Toner Cartridge Wind Chimes

On the heels of my last post about inkjet cartridge lamps, I came into work today and was shown a picture of a creation from our resident handy man Ritchie Vallee. Ritch is usually doing some kind of construction work around our Facility in Southbridge, MA or helping out with toner cartridge remanufacturing.

Known to to be able to make just about anything it was no surprise he had found a way to turn a spent toner cartridge into a functional peice of artwork.

The Toner Cartridge Wind Chime is made from a single toner cartridge which from it hangs burnt out drums and Magsleves. While not the prettiest thing to look at, it sounds like a traditional wind chime.

Inkjet Cartridge Lamps

Don't know what to do with those old and empty Epson inkjet cartridges? Well how about making them into a lamp?

For more information about where to get one or for instructions on how to turn your inkjets into lighting fixtures click here.

One billion dollar Apocalypse

A ZD net blogs post from March 16, 2009 states the following: (read the whole article here)

Managed print services (MPS) will make headway in the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan region over the next three years, according to a new report from Springboard Research.

Released Monday, the report noted that the regional MPS market will grow to US $1 billion by 2012

Just in time for what some folks believe will be the end of the world!

The 2012 phenomenon is a range of beliefs and proposals positing that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur in the year 2012.^[1][2] The forecast is based primarily on what is claimed to be the end-date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21 or 23, 2012. Arguments supporting this dating are drawn from a mixture of amateur archaeoastronomy, alternative interpretations of mythology, numerological constructions, and alleged prophecies from extraterrestrial beings.

A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that, during this time, the planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era.^[3] Conversely, some believe that the 2012 date marks the beginning of an apocalypse. Both ideas have been disseminated in numerous books and TV documentaries, and have spread around the world through websites and discussion groups. The idea of a global event occurring in 2012 based on any interpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is rejected as pseudoscience by the scientific community, and as misrepresentative of Maya history by Mayanist scholars.

Xerox expands MPS offering

From Recycler Magazines website

Xerox today announced Enterprise Print Services (EPS), which it says is the first offering to help companies better manage documents across their global print infrastructure - from the office to the in-house print centre to the virtual workplace. With this move Xerox says it is aiming to solidifying its lead in managed print services (MPS).

Xerox EPS reduces the cost of printing, sharing and updating everything from a home worker's 50-page proposal to full-colour brochures in a marketing department. Extending Xerox's MPS offering to give companies a complete view of worldwide print operations, EPS ensures all document output meets budget targets, security policies, and environmental sustainability objectives.

Read the whole article here

Of special note:

"Earlier this year, Xerox also made its MPS offerings available to small and mid-sized businesses through its global network of channel partners. Xerox currently monitors approximately 1.5 million devices from multiple vendors worldwide."

In response I would say click here

HP LaserJet II Party Tricks

Recently while managing the videos for my company's youtube channel I came across a list of six videos called "Laser Jet Tricks" The youtube member "Bowerso" has complied a nice series of videos of someone successfully running things like sand paper, and soda cans through and HP LaserJet II. Simply Hilarious. The videos have been posted in sequence below for your viewing pleasure.

A solution to Crowley's "waste lands"

While reading an article about managed print services at www.graphicartsonline.com I came across a quote from Ed Crowely of the Photizo group saying:

"Many companies have uncontrolled buying of printer supplies, says Crowley, resulting in "waste lands" of obsolete toner supplies crowding corporate closets."

"The ideal environment would have users having as much printing and copying capacity as they need with supplies being delivered only when needed," Crowley said. He noted that outsourcing an imaging fleet to a third-party managed print services provider, such as HP or Xerox, ends up "optimizing the imaging environment and optimizing document workflows."

With the concept of Crowley's "waste lands" in mind please check out the above video for the perfect solution to the "waste lands" problem.

Karma in the Managed Print Services Association

Upon registering my ELSBlogger profile on the new MPSA website I noticed an interesting profile dynamic:

Hits:	0
Online Status:	ONLINE
Member Since:	37 minutes ago
Last Online:	Now
Last Updated:	33 minutes ago
Connections:	-
Total Posts:	0
Rank:	-
Karma:	0
Location:	-
Signature:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Eastern Philosophical concept, wikipedia says:

Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म kárma (help·info), kárman- "act, action, performance"^[1]; Pali: kamma) in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect (i.e., the cycle called saṃsāra) originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist philosophies.^[2]. 'Karma' is an Eastern religious concept in contradistinction to 'faith' espoused by Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), which view all human dramas as the will of God as opposed to present - and past - life actions. In Eastern beliefs, the karmic effects of all deeds are viewed as actively shaping past, present, and future experiences. The results or 'fruits' of actions are called karma-phala.

A concept of karma (along with reincarnation, samsara, and moksha) may originate in the shramana tradition of which Buddhism and Jainism are continuations. This tradition influenced the Brahmanic religion in the early Vedantic (Upanishadic) movement of the 1st millennium BC. Reincarnation was adopted from this religious culture by Brahmin orthodoxy, and Brahmins wrote the earliest recorded scriptures containing these ideas in the early Upanishads.

I am intrigued to know how the MPSA will dish out "Karma points"

Hopefully by walking the correct path within the temples of MPS I wont suffer reincarnation as a laser printer.

Dark Side Of The Bizhub

While pondering the possibilities of the content of my next blog post I found myself tapping a rhythm on my desk as I often do while brainstorming. With music always floating around in my head I had the novel Idea of trying to produce a drum track made entirely from the sounds of a copier. So with that in mind I launched my recording software and with mic in hand proceeded to record numerous sounds from the Konica Minolta Bizhub 451 in our showroom.

I captured some great clicks and clacks, doors opening and closing and sounds from parts of the ADF in addition to beats made from my coffee cup, stapler, canned air and also a tone from my phone.

What transpired next was the arrangement of said sounds into a song which reminded me of Pink Floyd's money in some ways. So I finished out the song by adding a dark synthesizer and some ominous speech outlining the insanity and frustration of a malfunctioning office copier.

So here is my latest office imaging industry related work of music.

"Information Technology" Enjoy!

Please click HERE to listen to the song.

Would you let a baby sell you an MPS Contract?

Here is a paragraph from the latest from Managed Print Services (MPS) by the Photizo Group

"I believe that HP has seen the light and over two years ago started its major move into services – particularly managed print services. With the acquisition of EDS, HP has been able to offer customers a simpler way of managing their IT infrastructure and their printers. The recent announcement of their new MPS division again shows their services orientation."

(emphasis mine)

-- by Mike Huster, Sr. Consultant and Partner, Photizo Group

This is from Greg Walters Death of the Copier Blog

"HP has established a strong leadership position in the growing MPS marketplace, so to have the support of a company of this caliber brings a great deal of credibility to the MPS Conference and validates its importance to the MPS marketplace," said Ed Crowley, CEO and Senior Partner of the Photizo Group, which is hosting the MPS 2009 European Conference."

Two years huh? Must be nice to have a strong leadership position within the MPS marketplace with only two years experience. I suppose a giant brand name and a well known blue logo must cause some people to forget that they are essentially letting a toddler of the mps industry provide their company with a program that did not even exist a few years back.

Would you let a two year old drive your car? Do your taxes? Manage your company?

Then why would you trust one to provide your company with a managed print services program? Regardless of whether its HP, Canon, Ikon, Konica Minolta or one of the other "Big Boys" the fact remains that all of them have less than a decade experience in the MPS industry.

Sure becuase of their size and brand they may have a global presence with accounts all over the world and may very well seem like experts, but are they really? Some of these large companies are going to start going after smaller accounts and SMBs. If your the CEO of such a company again I would like to ask you:

Would you let a two year old drive your car? Do your taxes? Manage your company?

The answer is of course no.

So when your company is ready for an MPS program do your self a favor and think twice before choosing a provider with a big name and a well known logo and instead, do your homework. Chances are you will find (an albeit smaller) company that has far more years of experience in the field than these imaging industry giants who are really babies in regards to managed print services.

HP fumbles toner cartridge recycling

When it comes to toner cartridge recycling HP is a funny animal. The moans and groans that come from said beast over the remanufacturing industry is laughable. Here is a snippet from a recent article from Recycler Magazines website entitled

"California’s ink cartridge recycling programme criticized"

Scott Canonico, Environmental Program Manager for HP said that used cartridges are worse for the environment because they are poorer quality and waste more paper.

"With that waste … any benefits of remanufacturing can easily be offset," he said. "That's why HP has stuck with a single use and recycling model – to deliver on our promise of quality and reliability."

This is funny when you read the rest of the article outlining the epic failure that is HPs ink cartridge recycling program, the article states:

The recycling program was designed to cut down on the amount of plastic and metals being sent to landfill. HP and state officials in California had agreed to ship used HP printer cartridges from state offices to Virginia (on opposite coast of the US) to be recycled.

According to The Sacramento Bee, only about 10 cartridges a year are recycled now using the program. More than 600 were shipped by California’s Department of General Services back to Virginia for recycling, but the newspaper says that none have left the agency's loading dock since March. Jim Butler, DGS' chief procurement officer told the paper that DGS is working on a more environmentally responsible purchasing contract requiring that all new state printers be compatible with remanufactured cartridges.

I find it funny that HP criticizes remanufactured toners as worse for the environment because they are poorer quality and waste more paper.

BS.

Here at ELS we have been remanufacturing toner cartridges for almost 20 years, and over 90% of our MPS customers opt for our remanufactured toners over OEMs for their machines. Our largest customers, companies, colleges or organizations that have 150-300 or more printers under contract can testify to the quality of our remanufactured toners.

you can see more about our green and earth friendly remanufactured toner cartridges here.

You wont find greenpeace spray painting hate mail on our roof. Can't say the same for HP.