changed us too. They’ve shifted us more toward information snacking, and I would argue toward shorter attention spans. I value my BlackBerry—I’m convinced it makes me more productive—but I don’t want to read a three-hundred-page document on it. Nor do I want to read something hundreds of pages long on my desktop computer or my laptop. As I’ve already mentioned in this letter, people do more of what’s convenient and friction-free. If our tools make information snacking easier, we’ll shift more toward information snacking and away from long-form reading. Kindle is purpose-built for long-form reading.

My December 2007 Observations (see "Amazons Kindle Stirs Up E-book (and Printing and Imaging) Excitement".) offered similar thoughts, at least about the idea that Amazon took a stand by making their Kindle NOT a laptop, and NOT a PDA.

And speaking of reading books on the Blackberry, last weeks Portals column by Lee Gomes in the Wall Street Journal addressed the very subject! "You Can Enjoy a Book On a Mere Cellphone; (Hit Spacebar Now)" is a fun, somewhat toungue-in-cheek read, that also contains some interesting thoughts and insights. I especially like how Gomes uses his own "street-level" marketing research to judge the popularity of Kindle, and like devices, in the face of "record numbers" claims:

Though not exactly screaming best sellers; [sic] while neither Sony nor Amazon discloses sales figures, and while Amazon reports a shortage of Kindles, one doesnt see a lot of either on trains or planes.

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Simple fix Reset ink tank error in Canon pixma printer 250 E16 E 1 6

Simple fix Reset ink tank error in Canon pixma printer 250 E16 E 1 6
Reset ink tanks on canon pixma printers

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Wintree 3 0d Electronic Family Tree

Wintree 3.0d: Electronic Family Tree

Wintree 3.0d: Electronic Family Tree

We all have family relations except that some relationships are very limited for other relationships are extensive.  It also others who are very interested to be linked to other numbers and consider the as descendants of the same roots.

For this is their last Justification is that they share with them one of the grandparents. Moreover it is marked in the family tree of the family. How to create and organize a family tree mail? Wintree 3.0d: this is software for creating an array of Family tree-shaped, the Figure direct trunk line and branches, and twigs collateral lines.

Wintree 3.0d: Electronic Family Tree download 

Wintree 3.0d. classify people and people since it has a very large numbers for hundreds of family space Regarding genealogy Wintree 3.0d is an ideal software

Download

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News HP and Samsung Launch New Mobile Print Offering

Duly noted - HP and Samsung have launched a new mobile print offering. Some of the details can be found in the press release, which states, "Print functionality will be supported with the upcoming release of the Samsung GALAXY S 4 and will be available later this year as a firmware upgrade to the Samsung GALAXY S III and Note II, enabling built-in, wireless printing compatibility."

I have some questions into HP to include in more detailed coverage early in the week, but found the headline itself took me in a number of directions before a got into the detail. As I posted for my MBA Marketing students in our courses online forum, here is a great example of "coop-etition", two companies who both compete and cooperate. Heres what else I posted:

"Heres the headline from the press release:
"HP and Samsung Launch New Mobile Print Offering"
When I saw this I wondered, have the companies worked together in the printer arena, where HP is number one and Samsung is number two in laser printers? Or does it have something to do with smartphones and tablets, where Samsung is the leader in Android-based mobile devices, and HP has just entered that market with their offering, after a disastrous effort based around their own operating system, WebOS.
Actually, the real story is that HP and Samsung have worked together to have a better printing experience from Samsungs leading mobile devices and HPs leading printers. I am assuming theyll continue to battle each other in the respective categories, as well."

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More How Big is Big

I encountered an interesting blog post over at Applied Disruption that expands on similar themes I was getting at in my October "Observations" print column. (see the October 2007 edition of The Hard Copy Observer or my blog posting of the column.)

In "HP steals from government playbook..or..How to get impressive sounding market size" blogger Jeffrey Stewart makes points about the "game" of estimating a new companys market size in the most positive light, sometimes to extremes. Hes used HPs recent "53 trillion pages" stat as an example. I know Jeff from his days at Mimeo.com, but even if I didnt Id recommend his blog. Worthwhile reading.

In a related tangent, I was interested to read Chris Shipleys Demo Letter this week, "DEMO is about product innovation, not just about start-ups", which furthers the point that the title does nicely, or in my words, dont assume it takes a start-up to innovate!

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A fun one 50 Marketing Leaders Over 50

Heres a fun one! I am honored by being included in the "50 Marketing Leaders Over 50 You Should Know" list, as compiled earlier this year by Alan See, and featured in the May issue of Global CMO - The Magazine.

Alan describes how he came up with the idea for the list as follows:

"Let’s recognize that age has little to do with ability. You’re never too young or too old if you’ve got talent. In the marketing world, Advertising Age and Direct Marketing News have their 40 under 40 lists. Forbes has their 30 under 30. This blog post counterbalances with 50 who are over 50 because to my knowledge a list of this nature has never been published."

So as I just as I read in Marketwatch, economic shifts in the dining-out business have a dearth of younger customers, with boomers and retirees keeping restaurants alive. Thus, I am proposing a dinner out on the town to celebrate my place on the list!

And for interested readers, I would be pleased if you took a look!

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Bitdefender Total Security 2014 Windows 8

Bitdefender Total Security 2014 

Bitdefender Total Security 2014 Windows 8

Bitdefender Total Security 2014 is the latest edition associated with Bitdefenders most sturdy and comprehensive stability suite.The package incorporates tons of features: antivirus, firewall, strong browsing and solitude protection, parental options, a spam filtering, PC tuneup computer software, 2GB of online safe-keeping (with more at extra cost), and an anti-theft service to help you locate, lock or maybe wipe ones missing out on laptop.

New features now focus on what Bitdefender Total Security 2014 Windows 8 are generally calling their Photon technological innovation, that they can claim is "an modern antivirus technologies which accelerates scanning speed by gradually adapting for your PC".

The suite now includes the actual Wallet, a capable private data manager which manages both your blog and application logons.

Software Information

License:	Trial Software
Operating Systems:	Windows 7 (32 bit), Windows 7 (64 bit), Windows 8, Windows Server, Windows Vista (32 bit), Windows Vista (64 bit), Windows XP
Requirements:
Languages:	English
Software Cost:	$26.95 (Windows)

Bitdefender Total Security 2014 Windows 8 Download Link

Here you can download the trial vrsion of Bitdefender Total Security 2014 Windows 8, please hit the download link to download the software

Download

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Cucusoft Youtube Mate Video Audio Converter

One of the most powerful media software converter from Cucusoft is the Youtube Mate. It converts almost any video format as listed below from one format to another. It also download video format like flash, flv, and youtube videos directly from website.

You can purchase full license only cost around $30 USD each from Cucusfot here. Cucusoft Youtube Mate


Ipod:
====

Ipod MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) -- Default for iPod
iPod Classic H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPod Classic MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPod H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPod touch H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPod touch MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPod TV Size1 (480x368) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPod TV Size2 (512x384) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPod TV Size3 (640c480) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPod video nano H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPod video nano MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)

Iphone:
=======

iPhone (480x320) H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone (480x320) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone 3G (480x320) H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone 3G (480x320) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone 3Gs (480x320) H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone 3Gs (480x320) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone 4 H.264 Movie (.mp4)
iPhone 4 MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)

Zune:
=====

Zune 2 - MPEG-4 (.mp4)
Zune 2 - WMV (.wmv)
Zune Video - HD (.wmv)
Zune Video - HD TV Size1 (720x480) (.wmv)
Zune Video - HD TV Size2 (1280x720) (.wmv)
Zune Video - Windows Media 7 (.wmv)
Zune Video - Windows media 8 (.wmv) -- Default Zune
Zune Video - Windows media 9 (.wmv)

Apple TV
========

Apple TV (1280x720) H.264 Movie (.mp4)
Apple TV (640x480) MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)

Game Devices:
=============

NDS - DPG2 Video (.dpg)
PS3 Video (.mp4)
PSP - PSP H.264 Movie (.mp4)
PSP - PSP MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4)
Wii - AVI Video (.avi)
XBox 360 - High quality (.wmv)
XBox 360 - Video (640x480) (.wmv)

Mobile Formats
==============

Nokia 3GP Video (.3gp)
Nokia FLV Video (.flv)
Nokia MP4 Video (.mp4)
Nokia WMV Video (.wmv)
Blackberry 3gp Video (.3gp)
Blackberry AVI Video (.avi)
Blackberry Bold 9000 (.wmv)
Blackberry Bold 9000 (.mp4)
Blackberry mp4 video (.mp4)
Blackberry storm video (.mp4)
Blackberry Storm video (.wmv)
Palm Pre 3gp video (.3gp)
Palm Pre MPEG-4 video (.mp4)
Palm Pre WMV video (.wmv)
Palm Pre WMV video (.wmv)
Gphone video H.263 (.3gp)
Gphone Video H.264 (.mp4)
Gphone Video Mpeg-4 (.mp4)
Gphone WMV video (.wmv)
Samsung 3GP video (.3gp)
Samsung mp4 video (.mp4)
LG Mp4 video (.mp4)
Motorolla Mp4 video (.mp4)
Sony Ericsson MP4 video (.mp4)
Windows Mobile Dell Phone WMV video (.wmv)
Windows Mobile HP Ipaq WMV video (.wmv)
Windows Mobile iRiver WMV video (.wmv)
Windows Mobile Pocket PC WMV video (.wmv)
3GPP - 3rd generation partnership project (.3gp)
3GPP2 - 3rd generation partnership project (.3g2)

Portable Media Player
=======================

Archos 105, wMV video (.wmv)
Archos 404, 405 AVI video (.avi)
Archos 404, 405 MWV video (.wmv)
Archos 5, 7 AVI video (.avi)
Archos 5, 7 WMV video (.wmv)
Archos 504, 604 AVI video (.avi)
Archos 504, 604 WMV video (.wmv)
Archos 605, 704, 705 AVI video (.avi)
Archos 605, 704, 705 WMV video (.wmv)
Archos AV 500, AV 700 AVI video (.avi)
Archos AV 500, AV 700 WMV video (.wmv)
Archos Player AVI video (.avi)
Creative Zen Player AVI video (.avi)
Creative Zen Player mpeg-1 video (.mp)
Creative Zen Player mpeg-2 video (.mp)
Creative Zen Player mpeg-4 video (.mp4)
Creative Zen Player WMV Video (.wmv)
Sansa e200 (.mov)
Sansa Fuze mpeg-4 video (.mp4)
Sansa View AVI video (.avi)
Sansa View Mpeg-4 video (.mp4)
Sony Walkman (.mp4)

HD Video Format
===============

HD - ASF Video (.asf)
HD - AVI Video (.avi)
HD - H.264 video (.mp4)
HD - Mpeg-2 video (.mp)
HD - Mpeg-4 video (.mp4)
HD - Quicktime video (.mov)
HD - Trp file (.trp)
HD - TS video (.ts)
HD - VOB video (.vob)
HD - WMV video (.wmv)

Flash Video
============

FLV - Flash video format, Youtube vdeo, etc (.flv)
FLV - FLV mpeg-4 format (.f4v)
FLV - SWF for website user, swf format (.swf)

DVD, VCD, SVCD Format
=====================

DVD - DVD format (.mpg)
SVCD - Super Video CD Format (.mpg)
VCD - Video CD format (.mpg)
VOB - VOB file mpeg-2 PS format (.vob)

Common Video
=============

ASF - Advanced streaming format (.asf)
AVI - Audio video Interleaved (.avi)
H.264 Movie (.mp4)
MKV (Matroska) video (.mkv)
Mov - Quicktime movie (.mov)
Mp4 - Mpeg-4 video (mp4)
mpeg - 1 video (.mpg)
mpeg - video (.mpg)
RM - realVideo (.rm)
wmv - Windows Media video (.wmv)

Common Audio
============

AAC - Advanced Audio Coding (.mp4, .aac)
AC3 - Dolby Digital AC-3 audio (.ac3)
M4A - Mpeg Layer-4 audio (.m4a)
MKA - (Matroska) audio (.mka)
MP2 - Mpeg Layer-2 Audio (.mp2)
MP3 - Mpeg Layer-3 Audio (.mp4)
RA - Real Audio (.ra)
SUN AN format audio (.au)
WMA - Windows Media Audio (.wma)

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Xerox Phaser 5500 Jam at door A Jam at Fuser or E1 2 Error code

If you are experiencing a "Jam at door A", "Jam at fuser" or an "E1-2" error code on your Xerox Phaser 5500 printer you may need to replace the exit sensor kit. This video shows you how to locate and replace the exit sensor kit which usually is the cause of these errors. This item goes by the following part numbers: 815K02550, 815K00710, 015K77950, 015K60901, and 015K60900.

Xerox Phaser 5500 Exit Sensor Kit:  Part# - 815K02550.    

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Facebook traffic statistic

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in October 2003 and previously known as Facemash. The name was eventually changed to Facebook when it was commercially launched in February 2004 as the new internet Social Media platform (Wikipedia). Since then Facebook users are growing rapidly and it took only 4 years to overtake MySpace as the leading social network site. After that Facebook never look back and users keeps growing, leaving MySpace almost irrelevant in terms of traffic comparison.

Based on Alexa site information traffic statistic the current Facebook visitors are closely trailing Google by approximately 20% margin. Diagram below shows internet visitors lead by Google and follow Facebook second, Yahoo, Bing and lastly MySpace.

Google Insight Search result shows that almost every country in the world is visiting Facebook more than any other sites and this includes the USA, Canada, Australia, and nearly all of Europe except communist countries where the site maybe banned by their government for some security reasons as they called it. Even YouTube is not really the number one and Google Insight chart below proves that Facebook is the leader of them all.

Some reasons why Facebook is growing rapidly compare to the rest. The very fundamental answer to this is maybe lies in its simplicity, flexibility, and it’s free to operate the sites. These three fundamental elements allowed end-users, web-developers, organization and government to share their common interest in one platform. It gives opportunities to everyone to use it without so much hassle and difficulty. Individual users for example use Facebook to connect themselves with family and friends through chat, image sharing, and free discussion forums. The flexibility allows Web-developers to distribute their works in Facebook for free such as games, web-tools, etc. In return, Facebook provide them with free internet-traffic they need to make money from advertisement inserted in their programs. Organization and Government body used Facebook to communicate their agenda with the general public. All in all the simplicity, flexibility, and Free gives Facebook the edge to be the number choice of internet users’ social media site.

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When is getting more than you expected a bad thing

Although so far its not directly printer- or supplies-related, I was excited to see online retailer Amazons (NASDAQ AMZN) announcement last week about simplifying product packaging and reducing packaging waste. (See "Amazon Announces Beginning of Multi-Year Frustration-Free Packaging Initiative.") Both points -- making packages easier to open and at the same time producing less waste -- represent noble objectives in my opinion.

As I read the release, I found, among the 19 products covered so far by the new initiative, something that I could always use, and that relates at least a bit to our industry -- a new 4GB SD card I can use to in my digital camera, and move images back and forth to my PCs and digital imaging printers. Who cant use another high-capacity SD card at a great price? And heres what the release said about the Transcend brand:

Small items, such as memory cards, are also good candidates for Frustration-Free Packaging. Typically encased in oversized plastic clamshells to deter shoplifting, memory cards are then placed inside larger cardboard boxes for shipment to customers. Working with Transcend, Amazon has eliminated the hard-to-open clamshell and the need for an additional box. Instead, the cards will now ship inside recyclable cardboard envelopes which use less material. Amazon is working to shrink the envelope size even further.

So I placed my online order and the package arrived at the end of last week, and, in keeping with this posts title, it included much more than I anticipated, which was disappointing. Yes, there was the memory card in its plain brown envelope, but it was packaged INSIDE the Amazon-standard cardboard shipping box, plastic air-filled bubbles, and a few junk-mail inserts just for good measure. (See photos.) Come on Amazon, you can do better! The plain brown envelope seems like it could be mailed by itself, as the release indicates, especially with the SD card encased in the ususal rugged plastic case. (See photos below.)


The plain brown envelope


Still too much inside the envelope, but at least its not a lot of mass!

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Observations Kindle meets iPhone what about printing

by Jim Lyons

The Hard Copy Observer, March 2009

Observations: Kindle meets iPhone, What About Printing?

We’ve seen a great deal of Kindle e-book excitement, starting the week after Ground Hog’s day (February 9th) and Amazon’s announcement of the long-anticipated Kindle Two. That activity led to a massive PR campaign featuring Amazon (NASDAQ AMZN) Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who seemingly appeared everywhere, including the CNBC financial news channel (where his legendary laugh had to help at least a little bit during these harrowing times) to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

Bezos proffers the idea that Kindle’s “purpose-driven” design (something I believe we formerly referred to as “an appliance” and a “dedicated device”) will win out over e-book reading done on more general-purpose machines such as a laptop, netbook, or smart phone. And I believe he has a point. When I reported on the first Kindle in this column, just over a year ago (see "Amazons Kindle Stirs Up E-book (and Printing and Imaging) Excitement"), I praised Amazon’s discipline in developing a machine that was specially designed for one sole purpose—as an e-book reader. With Kindle Two, that discipline continues, with the usual better/faster/smaller improvements we have come to expect in technology (note that I did not include cheaper).

However, despite Amazon’s commitment to the purpose-driven machine, it also just announced a “free” Apple (NASDAQ AAPL) iPhone reader that became available on March 4. (“Free” is relative, of course, as Amazon’s motive is the sale of electronic books.) While this action may seem like a concession or at least a compromise by Bezos and his company, it is interesting that some analysts see the iPhone reader as Apple giving in to accept the Kindle reader as an iPhone application.

Of course Apple, through its iTunes distribution hub, has go/no-go control over what iPhone applications become available. And by granting Amazon distribution through iTunes, Apple gives access to those millions of iPhone customers who suddenly become a new market for Amazon’s online bookstore of 240,000 (and growing) titles.

At the time of the December 2007 Kindle launch, I made the case that e-books were part of the larger printing and imaging world, and any excitement around a new e-book reader was, by definition, excitement coming the way of our industry generally and should be embraced. This time around I am not so sure.

The confluence of Kindle and iPhone has certainly set off some debate over which is the superior platform from the perspective of user experience and market potential. However, the voice of those arguing about the need to print e-book content (at least snippets), from either side, seems to be much quieter than previously or is at least muted by the other stories and interest surrounding the new products.

One of those stories has been a threat over lawsuits regarding the new Kindle’s audio capability, which led to Amazon’s recent retreat in this area. The gist of the argument is that spoken word books, even with the spoken words generated on-the-fly by the computer processor in the Kindle, were not covered by the copyright license owners of the printed word (i.e. Kindle owners who purchase $9.99 digital titles from Amazon), and that the audio stream was in violation of the copyright of the audiobook rights, which were not covered by the $9.99 license.

And while we had a flurry of interest around Apple iPhone printing applications at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, led by HP’s (NYSE HPQ) entry (see "iPhone Printing boom"), the applications by HP and others were almost exclusively focused on photo printing, with little attention (or apparently demand) for textual printing.

Some interest in printing makes it through the ether, as users seek help in printing from Kindles and related devices, and there is always a chance that a growing base of users will find direct printing is a latent need to be addressed by aspiring printing-and-imaging-industry types. But even then there are digital rights issue that some would say are at the heart of the non-enablement of printing by Amazon and others (parallel to the audiobook issue noted above, but this time with Amazon on the other side).

For example, from a comment on the Web site ebookdaily.com, responding to a short post offering a user tip that printing from the Kindle is possible by routing selected content through the Kindle’s “My Clippings” feature:

You can copy parts of a physical book with a photocopier. You can also photocopy Kindle pages (really, you can!). You can’t, however, copy the whole thing in either case. Printing direct from Kindle would make it too easy to make physical copies of books, and that lies well outside Fair Use.

So, some interest in printing from the Kindle remains, and workarounds will come to the fore, but linking the growth of e-books and a corresponding growth in printing may be one of those areas where a few optimists proclaim the opportunity, but most users just read more electronically.

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Observations Zink Partnerships Make Really Big News

by Jim Lyons

The Hard Copy Observer, February 2008

Zink Partnerships Make Really Big News

Just when I was complaining about printer-specific products not getting enough coverage in the general and business press (see my December 2008 "Observations"), here comes a front-page story in early January from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The combination of Zink’s "zero ink" printing technology and Polaroid’s brand, distribution, and still-household name and legacy of instant printing combined to make headlines like "Polaroid back to its roots with tiny printer" from CNN, and "How to print photos while on the road" from USAToday’s Ed Baig, and propelled the miniaturized portable photo printer into one of CES’s breakthrough stories of 2008.

While the hard news about Zink and Polaroid, and their other partnerships with Alps Electric Company, FoxConn Technology Group, and TOMY Company are detailed elsewhere in the February 2008 edition of The Hard Copy Observer, it is worth looking at some of the factors that helped this story resonate across the huge trade show and to the world beyond.

Last year, Zink Imaging first broke the PR mold with its announcement in late January at Demo 2007, which I covered for the March 2007 Observer and in this blog. As a long-time Demo attendee, I had never seen such a direct hit with a printing product at the show famous for hosting the inaugural viewings of products like the Palm Pilot and Tivo. Moreover, Zink was a direct hit with the Demo audience by capturing the imagination with an iPod-sized printer and camera phone/printer combo. While these products were only prototypes and Zink was then openly and actively seeking "productization" partners (in a deviation from the "old" Demo rules of only accepting soon-to-be-shipped finished products), the zero ink products made for lots of buzz at the show and in the technology press.

This year, in choosing a communications forum to further the story, Zink rolled the dice in a possibly even bigger bet, one which Wendy Caswell, Zink CEO, described as an "important strategic decision." For Zinks partner announcements, the firm chose the mayhem and clutter of CES over the much more controlled and focused Photo Marketing Association show (PMA). Though CES is about a month earlier than PMA in 2008, timing was not a factor but positioning was. Seeing themselves as true disruptors, and with that stated intent, Zink made the decision to launch at CES to gain broader appeal outside the established printer and photo markets.

Zink sees the virtues of appealing to potential partners that are outside the grip of the "Innovator’s Dilemma." In other words, they are not relying on or expecting too much from existing industry players, who would turn down the opportunity to deploy Zink’s technology in future products, even if it allowed new applications and form factors, in favor of designing future printers around existing technologies that have already received a large investment in time and money.

Business students and others may recognize that phrase and underlying philosophy and attribute them to their originator, Clayton Christensen. It so happens that Christensen has close ties to Zink, first as an advisor and now as an investor, so the firm has a direct line to the ultimate expert in doing things differently by appealing to all new users, applications, and customers.

Caswells enthusiasm for Zink and its potential for new applications and new users is infectious, and in a recent interview, she talked about sharing a Zink/Polaroid demo with none other than Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, while attending a Boston Celtics/Mavericks basketball game the night before. Caswell is far from a star-struck CEO, however, and she waxes more enthusiastically about the deal Zink made last spring to buy a media plant from Konica Minolta, located in North Carolina, and the progress the firm has made in retooling that facility in the interest of assuring a supply of special Zink media (and myriad envisioned product variations) for years to come.

Despite the successful Demo launch, execution was at the top of Caswells list for 2007, and while partnership activities were clearly being pursued (in fact the ALPS announcement reveals collaboration over the prior 24 months), putting the operational side in place has been a top priority. Even the identification of the partners, which was originally planned for the first half of 2007, was clearly held back while details were sorted out and ship dates became clearer. Keep in mind, too, that two of the four partners (ALPS and FoxConn) are design and manufacturing partners that stand ready to collaborate on new products with other brands and go-to-market partners, in addition to Polaroid and TOMY.

The business side of the story is compelling for industry denizens, and clearly the CES forum helped spread the word. But this column is supposed to be about what made the Zink/Polaroid news so compelling to the national press. Think about it—an upstart company joins with a famous old name to put together a cute little gadget—how could it not be a big story? If you still have doubts, check out the February 2008 "Style Watch" edition of People Magazine, where along with the hottest "cute shoes, bright tops, and fun bags," you can see the Zink/Polaroid portable printer!

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The future is here!

With that somewhat grandiose subject line (the future is here) one could be expecting great things, but Id put the subject of this entry under small things that work great.

Earlier this month, I was checking in on one my many printer industry metrics, in this case the number of cumulative downloads of GreenPrint software from download.com (over 91,000 as of today). I noticed among a list of "popular Printer Software downloads" a rather generically-named product entitled "Photocopier". (Click on the screen shot below to see detail.)



This basic program, by Nico Cuppen Software, works simply and allows me, in one push of its green button (see above), to make a quick copy using my scanner and laser printer. Now whats magic about this? Nothing really, but keep in mind that my scanner is part of an inkjet all-in-one and the laser printer is stand-alone (see my interview at the Databazaar blog for a description of my office hard copy setup). So I get my nice, crisp, toner-based black-and-white copies and work around the inkjet printer, which is seemingly forever on its last drops of black ink. And "real copies" arent produced by inkjets anyway, at least to some of us old-schoolers!

To close on the theme of "future is here", this whole "peripherals talking to each other" is mindful of a very substantial project I worked on at HP (NYSE HPQ) more than ten years ago, which eventually made it to market under the brand "Jetsend". While todays simple solution Ive described is hardly the independent, stand-alone peripherals vision of that program, in fact far from it with the ever-present PC doing much of the work, functionally -- how the solution satisfies a customer need -- it could be argued its the same.

Hmmm, I think I see an upcoming Observations column here...

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How to get your site or blog index quickly by search engines

New site is not easily index by search engines if you dont have the right idea how to do it. It may take weeks or even months to wait for the search engines to crawl it and put in their search results. That is why we dont always see our sites immediately on search engines result after it is newly created.

In recent development  major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing have introduce very useful tools called the Webmaster Tool for site owners. The purpose of the tools is to provide webmasters the necessary data about their sites based on search engines activities on it. Example of such data are keywords searches, traffic sources, backlinks, and errors statistics which can be used by webmasters to fine tune their sites to match search engines webmasters policy. Thus by studying the data webmasters can better improve their website promotion and avoid from violating search engine policies.

In addition webmaster tools also can help search engines to index sites quicker by inserting its meta tags codes or XML into your sites. This will helps the search engines to recognize the sites presents, updates, and changes. And the best part of these tools are FREE of charge to use.

Google Webmaster Tools
Google webmaster tools helps webmasters to improve their websites quality, increase page rank, avoid errors, and index quicker (changes and updates)

Bing Toolbox
Microsoft Bing search engine webmaster tools provide index and traffic data from its crawling activities. Also index website faster including changes and updates for Bings search results.

Yahoo Site Explorer
Yahoo site explorer. Submit websites and RSS feed for indexing, provide back links information and index sites quicker for Yahoo search result

Alexa Site Owner Tool
Alexa Internet provide free traffic information for website owners. Alexa site owner tools is free for webmaster to get their site index faster in alexa

Yandex Webmaster
Russian search engine webmaster tool. Get your site index faster in Russian search engines results.

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Nexus 7 Printing Youve Come a Long Way!

As Ive prepared for the upcoming Business Imaging Expo and my seminar on mobile printing, I have enjoyed the opportunity to survey the state of the industry. My work in this market space, over time, has allowed me to observe the evolving relationship between mobile devices (and their users) and printing and imaging.

One area I will highlight next week is the developments in printing from Googles Android OS. As the recent screenshot (see above) shows (via one of my Nexus 7 tablet computers), the new KitKat version (Android 4.4) offers not one but two integrated print options, one for printing to Google Cloud Print and one for printing to HP ePrint printers. I have now put these options to the test, and will be reporting on them next week (in person) as well as via expanded blog posts.

My original "Nexus 7 Printing" post, appearing here last July,  reported on my printing experiences with the first generation of the Asus/Google tablet, and its reliance on third-party apps. So the built-in printing featured in KitKat represents significant progress, both from Google as well as HP, again in the lead position with a significant mobile printing opportunity.

I am very much looking forward to next week at the Business Imaging Expo, to discuss the state of Android-based printing, along with so much more, and of course, look forward to further developments in the mobile printing world in 2014 and beyond!

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Observations Twitter Printing Print those tweets!

by Jim Lyons

The Hard Copy Observer, July 2009

Observations: Twitter Printing -- Print those tweets!

One would have to be living under a rock to not have been exposed to the Twitter phenomenon this year. Some of the newsworthy mentions that easily come to mind include the (distracted) audience members’ tweets, including those of many members of the U.S. Congress, posted during the new U.S. President’s first major speech; the role of Twitter in breaking news developments on “the Miracle on the Hudson” plane landing; tweets during the sudden and sweeping Swine Flu outbreak in April; and more recently, Twitters role in Junes Iranian presidential election and the controversy following it and the news around the tragic death of entertainment icon Michael Jackson.

Time Magazine devoted its June 15 cover to Twitter, asking the question, "How Will Twitter Change the Way We Live?", so appropriately enough in this month’s Observations, I’ll pose a version of that same question, "How Will Twitter Change the Way We Print?"

I personally have been a Twitter account holder (@jflyons) for about a year and a half. Not exactly an early adopter relative to Twitter’s origin in 2006, but early enough. But truth be told, from that point of curious registration early last year and a handful of "tweets" to follow, I really only got serious about Twitter nearly a year later, about the same time as the first of those previously mentioned events in 2009. In fact, a blog post of mine, "Do we need Printer Industry Tweets?" in February of this year was met with a polite chorus of readers commenting back, basically, "Hey clueless, we already have them!" I guess my excuse was, as author Steven Johnson points out in the first line of his Time cover story, "The one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression."

But I have come to appreciate, and even at times become consumed by, the charms of Twitter and its bevy of tweeters. Agreeing with Johnson’s assessment, again, I find it an invaluable resource for both finding links to interesting articles and other online content, common and obscure. It is also a unique tool, as compared to the longer-cycle blogs and other online (more traditional) media, for both digesting and sharing quick reactions to real-time conference activities and the like. By monitoring Twitter, I felt a part of Mays "All Things Digital" this year, though I missed the actual conference. I also enjoyed reading others’ views in the “tweet-streams” from this years Demo Conference in March, and also participating with my own, and most recently, keeping abreast of HP’s (NYSE HPQ) San Francisco news event introducing the firm’s new Web-connected printer (see "HP Reveals").

Future issues of this column may delve into the depths of the question, “Why print tweets?” but for now, suffice it to say that in the case of using Twitter to pass the word via quick link sharing, the need for printing is not so obvious. But in the case of collecting ideas and opinions from many or a few (or one) authors, a hard copy treatment may make a lot of sense.

While probing around a few months ago to find out if anyone was doing anything about reducing (preserving?) tweets to hard copy form, I found an interesting compilation of tweets into a form of personalized diary. The whole story can be foregone, but the blog post, entitled "Twitter Printing," describes a devoted Twitter following a multi-step process to end up with two years of his entries, entitled, simply enough, "My Life in Tweets."

But like in any fast-moving technology field, more has happened since. Most prominent on my radar lately is the Web site, www.printyourtwitter.com [www.printyourtweets.com works identically], a Web service that allows the reduction of Twitter messages, either your own or others, based on Twitter identity or keyword (or hashtag), into a form that allows for easy printing, or if not actual printing at least saving in a print-friendly form, like PDF.



While pretty bare bones, I found the Web-based service a model of simplicity. In addition to using my own tweets for an example, I entered the hash code #hpreveal, which was used for the aforementioned Twitter-oriented HP announcement. The search quickly came up with more than 877 individual Tweets and formatted them in a chronological log that spans 75 letter-sized pages, which I saved as a PDF for possible printing later.

I had a chance to interview TomsLab’s Thomas Ummels, creator of PrintYourTweets, whose entrepreneurial, creative spirit shows what can be done with the latest opportunities that present themselves, like Twitter (see "Behind the Scenes").

PrintyourTwitter is an exciting development in the world of printing tweets and the fit between the hard copy world and Twitter. Ummels is looking for sponsors for the site, which I think would be a great idea for one or more printing industry players out there who want to show how Twitter-friendly they are! Next month, I will explore more about Twitter and its document-management capabilities, which includes some old (and new) friends in the industry.

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OfficeMax NYSE OMX meets Sex in the City An Occupation with Style catalog

In my faculty role teaching MBA-level marketing for University of Phoenix, one of the great joys is observing the sometimes eye-opening experiences of my students, as they become more aware of the marketing activity that surrounds all of us. (And by the way, the eye-opening experiences arent just confined to the students. Since beginning my teaching career two-and-a-half years ago, I have become far more tuned in to ubiquitous marketing practices, both broad and subtle, even though Ive worked in marketing or marketing-related functions for my entire career.)

In a final-night-of-class session the other evening, an enlightened student brought in the latest OfficeMax (NYSE OMX) catalog that had recently appeared in her office, a governmental organization that is no doubt a large consumer of office supplies. This catalog sparked her interest, though, because of its stark contrast to the typical Office Superstore Sunday newspaper supplement. Slick, glossy, printed on heavy paper, featuring "beautiful people", each clearly employed in "an occupation with style" (the catalogs title), this piece is still clearly (though tastefully) labeled with the OfficeMax brand, but is targeted at a market characterized much more by Carrie Bradshaw than Dwight Schrute.

The multi-page catalog features stylish office supplies and fixtures, but alas, printer fans, no rhinestone-encrusted toner cartridges!

BTW another aspect of my marketing curriculum includes an update on Web 2.0 and User-Generated Content, at least in terms of their impact on the future of marketing. So it seemed appropriate to search on "An occupation with style" to see whats out there on the Web. The complete phrase, complete with the quote marks, brings up a mere six hits on Google Web Search. And only two of the six seem to refer to the catalog. One is a comment on the Momslikeme.com site about the DiNova file folders, available in the catalogs pages, and another is a Twitter Tweet from a source Id just as soon not quote nor identify.

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Upon further review HPQ printer results

OK, I am getting ready for some football, thus the homage to instant replay in the headline (though must admit these reviews are NOT my favorite part of the games!).

I reported in my HP "printer metrics" post last Thursday (see "HP Printing Results - Lots of black ink!") that for the reported hardware units/revenues, there was a surprising preponderance of positive results, comparing this years third quarter to that of 2012.

What I neglected to report, until now, is based on my March post (see"What a difference (or not) seven years makes!") tracking the longer-term history of HPs printing and imaging (formerly IPG) business metrics is that Q3, 2013 represented an unprecedented NINTH consecutive year-to-year quarterly revenue decline. That may sound worse than the actual numbers indicate (peaking at $6.7B and coming down to the current $5.8B), since most of the declines are in the low single-digit-percentage range, but still, an ominous streak...

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