Printer manufacturers have taken some pretty major steps to protect the profits the earn on printer cartridges. HP, Lexmark, and Epson have all filed lawsuits against ink cartridge remanufacturers. HP and Epson have also spent a lot of money on technology that goes in to their cartridges. Overall, we have not heard much from either Canon or Dell.

San Francisco based Cryptography Research, Inc (CRI) is hoping a technology they are developing can aid printer manufacturers in their quest to eliminate the remanufactured at compatible ink cartridge market. CRI is developing a chip that uses cryptography designed to make it harder for printers to print with non-manufacturer brand cartridges. CRI is not looking to put an end to the remanufactured and compatible ink cartridge market, they are simply looking to make it harder for “pirated” cartridges to be used.

The pirated ink cartridges are those that are refilled or remanufactured, but are then sold as new, manufacturer brand cartridges. It is estimated that pirated ink cartridges help make up the $3 Billion a year that printer manufacturers lose.

CRI’s goal is to create a chip that will make sure that will allow only certain ink cartridges to communicate with certain printers. Their chip would create a random code for each ink cartridge in order to thwart hackers. A hacker would have to break the code of each cartridge to use it. The chip is not in use in the industry yet, but it is estimated to be in use by early 2008.

Sounds like an interesting opportunity for printer manufacturers to work to recuperate some profits.

Let Pacific Ink know what you think of this technology.

Lexmark has lost again (kind of). In a previous post we talked about Lexmark filing a lawsuit agains Static Control Components. Well, a federal jury in Frankfort, KY decided against Lexmark last Friday.

The jury decided that patents were not violated by Static Control, a company that makes parts that enable the remanufacturing, or recycling, or Lexmark’s toner cartridges. The jury decision was unanimous in stating that Static Control did not violate any copyright laws when they created a micro chip and then sold that chip to those recycling toner cartridges.

The jury’s decision is not the final verdict, but more a reccomendation to the judge. The judge will make the final decision in just under 30 days from now.

If you have any opions on Lexmark, or Static’s, actions let us know.

It’s new cartridge Tuesday! This week we are focusing on four of our newer toner cartridge releases, compatible cartridges to replace the Dell KD580 black, JD762 cyan, JD761 magenta, and GD918 yellow. Each of these compatible toner cartridges is designed for use in the Dell 5110cn color laser printer. Let’s take a quick look at each of the cartridges.

The Dell KD580 is also know by Dell part number 310-7890. It is a compatible black toner cartridge that yields up to 10,000 pages. If you buy the cartridge directly from Dell you can expect to pay $54.99 for the cartridge. Our 100% compatible version will cost you $45.49.

The JD762 cyan and the JD761 magenta can also be found under different Dell part numbers. The cyan is also know as 310-7892, while the magenta is also know as 310-7894. Both of these compatible cartridges yield 8,000 pages of print, the same number as the Dell manufactured product. These Dell manufactured cartridges are priced at $151.49, while the compatible replacement versions are priced at $149.99.

The yellow GD918 follows in line with all the others. It can also be found under Dell part number 310-7896. The compatible version yields 8,000 pages and is priced at $151.49. The Dell brand cartridge yields the same number of pages and is priced at $169.99.

These cartridges are fully guaranteed to print with the same quality and page yield as the Dell manufactured cartridge would, and our customer test groups rated the product quite high.

If you have used this cartridge, let Pacific Ink know what you think.

The HP DeskJet 460c is a mobile inkjet printer. Over the past few years, the popularity of mobile printers has grown. Originally Canon produced the only mobile inkjet printers (and they only had 1 or 2 models), but as demand by business travelers increased printer manufacturers need to come up with a solution for them. The number of mobile inkjet printers you will find on the market is still quite small, but they can be found, and at pretty good prices. Prices for the DeskJet 460c range from $174.00 to $250.00. Amazon.com currently offers the printer for $199.99 with free shipping.

It seems that HP has hit a home run with this inkjet printer. It’s size and quality are a major reason users are raving. The 460c is a true mobile printer. It only weighs 8 pounds and has dimensions of 6.4 x 13.4 x 3.2 inches. It also features optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Of course you also get high quality printing for your documents and photos.

Here is what HP says about it’s mobility:

PRODUCT FEATURES:Connects to Bluetooth-enabled devices using an HP Bluetooth wireless CompactFlash printer card;Prints remotely from hotspots using an 802.11 WLAN CompactFlash printer card and 3-point wireless-network profile-saving switch on printer;Multiple options let you print from notebook PCs, PDAs and camera phones.rd slot;Multiple options let you print from notebook PCs, PDAs and camera phones;Compatible with multiple operating systems: Windows, Macintosh, Palm OS.

With print speeds up to 17 ppm black and 16 ppm color, and 4800 x 1200 max dpi this printer will be more than enough for those times when you cannot get to your home or office printer. The 460c has a 50 sheet max paper tray and manual 2 sided printing (the fancy way of saying you have to go over to the printer and turn the page over if you want print on both sides).

It is PictBridge enabled for quick photo prints directly from your digital camera. It is also USB enabled and offers memory card slots.

As far as the ink cartridges you will need to use this printer, you have quite a selection. This printer can use up to 6 different cartridges depending on your printing needs. It may be harder to carry all the different cartridges than it is to carry the printer! The DeskJet 460c uses the following HP print cartridges: HP 94 / C8765WN Black Print Cartridge, HP 95 / C8766WN Color Print Cartridge, HP 97 / C9363WN HC Color Print Cartridge, HP 98 / C9364WN Black Print Cartridge, HP 99 / C9369WN Photo Print Cartridge, HP 100 / C9368WN Photo Grey Print Cartridge. The HP 97 and HP 98 cartridges are higher capacity versions of the HP 94 and 95. When printing photos you have the option of replacing the HP 95 or 97 with the HP 99. The inks in the 99 are formulated for photo printing and will give your photos a better look. You can also replace the black ink cartridge with the HP 100 photo grey.

The HP cartridges range in price from $22.00 to $38.00. There are alternatives though. Remanufactured versions of the HP 94, HP 95, HP 97, HP 98, and HP 99 ink cartridges are available, and range in price from $17.00 to $29.00.

Users of this printer are saying the following:

A great quality printer, but they could have made it smaller for more portability.

Be aware there are three different versions of this printer. The DeskJet 460c, DeskJet 460WF, and the DeskJet 460WBT. The only difference I can see is the different type of card that comes with each for the wireless card slot.

I recommend this printer for travelers and those who have limited space on their desk.

Small, fast, and offers great print quality.

Great portable printer. Fast and easy to set up.

If you install the printer for USB use you then need to reinstall it if you want to use it wirelessy.

If you have this printer Pacific Ink would love to hear what you think of it.

Advances in printer technology have allowed amazing reproductions of the priceless works of da Vinci to be viewed in the streets.

New technology from Hewlett Packard and Epson had allowed life size reproductions of paintings by da Vinci and Constable to be unveiled to the public in Central London. Hewlett Packard’s DesignJet 10000 was used to create the reproductions for the National Gallery’s Grand tour.

Images were printed on a vinyl called Epiflex using HP formulated ink and then a waterproof laminate. HP says this combination will stop color fading for 3 years. Lab tests say the color will hold for 10 years. It can cost up to $400 to reproduce one of these amazing works.

Of course, the original works never see the light of day, but the reproductions have created quite a panic in a few cases. They are so good that, in many cases, members of the public have expressed concern to the tour directors about the fact that they are leaving these priceless works outside.

Okay, we have a correction to yesterday’s post. It appears our crack research staff (the person writing this) misunderstood the results of Epson’s recent study on wasted printer ink. Here is what the results really said.

Epson utilizes a the multi ink cartridge, individual ink tank approach in all of their printers. This means that each individual color (black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and in some cases other colors) each come in their own cartridge. When one runs out you simply have to replace that specific ink cartridge and not all. Most Epson printers use 4 different ink cartridges, some use up to 6 or 8.

Companies such as HP, Lexmark, and Dell utilize a different model. They offer a two cartridge model. One of the cartridges is for the black ink and the other contains the 3 color inks. Some of their printers use a photo ink cartridge. These cartridges contain the same color inks, but in a photo grade formulation. Put shortly, you will never have more than 2 cartridges in any of these printers at one time. When one of the colors in the color cartridge runs out of ink you need to replace the entire cartridge, no matter how much of the other two colors are left.

This being the case, the study by Epson is really not all that impressive. They wanted to find out which model produced more wasted ink, their individual ink tank model, or the competition’s 2 cartridge model. They showed that their model produces less waste than the other model. Common sense tells you that if you only have to replace the cartridge that is empty you will produce less waste than if you have to replace all three colors. All this study does is allow Epson to make an data backed claim that their method is better than the competition’s (which is what we would really want anyway, right?).

So, here we are with results that back our hypothesis and a study commissioned by the company that runs their entire printer division based on this hypothesis. Some may call it tainted science, we’ll call it “confirmed”. Let Pacific Ink know what you think.

Sorry for the mistake.

Here’s a little something to make us even more conscious about the cost of printer ink.

A recent study has shown that as much as 60% of the ink in a cartridge is thrown away when printers ask users to throw away half full cartridges.

This information comes from a study commissioned by Epson and conducted by TUV Rheinland. Their goal was to measure how much ink is used up and how much ink remains in the cartridge when the printer prompts the user to replace the cartridge. What they found was a lot of ink being wasted.

Amazingly enough, it did not matter how makes your printer half of the ink in the cartridge goes to waste. They also reported that, on average, inkjet printers have an ink usage efficiency of just 58% when used for photo printing and 47% when used for business type printing. Comparative tests were done on 8 different printers from the major manufacturers (HP, Canon, Brother, Lexmark, Epson and Kodak).

Printers made by HP and Epson were found to have an efficiency level of 80%, while the new Kodak EasyShare model was found to have an efficiency level of just 40%. Kodak has made quite a stir with their new, less expensive, ink cartridges. I guess you can afford to pay half price for a cartridge that you are only half of the ink in.

The research also showed that the printers with the worst efficiency were the ones that use the individual ink tanks, as done by Epson, Brother, and Canon. The report says that pages were printed until one of the colors ran out. At that time the “residual amount of ink that was unused was then recorded”. We are not sure if this means that the ink in all of the tanks was recorded, or just the ink in the cartridge that ran out.

Epson commissioned this study because they wanted to find out the impact of wasted printer ink on the environment. They believe that is is more environmentally friendly and less expensive to utilize the individual ink tank model than it is to use a single color cartridge. All Epson printers utilize the individual ink tank model.

As presented, it would seem that the Epson model may not be the correct one, at least in terms of waste.

There is one factor that this study is missing, and we at Pacific Ink have heard this quite often; the majority of printer users don’t replace their printer cartridge as soon as they are prompted to. Consumers, or at least those we talk to, are aware that there is still quite a bit of ink inside their cartridge when they are warned they are out of ink. They keep on printing until the actual print out comes out looking poor.

You can read a full article at PC World.

It’s new cartridge Tuesday at Pacific Ink! This week we are happy to announce the release of compatible cartridges that replace the Brother TN-04 series. These cartridges are priced at $139.99 (black) and $129.99 (color). Retail stores carry the Brother brand product at $152.99 (black) and $147.99 (color).

These 100% compatible cartridges replace the Brother TN-04BK black, TN-04C cyan, TN-04M magenta, and TN-04Y yellow. They are designed for use in the following Brother multifunction printers:

Brother HL-2700CN
Brother HL-2700
Brother MFC-9420CN
Brother MFC-9420

The black ink cartridge yields up to 10,000 pages, while each of the colors yields 6,000 pages. These pages yields are based on 5% page coverage when using A4/Letter sized paper. The black toner cartridge has a higher yield because it contains more toner powder. This is because black is the key color for monochrome (black and white) and color printing. Each of the individual colors (cyan, magenta, yellow) mix together to form all of the colors you see on your printed page.

After extensive testing our compatible TN-04 cartridges offer the same quality print as you would expect from the Brother manufactured cartridges. You can expect correct color matching that will product prints that match the color you see on your computer screen, even ink distribution that will spread the ink evenly across the page to give a better looking print, and anti smearing formulation that will prevent your pages from smearing while they are printing. Printers come with an automatic delay time between pages to also prevent a page from smearing when the next page comes out on top of it.

If you need help replacing your Brother TN-04 cartridges, visit the Brother help-site. And, if you have had a chance to use these compatible cartridges, or the Brother brand cartridges, let us know what you think.

The HP DeskJet 6980 inkjet printer offers up to 4800 dpi and print speeds of 36 pages per minute black, and 27 pages per minute color. It also offers direct photo printing without a PC (with PictBridge enable cameras) and Wi-Fi wireless capability (in addition to wired Ethernet printing and print sharing).

It utilizes HP Vivera Ink to print laser quality black text and deep range of color for your color photos. The DeskJet 6980 uses cartridges from the newer HP 90 series (HP 96, HP 97, HP 98, HP 99, HP 100). The HP brand cartridges range in price from $21.99 to $36.99. For those that want to save a few dollars, Pacific Ink also offers remanufactured (recycled) versions of the 96, 97, 98, and 99 cartridges. these cartridges that range in price from $16.99 to $28.99. We also offer the Cartridge by Mail™ cartridge recycling service.

The 6980 is an affordable printer, priced from $90-$145, that is great for your home or your office. For the photo buffs, it can create borderless prints up to 8.5 x 24 inches.

Here is what HP says about the printer:

Fast, affordable, efficient. With laser-quality black and white, direct photo printing, and networkability, the HP Deskjet 6980 Color Inkjet Printer has all office bases covered. Built-in wireless options and fast, high resolution printing make the DJ6980 a versatile option for all your varied printing tasks. Automatically detect the paper type and adjust the print quality for optimal results Do things fast with the handy print cancel, network configuration and quiet mode controls Work at peak efficiency with the two-sided printing accessory and extra 250-sheet paper tray (sold separately) Easy print sharing - Make you printer available on a small home or office wireless or wired Ethernet network that mixes PCs and notebooks Set up fast - there’s no need for additional hardware or software with the built-in Ethernet Print from your camera phone or PDA with a Bluetooth wireless print adapter (sold separately) Water and smudge-resistant prints with HP Vivera Inks and HP advanced paper Maximize your ink efficiency - get fast results and superior fade resistance while using less ink with HP’s Vivera inks Supported Operating Systems - Windows 98 SE, 2000 Professional, Me, XP Home, XP Professional; Mac OS X v 10.2.3, 10.3, 10.4 Package Contents - HP Deskjet 6980 Printer / HP 96 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (21 ml) / HP 97 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge (14 ml) / HP Photosmart Premier software / Printer drivers / User’s guide on CD-ROM / Setup poster / Reference guide / Ethernet cable / Power supply / Power cord Unit Dimensions - (W x D x H) 17.7 x 14.5 x 5.7 inches / Weight 14.04 lb Manufacturer’s One-year limited warranty.

And, what are the users of this printer telling us:

If you own this printer, let us know what you think.

Buy the HP DeskJet 6980

Buy Cartridges for the HP DeskJet 6980

You mean we don’t have to read any more?

Well, maybe not, but researchers from Mid Sweden University have created an interactive paper billboard that emits a recorded sound when touched. Parts of the page are sensitive to touch and sound is emitted from printed speakers (which are printed with conductive inks). This obviously has potentially huge ramifications for advertisers and product packaging. The projects leader, Mikael Gulliksson, said, “When you approach the billboard and put your hand on a postcard that shows a picture of a beach, you can hear a very brief description of that beach.”

The same goes for product packaging. Image picking up a box in a store and hearing about the product within. I can’t decide if that would be amazing or annoying. And, what about reading?