In a new essay at EFF.org, Cory Doctorow re-visits HP’s anti-consumer “security updates” that disabled third-party ink cartridges (while missing real vulnerabilities that could actually bypass network firewalls). Doctorow writes that it was just the beginning: HP’s latest gambit challenges the basis of private property itself: a bold scheme! With the HP Instant Ink program, printer owners no longer own their…
Tag: printing
Why Do Printers Still Suck?
Just when we need them the most, with print shops locked down, online schooling in session, and everyone working from home, they fail to step up. From a column: Printers have been my enemy ever since I can remember. My first office job involved an evil printer that suffered daily paper jams. Tasked with fixing it, I suffered frequent burns and…
WeWork Employees Used an Alarmingly Insecure Printer Password
A shared user account used by WeWork employees to access printer settings and print jobs had an incredibly simple password — so simple that a customer guessed it. From a report: Jake Elsley, who works at a WeWork in London, said he found the user account after a WeWork employee at his location mistakenly left the account logged in. WeWork customers…
Google Photos Revives Its Prints Subscription Service
Google Photos is reviving its photo printing subscription service and introducing same-day prints. The company earlier this year had briefly tested a new program that used A.I. to suggest the month’s 10 best photos, which were then shipped to your home automatically. But Google ended the test on June 30. From a report: During the trial, Google had offered users a…
Here Comes the Internet of Plastic Things, No Batteries Or Electronics Required
An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: When technologists talk about the “Internet of Things” (IoT), they often gloss over the fact that all these interconnected things need batteries and electronics to carry out the job of collecting and processing data while they’re communicating to one another. This job is made even more challenging when you consider that many…
Engineers Have Figured Out How To Make Interactive Paper
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Engineers at Purdue University have created a printing process by which you can coat paper or cardboard with “highly fluorinated molecules.” This then makes the coated paper dust, oil, and water-repellent, meaning you can then print multiple circuit layers onto the paper without smudging the ink. According to a paper the engineers published…
Thin-Skinned Solar Panels Printed With Inkjet
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Solar cells can now be made so thin, light and flexible that they can rest on a soap bubble. The new cells, which efficiently capture energy from light, could offer an alternative way to power novel electronic devices, such as medical skin patches, where conventional energy sources are unsuitable. Until now, ultrathin organic…
Reviewer Calls Linux-based PinePhone ‘the Most Interesting Smartphone I’ve Tried in Years’
A review at the Android Police site calls Pine64’s new Linux-based PinePhone “the most interesting smartphone I’ve tried in years,” with 17 different operating systems available (including Fedora, Ubuntu Touch, SailfishOS, openSUSE, and Arch Linux ARM): There’s a replaceable battery, which is compatible with batteries designed for older Samsung Galaxy J7 phones. It’s good to know that even if PinePhone vanished…
Argos To Stop Printing Catalogue After Almost 50 Years
Argos is to stop printing its catalogue after almost 50 years, as the buying bible once found in three-quarters of British homes becomes yet another victim of the inexorable move to online shopping. From a report: More than 1bn copies of the bi-annual catalogue have been printed since its launch in 1973, and at its height it was Europe’s most widely…
Scientists Are 3D Printing Miniature Human Organs To Test COVID-19 Drugs
Scientists are conducting preliminary tests of COVID-19 drugs using 3D printed human organs, eliminating the need to perform tests on animals, or, of course, humans. The Week reports: For example, Anthony Atala, the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and his team are using 3-D printers to create tiny replicas of human organs, including miniature lungs and colons,…