Some local environmental news from here in California: Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill that puts a cap on all greenhouse gas emissions. This is significant because California is the first state to voluntary impose this kind of cap. The goal of the bill is to reduce greenhouse gases by roughly 25 percent by 2020. The bill requires utility plants, refineries and other industries that emit greenhouse gases to reduce their emissions, so obviously certain business leaders in the state weren’t too happy about this bill.

This bill follows similar steps in recent years by California to reduce emissions. In 2004, the state enacted a law to reduce tailpipe emissions, and last year Schwarzenegger issued an executive order calling for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The man known as Conan the Barbarian/the Destroyer also recently signed a deal with Tony Blair to allow California and Britain to work together on alternative energy technologies. Schwarzenegger’s actions have gone against some of his fellow Republicans, who would prefer to rely on national environmental laws.

Now, if they could just get working on getting people to recycle their ink cartridges….

Schwarzenegger reaches landmark deal on greenhouse gas emissions [San Francisco Chronicle]

Newegg has the Samsung ML-2250 laser printer on sale for $140 with free shipping and no tax if you are outside of California. The printer also comes with a free DVD player.

The ML-2250 is a monochrome laser printer that Samsung rates at 22 pages per minute. It has a printing resolution up to 1200 x 1200 dpi and a 250-sheet paper tray. If you need Samsung ML-2250 toner cartridges, you know where to go.

Update: Based on the number of comments we’ve received below, apparently the CX6000 is not the most popular printer ever. There seems to be a problem with the chips on the cartridges that makes the CX6000 think they are empty after a very short amount of time.

Second Update: For anyone that has not thrown their CX6000 in the trash, we’ve finally added cartridges for it to our site. Stylus CX6000 cartridges.

Epson announced some more new releases today with two inkjets they are calling “more-in-ones”. Get it? They aren’t just all-in-ones, they are MORE-in-ones. I will pause so you can reflect on the hilariousness/cleverness of that.

Now you would think that with something called a more-in-one, that it might be a printer, scanner, copier, fax machine and like a toaster or something. But no, these are pretty much just regular inkjets. Epson’s explanation for calling them more-in-ones is that they supposedly offer “more unique features and benefits for end-users than any other all-in-ones at these prices.” So they are slightly better than other inkjets in their price rage - does that really deserve a whole new nickname?

Both the Stylus CX5000 and CX6000 are rated by Epson at 27 pages per minute for black and color, so like their other recent new printers, they print in color extra fast. The print resolution isn’t given, but they both scan at up to 2400 x 1200 dpi. Both feature PictBridge capability, while the CX6000 features a 2″ LCD.

The Stylus CX5000 will be $100 while the CX6000 will be $150. Both should be available in September.

New Epson ‘More-in-Ones’ Give Home and Small Office Users the Most Value-Packed Set of Features for Printing, Scanning and Copying [Press Release]

Today Epson announced the release of two new photo printers, the Epson Stylus Photo R260 and R380 and one new all-in-one printer, the Epson Stylus Photo RX580. Epson notes that these new models are “ultra hi-definition” and that the new Claria ink and print heads will deliver professional-level results.

Epson says that all three models are rated at 30 pages per minute for black and color and they can produce a 4 x 6 picture in 13 seconds. If those stats are true, both are pretty impressive. Most photo printers today take about 60 seconds to print a 4 x 6, and other than the recently-announced Canon MP810, virtually no models were faster than 45 seconds per print. It is also strange that these printers are equally fast for both black and color prints. Typically, inkjet printers print in black about 20-25% faster than they do in color.

The Stylus Photo R260 and R380 are similar models, the R380 being the more fancy of the two. It features a 3.5″ LCD and the ability to print directly from memory cards. Overall, it is more of a standalone printer than the R260 is. The Stylus Photo RX580 is an all-in-one printer with the ability to scan and copy. It has a 2400 x 1200 scanning resolution and the ability to print directly from media cards or via PictBridge.

The Stylus Photo R260 will be $130 and it will be available in September, and the Stylus Photo R380 and the RX580 will both be $200 and available in October.

There is an interesting note in a story about these printers on abcnews.com:

It’s worth noting too that Epson is introducing its new Claria inks with these models, and it’s touting the new inks as providing “the ultimate combination of photo quality and longevity.” But a company representative couldn’t give any details for what that translates to.

Nice to see that all this stuff sounds great but has no real meaning.

Epson Ushers in the Era of Ultra Hi-Definition Photo Printing [Press Release]

In addition to their three new PIXMA all-in-one printers, Canon is also releasing a new inkjet and a new compact photo printer.

PIXMA iP4300 - a $100 photo printer that replaces the popular PIXMA iP4200. Canon rates it at 30 pagers per minute for black and 24 for color. The resolution goes up to 9600 x 2400 for printing and the drop size for the ink is one picoliter, meaning this printer should produce some finely detailed prints.

Pixma mini260 - a $200 compact photo printer that Canon says can produce a 4 x 6 in about a minute. It has the same resolution as the iP4300 and a 2.5″ LCD. It has memory card readers and PictBridge capability, and you can also buy an $80 Bluetooth adaptor for wireless printing.

Both these models should be available in early September.

Staples has the Epson Stylus CX4800 on sale for $90 after some savings. There is a $10 instant savings and a $30 coupon code, which is 28920.

The Stylus CX4800 is an all-in-one printer that Epson rates at 20 pages per minute for black and 19 for color. It has a printing resolution of up to 5760 x 1440 and a scanning resolution of 2400 x 1200. It uses a four-ink system and has the usual connections for memory cards and what not.

If you own the CX4800 then you can let us know what your opinion of it is. Also, you can check out our site if you need Epson Stylus CX4800 cartridges.

Canon announced that they are releasing three new photo all-in-one printers, one new photo printer and one new inkjet. Here are the three new all-in-one photo printers:

PIXMA MP510 - is a $150 printer that is rated at 25 pages per minute for black and 17 for color. It has a resolution of 4800 x 1200 and uses a four-ink system, which means no photo black cartridges. It also has a 1.9″ LCD and all the usual features to connect directly to a camera.

PIXMA MP600 - is a $199 printer that is faster than the MP510, as Canon rates it at 30 ppm for black and 24 for color. The resolution is 9600 x 2400 and it has a 2.5″ LCD. It also has a higher scanning resolution than the MP510 and its nozzles have a finer control over the ink. This model supports auto-duplexing and uses a five-ink system.

PIXMA MP810 - is a $300 printer that is slightly faster and more precise than the MP600. The only real difference is its improved scanning capabilities. This machine also uses a five-ink system. Canon claims that this printer can produce a 4 x 6 print in 21 seconds. This seems exceptionally fast, especially since most of the time printer manufacturers are happy to boast that their machines can produce a 4 x 6 in 60 seconds.

Canon is touting a new feature they call the Easy-Scroll Wheel interface. They say it allows customers to “access document operations at a glance, including the copy, scan, or print functions by simply rotating the wheel to the desired feature and pressing the “OK” button. ” So basically it sounds like the intereface from an iPod. This feature is only available on the MP600 and MP810.

The MP510 and MP600 will be available in September and the MP810 should be available in October.

Lately there has been an increase in the number of misspelled search terms that lead people to our page. Despite the fact that Google lets you know when you misspell something, a lot of people still end up at our site with misspelled words. Here are the main ones:

injet cartridge
cartride
cartrige
Hewitt Packard
Epsom

Since Pacific Ink’s inception, we have seen and heard every variation of Lexmark that there is. For some reason, that is the most mispronounced or misspelled word we encounter. Variations include Lenmark, Lemark (pronounced “ley-mark), Lexmar, Lemark (pronounced “luh-mark” this time), Lenmar and Lexus.

Amazon has the Brother HL-2040 laser printer for $70 after sale and rebate. It’s on sale for $90 and then there is a $20 mail-in rebate. The rebate is good on purchases up to 9/2.

The HL-2040 is a monochrome laser printer that is rated by Brother at 20 pages per minute. This is a popular machine that is usually well-rated by users, and it is a good choice if you are looking for a personal laser printer that is under $100. It has a resolution of up to 2400 x 600 and it can produce its first page in about 10 seconds.

If you already own this printer, you can leave some feedback for other potential users or else you can find Brother HL-2040 toner cartridges on our site.

Consumer Reports says that over the past two years, consumers have spent $7.8 billion to repair or replace computers infected with spyware or viruses. That number seems ridiculously high, unless it’s just a result of loads of people chucking their computers and buying new ones. Maybe it means that people are paying too much to have some technician run an anti-spyware program on their computer. Well, that can be avoided.

Here are three things you can do to save $7.8 billion dollars:

1. Get AVG Free. This is a small, simple virus program that is effective without bogging down your system like Norton or McAfee. It is also 1000% less annoying.
2. Don’t open strange emails.
3. Get Firefox. This is hands-down the best way to avoid getting spyware or viruses on your computer. Also, once you get the hang of it and learn all the features like tabbed browsing, you’ll wonder how you ever used Internet Explorer in the first place.

The Cost of Spam [eMarketer]