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.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.

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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



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

Printing Industry News Digest No.133, February 9, 2013

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 133, 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.

Two interesting news items from print’s heavy metal brigade this week. Firstly, KBA advised the world that a 2.5% price increase in its presses was going to solve all of its problems: questionable for sure! And then on Friday, Heidelberg posted its “strongest third-quarter operating result since 2007/08.” Sounds impressive until you realise that this still leaves the business some 32 million Euro’s in red ink YTD. Where to next for the big machinery boys?

InPrint came to our attention this week: an exhibition for the world of industrial print. This is a sector that we never fully appreciated in all honesty. However, a glance through the overly wordy definition of the title should be enough to make anybody involved in print sit up and take notice. Such a show spreads a pretty wide net, and certainly includes the wonders of printed electronics and 3D printing – two topics that we have spent time and words on in recent months. The show is set for Hannover, Germany and happens next year from April 8 to 10 2014: plenty of time to get your thoughts together on this massive topic.

Want some Google? Eric Schmidt is going to sell £1.6 billion worth of it during the course of the next year – that’s 42% of his stake. His estimated 7.6 million shares in the company represent 2.3% of Google's outstanding stock. On the subject of popular shares, LinkedIn stock has soared 19.2% on the back of some juicy earnings.

Least surprising news of the week? Following the recently reported chunky hand-out from Google to French publishers, the rest of Europe’s media wants some too. No such concerns in the US, as online subscriptions carry on increasing for the New York Times.

While the Guardian is happy to give out advice on how you might access the internet with your tablet, analysts are telling us that tablets will outsell notebooks in France this year. Mashable meanwhile is keen to offer suggestions on what to do with your old tablet.

On the subject of how to get online, the UK’s 4G network is gradually growing this year, with some 27 more towns coming on-stream, expanding the total to 65 conurbations.

Ready to get in line for Mailbox? Well, its getting nearer to reality, but it seems that if you want to be in a position to test the delights of Mailbox, already being touted as the best Gmail client for iOS, then you will need to join a pretty lengthy queue. We think we will wait until its finished.

Android Tips: Having brought you the delights of Nova Launcher last week, we feel wholly obliged to show you just what you can do with it this week. In doing so we are entirely indebted to Thand and his Holo Cards posting via Lifehacker. This minimalist Android theme really caught our eye. Hopefully it does the same to you. Our use of the theme is not 100% as yet, and most interpretations probably won’t be: we all have out unique needs after all. Firstly, ours has been adapted for a Nexus 7, meaning that six dock names can be used. If you just like the square app boxes, you can pick those up by downloading the Minimal MIUI Go Apex theme. Full instructions for the Holo Cards theme are here.

Those readers enthused to attempt the creation of something similar should note that the use of names rather than icons in the dock is so much more than it looks. The names are actually just links to another screen-page. Rather than launching an app, they just transport the user to a new screen of apps to select from. The nine squares in the main screen are app launchers in traditional sense – they just have no name labels displayed. The whole exercise of changing the theme and way of working Android is very educational in our opinion. Try it – you might enjoy it!

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.

PIND133    

Missed Issue 132, including Morgana turns Swedish? Then simply click here!

Issue 131: Kodak out of IPEX
Issue 130: Start of Android Tip Series
Issue 129: Educational publishing



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

Printing Industry News Digest No.131, January 26, 2013

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 131, 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.

After a relatively quiet start to 2013 big stories have started to break this week. Just yesterday, Kodak announced that it was not going to be showing at next year’s IPEX event in London. Not the first big name to withdraw, questions might well be asked about the exhibition format. More news expected in the coming weeks.

Two heads are better than one? That might be the thinking behind news announced earlier this week regarding a possible agreement between Japanese offset-press manufacturers Ryobi and Mitsubishi. Discussions are taking place between the two, with a deadline set of June 30 for a final agreement.

Jobs cuts have been announced at the Financial Times. Some 25 jobs are at risk as the paper seeks to shift its focus and resources to online from the printed paper edition.

An optimistic post from Mashable on the wonders of print! “Why Printed Books will Never Die” sounds like a good read!

You have probably realised most of these, but here are eight ways in which 3D printing is different from printing (One: its in three dimensions . . . !). Printing a phone case is certainly something that your average print engine might struggle with.

Two articles that caught our attention last weekend: Don’t Mourn HMV says that there are better ways of finding music, and that small, specialist music shops will still survive; Every Company is up for Disruption focuses on keeping a focus on simple products, entering a market at the bottom. The two articles actually do connect rather well in our opinion, and might set some thoughts in motion.

There is a lot of guidance coming forth from some of our regular feed reads this week: you might like to scan through a few. How about 10 Good Tech Habits for starters; Fix the Internet’s Biggest Annoyances for a second; Four Social Media Lessons; and Six Blogging Mistakes as highlighted by Mashable. It might also be worth having a look at Eight Great Technologies Benefit from £600m in Government Funding as highlighted by The Guardian.

Android / iOS Tip: Adding a 3G network to a low-cost Android tablet always seems a little excessive. Indeed many models don’t even offer that as an option. Our Google Nexus 7 has no such facility for sure: but wait! Most smartphone users already have the ability to transfer their 3G capability from phone to tablet. If you are an iPhone user, check out the Personal Hotspot facility (under Settings). Basically, it will switch you to 3G mode and allow that 3G capability to be ported to another device. This can be done wirelessly: once you have switched the feature on at the phone, check your tablets list of wi-fi availability – you should find an iPhone option there. Your iPhone will advise you of the password. Key that in to get your link going. We have achieved a slightly better signal on the Nexus 7 by connecting the standard cable from the iPhone with the USB end hooked into an OTG cable that clips into the tablets mini-USB port. OK, this form of tethering only transfers the 3G signal from one device to the other, but this can be a significant benefit. Small phone screens can be hard to use for extended period of time. Seeing the bigger picture on a seven-inch screen is easier on the eye.

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.

PIND131    

Missed Issue 130, including our first Android Tips item? Then simply click here!

Issue 129: Educational publishing
Issue 128: RSS news readers
Issue 127: manroland to close Plauen



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