Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Once again your printer is out of ink way before you think there is any way it should be. Yet somehow, BOOM. It just refuses to print another page until you replace the cartridge. Well, when Farhad Manjoo’s Brother printer suddenly stopped printing; he started to wonder if his printer wasn’t simply lying to him that it was out of toner just so he would buy more before he actually even needed it. His prints hadn’t been fading at all; his printer just suddenly simply refused to keep going without a new cartridge.

Manjoo decided to look to the ‘Net for a way around this. And he indeed found some answers. He learned that by covering up the sides of his toner cartridge with a piece of electrical tape he could “trick” his printer into thinking it was full. He says the printer was been chugging along just fine ever since...eight months and hundreds of pages down the road...printing out perfect pages. 

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HP has announced the availability of a three new printers in their Photosmart series.

The first printer they announced, the A630, which comes with a record setting touch LCD screen, one that measures out at 4.8-inches. In addition, you have the option of making up to 300 edits to the picture, before printing it out. All this editing is done on the printer itself, no need for editing on the computer. In case you don’t need all these features, you can opt to get the simpler and more basic version, the A530. The A530 comes with a smaller screen, but it also is the most affordable printer that still can print 5 x 7 photos. 

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Canon has added two new compact photo printers to its Selphy product line - the CP770 and CP760. Touting a fresh and unique design, both printers aim to give users an easier time when printing their precious photos even without using a computer.

Although both printers sport a small design, both are nonetheless rich in individual features. The CP770 is an ultra compact photo printer that answers your need for printing photos as quickly and as easy as possible, whether you’re at home or on the move. Touting an unusual new design, the CP770 comes with a basket-like storage bucket which can also accommodate several printer accessories such as paper, ink cartridge and power cord. The CP770 is also equipped with a 2.5-inch high definition LCD monitor. Retailing for $79.99, the CP770 will be available in apricot and crisp white color.

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What’s this sudden renewed interest into the small office and home office printer market? After Canon announced its latest all-in-one-printer, here comes Kodak with a new all-in-one of its own. Dubbed the ESP 5, Kodak is promoting this printer as having the ability to print a 4x6 borderless photo in 30 seconds or if you are still into document printing, this printer can yield 30 pages per minute in black or 29 per minute in color. By industry standard, those printing speeds are definitely fast.

Aside from its fast printing speed, the ESP 5 printer also features a 3-inch color LCD display to let you view and crop your photos before printing them. The USB and memory card slot allows for printing photos even if the printer is not connected to a camera or PC. In addition, the ESP 5 also comes equipped with an intelligent paper sensor that automatically adjusts settings based on paper type, how cool is that? And yes, the ESP 5 printer also has a Bluetooth capability.

The Kodak ESP 5 retails for $169 and will start shipping on May 5. You can be the first to snag one of this printers if you pre-order online now through the Kodak site.

Product [Kodak] Read [Business Wire]

Canon has not been that active with its printer product line lately. Either users find that Canon’s printers got nothing much to offer, or they just don’t find the need for photo printers anymore. Anyway, Canon takes on the photo printer market anew with the release of its latest PIXMA iP100 photo printer.

Priced at $249, the Canon PIXMA iP100 is a compact mobile printer that lets users print borderless color photos from practically anywhere that they want to. The iP100’s patented print head technology and 5-color ink system allows for the creation of photos up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi resolution. This printer also promises fast printing speed that it is said to be capable of printing a 4 x 6-inch photo in color lab quality in just 50 seconds.

Other notable features of the iP100 are; auto-image fix, irDa compatibility, optional BU-30 Bluetooth interface, and standard PictBridge interface. The iP100 is also equipped with Inkjet Nozzle Engineering printheads with 1,856 precision nozzles. In other words, the printer should be capable of producing great quality photo prints.

If you’re on the look out for a nifty photo inkjet printer, you may want to check the iP100, but if you are like me who is so used to viewing my photos in digital format instead of the printed ones, you may want to pass off on this one.

Product [Canon]

Sony has released two new compact digital photo printers that are both easy to use and do not require too much technical knowledge from the users. Both new printers allow users to display photos on their HDTV via the HDMI support.

The first of these two printers is the DPP-FP75, a sleek looking printer with a user-friendly interface. The DPP-FP75 prints a page with 300x300 dpi resolutions in 63 seconds. Other features of the DPP-FP75 are the 3.5-inch LCD with tilt adjustable display, memory stick, SD and XD card compatibility, red eye correction button, various printing orientations and support for a maximum image size of up to 48-megapixels.

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One of the oft-overlooked functions of Bluetooth technology is printing. However, due to the rising popularity of camera phones and Bluetooth laptops and cameras such as the Kodak V610, printing anything, including photos, is becoming increasingly easier. Beyond photo printing, Bluetooth printers and Bluetooth dongles for printers are available to outfit your home or office for quick and easy wireless printing. So during this official “Bluetooth Printing Month” look out for various ways to cut the cords and take one more step into a wireless world.

Read [Bluetooth]