News for July 2010
Does Everyone Need a Portable Printer Scanner?
Having a portable printer scanner offers the benefits of having a printer and a scanner with you wherever you go. This is certainly a boost compared to portable printers and portable scanners. If the question was changed into “Does everyone want a portable printer scanner?” then the answer will be very simple. It will be a yes because everyone wants something new and a portable gadget that is both a printer and a scanner is certainly something you don’t see every day.
Benefits of a Portable Printer
A portable printer certainly has a lot of uses especially if you are in a profession that requires you to travel a lot. Most people who will find this useful are traveling businessman, salesmen and photographers. Fortunately, for people like these, portable printers that are recently released offer printing speeds and resolutions compared to that of a standard desktop. The latest mobile printer released by Canon, the Pixma iP100, offers a resolution of 2400 x 9600 dots per inch. This makes great for printing photos as well as sharing them. The one released by HP currently has the highest printing speed for a mobile printer, which is at 22 pages per minute. All these features come in sleek design, which makes it very easy to store in the luggage.
Benefits of a Portable Scanner
Unlike a portable printer, the need for a scanner is not as frequent compared to a printer. Of course, there are professions that will require you to scan documents wherever you go. However, in cases where a lot of documents need to be scanned, there is usually an office involved and most offices have their own scanners. The smallest scanner in the world is about the size of a pen and you can scan any document on a flat surface. You can scan pictures, papers, IDs. It is certainly very handy whenever the need to scan something arises. However, how often does that need come up?
Needs versus Wants
A portable printer scanner is one gadget that is not very common. Most people are caught up with the hype of new things, like who’s got the latest gadget or who’s got the better gadget. We need to establish that what we need is different from what we want. Most gadgets that are coming out in the market today are expensive and sometimes luxurious. One point to consider though is that when we really need something, sometimes the price becomes reasonable. So it is important that we buy such things out of need. More often than not, most customers buy these types of gadgets, using them frequently for the first few weeks and ending up at home along with the other gadgets.
A portable printer certainly offers the advantages of having a printer and a scanner and having them with you whenever you need them. However, these features always come at an additional price. Unless you travel a lot and your job entails you to print and scan at the same time, having a portable printer scanner is nothing more than a luxury.
Mr. Johnson specializes in finding the best portable printer and scanner for personal and professional use. Choosing a printer that can also scan is not something that should be taken lightly as the wrong choice will not only make the task a pain, but it will also be a waste of your time and money. For help in choosing the right scanner and printer combo for your purpose come visit http://www.smallportableprinter.com.
Edited: July 29th, 2010
Repairing and Servicing the HP DesignJet Printer and Plotter
It seems only yesterday that HP introduced their first large scale poster plotter to the IT world – but in fact the year was 1997.
The DesignJet 2500 was the first in a long line of HP Plotters, which enable the printing of high quality documents in large scale. The technical issue of feeding large sheets of paper and storing and delivering the required high volumes of ink had been finally overcome. Since 1997, the products have become ever more sophisticated, coping with both improved quality and print speed that the modern user demands.
The DesignJet 2500 was followed up by the DesignJet 3500 whose unique feature was that it was able to print onto paper widths of 54 inches using the ink jet method of printing and since then the quality and performance of the HP DesignJet range has continued to be enhanced and improved.
One of the biggest issues for users of these machines has been the Total Cost of Ownership of these high initial investment business tools. The initial cost is of course the major investment, but the ongoing cost of keeping these machines running in terms of maintenance and ink can also be significant.
For this reason many organizations will often contract with a specialist supplier of plotters to look after their mission critical “super-printers” – and these contracts often specify response and fix times so that users can be assured that their plotter will not be down for too long in the business day. The cost of these contracts can be very modest when compared to paying the one-off charges of those same companies when they are invited to attend on an ad-hoc basis.
When working on an ad hoc non-contracted basis there is usually no question of a guaranteed response time, guaranteed fix time, or a replacement plotter pending repair. For most organizations a maintenance contract should be an essential part of their business continuity program.
In addition to routine maintenance it also makes sense to service a plotter at least once a year depending on the volume of printing and irrespective of whether there are any immediate issues. An annual service allows the pro active management of plotters ensuring less down times on a planned and managed basis. Often these routine visits can be secured at a reasonable cost if taken out at the same time as the more traditional maintenance contract.
In addition to maintenance and support services it is also important to find a good value but reliable supplier of the ink cartridges associated with your HP Plotter – very often the company which maintains your plotter will also supply the ink at competitive prices to ensure your loyalty and it often pays to ask them about supply before you shop around and commit to an unknown and potentially unreliable supplier.
When selecting a suitable company to support a plotter it is important to get some idea of their performance and learn what percentage of their site visits end in a complete fix – as well as the length of time to make the fix. Also try to get some recommendations and testimonials from other customers to ensure that the performance does live up to the promise.
The author is owner of HpPlotter.co.uk. For more information on HP plotter service contracts, maintenance, and consumables visit http://www.hpplotter.co.uk
Edited: July 27th, 2010
A Guide To Ultrasonic
Ultrasonic generally refers to acoustic frequencies above twenty thousand hertz, which is the upper limit of human hearing range. These frequencies are however audible to certain animals such as mice, bats, dolphins, and dogs that have a higher hearing range as compared to humans. The human inability to hear ultrasonic sound waves is caused by the middle ear that acts as a low-pass filter.
Humans would have been able to perceive ultrasonic sound waves if these waves could somehow be directed into the skull bone to reach the cochlea without passing through the middle ear. Deep-sea divers who are exposed to high frequency sonar signals above fifty thousand hertz sometimes experience this effect known as ultrasound hearing.
Ultrasonic sound waves form a part of many devices used in industrial and medical sectors. The most commonly used device is an ultrasound machine that is used in the treatment of benign and malignant tumors via a process known as ultrasound surgery (FUS) or high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Medical research conducted to study the effects of ultrasonic waves on the human body suggests that the waves have the ability to stimulate bone-growth and has the potential to disrupt the blood-brain barrier for drug delivery.
Industrial devices also use ultrasonic sound waves to locate microscopic flaws in materials such as metal parts and plastics. Ultrasonic frequencies used in these devices usually range from two to ten mega hertz. Ultrasonic sound waves used in cleaning devices are usually in the range of twenty to forty kilohertz. These are generally used for cleaning jewelry, optical parts, watches, dental instruments, and surgical instruments.
Advanced research work is currently underway to develop a system for producing a phenomenon called sonoluminescence that has the potential to enable nuclear fusion reaction. This will provide a safe and cheap means of producing electricity and will help in solving energy problems faced by countries worldwide.
Ultrasonic provides detailed information on Ultrasonic, Ultrasonic Transducers, Ultrasonic Cleaners, Ultrasonic Nebulizers and more. Ultrasonic is affiliated with Electronic Test Equipment [http://www.i-TestEquipment.com].
Edited: July 25th, 2010