Printing Industry News Digest No.137, March 9, 2013

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 137, 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.

Further to last weeks stories of new litho installations, there is one more new press to focus on: Geerings Print has become the latest print business to do its calculations and realise that its not, in the main, a B1 printer but an SRA1 printer! Check out the massive savings that the directors calculated prior to placing an order for a Ryobi 925 with coater. In the digital world The Langham Press has unveiled its MGI Meteor device.

IPEX 2014 continues to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons, with Canon becoming the latest heavyweight to pull out. One digital supplier is going to open their eyes soon and realise that they could make serious mileage out of being the star of this show.

Want a brighter printed future? The team at Duo Media has detailed the results of a survey of industry consultants who were asked for their predictions of the future. One aspect of future print, 3D printing, has taken some interesting turns this last week: 3D print production of a piece of human skull, for example, or a vending solution for small sized 3D printed parts.

I wonder if it includes newspaper publishers getting into education? That’s exactly what News Corp. appears to be doing: tablets for education from Mr Murdoch. Interesting! And if you’re one of us in the over 50 bracket, you might want to know what teenagers get about the internet that us grown up don’t.

Are you a cloud storage fan as yet, or does it still give you an uneasy feeling. Dan Gillmor gives voice to his concerns in an article from the Guardian.

By the way, if you have a tablet that let’s you choose your own favourite browser, you might want to take a look at the latest Opera (available in the Play store). It’s much neater then previous versions and extremely swift in our experience.

Android Tips: Nexus 7 fans have been anticipating the arrived of a dedicated, purpose built docking station for several months from Messrs Google & Co. The good news? It has this week been posted as available for order on Google Play. The even better news [for us at PIND, at least!] is that our order has already arrived - just two days after being placed. Most impressive - especially when the site said to allow at least two weeks from time of order. The less than good news? Word is that stock has already run out!

OK, so now we have your attention at least. A brief hands on review, with as little gloating as is possible, is the least we can do for other Nexus 7 fans. The summary: it's just fine. It does what it says on the tin. It supports the Nexus 7 in landscape mode, charging as it goes if you plug in your standard charging lead into the rear of the base. This does actually leave the original USB-mini socket free and available. Plug an OTG link in there to accommodate a standard USB stick, a keyboard with a wire, or (as in our picture) the business end of a cordless mouse. Presumably it would be possible to connect up a USB hub and plug in all three at one: we don’t have one right now, so we can’t try it.

Enough said I suspect. It is fine, appears to be just as well built as the Nexus 7 itself, and helps to extend the ability of the tablet, giving a pretty reasonable impersonation of a laptop when coupled with said cordless mouse and our favourite Apple Bluetooth keyboard (other keyboards are available!). Any questions?

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.

PIND136    

Missed Issue 136, with news of offset installs? Then simply click here!

Issue 135: PUR binding
Issue 134: Digital publishing
Issue 133: Hard times for heavy metal



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.

Printing Industry News Digest No.135, February 23, 2013

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 135, 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.

PUR perfect binding is in focus with Morgana Systems. Links to three short videos on the products are well worth a look as PUR moves to short-run digital work. The affordable DigiBook 150 is an entry-level hand-fed machine suited to very small quantities.

Meanwhile many companies expressed joy and delight at the recent Hunkeler Innovation days staged in Switzerland. Many are asking if this is this the new way forward for exhibitions. One voice against might come from Packaging Innovations at the NEC, Birmingham, this coming week.

Publishing, meanwhile, takes centre stage in London where the Publishing & Media Expo happens on Tuesday and Wednesday, at Earls Court.

Such a show is more than likely to have a focus somewhere within on self-publishing. The Guardian offers some sharp thoughts on this revolution for writers. Meanwhile, in the US, a David v. Goliath case is launching with three bookstores taking on the might of Amazon and six of the biggest publishers in America. Where’s your $5 on the outcome?! Restraint of trade is the basic point of focus.

What is next for books, asks the Guardian. A good question to go to the above show with perhaps. How about a talking book alongside the readable version? Gigaom imagines this to be a working product via your Kindle.

The 4G mobile network has been much in the news this last week, with the UK government and its wildly optimistic valuation taking centre stage. The guys quickest out of the 4G blocks in UK, now known as EE, do not appear to have taken the country by storm with their offering, which may well have influenced the bidding process. 4G should succeed in the long-run, but try giving us a decent network first and then asking for a hike in monthly subs – otherwise its very much like the kings new clothes!

For those at the techie sharp end it will surely come as no surprise to hear talk of double digit growth in the tablet computer market during this last year. Expectations from Forrester are for that to continue in the coming years with a figure of 55% online adult ownership in Western Europe by 2017. That equates to a whopping 147 million units in case you were wondering!

Some of those should certainly be Google Nexus products by our reckoning. With Google retail stores widely tipped to be on the way in the US, it would be good to see a better promotional push of these most excellent tablets. If a seven-inch form factor (or thereabouts) is on your shopping list, why would you buy anything else? Well, HP is now posing an option that might be worth looking at if you can wait until April . . . a $169 price tag (straight UK conversion: £111.44) is a very reasoned argument for the spec.

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.

PIND135    

Missed Issue 134, with latest on digital publishing? Then simply click here!

Issue 133: Hard times for heavy metal
Issue 132: Morgana turns Swedish
Issue 131: Kodak out of IPEX



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.

Printing Industry News Digest No.134, February 16, 2013

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 134, 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.

Inkling offers an alternative digital publishing environment: competition for Apple and Amazon it would seem. Pearson, DK Publishing and HarperCollins show interest says TechCrunch.

All change at ABC: as digitally published magazines grow in popularity, so reporting stats have to change. Time-honoured ABC circulation figures are now able to point directly to both printed circulation and digital editions. This month marks that change point, and whilst print is still dominant for all leading players, how long will that remain the case we all have to ask.

The Sun to drop its iconic page three? Wouldn’t that be suicide for already dipping circulation figures? Murdoch and suicide don’t go together in our book.
It’s not all plain sailing however. Amazon competitor Barnes & Noble posts further gloomy news re Nook numbers. Publishers too are walking a thin line: Time Warner reportedly looking to sell Time. Hearst meanwhile is going headlong into the digital world.

Ricoh, it is said by the PrintWeek, has launched a digital v. offset calculator. The aim is to help users select the most appropriate printing technology. I wonder where it is weighted? Ricoh makes digital, not offset: a clue?

As a follow up to last weeks heavy metal view, the Australian team at Print 21 publishes its thoughts on Heidelberg’s latest sales figures.

Design for mobile, that a message that was promoted late last year by our friends at ccDotmeter, but it is strongly echoed at Poynter, where the stress is on the disruption for news-based sites. It points out very succinctly that mobile is going to be the dominant platform by next year, meaning that we are already very nearly there!

Want Winston to read you the latest? Great iOS app for reading through the latest news headlines from home, as well as from Twitter and / or Facebook. It’s not perfect yet by any means, but Winston is a great eye opener as to what is possible.

Ways to create multiple Dropbox accounts? We have thought about it, but for now the easier option is surely to create more Google Drive accounts if you want free storage space? Mega has loads too!

Need more than nine browser tabs open at a time? Lifehacker says no need. We are not wholly convinced. OK, you don’t need hundreds, but we tend have to seven pinned tabs in Firefox before we actually start browsing for real (mail, the diary, Twitter, the blog, etc). That leaves room happily for six or seven full sized tab headings as well if needed, which is rarely. Good post to read though!

Android Tips: Not quite so much a pure Android tip this week, more a general tablet talk piece really, and you could say several tips wrapped into one! This week we talk mobile and mobility. Still lugging a heavy, large, and ungainly laptop around with you? Struggling to find a train seat that will accommodate your on-the-go work unit? We just question whether you really need all of that hardware in tow: some will answer an unwavering “yes” to that, others might ponder on an answer and start thinking tablet. Tablets offer various configurations for working on the move. We offer a couple of very useable Android examples for your consideration:

Take Samsung’s 10.1 tablet, add the suppliers own Keyboard Dock station and its USB connector placed into the power slot on the right of the keyboard. Stick in any cordless mouse USB plug and you have a perfect imitation of a DIY laptop. The advantage, of course, is that the tablet separates at any time you like to provide a far more portable unit for swift internet browsing. Type your thoughts into Evernote, connect to your Dropbox account, and create Documents To Go while you travel.

Option 2: Connect just about any Bluetooth driven keyboard to a Google Nexus 7 tablet for a rapid transformation into a mini desktop. A similar USB to mini-USB plug will provide access for your cordless mouse if desired, however, landscape mode would be more successful for this – especially if you are using a cheap and cheerful stand, as shown in our picture. The devices shown really will provide a pocket sized computer for your excursions: the keyboard folds to fit in a jacket pocket, as the Nexus 7 slides into your inside pocket too.

For both of the above, connect to a 3G signal when you need it by tethering your phone’s connection and picking up that network on your tablet device. Mind you, how about doing all of the above on your phone (or should I say "phablet") anyway? Great connectivity focused video via YouTube featuring Samsung's Galaxy Note II phone and a few cables!

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.

PIND134    

Missed Issue 133, with hard times for heavy metal? Then simply click here!

Issue 132: Morgana turns Swedish
Issue 131: Kodak out of IPEX
Issue 130: Start of Android Tip Series



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Printing Industry News Digest No.129, January 12, 2013

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 129, 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.

Publishing has grabbed our attention this week: educational publishing has been put into focus by McGraw-Hill and its digital partner Kno: the future of textbooks is all about being dynamic – a flexible learning tool that develops with the student. Sounds good – unless you are a printer maybe!

The publishing focus continues with the news that printed book sales fell in 2012, but some suggest that they fell more slowly than in previous years. One in twenty printed books sold was by E L James! Is this good? We guess so.

Newspaper and internet publishing has also been in the news in Ireland, with ownership and rights issues being in focus. Should a newspaper charge a site for linking to it? Doesn't sound like good business to us!

Interesting development on the Kodak front as they license the name to JK Imaging for camera and projector production, following on from last years decision to quit the digital camera market.

CES news: Nice little wifi drive from HP – 32Gb and able to send video or audio files to multiple recipients. Also great USB device to turn your old laptop into a touchscreen device with Windows 8. The Nexus 7 dock snuck in the back door too!

Deserving of a mention for sure is this really cool Android Mini PC product. With a reported price tag of just $45 (less than £30) is has to be well worth a play. OK, it needs everything plugged in (monitor, keyboard, mouse), but you probably have a few of these about, especially as Bluetooth is now included on the latest version. Android with a mouse is just fine in our experience!

One thing that has intrigued us for a while is the not so humble watch. Latest variants have popped their heads above the parapet at CES. There is Pebble, which has had plenty of coverage; but also Toshiba; the latest update to I’m Watch doing an iPod Nano impression; and the Martian Passport Watch (?!) now in the fray. Interesting times!

It’s a new year – of course there will be tech predictions . . . ! More focused predictions re Microsoft and 2013 too [do read this one! it really is worth it!]. Mashable adds in five Chinese brands that we will hear more of in 2013. Of course, if you want to know the next big thing, the Guardian says ask a teenager!

On the general software front, Fetchnotes happened our way, and certainly appears to be a good multi-platform, well designed note-taking tool. We will give it a run out and see how it performs, but the question as always with such apps is can they do the job any better than the more general approach of Evernote. We do like the use of hash-tags in Fetchnotes and the nice and simple attach facility: worth a look we think!

Some 1 million Raspberry Pi sales have now been chalked up!

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.

PIND129    

Missed Issue 128, a focus on RSS news readers? Then simply click here!

Issue 127: manroland to close Plauen
Issue 126: Fuji’s JetPress
Issue 125: Death of The Daily



Get your Tech & Comms updates direct from the blog, use the RSS feed, or keep updated via Twitter.