A printer for people who work while bathing

Some cynical types might question the need for a waterproof printer, but we think the reason is obvious: What else would one use to print from an underwater monitor after having received a deep-sea text message with links to undersea videos taken while listening to a scuba-diving MP3 player?

No, this 3-inch printer from South Korea's Woosim doesn't make sense to us either, as described by Red Ferret, but neither do a lot of other aquatic electronics. It's also not clear whether the device is submersible but, given the demand for other underwater gear, that probably wouldn't be such a bad idea. If not, maybe it's been designed to print onsite tickets for the orca exhibit at SeaWorld.

Via Crave CNET

A printer that "hangs" on you

Right next to the Blow-up Mouse, this one gets our vote for going where no printer has gone before--right over the edge, literally. Once again, it's the Koreans thinking out of the box, with designers Jin Hee Kim, Hyung Il Kim & Woo Seok Park conceptualizing the, erm, Hanging Printer. While the name isn't terribly original, the idea of hiding the bulk of the inkbox under the desk is, with only the paper feed and printhead visible on the table. Which makes this one less clutter on our already overcrowded desktop. Now all it needs is to get into production.

Via Yanko Design

The stretch limo of printers

Looking for a fast printer? If you happen to have 33ft of wallspace and a spare US$280,000 lying around, this may be the perfect one for you.

The Canon ImagePress C6000 can print up to 70 pages a minute at 1,200-dpi resolution, according to OhGizmo, with a capacity for 10,000 sheets of paper. To achieve that insane rate, this monster needs a built-in computer of its own with a 10.4-inch LCD, 800MHz processor, 1.5GB of memory, and 80GB hard drive.

Still, we remain unimpressed. For that kind of money, it should make a decent latte.

Via Crave CNET

HP launches smallest laser printer yet

Is your tiny desk space making you feel down? Do you have secret desires to dismember that elephantine piece of crap your IT department calls a laser printer? Well, you can stop popping those Valium pills because HP has just launched its smallest laser printer to date, the LaserJet P1005.

Taking up about the same area as a 15.4-inch notebook, this printer claims to be able to push out its first copy in under 8.5 seconds (from the PowerSave mode) with an average speed of 14 pages per minute. It uses a special ink developed by HP--formed from perfectly spherical particles--which should give better image quality over other inks.

This printer is available in Singapore now for S$209 (US$139.86). The replacement cartridge goes for S$95 (US$63.57) each. With the exception of Malaysia, China, the Philippines and India, other Asian countries will be retailing this unit soon.

Zero ink printing cometh soon

Polaroid of the instamatic cameras is finally making one of our most fervent wishes come true, that is ink-less printing. Not less ink, mind you, but no ink. All of which is excellent news to consumers like us who've oft lamented over the highway robbery cost of ink cartridges. Fuel prices aren't the only things hurting our pockets. So how does all this ink-free printing work?

According to the literature, Polaroid's pocket-sized Zink (zero ink?) printers use advanced heat-reactive crystals impregnated into the paper that remain colorless, until they are heated. This is where the magic happens. Precisely targeted heat pulses of specific duration and temperature from the Zink printer stimulate the crystals into corresponding hues for a full color print.

The best part? These printouts are water-, heat-resistant and durable to boot. Can't wait, particularly if this turns out to be pocket-friendly in more ways than one!

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