Printing Industry News Digest No.74, October 22, 2011

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 74, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, packaging, digital and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week's key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline. Do also take a look at our automated Twitter-based GenesisNews Print Daily publication; why not take out a free subscription for a daily digital delivery!

We begin this week with a focus on publishing and publishing issues: where else to start but with the recent Ifra Expo still fresh in the mind. WAN-IFRA’s annual update has detailed that whilst printed newspaper circulation is certainly down on a world-wide basis, this is more than made up for by the increase in digital audiences. The Australian backs up these claims on a more local level.

Book publishers have undoubtedly been watching Amazon closely over recent years, but this post looks at how invasive the company has become in the publishing world, as it now seeks to bring top authors on board.

InPublishing asks the question about Apple’s Newsstand: is it the answer to every publishers dreams? A cross between an app and a folder, Newsstand is designed in a similar style to the iBooks bookcase. Can it deliver?

QR codes are an often visited publishing topic here at PIND. This week we look at a posting that outlines when you shouldn’t use QR codes.

The Association of Online Publishers tenth annual summit is also reviewed by the team at InPublishing, as questions about paid for content, data management, and quantity of readers are examined.

Crossing between publishing and technology, best known for its web blog Engadget is just launching its first digital magazine. The first edition of Distro traces the origins of the iPhone 4S.

On the subject of Apple, the Guardian has been looking at what some might consider a dated but still interesting question: how Apple eclipsed Microsoft.

If you are an Android phone fan you might dismiss such talk as all in the past. You might also still hanker after an iPhone. Here is an Android app just made for you: Espier Launcher makes your Android phone look just like iOS!

Talking of Android, one of the topics of the week has been the announcement of Android 4.0 – the software that aims to bring together the phone and tablet versions of the operating system. Code named Ice Cream Sandwich, we look at what this latest release brings to the party.

The guys at Wired meanwhile suggest that Google shouldn’t get itself too worried about tablets just yet. Whilst Ice Cream Sandwich might be billed as the unifying OS, the author suggests that tablets are still not a big part of Google’s business.

Further to many news stories recently, the guys at TechCrunch jump on the Kodak bandwagon, suggesting that is really is just a matter of time before this big ship sinks.

Elsewhere on the interesting fringes of print, ThinFilm and PARC demonstrate printable, organic circuitry. Yes, printed electronics are here to stay! PrintWeek adds some further thoughts on the subject as well.

Following on from last week’s PIND examination of both iOS5 and the iPhone 4S we include this week some comment re iCloud in action; initial sales activity for the phone, with some 4 million sales in three days; and an example of how quickly some vendors are snapping into iOS5, with EFI already promoting print capabilities from iOS5 devices.

Finally, do keep checking back to see what will be featured in our next edition, PIND 75. We aim to add details of our next edition this link during the course of the week. For an RSS feed of PIND, copy this link into your feed reader; and click here for the GenesisNews Print Daily – you can even take out a free subscription for this daily news update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology!

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Missed Issue 73, including details of iOS5 and the iPhone 4S? Then simply click here!
Issue 72: Steve Jobs obits; India
Issue 71: Kindle Fire; LabelExpo
Issue 70: HP; KBA; MGi; Kindle



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Printing Industry News Digest No.73, October 15, 2011

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 73, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, packaging, digital and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week's key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline. Do also take a look at our automated Twitter-based GenesisNews Print Daily publication; why not take out a free subscription for a daily digital delivery!

With the world still mourning the death of Steve Jobs, iOS5 makes a timely debut. Have a read up on the major features, and some of the hidden joys, prior to downloading and upgrading your Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod device. The Notifications feature is a very nice addition – a quick summary of all major input sources in one pull down screen; and iCloud is there ready for you to back-up with.

Along with the new operating system, you might even splash the cash and get yourself armed with the new iPhone 4S. What makes the product just that bit more desirable than other models? Steve Wozniak was one of the first in the queue for the new device.

Combine the two together and you get the intriguing addition of Siri, a voice activated assistant [for want of a better description!]. Whilst it is in theory an app only available for the iPhone 4S, the jailbreak community have already been active in the creation of an iPhone 4 version.

It could be that the iPhone is not for you of course: in which case take a look at what Lifehacker describe as the iAndroid home screen – an Android home screen that has been designed to mimic much of the functionality of the iPhone starting panel.

Metro was surprisingly quick off the market with its new iPad app, and it is suggested that it is now available via Apple’s Newsstand within the iStore. The Guardian too has been keen to stake its claim with regard to a iPad focused newspaper, again supposed to be available via the new Newsstand.

Further to our story of last week regarding India’s new budget tablet product, the BBC examines the story in more detail, seeking to find out if there is actually a working product behind the headlines. Meanwhile, jumping onto a similar bandwagon, stories have circulated this week regarding a $130 laptop product for Bangladesh.

Much talk on this side of the water [again] re a high-speed 4G network, with initial auction of the spectrum expected to raise some £3 billion – way short of previous sales (ie, 3G) but then we are not in the most affluent of times right now!

Amazon meanwhile is launching a French language e-reader and Kindle store – yes, the whole Kindle boom has yet to reach the French speaking world!

Newspapers & Technology reminds us that Ifra Expo has been going on this last week, despite the significant downturn in newspaper markets across the world. New press models from Goss, KBA, Wifag, Manugraph and Manroland. Océ has also sold two digital printing systems in Europe.

The BBC examines the dreaded start-up time of a PC, and suggests that things are about to change with the dawn of the ultrabook. We all look forward to the day of the instant start-up!

Almost finally: do you like the idea of all of that free storage via iCloud? Think again! If it’s free storage you like, check out Box [formerly known as Box-net around these parts]. Sign up for its iOS apps and you can get yourself 50Gb of free cloud storage, knocking Apple’s paltry 5Gb into a cocked-hat!

Finally, do keep checking back to see what will be featured in our next edition, PIND 74. We aim to add details of our next edition this link during the course of the week. For an RSS feed of PIND, copy this link into your feed reader; and click here for the GenesisNews Print Daily – you can even take out a free subscription for this daily news update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology!

PIND073

Missed Issue 72, including a collection of Steve Jobs obits? Then simply click here!

Issue 71: Kindle Fire; LabelExpo
Issue 70: HP; KBA; MGi; Kindle
Issue 69: Newspapers; Reader’s Digest



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Printing Industry News Digest No.72, October 8, 2011

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 72, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, packaging, digital and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week's key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline. Do also take a look at our automated Twitter-based GenesisNews Print Daily publication; why not take out a free subscription for a daily digital delivery!

We can’t possibly pass over the major tech news of the week, with the sad and untimely death of Steve Jobs taking headline space the world over. You may well have read some the obituaries that have come your way: throughout this brief salute to his exceptional mind is a selection of articles for you to ponder on.

All too often rancid humour rises to the surface at the time of death of very public figures. This, I do not believe, falls into that category: it made me smile at least. A few years ago we had Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash and Bob Hope. Now we have no jobs, no cash, and no hope… I’ll get me coat. Dan Adler, Farnham, Surrey – a letter to the Guardian.

Back in the wonderful world of print, which would probably look somewhat different today without the world of Jobs and Apple, we return to the show that was LabelExpo. Andy Thomas, editor of Labels & Labelling, provides his overview of the event. Barry Hunt adds his opinion as well.

Other Autumn show activity this last week included an open house event at Apex Digital Graphics, featuring both Ryobi and a range of complimentary technology. Attendees came with a certain degree of optimism, so let us all hope that this means a general improvement in equipment investments.

In a further shout out for print, one blogger investigates what he describes as “The Mythical Paperless World” focusing on why print will stick around. Another blogger highlights two label printers who are making sure that their brand of print survives, and more. These two players have been focused on branded products for a number of years. They are producing label products that secure a specific niche in the market. Our blogger asks the question: why aren’t more printers looking to find unique areas of print/paper business (aka products = profit!).

Also in the same vein, a further blogger chips into the debate under the heading “Because Print Works”, where she focuses on the fact that for certain types of job print is still far and away the best solution.

One very interesting niche story in the world of pre-press this week: still the most cost effective solution for pre-press in the industrial screen printing market is a film imagesetter. Where do you go when yours has gone its distance? Marlowe Graphic Services has plenty for you to select from! Harlequin Transfers were in exactly that position. The company creates transfers for the pottery market.

As some form of homage to Mr Jobs, we will point you towards a recent Guardian technology feature that suggests that the iPad will continue to dominate the tablet market until at least 2015.

One geographical exemption to that might be in India where the same source advises us this week that a new £30 device being put together by a British company is set to revolutionise this huge market. If Datawind can succeed in getting even a fraction of the 220 million target market of Indian children online the project would surely be deemed a winner!

For our friends in the graphic design world, Twitter chum Natalie has pointed us towards these ten tips to help you produce a stunning print portfolio.

Finally, do keep checking back to see what will be featured in our next edition, PIND 73. We aim to add details of our next edition this link during the course of the week. For an RSS feed of PIND, copy this link into your feed reader; and click here for the GenesisNews Print Daily – you can even take out a free subscription for this daily news update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology!

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Want to read issue 71, including a view on Amazon’s introduction of the Kindle Fire? Then simply click here!



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Printing Industry News Digest No.71, October 1, 2011

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 71, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, packaging, digital and communications technology sectors. PIND incorporates brief summaries and links to the week's key news stories so that you can look up that all important detail, digging deeper behind the headline. Do also take a look at our automated Twitter-based GenesisNews Print Daily publication; why not take out a free subscription for a daily digital delivery!

It’s the Autumn show and open house season, with LabelExpo taking pride of place this last week, and Xeikon capturing plenty of attention with an order from Mercian Labels for a 3300 digital label press. The machine will bolster the Cannock based company’s range of production facilities that are being used to create an exciting array of specialised label products, including LabelLock®™ seals, Gammatex®™ radiation indicators, high volume variable data and barcode labels, bespoke high security label seals and short-run custom printed labels. Printers: do note these bespoke printed products! Whilst Mercian Labels print labels, they have opened a number of specialised niches for themselves with these highly focused (and copyrighted!) label products.

Coming this next week, UK print businesses might like to put Tuesday or Wednesday in their diary for a visit to the Apex Digital Graphics Autumn Open House taking place in Hemel Hempstead. Perhaps the offset press of the year for 2011, the SRA1 format Ryobi 920, will feature, along with a wide range of other print related product, such as the ECRM DPP1200 colour digital printer. This unit is being showcased alongside Morgana’s CardXtra Plus small format trimming device. This pair of products can provide printers with a turnkey solution to making instant print money, with call-and-wait business being produced in minutes. The event will also feature the production of limited edition Japanese artwork that will be sold to raise money for tsunami victims.

The week just gone can be noted for the announcement from Amazon of its Kindle Fire tablet device. The 7-inch Android based machine (as mentioned last week in PIND) is likely to be offered in the UK at around £120 – a bargain buy compared with other recent tablet introductions. Why so affordable? Amazon is looking for follow-on business: they have products that are highly suited to a tablet device, including music and books. They also have a huge volume of credit card detail in their system already, as well as wonderfully sophisticated database information on what you have purchased from them. A tablet can glue all of that together. Many see the model as providing the most credible competition to Apple yet.
Certainly many tech companies have struggled to keep pace with the likes of Amazon and Apple. Nokia is one that appears to have fallen seriously behind. Further fuel to these rumours this week with news that some 3,500 jobs are going.

In the magazine world Next Issue Media has been shouting about the fact that putting magazines into tablet form is not just about sticking some words on the web. The important thing is to create differentiation: get the page doing things that can’t be done in print. Focusing on this point moves publishing on to produce better products for consumers, not just consider making better margins for themselves!

With regard to real-world production inkjet kit, the important point of focus is on the printhead technology being used. This link to Digital Publishing Solutions focuses on just that point.

Best browser? We regularly offer readers the very latest test results from leading tech blog sites on browser performance. Not wishing to break such a good habit, the latest such results from the good folk at Lifehacker are here, and they indicate that Opera 11.51 is now stealing a march on its rivals.
Nearly lastly, another set of info worth keeping tabs on is what other folk include in their top iPad apps list: this top 50 is from the tech team at The Guardian newspaper.

Finally, do keep checking back to see what will be featured in our next edition, PIND 72. We aim to add details of our next edition this link during the course of the week. For an RSS feed of PIND, copy this link into your feed reader; and click here for the GenesisNews Print Daily – you can even take out a free subscription for this daily news update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology!

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Want to read issue 70, including a view on the iPhone’s enviable brand loyalty? Then simply click here!



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