I wrote my November 2007 column, from a mostly users perspective (see "Observations: Wi-Fi Printing -- Look Ma, No Cables"), exploring the emerging "standard" wireless interface on many of todays new printers. I used a Lexmark (NYSE LXK) Wireless X6570 All-in-One as my subject device, and found its printing capabilities to be more than satisfactory.

Since finishing the column, Ive continued to use the Lexmark AIO, and recently found a post "Berlinds Testbed" blog from ZDNets David Berlind on his experiences with the same all-in-one (see "HP, eat your heart out. At $150, Lexmark’s WiFi All-in-1 printer/copier/scanner/fax got my cash".) Davids post contains an interesting account of his purchase of the Lexmark product, including receiving surprisingly knowledgeable help from his local Staples store. And like me, he found the Wi-Fis biggest benefit to be location flexibility. (The basement-based Linux print server he replaced also rang true!)

Although I wasnt out to perform a full-scale review on the X6570, I still avoided reading other reviews before my own hands-on experiences with the products, in order to maintain my objectivity. After the fact though, its good to see someone elses similar experiences. This includes my post-column work with some of the products other functions, including successfully copying and scanning using the all-in-ones OCR capabilities. I recommend the Berlind post from earlier this month, including the up-to-now 24 comments, which (not surprisingly) run the gamut of pros and cons on everything from Wi-Fi itself to ink usage and color print quality.

Read More..

While I continue to post here, at least monthly, and also direct my tweets this way as well, I also am a regular contributor at the Lyra Insider blog, including this post from last week, on the first of the end-of-the-year awards and Memjets honor.

Read More..

Business Week writer Aaron Ricadela has an interesting background piece ("HPs CloudPrint Heads into BlackBerrys") on the Monday HP (NYSE HPQ) announcement with Research in Motion (CSE RIM). Its a very upbeat account of the development of the CloudPrint service, which Ive covered here since its initial announcement several years ago, and mentioned in a May 4th post covering the HP/RIM deal. (See "HP (NYSE HPQ), RIM announce alliance -- includes CloudPrint for BlackBerry".)

Ricadelas account focuses on the revamped HP Labs (HPL) and uses CloudPrint as a proof point that the legendary HPL has the ongoing ability to come up with big, important innovations. Actually, at least in CloudPrints case, maybe not so much on the "big", at least for now, but certainly the value of in-house innovation cant be understated. The passage quoting Shaw Wu of Kaufman Brothers gets to the heart of it:

Shaw Wu, a senior analyst at Kaufman Brothers , notes that while licensing revenue from products like CloudPrint is a drop in the bucket for a company with $118 billion in annual sales, technologies that emerge from HP Labs can give the company advantages in PCs, printing, and other key markets. "If theyre able to out-engineer Dell (DELL) and Acer, not only does it drive out costs, but they can change their strategy," he says.

Looking at the power of the story, my Google News Search index for "CloudPrint BlackBerry" is coming up with about 800 hits this afternoon (May 6th, two days after the initial release), which is a great number for a printing story. And it proves the lesson -- team up with something sexy, like Mobile Phones, to get the buzz back in printing. And Tweets? They are aplenty! A Twitter search yields NUMEROUS tweets referring to the announcement, but aside from a few valuable links, what can really be said in 140 characters?

And back to the Business Week story? Just one little bone to pick. Hey its HP -- did you really have to pull a printer out of the trash for the demo?

Read More..