ImageToner

Are you familiar with the feeling of losing your mind when the "low toner" message appears? I am.

Although printing is not free, it is necessary for any business. You need to print invoices, brochures and many other documents to share with your customers or colleagues; so you can't quit on printing.

Looking for solutions to save ink while keep printing the same amount of documents, I found three easy-to-use tools to start saving.

1. EcoFont

Ecofont is a software that turns the most common fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Calibri, Times New Roman and Trebuchet MS into eco-friendly fonts by putting small holes into each letter. This software is available for purchase in their own website and is currently available only for Windows users.

If you don't want to pay for the entire software you can also download for free a font called EcoFont Vera Sans which you can easily install in your computer and start using it across all programs such as Word and Adobe. We have been testing this font and the holes start to be visible when the font is sized 14.

2. GreenPrint

This is a powerful tool to measure and reduce print costs in enterprises and homes.
With this software you can analyze print volume and identify opportunities to save, such as the amount of pages that are being printed in color versus the ones printed in black and white. The software also comes with an Advisor option that will identify the lowest cost printer options and finally it comes with a preView where you can easily manage which pages of a document you want to print, you can also delete images and set the document or only specific pages to print in black & white.

3. Print What You Like

PrintWhatYouLike.com is a website that allows you to take any URL and modify its layout to print only what you want. For example you can delete ads, images, entire sections and so on.

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 Saving ink and toner when printing doesn't have to mean print less, instead, it should start meaning Print SMART.

Weather you are shopping at Walmart, Best Buy or directly from a printer brand’s website, buying a printer can become a big and annoying problem. Mostly because what we see from the outside of the printer is not even a 20% of what the printer really is. Of course, you can always read the specifications sheet that is attached to each printer, but do you really know what you are looking for, in terms of resolution and internal operation?

I was facing a similar problem a few months ago when I was trying to buy a printer from Dell’s Website. I was looking for a color printer that was fast and cheap and that met my small business requirements. I started looking on their website and realized that there was a bunch of information that I didn’t understand, so I decided to investigate and write this easy guide to buy a good printer.

1. Laser or Inkjet?

The Inkjet is the regular liquid ink printer we’ve seen for years. These printers are good but when it comes to speed and printing quality they’re not the best option. On the other hand, Laser printers are faster and give better result in printouts due to their powder toner that doesn’t need time to dry and never leaks. They’re also quieter that Inkjet printers and toner cartridges can print many more pages than regular ink cartridges.

2. Brand?

I did a lot of research to find the best printer brand after deciding that I wanted a laser printer. What I found is that the most common manufacturers of small-medium printers are Dell, Samsung, Xerox and HP; but the decision depends on how much you want to pay and also the reviews of each printer.

3. Only Printing?

There are different types of printers that you can find in the market. The most common ones are the single function printer, which only have the printing option. There are also printers with scanner and multifunctional printers that include fax, printer, scanner and copier. The multifunctional printers are recognized because almost always in the name there are the MFP letters; these ones are better for large-scale use and for offices.

So if you just need to print invoices for your business or papers for college you probably don’t need anything else but a single function printer.

4. Wireless?

Wireless printers have the function to synchronize your printer with other computer using Wi-Fi. Basically what it is for is that if you have more than one computers, you can easily print from all of them without having to plug in any cable, just by configuring it in you Wi-Fi network.

5. Expensive supplies?

It is important to focus also in the cost of printer supplies, sometimes the price of the cartridges exceeds the price of the printer throughout less than a year. There are many different options for buying supplies at excellent prices without compromising the quality of the printouts, such as compatible and remanufactured toner cartridges and other printer parts. Remember to make sure that the supplier is reliable and offer a good warranty. 

Human beings are, among other things, social animals concerned about the people around them. Some psychologists say that one of the basic things that make people happy is helping others.

Hewlett Packard is aware of the significance of involving their employees into social issues, this is why in 2010 they created an employee volunteering program in which their employees are able to use four hours of company time each month to dedicate to volunteer efforts.

All the HP team is high qualified in different field such as technology, engineering, human resources and manufacturing, and all of them skills have a huge value to share them with communities.

Some of the activities that HP employees take part in are pro bono services, serve on nonprofit boards or join company-sponsored volunteer programs.

Such as they say on their website, “HP's goal is to keep growing this program until we're making a meaningful impact for communities in all the countries where we do business.” A good initiative to help people based not only on the money donations but in time and knowledge sharing.