– Suvir Mirchandani, a 14 year old student of Dorseyville Middle School, in Pittsburgh, PA noticed that he was receiving many more paper handouts than when he was in elementary school, and began thinking about the efficiency of that.
- So, as is middle school tradition, this became his science fair project.
- Suvir pointed out that printer ink is twice as expensive as French perfume by volume.
- He compared four different popular typefaces — Times New Roman, Garamond, Century Gothic, and Comic Sans — and focused on how much ink was used per each letter, focusing on the common characters a, e, o, r, and t.
- He enlarged and printed each letter on card stock, cut them out, and weighed them.
- He found that if the Garamond font was used, ink consumption is reduced 24% due to thinner characters
- He believes that the U.S. government would save $400 million per year while still being able to print as many documents as it always has.
– Kodak announced it sold a PROSPER 1000 production b/w inkjet system to Ultimate Print, a commercial printer in Malaysia to print books on demand.
- print width of up to 24.5 inches (62.23 centimeters)
- top speed up to 650 feet per minute (200 meters per minute0
- duty cycle of 90 million A4 (US letter) pages per month
- up to 175 lpi
- handles media weights of 45gsm to 175gsm
- field upgradeable to full color
– Kodak announced it will sell its 900 acre headquarters complex in Rochester, NY to raise cash. At one time, the company employed 15,000 in the area.
– Context published survey of printer and MFP sales in Western Europe in 2013:
- 4% decline in printer hardware unit sales
- laser multi-functional printers (MFPs) grew nearly 10%
- inkjet single-function printers down 12%
- inkjet MFPs down 3%
- laser single-function printers dipped 9%
– Vernon Schaeffer was arrested by Kalamath Falls police in Oregon, after he was caught making fake $20 bills using a color copier to purchase meth.
– New York City Controller, Scott Stringer has rejected a $6 million settlement with Hewlett Packard over a 911 system upgrade that went significantly over budget, by as much as $160 million.
– Hewlett Packard made following announcements about its Indigo production color systems division:
- Has now placed over 6000 units worldwide
- Has placed more than 80 Indigo 10000 systems across 23 countries
- 30% of all output is labels
- More than 120 Inkjet Web Presses have been sold
- Inkjet Web Presses have produced over 50 billion pages so far
– Hewlett Packard announced it placed an Indigo production color system, with a Duplo DC-745 slitter/cutter/creaser at ProCo, a commercial printer in Sheffield, England, to produce business cards and variable data direct mail postcards.
– According to article in CEE Insight magazine, HP is accused of paying 35 million euros in bribes to Russian government to win contracts.
– HP now shipping the new desktop A4 color inkjet MFPs, the OfficeJet Enterprise X585 series featuring:
- Uses HP PageWide inkjet technology (based on technology in the failed A3 product, the HP Edgeline)
- Inkjet print head is stationary, and does not move back and forth as in traditional color inkjet devices
- Base MSRPs range from $1999 to $2799
- Top speed of 72ppm
- Will be advertised as offering a “accent” color mode, where color pages are same price as b/w (but only for small color coverage, such as a small color logo)
- Uses 25%- 84% less power than comparable laser models (due to fact that inkjet units do not need fuser)
- Ink cartridges yield of 10,000 pages, based on 5% coverage per page
- Black ink cartridge costs $109 and is advertised as having yield of 10,000 pages based on 5% coverage per page
- Color ink cartridges have yield of 6600 pages each, based on 5% coverage per page per color, for $97 each
- Advertised cost per page of $0.013 for b/w and $0.066 for color, based on 5% coverage per page per color
- No finishing options
- Built-in print controller
- Actual maker unknown
- Optional “OXP” (*open extensibility platform), meaning support for solutions accessed through the touchscreen color LCD display
– HP announced it has hired Mapletree Industrial to build a $250 million facility in Singapore.
– Canon announced that it had a large booth at the recent American Bar Association’s TECHSHOW 2014, at the Chicago Hilton Towers. On display:
- Recognition from 2013 International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) survey, that Canon is most popular brand of MFP in law firms
- Fingerprint authentication
- uniFLOW Secure Print
- uniFLOW Mobile app for print/scan from mobile devices
- imageFORMULA desktop scanners
- imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs
– Canon announced it will also have its office products on display at Macworld, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA, focusing on using its devices in conjunction with Apple mobile devices, the iPhone and iPad.
– Canon announced it sold an Oce’ ColorStream 3500 production color inkjet system to Stralfors, a commercial printer in England.
– Canon announced it will source technology and services from Nisum Technologies, to expand its solutions offering for its MFPs. Details on Nisum:
- Integrates with various ERPs, CRMs and email systems
- Headquartered in Brea, CA
- Founded in 2000
- Employs 750 consultants
- Has offices in U.S., India and Chile
– Canon announced it won a MPS contract from the Dubai office of Philip Morris Corp.
– Canon announced it reached an out of court settlement with PPC Solutions of England, so the company will no longer sell toner cartridges that allegedly violated Canon patents.
– Canon announced that it has partnered with Ventas Consulting Partners, so that it can offer Canon’s Forms and Print Services solutions to customers using the Salesforce 1 Platform CRM, from Ventas.
– Ricoh now shipping the new MPC401 series of A4 color MFPs featuring:
- Warmup time of 46 seconds
- 7.2 second first color page out time
- Top speed of 40ppm
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- PxP polymerized toner
- Banner printing support
- Maximum paper supply of 2300 sheets
- Internal stapling finisher on the “SR” version
- Built-in GWMX print controller
- Actual maker unknown
- 1GHz processor
- Optional OCR board
- 2GB RAM
- 320GB hard drive (comes standard with disk overwrite, but must pay extra for data security features that are certified)
- PCL print driver standard
- XPS and PS print drivers are optional
– Ricoh announced that Mr. Tetsuya Takano is Managing Director and CEO of its division in the country of India.
– Ricoh announced it opened a new division headquarters in Eastern Creek, Sydney, Australia, that will employ 100 people.
– Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company of Tokyo) announced a new optional app for its color MFPs, called “ColorLock”
- “Public Access” button on touch screen LCD provides unrestricted b/w copies
- For color, users must enter a passcode on the LCD
– Notorious patent troll out of business? MPHJ of Texas, which has been threatening companies across the USA, (claiming they are infringing on patent they own, every time a company uses a scan feature on their MFP), has run into trouble in the state of New York.
- Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General, reached a settlement with MPHJ, requiring the firm to repay licensing money it received from companies in New York.
- Ricoh, Xerox & Lexmark announced that have joined to file petitions with the United States Patent Office, to prevent MPHJ from continuing to threaten their MFP customers.
- “Ricoh, Xerox and Lexmark have clear positions on the protection of intellectual property. We feel strongly that the infringement claims are without merit and the licensing demands of MPHJ are unsubstantial. We feel it is important to take this action to support our customers and dealer networks from these frivolous claims.”
– Xerox announced it won contract from TAP, an airline that services Europe and Brazil, including providing mobile printing in the airline’s frequent flier lounges.
– Xerox announced that it is reorganizing its Services division.
- Lynn Blodgett is out, and will be replaced by Robert Zapfel as new President and EVP, reporting directly to Ursula Burns, CEO.
- Mr. Blodgett became a Xerox employee after company acquired managed IT services company, ACS in 2010.
- Mr. Zapfel spent last 35 years at IBM.
– Xerox announced it sold a J75 production color laser system to A3 Design & Print, a commercial printer in Farnham, Surrey, England.
– Xerox announced it sold an iGen 150 production color laser system to DCL Print, a commercial printer in Gloucestershire, England.
– Xerox announced it has contract with the National Associations of Realtors, so it is an officially endorsed provider of printers and MFPs to member real estate agents in the U.S.
– Xerox announced it has deployed an online game for its call center employees to use, to provide feedback on productivity challenges to management, in a fun, interactive way.
– Microsoft’s Satya Nadella announced that the company will be offering a version of Microsoft Office that will run on an Apple iPad.
– Results of survey conducted by InfoTrends on photo merchandise:
- 23% have created electronic photo cards in last year
- 17% have created electronic photo books
- 39% of advanced hobbyists have created photo ecards
- 22% of snapshot photographers have created photo ecards
- 71% said the ecards have replaced actual printed cards
- 33% claim they chose electronic over print due to less cost
– Samsung of Korea admitted that a 52 year old worker in its plant in Suwon, was killed when a fire safety system mistakenly released carbon dioxide into the air, and suffocated him.
– Samsung announced it won contract to build a $850 million wind farm power plant in Goderich, Ontario, Canada.
– Since Apple has stated that it will reduce its reliance on Samsung to provide computer chips for its devices (due to Samsung ongoing patent infringement of Apple technology), Samsung announced plans to reduce output at is plant in Austin, TX.
– Lexmark announced it will sponsor the 2014 Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair. (Lexmark is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky.
– Lexmark lost a court battle. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Static Control Components Inc., (which refurbishes Lexmark print cartridges for resale) can be allowed to go ahead with a false advertising complaint against Lexmark.
– TechNavio published results of research that stated the global managed print services market will grow at a CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) of 10.75% from 2012 to 2016.
– Recall Holdings Limited, headquartered in Georgia, announced it purchased a competitor in the document shredding and storage business, IPEX of Preston, England.
– Epson launched a new desktop color A4 inkjet MFP, designed to compete against laser based MFPs in office environment, the WorkForce Pro WF-5690DWF featuring:
- Base MSRP of $739
- Document feeder holds up to 35 originals
- Top print speed of 34ppm, based on 5% coverage per color per page
- 35K/month max duty cycle
- 4800x1200dpi
- Auto duplex standard
- 4.3” color touchscreen LCD control panel
- Uses PrecisionCore inkjet print heads
- Uses replaceable “Ink Packs” that have advertised yield of 75,000 pages per color based on 5% coverage per page
- Ink bags made out of aluminum foil and have handles
- Bags are loaded into compartments on right and left side of the MFP
- End users open compartments and press and hang ink bags into place
- Ink is fed by tubing to the PrecisionCore print heads
- Built-in print controller
- Actual maker unknown
- Wireless printing standard
- Connect to Android or Apple mobile devices
- PCL print driver standard
- Epson announced it plans on launching A3 versions of the above, and call them the WF-8000 series
– Panasonic announced it has hired former Canon executive, Ted Cofie, to head its division in Australia.
– TransWorldNews stated that the global managed services market has reached a value of $142.7 billion, and is forecasted to grow to a total of $256 billion by 2018, or a CAGR of 12.4%
- The implementation of managed IT services reduces IT costs by 30-40% in enterprises
– Intel announced it has acquired BlueWhate, a Tianjin, China based maker of network storage solutions and IT management software.
– Sony launched “Digital Paper”, a 13.3” color touchscreen LCD tablet PC aimed at the legal vertical.
– Lumejet announced it sold two of its production color systems, that use LED array to create color output using special paper with embedded ink:
- Sense Creative, a photo product commercial printer in Darlington, England
- TG Print & Design, a commercial printer in Woolwich Arsenal, England.
- Has MSRP of $250,000
- Lumejet will co-market with Duplo, maker of finishing equipment, and Taopix, a web2print software maker
– Buck Consultants released results of study that finds the following about companies offering their employees cash-based incentives:
- Since 2012, incentives 10-14%
- Stock options are declining in use
- Employee retention is most common reason cited
– Flexprint, a managed print services and Lanier MFP dealer, headquartered in Mesa, AZ announced it won a MPS contract from Barrett Jackson, the operator of world famous collector car auctions, with locations in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and California.
– Research conducted by Innovolt provides more reasons to add power filter to MFPs, as voltage sags (brown outs) can cause as much damage as power surges:
- Most sag events last anywhere from 1 cycle (16 milliseconds) to 10 cycles (0.16 seconds)
- Current “inrush” occurs after the sag, up to 5 to 10 times the normal current draw, which can damage microprocessors and circuit boards
– Police in Saudi Arabia seized more than 36,000 fake printer cartridges in the city of Riyadh, which were advertised as factory original products.
– Kofax, maker of document capture solution software, announced it won contracts from:
- Waterstone Mortgage of Maple Grove, MN
- $4 million contract from an un-named wealth and asset management company headquartered in Western Europe
- Plans on increasing is direct sales force to 117 reps by end of 2014
– Fuji of Japan announced it sold a JetPress 720 production color inkjet system to HuigHaverlag Printing of the Netherlands.
– Xeikon of Belgium announced it sold its first Trillium liquid toner-based production color LED system to TagG Informatique, a commercial printer in France..
– The House of Representatives passed a bill to delay the implementation of the new ICD-10 coding system until 10/1/2015. If approved by the U.S. Senate, it must then be signed by President Obama to take effect.
– McKesson, maker of EHRs, announced it has laid off 60 employees in Westminster, CO and 174 employees in Alpharetta, GA.
– McKesson announced it won a Paragon EHR contract from Oconee Medical Center of South Carolina.
– PointClickCare announced it won EHR contract from Bradley Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Tennessee.
– Epic announced it won EHR contract to implement at 70 physician offices of the St. Francis Health System of Oklahoma.
– MedAssets, one of the largest healthcare GPOs, announced it won a cost management contract from Baptist Health Care of Florida.
– Auxilio, a managed print services dealer, announced it has hired Mark Dressel, as its new Executive CP, Consulting and Managed IT Services Group, as the company attempts to diversify away from being solely an MPS provider
- Mr. Dressel was previously in charge of the healthcare division of Dell Computer.
– Joe White, former CFO of Shelby Regional Medical Center of Texas, was indicted for allegedly lying about complying with Meaningful Use rules for EHRs, in order to secure $785,000 in federal stimulus fund payments.
– HIPAA/Data Security Breach News:
- The Arnold Palmer Medical Center of Orlando, FL notified 586 patients that their PHI was exposed after an employee lost a USB flash drive.
- The Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration notified 9700 patients that their PHI was exposed after its network was hacked.
- Health Source of Ohio notified 8,800 patients that their PHI was exposed after a folder was inadvertently left accessible on the Internet.
- The Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch in Montana notified an unknown number of parents of children with mental health issues had their PHI exposed after a ring binder was stolen.
- Vahe Tahmasian was found guilty of participating in a scheme to illegally collect $1.,5 million in Medicare payments while he worked by Orthomed Appliance Inc. of California
- Patrick Doucet was arrested by Fort Worth, Texas detectives, after he allegedly stole identities from paper documents he collected while driving a paper shredding truck for Cinta Corp.
- Jim Bunker of Topeka, Kansas opened a dumpster in his office complex and found thousands of discarded patient PHI folders. The complex also houses a document scanning service. The Kansas attorney general removed the files, and is investigating.
- Marian Regional Medical Center, part of Dignity Health of San Francisco, CA, notified an un-named number of patients that their PHI was exposed when it inadvertently sent the PHI to the wrong insurance provider.