Amazon.com is offering an instant $30 savings on selected Canon PIXMA printers. Pacific Ink customers have been raving about the quality of the PIXMA line of printers since its debut. If you don’t have one already and are in need of a printer, now is a good time to pick one up and take advantage of the $30 savings. Also remember, Amazon offers free shipping (on qualified orders) and no sales tax (again, on qualified orders).

Amazon did not leave any details as to when this offer would end.

Buy a Canon PIXMA Printer at Amazon.com

Search for and buy cartridges for Canon PIXMA printers

Staples.com is offering a deal this week on the HP Officejet 6310 Color Flatbed All-in-One. This printer is normally priced at $199.98, but after a $28.00 instant coupon you will only pay $171.98.

The HP OfficeJet 6310 is a a multifunction printer. You can print, copy, scan, and fax. It is also network ready.

The offer expires on 3/24/2007.

Buy the HP Officejet 6310 Color Flatbed All-in-One

Buy cartridges for the HP OfficeJet 6310 Printer

Amazon.com is offering a great price on the Canon PIXMA iP6210D Photo Printer. Normally priced at $99.99 you can get this printer for $59.95 (a savings of $40.04). This printer was released quite some time ago, and there have been more recent releases in the PIXMA series. But, if you are looking for a solid printer that has been “road tested” and has a great many consumer revies to back it up, then take a look at the PIXMA iP6210D.

Buy the Canon PIXMA iP6210D Photo Printer

Buy cartridges for the Canon PIXMA iP6210D Photo Printer

Each year HP invests more than $1 Billion dollars in research and development on imaging and printing and holds more than 4,000 patents in this area. One of the most recent products of this investment is something HP is calling Edgeline Technology. Here’s what we known so far.

Edgeline Technology is designed with print heads that span the width of a page. This allows the printer to distribute ink across the page rapidly and precisely in just one pass. Or simply put, the printer cartridge no longer has to move. Now only the paper will move.

It should be noted that Edgeline Technology is being designed for high volume color printing. It does not a technology you should be expecting to see in your home printer any time soon.

Well, not really, but they are willing to give the consumer a chance to decide.

An editorial was written in the January issue of Recharger Magazine, a magazine written for the remanufactured printer cartridge industry (probably not to high your reading list - People . . . Newsweek . . . Recharger?). The opinion piece was written by an individual within the remanufacturing industry and focused on Hewlett Packard’s promise to fairly compete with the aftermarket.

Just a little over 3 years ago the HP Senior VP of Printer Supplies publicly stated HP’s intentions to fairly compete with the remanufacturing industry (the aftermarket as they called it). HP took this position after Lexmark had engaged in litigation against one of the largest remanufacturing companies in the industry, and claimed that they would not follow the same path as Lexmark. They would also not engage in the use of chips on their cartridges as “lockout” devices. HP also stated that it is up to the customer to decide if they want to use new OEM or remanufactured cartridges, and that HP would consciously make sure that its cartridges could be reused.

In the three years since HP has made these statements they have done a pretty good job holding true to their word. While Lexmark has continued to attempt to lock remanufactured/recycled cartridges out of the market in the federal courts, HP has seemed to focus more on “what they can control” - making their product better.

In 2006 HP released the Color LaserJet 2600 printer, which utilized a toner cartridge featuring a new direct-contact chip. This chip is a high level authentication system that allows the printer to determine if the cartridge being used is an HP manufactured cartridge, or if it is a aftermarket cartridge.

Was this a sign that HP was going back on their word?

Well, not really. They said they would fairly compete with the aftermarket, but they never said they would make it easy for the aftermarket to complete with them. We can appreciate that approach! The chip they designed, after some research, was deemed able to replicate by even those using mid level chip designs. The chip authentication system could be activated by either an HP manufactured cartridge or an aftermarket cartridge at any time.

Just as the author of the editorial, we commend HP for their statements and actions that remain in line with those statements. We understand they won’t make it easy and will take all the technological competitive advantages they can manage. They’ve also have a VERY LARGE marketing budget at their disposal and will put that to good use to try to convince everyone that original HP products are far better than remanufactured products (see a recent blog post).

At the end of the day HP is allowing space for aftermarket printer cartridges. They are giving the customer the right to choose. That is all we can ask for. It is our job to make you want our product instead of theirs.

It must be the recycling time of year. Quite a few of our latest posts have involved the recycling efforts of printer manufacturers. Well, here comes another one!

Dell has launched a free recycling service in many markets worldwide. The program provides free recycling of any Dell branded product and creates responsible disposal of Dell computers and peripheral equipment (printers). The program does not require you to make a replacement purchase.

So, if you’ve got some Dell products lying around your home or office that you don’t use, now’s the time to get rid of them - the right way. Visit the Dell Recycling Page.

Shameless plug - Please don’t send them your empty printer cartridges. Send those to us. We’ll remanufacture/recycle them in to cartridges that can be used again. This provides you with a recycled, lower cost alternative to Dell brand cartridges. We are not sure what Dell does with all of the empty printer cartridges they get back as part of their recycling program. But, so far as we can see they are not recycling them to provide a environmentally safe, lower cost alternative. Give us a call (toll free: 1-877-838-6843) to find out how to get free shipping labels or check out our inkjet cartridge recycling mailer.

In an age when printer ink cartridge manufacturers are trying to create prints that last longer, Xerox is doing the opposite.

Some recent digging around on the web led us to a series of stories about Xerox and a type of printer paper that can erase itself. They call it Erasable Paper.

Oh, imagine the possibilities!

Xerox scientists have invented a way to make prints whose images only last one day. The goal? To reuse paper. If the prints only last for one day then the paper can be used repeatedly. Keep in mind this is a project that is in the developmental stages, but Xerox has filed for a patent on the product. If successful this technology would blur the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use.

Paul Smith, manager of the Xerox Research Center of Canda’s new materials design and synthesis lab, was quoted as:

“Despite our reliance on computers to share and process information, there is still a strong dependence on the printed page for reading and absorbing content. Of course, we’d all like to use less paper, but we know from talking with customers that many people still prefer to work with information on paper. Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds.”

Xerox has estimated that as many as 2 out of every 5 pages printed in an office are for email, Web pages, and reference material. These types of things are printed for a single viewing.

So, how does it work? According to Xerox they were able to develop compounds that change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but then will gradually disappear. As the test paper exists now, it self-erases in about 16-24 hours and can be used multiple times.

(Source: Xerox web site press release)

When Canon released its PIXMA iP5200R photo inkjet printer, Amazon.com claimed that is may just become your favorite home electronic product. Pretty high praise, huh? We’ve heard many good things about it, and all of the features it offers, Amazon users have rated it 4 out of 5 stars, and CNET have given it an excellent rating (8.3 out of 10). It is pretty obvious the masses have a lot of positive things to say about this printer, but as for the favorite home electronic part - we’ll let you be the judge of that. This printer is priced at $229.00.

Here are the printer vitals:

Canon touts this printers ability to produce lab quality 4″x6″ borderless prints in about 36 seconds (that’s pretty fast). In order to product such high quality prints the iP5200R uses Canon’s FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology. FINE technology is based on a next-generation 3,584-nozzle print head that ejects precise, consistent droplets as small as one picoliter. This printer also employs Canon’s ContrastPLUS five-color ink system which consists of 4 dye based inks and a single dye based pigment based black ink. The combination of these two systems allow for the “true to life” photos and high quality text.

Printing photos from your digital camera or video camera is easy with a simple connect to print feature. Simply connect your device and print! The printer features a dual paper path that allows you to store photo paper in one tray and plain paper in another (a very useful feature - no more swapping paper types at the last second). Of course duplex, or two sided printing, is a great feature. When employed it could allow you to cut your paper consumption in half.

The iP5200R is IEEE 802.11b/g wireless compliant, so it can receive wireless transmissions from up to 164 feet away. This is a great range for home network printing, meaning you can work in your kitchen and print to your printer in the other room without having to use a 164 foot USB cable to connect your two machines.

What are the users of this printer saying?

Pros: Great quality prints, WIFI enabled, Good speed printing photos, Quality, Reliability

Cons: Setup takes some time, Prints text somewhat slowly, US model doesn’t come with CD print tray

Staples is offering a $50 rebate this week on the Sharp UX-B20 Plain-Paper Fax Machine. This Sharp fax machine easily produces crisp plain paper faxes and copies quickly and easily.

Features: Up to 9.6Kbps, 15 seconds or more per page 10-page auto document feeder 24-page memory

The UX-B20 is usually priced at $79.98. After a $50.00 rebate you will pay only $29.98 (plus any applicable shipping and sales tax). Expected delivery time for this printer is 1 business day. This is an amazing price for a Sharp fax machine!

Buy the Sharp UX-B20 Plain-Paper Fax Machine

Buy cartridges for the Brother MFC-3360C All-in-One Printer

Staples is offering a $40 rebate this week on the Brother MFC-3360C Color Sheet-fed All-in-One inkjet printer. This is a Brother multifunction machine that prints, copies, scans, and faxes. Here are some of its features.

Prints: Up to 25ppm black / 20ppm color Copies: Up to 18cpm black / 16cpm color Scans: Up to 600 x 1200-dpi resolution Faxes: Up to 33.6 Kbps *USB cable is not included

The MFC-3360C is usually priced at $99.98. After a $40.00 rebate you will pay only $59.98 (plus any applicable shipping and sales tax). Expected delivery time for this printer is 1 business day. A quick review of prices from other online vendors shows that the after rebate price is by far the best. You, most likely, won’t find it cheaper any where else.

Buy the Brother MFC-3360C Color Sheet-fed All-in-One

Buy cartridges for the Brother MFC-3360C All-in-One Printer