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Discusses the results of a study done by 'PC World' on the performance of ink jet computer printers. Findings which suggest that printers print at a slower rate than claimed by the printer companies; How the selection of printers for the tests was carried out; How there exists no standard for rating ink jet printer speeds; Printing speed information for printers including those made by Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Canon. INSETS: Product Pipeline;Tidbytes;Site to See: FlipDog.com.

The article reviews the Paper mobile device application (app) released by the online social media website Facebook for use with the operating software iOS by the technology company Apple, with information on Facebook's efforts to adapt to mobile computing.

Evaluates the optical character recognition application FineReader 8.0 Professional Edition from Abbyy USA. Key features; Pros and cons; Price.

This article evaluates two document scanner systems: Fujitsu ScanSnap FI-5110E0X and Microtek ScanMaker 5950. These scanners are both handy tools for storing large volumes on computers. Both are USB 2.0 scanners that can convert documents directly to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), and each can manage up to 50 pages at once via its included automatic document feeder. The compact ScanSnap FI-5110E0X is a sheet-fed model designed to convert single- or double-sided pages directly to PDF. It cannot scan bound books or magazines, nor is it intended to handle photographs. ScanSnap FI-5110E0X provides 600-dots per inch maximum optical resolution. The upgraded software bundle includes Adobe Acrobat 6 as well as Card Minder 2 for importing contact information from business cards into an electronic database. ScanMaker claims more desk space than the ScanSnap, but it boasts 2,400-dots per inch maximum optical resolution and can handle photographs, books, and magazines. This multipurpose flatbed model also sports a bevy of push buttons to quick-start different scanning tasks, such as PDF creation. ScanSnap is arguably the better choice if PDF creation is the focus. ScanMaker does photograph scanning and Optical Character Recognition tasks in addition to PDF.

Reviews the Presto PageManager 6 application software from NewSoft.

Evaluates the IBM ThinkPad TransNote laptop computer. Key features, including the ability to transfer hand-written notes via a digital pad; Pros and cons; Price; Recommendations.

Evaluates electronic book reading devices. Mention of the Hewlett Packard Jornada, the Franklin EBookMan, the Rocket EBook, Microsoft Reader, and Glassbook 2.0; Cost; Key features, including size of the reading screen and content available; Pros and cons; Recommendations.

Reviews the PaperPort Deluxe 7 document management package by ScanSoft. Features; Price; Recommendation.

This article evaluates several models of inkjet printers. Canon's i455 printed top-quality glossies in both gray scale and color. The gray-scale photographs showed good detail and smooth shading, and the detailed color photographs possessed natural-looking textures and colors. Canon's i860 uses five inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and two kinds of black--a photographic black for graphics and a pigment-based black mostly for text. Gray-scale prints showed sharp detail and realistic shading, and color glossies accurately reproduced colors and textures. Canon includes a cartridge for snapshot-size paper and offers a duplexer option. The Hewlett-Packard business inkjet 2300 is designed for office use, with a paper capacity of 400 sheets and workgroup-oriented options, however, it cannot keep up with the low-cost color laser printers that it competes with in price. Priced at $399, the Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 9650 has a wide carriage that can handle 13-inch paper across and up to 4 feet long. The input tray holds 150 sheets of paper. A slot in the back draws in heavy stock and feeds it through the printer without bending it. The Lexmar z816 printed text pages faster than any other inkjet. It produced color graphics at a below-average 0.9 pages per minute.

Earlier this year, HP doubled down on its so-called "dynamic security" policy, issuing firmware updates for its printers that blocked the use of third-party ink. If you want to be trusted, you have to be trustworthy, and when companies like HP poison the well with anti-consumer restrictions, it teaches people to regard firmware updates with suspicion (or in the case of that one friend of mine, open hostility). [Extracted from the article]

Evaluates monochrome laser printers. Amount of traffic that the printers evaluated can handle, as well as their paper capacity and print quality; Best printers for small office and corporate use; Evaluation of the Minolta-QMS PagePro 1100L, the Brother HL-1240 and HL-1670N, the IBM Infoprint 12 and 21, the Samsung ML-6060 and ML-7300N, the Lexmark Optra E312, the Xerox DocuPrint N2125, and the HP LaserJet 4100N; Key features, pros and cons, cost, and recommendations for each. INSETS: Tap the Power: Take Advantage of Your Printer's Hidden Extras;Differences in Output Quality Can Be Minute.

Evaluates ten ink jet printers. Includes the Canon BJ-100; Canon BJ-200e; Citizen Project II; C.Itoh ProWriter SpeedJet CJ-300 and CJ-300Lite; Digital DECWriter 500i; Epson Stylus 800+; Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 540; Lexmark ExecJet II; Olivetti JP 450. INSETS: Output quality: Paper play a role, too.;Consumables: Do ink jet printers really cost less?..

Focuses on `PC World' magazine's evaluation of color printers for October 1994. Paper presentations; Overhead transparencies; Charts and graphs; Fliers and brochures; Proofing copy; All-purpose printing; Digital photos; Prices; Recommendations. INSETS: Best buys.;Studying the fine print.;Color costs.;The latest colors.

Discusses personal laser printers' quality, speed and prices. Pricing patterns; PC World Test Center's speed rating; Elements that affect speed; Importance of output quality; Trouble in rendering complicated graphics; Resolution enhancement technology; LCD screens and control panels; Paper handling; Printer language; Printer's number of fonts; Final consideration. INSETS: Best Buys (best laser printers to buy).;Personal laser putput: How good is good enough?.

Reviews laser printers, particularly Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP LaserJet 4s. HP LaserJet III; Other 600-dot-per-inch (dpi) printers; LED-array printers; Price range; Overall resolution; Factors limiting printer performance; Factor in the cost of consumables; Service and support; Scalable typefaces; Maximal paper capacity. INSETS: Best buys (recommended printers).;Best output (top output quality printers)..

Presents a buyers' guide to work-group printers, including the Hewlett-Packard HP LaserJet IIISi, the QMS-PS 1700, and the Eastman Kodak EktaPlus 7016 PS. Printer speed; Duty cycles; Connections; Output quality; Printer languages; Paper handling; Price.

Evaluates 23 computer printers. Features; Paper; Printing costs; Support; Pricing; Contact information.

Evaluates ten printers. Brother HL-720; HP LaserJet 5L Xtra; NEC SuperScript 660plus; NEC SuperScript 860; Panasonic KX-P6500; Epson Stylus Color 600; HP DeskJet 694C; Canon BJC-4200 Photo; Epson Stylus Color 800; HP DeskJet 820Cse; Prices; Vendor contact points; Data on features, paper, print costs, support, tested print speed, print quality, and ease of use; Best and worst features observed; Names of monochrome printers evaluated that did not score high enough. INSET: Features good and bad..

Evaluates Windows forms processing software in an effort to find the best software package available in the market. Criteria for choosing a forms program; Purpose and functions; Data handling features; Printing support functions; From paper based to electronic based office environment. INSET: Best buys..

Unfortunately, that still leaves a number of other HP printers that don't allow the firmware workaround - and HP won't say which printers that applies to. HP printers still block third-party ink. HP printers with dynamic security that can be disabled depending on the date of manufacture: HP Officejet Pro 6970, 7740, 8210, 8700, Officejet 6950, PageWide 300, 400, and 500 printers. [Extracted from the article]

This article evaluates ML-1740 monochrome laser printer from Samsung. It's no graphics pro but tests have shown that it handles text chores well enough. The ML-1740 is compact and boxy, with a white, shiny surface reminiscent of an old-style refrigerator. On top are two lights--one for power and one for toner save--plus a cancel button. A 250-sheet input tray and a single-sheet manual feed in front, plus a parallel port and a universal serial bus port in back, complete minimalist design. The shipping unit printed both text and graphics quickly and surprisingly quietly, outputting 13 pages per minute for text, about a page faster than the average of 12 ppm posted by the other small-office monochrome printers tested by the staff of the journal PC World. Printed at 600 dots per inch on plain paper, text looked dark, sharp, and legible all the way down to 2-point type. The printer managed fast output of graphics, but quality was lower. The gray-scale test photo lost its fine detail and appeared grainy and overcontrasted on both plain and glossy paper. A basic logo-style graphic from a Word document exhibited noticeable cross-hatching. A simple software interface lets one set options such as layout, size, paper type and print quality.

The article evaluates i80 Color Bubble Jet Printer from Canon. This is a versatile photo and text printer with high quality speedy output. This device is billed as portable, but it weighs in at almost 5 pounds. The i80 supplies a clutch of printer connections, including one for a USB 2.0 cable, plus a wireless printing capability. The device can use conventional AC power, and it also works with a $140 battery/charger kit or a $90 car adapter. The printer's top cover, when opened, doubles as a paper stand that easily handles 12 sheets of 20-pound bond and single sheets of Canon-optimized photo paper. Black-only and color output looked remarkably crisp on any quality of paper inserted. The results had no smears or bleeds, even on low-end bond. Using the included Canon software, excellent results are achieved for photos printed on 20-pound bond and outstanding quality on the company's custom Photo Paper Pro paper. A high-resolution photograph took a minuted to print. Both wireless infrared and Bluetooth-module printing from Palm Tungsten C were a snap. The printer can also print without a PC from any PictBridge-compatible camera or camcorder. The device's lithium ion battery charged in 2 hours and powered through five 8-by-11.5 photos and a dozen text-only pages with no change noted on the power indicator.

This article evaluates the Officejet 9130 All-In-One printer from Hewlett-Packard. The 9130 is equipped with network capability and high-capacity ink cartridges for heavy use. The 9130, which costs $999, features a legal-size flatbed scanner, a 50-page automatic document feeder, a duplexer, and a four-slot flash memory card reader. It supports PC-free color copying and color faxing. In addition, the device includes an Ethernet network card and a second paper tray, for a total paper capacity of 400 sheets. One of the printer's innovation is a pop-out QWERTY keyboard, which is useful for entering names with fax numbers in the unit's on-board telephone book. The device is able to route incoming faxes as e-mail attachments to network mailboxes or files. Even though the digital-sending features are appropriate for a large office with Information System support, preliminary tests show only enough speed to satisfy individual users. The device copies black text efficiently and color graphics with surprising color accuracy. Unless another model tests better, the 9130's high price and the mismatch between its inkjet print speeds and its network capabilities make it a questionable choice for individuals and work groups.

The article evaluates the digital pen Windows Ink from Microsoft.

The article evaluates several printer ink-refilling services including those from Costco, InkTec, and HP.

Evaluates the Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart 1218 printer. Statement that the PhotoSmart 1218 can function as a photo printer and document printer; Features, including a sensor to detect paper type and CompactFlash and SmartMedia card slots; Opinion that the PhotoSmart is not outstanding in any category; Cost.

Evaluates CheckSpace, an online billing and payment service. Statement that CheckSpace streamlines the billing and payment process by moving it to the Web and to electronic mail; How CheckSpace effects direct transfers between the bank accounts of its members; Cost per transaction; Opinion that CheckSpace is a handy alternative to paper-based billing and payments if both sides participate.

Evaluates Corex Technologies Inc.'s CardScan 500 card scanner, which can turn paper-based business cards into an on-screen digital card file. Pros and cons of the product; Price; Software; Scanning accuracy.

Evaluates 30 monochrome laser printers designed for small or home businesses, or corporations. Price range; Importance of print speed; Honors for the Brother HL-1040 for small business/home use; Recommendation of the Lexmark Optra S 1855 for corporate use; Print quality; Operating costs. INSET: Reliability and Service, by Karen Silver.

Evaluates the Lexmark Optra S 1620. Printing speed; How it compares to the HP LaserJet 4000 line in terms of performance and price; Performance; Paper handling options; Ease of use; Recommendations; Price; Contact information.

Evaluates the Panasonic TruPhoto Printer, a film developer/printer. Performance; Ease of installation and use; Features; Price for the printer and for the paper required; Recommendations; Contact information.