Schoolboy Calculates Print Savings for US Government by Changing Fonts

US government could save $136 million each year by changing to a font that uses less ink.

A 14-year-old's experiment could end up saving millions of dollars for federal and state governments. But so far, government officials have said it's not the type of economy they're looking for.

Suvir Mirchandani noticed he started getting more handouts in middle school than he had in grade school. Wanting to save the school district money, he put together a science fair experiment measuring which font used in school handouts used the least amount of ink.

As anyone who has purchased a printer cartridge can attest, ink is expensive. "Ink is two times more expensive than French perfume by volume," Mirchandani told CNN.

The Pittsburgh-area student tested four fonts, Garamond, Times New Roman, Century Gothic and Comic Sans to see which used the least amount of ink in printing various letters. Garamond came up the winner. Mirchandani calculated that his district could cut its ink usage by 24% and save $21,000 annually.

He published his findings in the Journal for Emerging Investigators (JEI), a publication founded by Harvard grad students that gives secondary school students a place to publish scientific projects. Its findings are subject to similar rigor as other academic journals.

JEI then asked Mirchandani to extrapolate his findings to the federal government. Based on the General Services Administration's (GSA) estimated cost of ink, which is $467 million annually, Mirchandani found the federal government could save nearly 30% of its ink costs, or $136 million a year, if it used Garamond exclusively.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) was lukewarm to Mirhandani's findings, however. Gary Somerset, GPO’s media and public relations manager, described the findings as "remarkable." But he wouldn't say whether the GPO would change its font. The office, Somerset said, is more concerned with efforts to shift content to the Web.

Source: AllGov

New Legislation Would Force Printer Manufacturers to Acknowledge the High Cost of Ink

The cost of printer ink cartridges has gotten absolutely “ink”-sane.

That's what two Democratic assemblymen said earlier this year when they introduced legislation that would require printer manufacturers to disclose the cost of ink per 1,000 printed pages.

Now, one ink and toner retailer is jumping on board. Cartridge World, which operates 31 stores in New Jersey, has launched the "Stop the Ink-Sanity" public relations campaign to spread the word that printer manufacturers aren't giving consumers enough information when it comes to the high cost of ink.

"The 200,000 small businesses in New Jersey easily pay $3,000 per year in printer cartridges," Greg Carafello, who owns Cartridge World franchises in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "That adds up to $1 billion in New Jersey alone."

Indeed, that was the reasoning behind Assembly bill A628, which is co-sponsored by Paul D. Moriarty (D-Camden/Gloucester) and Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex).

"You may pick up a printer for a reasonable price, completely unaware of how much you are really going to spend long after that purchase for the ink," Moriarty said in a statement back in February, when the bill was approved by the Assembly's Consumer Affairs Committee.

"This bill would help establish a rational mechanism for people to ascertain the lifetime costs of owning that printer."

The bill would make it illegal to sell a printer without indicating the average cost for 1,000 printed pages. It would also be illegal to sell an ink cartridge without noting how many printed pages it would provide. And it wouldn't be enough to hide that information in user manual fine print: The bill stipulates it must be on the packaging or on a "conspicuously attached label or tag."

There would be a price to pay for those manufacturers that don't abide. Fines for a first offense could cost up to $10,000. Any subsequent offense could reach $20,000.

Carafello said businesses should steer clear of cheap printers that "drink ink" and tri-color cartridges that run out quickly.

"We clearly understand the support for the bill," he said in a statement. "Buying printers and ink without consumer labeling information is the equivalent of buying a car without knowing the MPG."

Source: NJBiz

Epson Introduces New WorkForce Pro Printer Models

New business color printer and MFP range with 75,000-page ink cartridges to be available from Epson, with release date yet to be confirmed.

Techradar reported on the new "game changing" WorkForce Pro printer and MFP range unveiled by Epson, which are equipped with a new Replaceable Ink Pack System (RIPS) technology that means users will be able to print up to 75,000 pages before needing to replace the ink cartridges.

The range consists of four models "exclusively available through select print service partners" under MPS agreement – the WorkForce Pro WF-5690DWF and WF-5620DWF MFPs and WF5190DW and WF-5110DW color printers; all of which come with Epson's piezo-electric technology, PrecisionCore, which purportedly "doubles print quality while doubling print speeds".

The devices have a default color print speed of 30 ppm and a mono print speed of 34 ppm; with the MFPs also able to scan at 19 ppm with a 35-page duplex automatic document feeder (ADF). They also feature color touchscreen displays. All four devices have a maximum duty cycle of 35,000 pages per month, but with Epson estimating that "the bulk of the business printers will churn between 1500 and 2,500 pages per month", the ink could last for "up to four years" which is "well beyond the average printer life expectancy".

Source: Epson introduces new WorkForce Pro printer range

HP improves security for mobile printing

Hewlett Packard / HP improves security in BYOD (bring your own device) work environments with new technologies introduced in its color LaserJet printers.

PCWorld reports that to eliminate the security risks that can come with BYOD environments, such as "rogue devices" using the corporate network, HP has incorporated new technologies into its color LaserJet printers, making peer-to-peer printing "easier to manage while ensuring document security on corporate networks".

With NFC and Wi-Fi Direct, any mobile devices can connect to a printer on a network and print documents due to the technologies being independent of any firewall protecting printers, which can lead to rogue devices entering the network. To improve security whilst still allowing these features, HP has introduced an "independent module with Wi-Fi Direct and NFC that physically attaches to the printer and can easily be snapped out", meaning that the use of peer-to-peer printing can be closely managed.

The OEM has also introduced new security software, the ePrint Enterprise 3.2 app for mobile devices, adding more security barriers before users are able to printer either through a peer-to-peer connection or a Wi-Fi network.

Source: HP improves security for mobile printing

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New imageRUNNER ADVANCEs by Canon

PI World reported on the product launch from the Canon in the US market, with the two machines upgrades of two previous imageRUNNER ADVANCE models – the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5240A is an upgrade on the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5240, whilst the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5235A is an upgrade on the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5235 machine.

The printers are said to improve on previous models by "offering significantly faster scan speeds through single-pass duplex scanning", as well as featuring a scan speed of 120 ipm, over double the speed that the previous machines could scan at. Canon added that the faster scan speeds "improve the productivity of these devices and create greater consistency".

The C5240A printer offers print speeds of up to 40 ppm in monochrome and 35ppm in color, whilst the C5235A machine reaches 35 ppm in monochrome and 30 ppm in color. Canon noted that these faster printing speeds also make the two machines "ideal for office environments with high scanning and printing volumes".

Sam Yoshida, Vice President and General Manager of Marketing at Canon USA's Business Imaging Solutions Group, commented: "At Canon, we're constantly looking to innovate and deliver solutions that help our customers meet the often challenging demands of their office workflows. By enhancing the scanning functionality on these imageRUNNER ADVANCE models, so many more tasks can now be completed with greater efficiency and productivity."

The two devices are now available in the US market, with the C5240A available at $13,020 and the C5235A for $11,970.

Source: Canon launches two new imageRUNNER ADVANCE machines

New Ink Technology Turns Your Printer into a Circuit Board Factory

AgIC’s technology uses silver nanoparticles to create homemade circuit boards.

Wired profiled the technology, noting that it :turns your home printer into a circuit board factory" through using ink made from silver nanoparticles, which only requires "sintering" – the process where metal particles are bonded at high temperatures to become conductive – when the ink is made before sale.

The technology thus allows inkjet printer users to print out a circuit board and utilize it without the need for heating the chemicals in the ink to a high temperature, with the development meaning "home printing circuit boards go from being a concept to actually being in everybody's home", according to Wired.

AgIC, the company behind the technology, are trying to raise funds via the crowd funding website Kickstarter to receive more investment for the product, and it won an award last year for a "paper describing the process". The company's founder Shinya Shimizu stated that "if a start up wants to develop hardware, it is generally more difficult to find a circuit designer than a programmer", and the company's technology allows for this to be circumvented.

Technical Adviser, Yoshihiro Kawahara, summarized the technology as "in short, a chemical reaction happens when the ink is dried on the surface of the paper. This small advance makes a huge difference as a practical tool. Backers can sit back and relax". The company says that infrastructure is the "main problem" in the way of the technology spreading, and for that reason its utilizing Kickstarter to help raise funds to improve that aspect.

AgIC also faces the issue of "convincing a public perhaps unfamiliar with circuitry" to buy into its technology but Shimizu stated his belief that by "enabling easier and faster prototyping of circuit design, more people will try it", and added that the company is currently targeting "mainly people who have experience", but would "like to expand the user segment to other spheres".

Source: New ink technology allows users to print circuit boards

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