Canon Océ’s Hidden, but Not Secret, Drupa Technology Announcement

One of the more interesting drupa 2012 announcements took place not in Düsseldorf, but in Poing Germany. Canon Océ held an event with 20 or so press and analysts to introduce the new Océ InfiniStream technology. Although the prototype B2 lithographic liquid toner press looked like a finished product, Canon Océ executives stressed that theirs was a technology announcement, because they continue to refine the new platform. Nevertheless, substantial progress has been made toward productizing the technology, and Canon Océ says a full launch of the InfiniStream press can be expected within 12 to 18 months.

The Océ InfiniStream technology

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A/B ctrl P

How print can learn a trick from online to improve its relevance.

In the latest issue of Wired was an insightful article on A/B testing. In short A/B testing is a process that allows you to  run two variants of a web-page and use analytics to discover which one gets the best response. The differences can be graphical, such as the use and position of pictures and text; typographical such as font, font size and colour or textual, tweaking the wording used. For more in-depth the original feature is here: The A/B Test: Inside the Technology That’s Changing the Rules of Business.

While the Wired piece was primarily about the use of A/B testing for websites, there must be print applications where it could be an equally powerful tool. Of course, not any printing would do. It has to be digital printing to enable the rapid production of two different variants to be tested. Then there is measurability, which necessitates the use of PURLS, QR Codes or similar to enable tracking consumer interaction. Read more »

Frankly Speaking: Drupa is All About Hope

Drupa is the largest print-related exhibition in the world. It is a cross between a world’s fair and the storming of the Bastille. It is the place where new printing technology is introduced. And much of that technology is years away.

The first thing that hits you is the sheer size of it all. It takes almost an hour to walk from one side of the messe (fairgrounds) to the other (well, at my age it does). There are the equivalent of 20 buildings filled with every kind of printing and related device on earth. And there were 170,000 people from all over the world by the mid-point of the show.

The day before the formal opening is when Heidelberg (HEI) has their traditional press conference. But they were usurped by Landa, a company that revealed a new nano graphic printing technology. In fact, HEI is partnering with Landa on a future printing device.

The Landa news became Read more »

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Rugged

Cameras are facing tough competition from ever-present camera phones. It can be difficult for a new point & shoot camera to attract attention in a sea of smartphone and tablet introductions. Fortunately, digital camera vendors can stand out by introducing new models with sought-after features like rugged, go-anywhere construction, and connectivity. In the InfoTrends’ 2011 Digital Camera End-User Study, respondents were presented with current and futuristic camera features and asked to rank the importance of each feature. Connectivity and waterproof capabilities were two of the more interesting features that respondents cited. This week, Olympus and Fujifilm introduced new camera models that address these demands. Read more »

Wow factor wide-format inks at drupa

The following is a short list of wide format ink developments at drupa.

UPDATED 11 May 2012 with link to SIIT NEON demo video

SIIT NEON – fluorescent wide-format inkjet demo at drupa2012

I covered the other key wide-format themes to emerge from drupa 2012 around application flexibility, quality and productivity in a separate blog. There it was notable that most hardware launches incorporated technologies that enabled a single device to produce at both high quality and high speed, albeit not necessarily at the same time. Read more »

12 Pieces of Wide-Format News from drupa 2012

Wide-format developments were in evidence at drupa, but weren’t the centre of interest. The biggest noise at drupa was Benny Landa’s nanography and the other big noises were B2 sheetfed digital presses and the universal interest by vendors in applying their products to packaging and label printing. However, there were some launches and technology demonstrations of wide-format printing hardware that highlight developments in the sector.

Screen Truepress Jet W1632UV

The following is a list of some of the wide-format printer and press developments listed alphabetically.

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What’s the Real Purpose of B2-format Digital?

A recurring theme at drupa 2012 is that many of the planned digital devices are intended as B2-format offset press replacements. This is puzzling positioning. Is there really a need for digital stand-ins for very efficient offset presses? The digital market, need I remind you, is built on values well beyond mere quick turnaround and cost-effective short runs. Production digital print is best leveraged when it facilitates full process automation, electronic collation, variable data, and the use of the digital printer as a virtual document archive. Designs that lack duplexing or use traditional offset feed and delivery systems miss out on some of the most basic digital print advantages.

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Digital Photography and Photo Printing: Moms Rock!

Just in time for Mother’s Day on May 13^th, InfoTrends has released two reports exploring how motherhood affects digital photography and photo printing habits. InfoTrends’ research has long confirmed that mothers are generally more photo-active than other demographic groups. They typically capture, print, and share more of their photos, likely because so many of these photos feature their children.

InfoTrends’ report entitled Motherhood’s Striking Impact on Digital Photography and Photo Printing Habits provides a direct comparison between moms aged 18 to 29 and non-moms within the same age range. In comparing moms and non-moms, we were able to garner additional insight about how non-mothers’ photography behaviors might change as more of them become parents in the future.

In relation to non-moms under the age of 30, moms within the same age range:

• Use their cameras more frequently: Nearly 68% of moms use their digital cameras multiple times each week, compared to 37% of non-moms.
• Capture over 50% more photos: Moms report capturing over 198 digital camera photos in a typical three-month period. The average among non-moms was 125.5.
• Print about twice as many photos: Moms print nearly 54 digital camera photos during a typical 3-month period, compared to about 24 photos for non-moms.

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PrintonSaver and Adobe LeanPrint – Two Output Solutions that Promote “Less Toner”

As MPS takes on a life of its own, we have seen new solutions to help complement services in the industry.  It is interesting to see the amount of Device Management solutions in the market that help to track and manage devices but it is also intriguing to see new solutions from the Output management side also coming into play that help customers further reduce their costs around print.  Two fairly new solutions are Preton’s PretonSaver and Adobe’s LeanPrint solutions.  Although they are very different methodologies for output management software solutions, they both can help organization’s reduce the amount of toner utilized for printing documents which in turn can save them lots of money.

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A First Look at Landa

Before I left for drupa 2012, I wrote a blog about what I thought would be the top stories. Benny Landa’s nanography was at the top of the list and I can confirm now, after nearly a week here, that his new company and products are the most talked about development at the show. Last Wednesday, the day before drupa 2012 opened, Landa Corporation held its first press conference. In an amphitheater packed with trade industry journalists and market analysts, Benny Landa stood in front of two of his designs, a cut-sheet B2-format Landa S7 and a web-fed (52 centimeter/20.47 inch) Landa W50. These printers are part of a seven-product portfolio of Landa-branded products, most of which support up to eight colors. Now after months of anticipation and rumor,  the Landa strategy has been unveiled to the world.

Landa drupa 2012 signage example

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