Printing Industry News Digest No.110, August 25, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 110, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, 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.

Kodak takes the late-comers top spot this week following yesterday’s revelations regarding the bits of the business it wants to offload in the great sell off. Following the less than successful patents sale, the company now wants rid of film and its “personalised imaging” and “document imaging” businesses – which are not the print-focused bits, even though it sounds very much like it! It seems to comprise in-store photo printing kiosks and those annoying picture-taking systems at theme parks that snap you eyes-tight-shut and open-mouthed as you round the last corner of the ride of death. Read the links; more will surely follow.

Elsewhere the web printing part of the Alderson Brothers Print Group appears to have fallen on hard times, or is banking with the wrong bankers, depending on which version of the story you wish to believe. We hope it’s the bankers fault; we like Pete and Ron.

In the world of publishing the HarperCollins Chief Exec has been using the description “multimedia content providers” to describe the business. Needs further investigation!

Further to last week’s rumours, iPad Mini appears to have gotten itself a release date, if you believe everything you read. Our concerns about the probably size of this “mini” still remain.

Also further to our extensive Tablet Talk last week, we have noted a general trimming of Android tablet prices in all areas of the market. A visit to the local HMV store was followed by a stroll through the pages of Amazon. These views confirmed our thoughts that the arrival of the Google Nexus 7 has set new pricing levels for Android product right across the board. Seven, eight, nine and ten-inch Android tablets are now being heavily discounted to bring them into the same price arena as the Nexus, many dropping below the £200 mark, and closer to £150, in order to remain competitive.

Samsung might generally still be expecting higher returns, but then they have big bills to pay right now too! If you are going the wrong side of £300 for a ten-inch tablet you need very good reason not to be going the whole hog and buying an iPad, in our opinion.

These are virtually all Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich / ICS) based too, which really is the final nail in the coffin for earlier versions: retailers might as well give them away! You, being an avid reader of PIND and other tech info, would not be seen dead with one for sure, unless there was an obvious and immediate upgrade path.

For those of you that have also invested your pocket money in Google Nexus 7, here are a couple of web based forums that you might like to stick your name on. Generally quite good info, and answers to the questions that you didn’t know you had.

Keep your finger on the pulse: grab an RSS feed of PIND (copy this link into your feed reader); click here for the GenesisNews #Print Daily to get the latest daily stories; or click here for regular Tech & Comms updates in blog or RSS form. You can also connect to a free subscription of the Print Daily for an update on print, publishing, packaging and associated technology delivered straight to your in-box every day! For details on Genesis Marketing – publishers of PIND – click here.

PIND110    

Missed Issue 109, including Heidelberg IPEX exit? Then simply click here!

Issue 108: Kodak Patents
Issue 107: Olympic Print
Issue 106: Mountain Lion Launch




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Printing Industry News Digest No.104, July 14, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 104, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, 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.

In what might appear to some to be taking a leaf out of the British bankers books, Kodak executives seem, according to reports this week, to be keen to pay themselves nice chunky bonuses for jobs well done (while creditors remain unpaid, of course). Do please read right though to the comments section at the bottom of the page: you will surely find it tremendously entertaining. Thoughts and comment in e-mail form to PIND.Editor@gmail.com by all means.

Following up on last week’s news on printed electronics, PrintWeek has reported on the funding package that has been secured by The Centre for Process Innovation.

It was a great pleasure in early July to be present at a PrintWeek briefing delivered by the legendary Frank Romano, professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Whilst Drupa focused, Frank also offered his thoughts on the various sectors of print production: where they are right now, and where they were heading. A summary of the event now appears on the PrintWeek web site.

In the same vein as Frank’s industry snapshot, a report that came to our attention this week summarising the current state-of-play in the business-to-business magazine sector. Whilst there are, of course, problems, the report focuses on the changes that have had to be made in order for success. One b-2-b publication in the print world that still manages to hold its head up high is Labels & Labeling, so it was good to see this week that the chairman of publisher Tarsus Group, Neville Buch, has been recognised.

The big number crunchers at Nielsen have provided data this week to support all of that: magazine advertising down 1.4%; internet ads up 12.1% in Q1. Meanwhile Next Issue has delivered a new digital magazine package for readers, providing a great big chunk of publications for your pleasure at an all in price.

The New York Times meanwhile highlights the fact that time really is running out for newspapers to change their game and get on the digital boat before it sails.

At PIND we love positive news, and there can be little more on the plus side than this story from Austria, where a town has effectively created its own library through the use of QR codes. It is suggested that the QR code near the local police station could wiz you off to the text of Arthur Schnitzler's The Killer, but we suspect that this is just journalistic imagination!



In tablet talk you just can’t get away from the Google Nexus 7 as the first orders start to arrive. The Guardian provides this week’s review of the product. We have managed to keep our money in our pocket here at PIND for now.

The big comms story of the week – though we do try to steer clear of phones here at PIND – has to be the serious outage at O2. The reasons are focused on here, but, in a more general sense, this has to be a major concern as we rely more and more on our digital kit. It follows hot on the heels of the serious bank computer problem at Nat West. Reliable and effective back-up solutions, with a tried and tested disaster recovery plan, have to be top priority.

And nearly finally, we feel the need to make mention of Microsoft again. They tell us this week that late October is the likely time-frame for the official release of Windows 8. Can’t wait.

Finally, 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 update on print, publishing, packaging news and associated technology!

PIND104

Missed Issue 103, including printed electronics developments? Then simply click here!

Issue 102: British banking
Issue 101: Microsoft Surface
Issue 100: newspaper news



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Printing Industry News Digest No.102, June 30, 2012

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 102, providing a summary of major news items from the printing, publishing, 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.

We have to start this week with British banks. Not as focused as our normal subject matter I know, but no business, and virtually no individual can function without a bank account. How have we allowed British banks, therefore, to become so apparently morally corrupt and incompetent? Even the leader of the Labour party has criticised them! This has been one crazy week. I say one: for two weeks now one major organisation has not been able to sort out an upgrade to its computer systems! Barclays, we are now told, has been making up its own inter-bank interest rates, and yet another mis-selling issue has now come to the fore as well, regarding complex packages for small businesses that have led to excessive interest rate charges. Something has to be done and quickly!

I am glad not to be banking with Barclays I have to say, and no, I don’t fancy taking on their PR business either! This year alone we have seen the bank paying a £500 million chunk of tax that it had tried to avoid; an increase in the PPI mis-selling bill to £1.3 billion; this week’s £290 million fine for fixing Libor rates; and all of the flack re Mr Diamond’s reported £17 million annual salary. If the Barclays boss does end up leaving – and that, at time of writing, is only an “if” – he is unlikely to be signing on at the job centre me thinks. He will surely be able to struggle through with his multi-million pound fortune! Are you a Barclay banker like Bob?

Meanwhile, back on planet earth, Forbes is posing the question regarding the death of print: not yet is says. There: one bit of good news for the week! One item brushed on by Forbes is the ability of QR codes to link print in with the internet. Mobile Marketing Watch tells us more about making QR codes work for you.

Printed books are certainly still alive and kicking according the Daily Telegraph. It advises that the “Mommy Porn” book Fifty Shades of Grey has become one of the fastest selling adult paperbacks as it moved swiftly past one million printed copies. In the same breath, it has also whacked up a million sales on Kindle too, illustrating that such publications are not chained to one specific format!

Whilst bankers have been fiddling, Google has been busy with a host of announcements at its own I/O event. Headline act: the 7-inch Google Nexus tablet, which will hit the stores very swiftly. UK launch of two products during the next month! It sounds like a good competitor for the Kindle Fire, which of course we still can’t get on this side of the pond. Basics: 8Gb mid-July £159; 16Gb July 27, £199.

In response, Amazon is strongly rumoured to be launching a 10-inch quad-core tablet, with a late-July release date. PR puff? Could be. Watch this space, or even better, watch Tech&Comms for a daily update on this sort of stuff!

Other Google talk: offline editing for Docs and Drive Apps for iOS and Chrome OS; Chrome browser for iOS; Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Mr Murdoch is splitting the New Corp empire into two businesses: entertainment and media in one pot, and print and publishing in a second. Looks like a smart move, say some, in order to keep the modern, future focused business away from the old print and publishing stuff. “This could not be further from the truth,” says Murdoch. He says that the paywalls for his newspapers are working, and that they are going to be pushed even harder.

Manage a digital print business and have the golf bug? Good news, especially if you are in the Bristol area of the UK! Morgana is launching its Pro Series roadshows with an event in this neck of the woods. Morgana Pro finishing products coupled with a bit of tuition from the golf pro at the Bristol Golf Club, July 24 and 25. Sounding good! Sign up now.

Finally, 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 update on print, publishing, packaging news and associated technology!

PIND102

Missed Issue 101, Including Microsoft Surface launch? Then simply click here!
 

Issue 100: latest newspaper news? 
Issue 99: PIND Drupa 2012 wrap-up
Issue 98: Cloud space offerings compared



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