Amazon has the PIXMA MP830 on sale for $233, the lowest price we have seen so far. This is a popular printer, which is why we have written more than once about it. This is a regular sale, so there is no mail-in rebate to mess around with. The MP830 uses a five-color system to print up to 30ppm black and 24ppm color at a resolution of 9600 x 2400. It has an automatic document feeder for two-sided printing and it can receive faxes up to 250 pages long. According to Canon, this machine is designed “with business in mind”, so its features are designed for more than just regular home use.

Amazon also has the Brother MFC-5440CN on sale for $73.49 after discount and mail-in rebate. The MFC-5440CN is an entry level all-in-one printer, so it doesn’t have a ton of fancy features. But, Brother all-in-ones are usually high quality machines, so this machine at this price is definitely a good value.

You can find Canon MP830 cartridges or Brother MFC-5440CN cartridges on their respective pages on our site.

A number of people have been asking how to redeem their benefits online at the Epson store. Apparently no one is really having much luck using their code online, and there may be a reason why. Ron, a commenter, left this note in the original post about the settlement:

I got this back from Epson about the e-store code:

Per this website, the settlement benefits are not distributed until AFTER the court considers final approval on the settlement. The settlement benefits will be available no sooner than the late fall of 2006. Thus, any Epson Store codes will not be activated until after the final settlement

Guess we’ll have to wait.

The court will not be making a final decision as to whether or not the settlement is fair until August 15, 2006. On the official site for the settlement, this is one of the frequently asked questions:

When can I expect to receive my benefits?

Benefits will be available after the Court has given final approval and all appeals have expired.

So it does seem like the discount will not work until sometime after August 15th. Another commenter pointed out that on the official settlement site, there is a page where you can sign up to receive notification when your E-Store code is active or the other benefits or ready. You can receive notification via email or a postcard. You can sign up for that reminder at this page.

PC Mag has come up with a pretty good list of the 25 worst tech inventions of the last 25 years. America Online comes in at #1 while Microsoft leads the way with three products. Although they are currently the envy of many companies, Apple has had their share of blunders along the way, including two products that made the top 25 and few others on the dishonorable mention list. A couple of items on the list are common products like Windows ME or Internet Explorer 6, but most of the time their place on the list is justified.

The list makes an interesting read for those failed products that we forgot about. Reading about some of these gadgets now, they just seem completely ridiculous, and in reality they were probably also pretty ridiculous when they debuted.

Here are the top five products:

1. America Online (1989-2006)
2. RealNetworks RealPlayer (1999)
3. Syncronys SoftRAM (1995)
4. Microsoft Windows Millennium (2000)
5. Sony BMG Music CDs (2005)

The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time [PC Mag]

The Stylus CX7800 is a relatively new printer that specializes in scanning photographs and old negatives. So, it is geared towards those who have old photo collections (slides, negatives, transparencies) that they want to preserve or reproduce. Sounds pretty good, since for all the home photo printers and all-in-one machines there are these days, there aren’t a ton that are good for scanning photos and negatives. Well, the CX7800 was just reviewed today by CNET and they definitely were not impressed. Their summary was this:

The Epson CX7800 all-in-one is remarkably easy to use. Too bad its photo printing is merely average and its print speeds are ridiculously slow.

They only gave this printer a 6.3 rating. Now sometimes you have to take that number with a grain of salt, but so far the only user ratings for it have amounted to an average of 5.8. When both ratings are that low, you know something isn’t right. Their main problem with the CX7800 was the print quality and speed, two things that some might consider reasonably important as far as inkjet printers go. The scanning features seem to work okay, but have a great scanned copy of your picture might not be enough to satisfy most people.

If any of our readers owns an Epson Stylus CX7800, we would like to hear some comments from you. Prove this CNET review wrong. Or, just jump on the bandwagon and tell everyone to avoid this printer.

Epson Stylus CX7800 Editor’s Review [CNET]

Buy this printer Buy Epson Stylus CX7800 ink cartridges

In another sign that digital cameras are taking over, Canon announced that they might stop producing new film cameras. They wouldn’t be completely exiting the business, as they would still produce existing models if they continued to sell, but it looks like there will be no more new models.

This isn’t too surprising, as digital cameras are everywhere these days and traditional film cameras are just not in demand. The idea of developing a roll of film might seem pretty foreign to a lot of people today, especially younger ones. Nikon made a similar announcement recently when they said in the future they would only produce a limited number of higher end models, while Konica-Minolta decided to leave the camera business completely last year to focus on making laser printers and copiers.

Not making film cameras is not too big of a deal for Canon because of the fact that their digital cameras and photo printers can work together. Having a Canon film camera isn’t going to keep generating money for them the way a digital camera will. People with Canon cameras can plug them into Canon printers and use Canon ink to print on Canon paper. At least, that’s what they would like them to do.

Canon considers halting film cameras [MSNBC]

Staples has the HP Photosmart 425 GoGo Photo Studio on sale for $200, down from the normal price of $280. This package includes a camera and a photo printer. The printer is the Photosmart 425 and the camera is a 5 megapixel HP digital camera that docks right on the printer.

Since the camera docks on the printer, this is basically like your own little “studio” package. The Photosmart 425 is a specialty photo printer, so you can’t hook it up to your computer and use it to print documents. It only prints out 4 x 6 photos, but it supposedly does that in under a minute.

If you do get this printer or you already own it, you can find HP Photosmart 425 cartridges on our site.

This question is a bit of a throwback, but one that is still relevant today. One of the most common questions we have been asked over the years is what is the deal with the ‘A’, ‘D’, ‘G’ etc. that are after HP cartridge numbers? For instance, people wonder if there is a difference between the HP 6578D and the HP 6578A. By now, a lot of people know that it refers to the ink level in those cartridges. Here is what all those letters mean:

- An ink cartridge with an ‘A’ after it is filled to capacity.

- An ink cartridge with a ‘D’ after it is filled to 50% capacity.

- An ink cartridge with a ‘G’ after is probably about 25-30% full.

- An ink cartridge with an ‘N’ after it just means it is for sale in North America.

‘A’ and ‘D’ are the two important ones, since ‘N’ isn’t really important and ‘G’ really only applies to the starter cartridges that come with your printer (they run out so fast because they have very little ink in them). These days, HP has stopped making new cartridges with different levels of ink in them, so all their cartridges are ‘A’s. That sounds good, but really you are just getting the same amount of ink you used to get in their cartridges that were only half full. The old common HP cartridges like the HP 45, HP 15 and the HP 78 have about twice as much ink in them as HP’s current models.

So if you still run an HP that uses cartridges like the ones listed above (or others like the C6614, C1823), then hopefully this will help you realize what you are actually purchasing.

Amazon has another good deal on a Canon printer, this time it’s the all-in-one PIXMA MP800. It is currently on sale for $229, down froma list price of $300. That is about $50 cheaper than the lowest price at any major retail store. Once again, because of the amount of this discount, it is likely that Amazon will return to a more sane price in a few days.

You can find Canon MP800 ink cartridges here.

Dell announced today that they were introducing five new laser printers. Two of the machines are color laser printers and the others are standard monochrome. The models are the Dell 5310n, 5210n, 5110cn, 3010cn and the 1815dn. They range in price from $379-$1000.

The two new color laser printers are the Dell 3010cn and the 5110cn. Dell has not really focused on making color laser printers up until this point, but it seems like now they are getting serious. They rate the 5110cn at 40 ppm for black pages and 35 ppm for color, which makes it one of the fastest color laser machines available. These two machines feature Dell’s Colortrack2 control tool, which allows users to customize color settings in order to maximize efficiency.

For their new monochrome laser printers, Dell is touting their OpenManage printer software, which allows users to have better control over their printer networks. The most expensive of the monochrome machines, the $1000 Dell 5310n, is rated at 50 ppm and is designed for network use.

The 5310n and the 3010cn are currently available for purchase, while the rest of the models will debut within the next month or so.

Dell’s Laser Focus Simplifies Business Printing [Press Release]

Amazon has the Canon PIXMA iP4200 on sale for $70.89, down from the list price of $129.99. This is just a regular sale, so there is no mail-in rebate or coupon code. It also means that the price could change at any time. Usually with a deal like this, Amazon raises the price back up after a couple of days.

As we mentioned yesterday, the iP4200 is one of the most popular printers on Amazon. The main reason for that is its combination of price and performance. This printer also features double-sided printing, something you really aren’t going to find on other models in this price range. Mostly all the online reviews and customer feedback for the iP4200 have been positive. You can see an example of that here.

If you already own this printer, you can head over to our site for Canon iP4200 cartridges.