ParisLemon

Do you still print things out? Do you own a printer? I ask because it's 2013 and I still can't believe how frustrating printer software and "drivers" still are. No improvement whatsoever in 10 years. Where's the company that does for printers what Dyson did for vacuum cleaners?

Asked by Anonymous

I actually ran into this problem today — being forced to print something out with no printer around. The solution is Kinkos, which is ridiculous.

I do own a printer (that came bundled with an iMac I bought way back when) but it has been out of ink for months. To me the hassle to replace the ink just to use it once in the next six months outweighs the benefit.

The solution is pretty obvious though: everything you need to print out now should be completely digital in the next couple of years. I already sign documents without printing them out, get movie tickets without printing them out, get boarding passes without printing them out, etc. We’re almost there.

Now 3D printers on the other hand…

Selling Ink To The Inkless World

Quentin Hardy for The New York Times takes a look at HP’s tough road ahead:

Printer cartridges were once responsible for over 90 percent of H.P.’s profits, but they face increasing competition from lower-price suppliers. Consumers are also using their printers less because many of the things they used to print routinely, like maps and boarding passes, are on smartphones.

90 percent?! Think about HP’s entire catalog of products and how insane that is. Suddenly, HP sounds like the Middle Eastern empire that is scrambling to figure out other businesses for when the oil is gone.

I’m also reminded of this.