Recent content by noelward

Is AI Real? By Noel Ward, Editor@Large It’s a hot topic: Seats are filled at any conference where AI is on the agenda. Everyone is seeking an edge, an advantage, a way of leveraging AI. At one recent conference most AI presentations were underwhelming, yet all showed potential, even though...

Sideways Because being hacked is not fun By Noel Ward, Editor@Large Some of the most interesting things I hear from printers I visit come up after business hours. I’m sitting with the owner, having a drink before dinner. We’re a bit early so the place is quiet. The person I’m sitting across...

Is Your Press Earning its Keep? By Noel Ward, Editor@Large Digital press makers seem to think the 60-month (or so )lease makes the it feel more like buying a high-end car than investing in a critical piece of business equipment. Sorry, but as one who buys high-end cars used and keeps them for...

I'm not a printer, but I hear things. When i hear the same thing from multiple people there is a certain believability. Canon makes good machines but locks them up so they can be harder to service and get info out of. I find this even on their office-tech presses. But at least you can run 3rd...

How Resilient Are You? By Noel Ward, Editor@Large If you are the proud owner of a digital press you have probably wrestled with the best way of servicing the beast that takes up an inordinate amount of floor space while pulling a monthly nut out of your checking account. While far more...

You're may be right. But there are plenty of business owners who are OK with turning over the keys and walking away with a fatter wallet. While many, even most, care about their business and some may tell me they don't like what a new owner has done, all say something to the affect of, "It's...

The Time has Finally Come By Noel Ward, Editor@Large The look on the sales manager’s face makes you wonder what bomb is about to land on your desk. He just stormed into your office, dropped his briefcase on the floor and collapsed into a chair. You brace for the worst. The saga unfolds as you...

PE: A Promise or a Threat? By Noel Ward, Editor@Large Tuesday afternoon you take a call over the land line. Expressing what seems like genuine interest in your business, the caller wants to schedule a meeting. Sounds as if there might be an offer in the works. Figuring that could scratch an...

It depends on the device and the quality of the image. I find that small toner devices often do a poor to mediocre job of reproducing full-color images like photos, often regardless of the resolution of the original. This has to do with how the front end of the printer and the print engine...

When Close Enough is not Enough By Noel Ward, Editor@Large Your pickiest customer insists the color throughout his new 12-page brochure and assorted collateral match the color of the pristine vintage Ferrari he just inherited from his uncle. Known as “Rosso Corsa” or Racing Red, the unique hue...

I've seen this vid and have followed Colorado since its roll-out. Good device. I suspect we're gonna see a wider palate on many IJ printers from multiple vendors over the next few years. Most of the high-end printers already have room to hold a couple more printheads so it may get...

You Want Silver on That? By Noel Ward, Editor@Large It used to be that some of the most demanded—and compelling—embellishments to printed pages took a few extra steps of manual labor to accomplish. A common one was adding silver to a page. Yet for many years adding metallic silver to a page...

Print Rocks! By Noel Ward, Editor@Large The press was this huge thing that took up half of the cavernous space in which it resided. I have no idea what it was, it being the first press I’d ever seen. “One of the colors isn’t right,” said my ad agency art director wife, so the pressman...

You May Need This Speed, Image Quality and Large Page Sizes by Noel Ward, Editor@Large This may be the inkjet printer you’ve been waiting for. It is worth some of your time at PRINTING United in Orlando to get a close look at Canon’s new varioPRINT iX1700, the company’s latest sheetfed...

I just ordered the pre-gummed card stock (I am out of the U.S. a the moment) so I'll have it when I get back. I've already tested my Epson 6-color photo printer and will be sending a few people some landscape photo cards to test this out further. My friend says many people who get his cards...