iPad Printing

In addition to being an important day in the tech world as the final day of the 13th annual Lyra Imaging Symposium, another "minor" technology announcement happened that you might have heard about -- Apples announcement of the iPad!

While I work on my summary of the last day of Lyra, heres a tidbit to think about, courtesy of PC Worlds Jason Cross. In his piece, "Will the iPad Connect to Anything?", Cross muses about his ability (or inability) to print:

Then theres printing. Clearly, one would expect to be able to print from the iPad. It has iWork, after all! Youll be typing essays and epic poems expressing your love of Apple in Pages and calculating how much money you save by not buying Windows in Numbers. Still, we havent seen a single "print" icon or menu item yet. We dont suppose youll be able to plug a USB printer into the device (even with a dongle for the 30-pin connector) but network printers are quite common. If the iPad could print to a network printer, one would think Apple would have mentioned so.

Will be digging into this important question!

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Government Printing

While this one is a bit off the beaten track, I had to post about Carl Malamud and his efforts to become the new US printing chief. His efforts (like a lot of things) made it on my radar screen thanks to Techdirt.com and Mike Masnicks post, "Time To Make Carl Malamud Head Of The Government Printing Office".

The domain name used by Malamuds campaign, yeswescan.com, was enough to get my attention, and the one-pager readers will find after clicking there offers some interesting insight into the history of the US Governments printing office, including for me the whole idea how synonymous the terms "printing" and "information dissemination" are. As we debate the future of printing, in our much narrower terms, its very useful to think more broadly as well.

One direct quote at the yeswescan.com site deserves a call-out. Its in reference to the future of print shop jobs and the need for workers to be trained in other skills:

As commodity printing goes the way of the PDF file and the copy machine, GPO must retrain and refocus its workforce, working with the unions and the employees so we may face the challenges of the future.

No doubt very true, but it also brings to mind opportunities closer to home -- I bet the GPO needs a heavy dose of MPS!

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HP NYSE HPQ 1st quarter 2010 results back to printing green!

HPs earnings came out today after the markets closed and the company reported some major good news. In addition to an overall 25% profit increase, exceeding analyst consensus expectations, and updated positive guidance looking ahead, the Imaging and Printing Group enjoyed an impressive turnaround.

In all but two of the unit sales and revenues categories HP reports for IPG, including overall supplies revenues, commercial and consumer units sold and revenues, printer-based MFPs and Indigo digital press pages, their first quarter numbers showed ear-to-year quarterly increases versus year-to-year decreases for Q4 2009, and in many cases, for a number of quarters before that. The only two exceptions? Color laser printers were still down, but by a trifling 1%, and Indigo pages registered an up-tick over Q4s (and recent historys) consecutive series of gains.

More on the commentary in a coming blog post, but for now, congrats HP!

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Google Glass Printing

Over at my Goin Mobile blog, Ive written about my role as a Google Glass Explorer (aka beta user), and checking out whether the phrase "Google Glass Printing" means what we think it means! See "Writing About Mobile Printing Leads to All Things Google."


The screenshot above gives a sneak preview...but please visit, read, even comment, on the real thing, and stay tuned for further Google Glass explorations.

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Best Printing Printer related April Fools 2009 edition

Happy April Fools Day, 2009!

In keeping with a tradition at this blog, jeres the best one I found for this year.

And of course in keeping with the times, it involves newspapers and Twitter.

Thanks Guardian!

Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink

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July Observations Nexus 7 Printing

also published in Photizo io360 imaging observer















Observations: Nexus 7 Printing

Summer 2012 has been a momentous season for the mobile computing industry. In addition to marking the fifth anniversary of the Apple iPhone, we have also seen new product announcements from two of Apple’s major competitors, with both launches threatening the industry status quo. Google and Microsoft and introduced new tablet computers that have tilted the landscape of the mobile business. And where does printing fit in with these new machines? As we have noted in the past, mobility represents an opportunity and a threat to printing and imaging, and while we cannot do more than speculate about the Microsoft Surface tablets and their printing capabilities, as the firm’s June announcement promised fall availability (October 26 has been recently confirmed), with only relatively high-level product details, including printing. But we can report from first-hand experience that the Google Nexus 7 tablet offers robust printing, virtually right out of the box.

On any number of occasions, I have used this monthly column (Jim Lyons Observations) as a window to observe the ever-changing mobile environment. In my opinion, the biggest mobile computing landmark for me personally as well as for the computer industry was the 2007 introduction of the original Apple iPhone (see “HappyFifth Birthday, Apple iPhone! (But iPhone Printing Is Not Quite as Old)”). As a user, I was behind in the Smartphone category, never having used a RIM BlackBerry, so my purchase of one of the first Apple iPhones caught me up in a hurry. And of course, at that time, with no printing solutions available, I was open to musing about when and if Apple iPhone printing would become a reality (there weren’t even any apps then, after all, except the built-in Weather, Stocks, etc.). Of course, several iPhone generations later we have seen a continuing parade of third-party print solutions from independent software vendors and printer OEMs (see “iPhone Printing, Revisited”,) as well as a built-in solution that came about after Apple expanded its mobile computing line with the iPad. This solution was, of course, AirPrint, which came about with a new Apple iOS version in late 2010.

We have also followed Android phone and tablet computer devices powered by Google’s competitive operating system and tracked numerous Android printing solutions, including those among the cloud. Which leads us to 2012 and the initiatives by Google and Microsoft and both firms’ attempts to get in the thick of the iPad-dominated tablet computer game. Each company, in early and late June, respectively, threatened to change the landscape by competing with Apple and others and, at the same time, redefine supplier/customer relationships, as both software giants attempt to become and stay involved directly with mobile and tablet computing end-user customers.

The Microsoft Surface tablet has generated excitement as a potentially more office-friendly iPad alternative and includes printing from the get-go (see “How does Microsoft’s new tablet relate to Printing and Imaging?”). It also represents an interesting strategic move by Microsoft: to be responsible for the manufacturing and marketing of the entire product rather than as software supplier and the associated dependency on hardware OEMs like Dell and HP. (Microsoft’s move is one that HP would especially see as especially repugnant, as HP is badly in need of a new tablet following that firm’s 2011 TouchPad fiasco. To refresh the minds of those with short memories the TouchPad was based on HP’s Palm-acquired webOS and positioned to be superior to Apple and Android tablets, in part due to better built-in print capability. But it was quickly abandoned by the company, leaving a legacy of at least proving the market’s price elasticity, when HP fire-saled excess inventory at a record pace, for $100 a unit.)

Google also launched a new product this summer, based on the firm’s Android operating system (in this case, the flavor code-named Jelly Bean), at the Google i/o Developer Conference in late June. Though announced nearly a month after the Microsoft Surface, Google beat Microsoft to market with July availability and like with many of the other latest mobile devices, I was among the first to buy one. The Nexus 7 is a 7-inch tablet computer starting at an aggressive $200 price point that builds on the strong ecosystem of Android and is manufactured by Asus, but branded and supplied by Google. Physically the Nexus 7 is very similar to the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is also built on an Android platform but designed to be a Kindle Fire first, and is a limited-version Android device, meaning that Amazon limits the Kindle Fire’s ability to use the wide range of Android Apps.

As for the Nexus 7, building on the Android installed base and unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of apps, it is no surprise there printing capabilities are easy to come by, via apps and the Android Apps Market, recently renamed the Google Play Store. And even if printing is not built-in in the most literal sense, in effect Google provides the next best thing. A search of the store yielded familiar names, and the leading contender for easy and powerful printing is none other than Google Cloud Print; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cloud_Print(GCP). Thanks to CNET and Jason Cipriani for some helpful tips (see “Five great tips to get you started with the Nexus 7”, and “How to print from the Nexus 7”). Within minutes of getting my Nexus 7 fired up, I had downloaded the GCP app, provided free with ads, for a sub-$2 “buy the developer a cup of coffee” charge (see illustration). (A Google Play Store credit of $25 came with my $213 (including shipping) Nexus 7.)  The popular Cloud Print app (with more than 500,000 copies downloaded according to its Play Store listing) is a clean, very usable implementation of GCP, and I had little or no trouble printing from my Nexus 7 to several different printers. In fact, like an official at a sporting event, my experience proves once again that good printing should be more or less transparent—only mistakes or problems draw much attention to it!

I have enjoyed experimenting with the various mobile platforms, including some of the e-readers like Amazon’s original Kindle and the aforementioned Kindle Fire, which is thought to be the target competition of the Nexus 7. I will continue to keep a watchful eye on the mobile categories, and of the few things I am sure about when it comes to this dynamic market area, my new Google Nexus 7 won’t be my last!

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January Observations From the QR Code sandbox — and will QR Codes help printing

by Jim Lyons

The Hard Copy Observer, January 2010

Observations: From the QR Code sandbox — and will QR Codes help printing?

In trying to find a binding theme for this month’s column about sticking my toe into the water surrounding QR Codes, the underlying influence of the movie sensation Avatar triggered the application of one of my central themes: how things all seem to connect to each other and to my world.

But as a tangible piece of writing, this column began with a tweet that linked to a blog that discussed a report, which I then retweeted. The subject? “More Reporters Using Facebook and Twitter.” This is not surprising as the more I read and write, the more I read and write on social media platforms. As an aside, the report also includes the finding that 61 percent of reporters also admitted to using Wikipedia. (And when it comes to these news sources, it should be noted, blogger Michael Sachoff writes, “The survey made it clear reporters and editors are highly aware of the need to verify information they get from social media.”)

So, I started thinking about how I was gathering information (and initially inspiration) for this month’s column. While I’ve been in the printer industry seemingly forever, I’ve frankly never paid a great deal of attention to barcodes, which have actually been around longer than I have. (The original ideas for barcodes date back to the late 1940’s, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode.) But it has specifically been the QR Code (see photo and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code) that has found its way onto my radar lately, and for that, I must credit Twitter. The last few months have seen a critical mass of tweets from those whom I follow and those I’ve also flagged on printer-related lists via Tweetdeck and more recently Twitter itself. In particular, @Gail_NK, @johnfoleyjr, and @ToughLoveforX have helped me embark on a basic QR Code education. (Readers, here’s a quick homework assignment: before you start messing around with the QR Codes themselves—follow these three on Twitter.)

QR (for Quick Response) Codes were developed in Japan, and I will forgo a description of how they work, beyond comparing them to the basic barcode functionality that were all familiar with, similar to those used at the supermarket (see image at left). The ubiquity that’s evident in that situation—printed barcodes on virtually every single item that is manufactured (and more and more, grown)—would be exactly the vision that would excite the printers that produce those codes, especially industrial models. Taking that theme even more broadly, with QR Codes, the key to even further ubiquity is that the “scanner” is now something virtually every person carries around with them in the form of a camera-equipped mobile phone (with the appropriate app installed), and the codes can be used to identify further information, phone numbers, and URLs, and even “take you there” via the phone’s Web browser. To borrow from the banner text at the Web site qrconnect.com, QR Codes can “Increase the Impact of Print. Use QR Codes on anything printed—there is no limit. Mobile users simply point and click to jump to online content, dial the phone, or download information.”

A great New York Times article by Stephanie Clifford titled, “From Print to Phone to Web. And a Sale?” appeared in early January 2010 and describes the application of QR Codes, along with some related technologies, in what might be their most promising manifestation. As included inside of print publications, specifically magazines, QR Codes serve as embedded links in editorial and advertising pages. This solution allows an interested reader to get more information, or even immediately go online and order something, in a very appealing linkage between print and online worlds, potentially tapping the best of both.

Now back to that “everything’s connected” idea. Because this was all starting to sound very familiar, even before reading the Times piece, my mind drifted back a couple of weeks to those year-end tweets linked to lists of “best and worst technology of the decade,” and right up there at the top of those worst lists, was the :cuecat! (see photo). In her short article, Clifford masterfully uses attention to the past to try to predict the future as she explores the history of QR Codes and looks at what might be different this time around. The value proposition seems to be exactly the same—see a magazine ad, scan in a link, and pull up a Web page—but as Clifford points out, there are a couple of key differences, the biggest one being that the cat-shaped scanner of the 10-year-old solution was extra, something that had to be provided to magazine readers and PC owners to make the system work. Now the mobile phone provides that missing link, at least that is what hopeful entrepreneurs and technologists are hoping.

Now after this explanation, the question remains whether this technology is good for printing. Assuming the system works, the advertising linkage application is good for print publications as a method to keep the medium relevant and inter-linked with online information. And in this day and age, anything positive for newspapers and magazines is a plus. The benefits for local printers are not as clear, as taking a “scan” (photo) from a screen seems to be equally effective as taking that scan from a printed source. Putting the functions of paper into the world of the virtual—with the transfer of some of paper’s functionality to mobile phones—is certainly occurring in applications like tickets and boarding passes.

To get to know QR Codes better, I suggest getting your hands dirty, and based on the recommendation of @Gail_NK, I have had excellent luck with Optiscan, a $2 app for my trusty (and oft-mentioned) iPhone. I suggest springing for the $2, trying a quick download and starting with the QR codes here (represented on-screen or printed). I think you will be impressed.

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Googe Chrome printing update

The Google Chrome browser may be seeming like old news these days. Even though its "version 0.2" nomenclature does not speak to a mature product, Chromes day in the sun as Googles (NASDAQ GOOG) latest creation is over, with the Google "Android" Phone now announced, as of yesterday, September 23, 2008 (for an example of the press coverage, see "The Google Phone: A Challenge to the iPhone?").

But after posting a very preliminary "Google Chrome printing" piece on September 3, 2008, I would like to offer an update.

First, the fact that the Chrome EULAs "fine print" offered some heinous-sounding language (see "Be Sure to Read Chromes Fine Print") ended up with a good deal of traffic coming my way. Searches on terms like "Google Chrome fine print" match up pretty well with "Google Chrome printing" so I have been receiving visitors with interests in both topics. And apologies to the group looking for more insight into the "fine print" side of the story, as I didnt even mention that topic until now. Hey, at least I didnt title the post, "Google Chrome prints fine", which it does, for the most part!

Second, Google Chrome browser traffic is quite high at my blog, considering its a fourth popular browser thats less than a month old. According to my favorite metric-catcher, Statcounter, my most recent "Browser Market Share" numbers for my most recent 1,500 visitors show about 8% on Google Chrome. This is over half of the Safari number (14%), with various versions of IE leading at just over 50%, and Firefox versions making up most of the remainder (25%), and a few odds and ends thrown in for good measure.

And lastly, check out this tip for adding a print button to Chrome. (Ive done it already, as seen illustration above, where I used features of SnagIt to blur the background and highlight my print button.) Thanks Tech-Recipes!

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