Lexmark has new ownership

We just had notification that Lexmark has entered a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by a consortium of investors.  According to the press release and our representative at Lexmark we should see and change in services or availability of product and that this merger will help to provide a larger base of cash to continue to grow from.

Supporting Quotes

“This is an exciting transaction that Lexmark’s Board of Directors believes is in the best interests of our shareholders following an exhaustive strategic alternatives review process to maximize value,” said Paul Rooke, Lexmark chairman and chief executive officer. “The transaction will benefit our customers and provide new opportunities for
our employees. 

“As part of the Consortium, Lexmark will be able to reach the next level of growth and innovation, to the benefit of our customers, business partners and suppliers, faster than we could achieve on our own,” added Rooke. “With the Consortium’s resources, we will be able to continue to invest in and grow the business to more fully penetrate the Asia
Pacific market for hardware, software and managed print services.”

Jean-Paul Montupet, lead director of the Lexmark Board of Directors, said, “This transaction represents the culmination of an extensive review process by the Board of Directors and the next step in Lexmark’s growth and transformation. We anticipate that the transaction will cause no disruption to our operations or our ongoing cost-savings
initiatives, and will only strengthen the business.”

“Lexmark is a recognized global leader in printing technology and enterprise software, with a proven track record of performance, a consistent annuity-based business model and a talented workforce,” said Weijian Shan, group chairman and CEO of PAG. “We look forward to working with Lexmark’s management team and focusing on expanding
the business in the Asia Pacific region.”

“Lexmark’s passion for excellence and unwavering commitments to customers, employees and communities represent a tremendous cultural fit,” said Jackson Wang, Apex Technology chairman. “We are excited to work alongside Lexmark as it continues  to invest in advanced technologies and solutions to best serve its customers and business partners while simultaneously pursuing additional untapped opportunities for future growth.” 

Lexmark Printer Promotion

Lexmark Printer Tip–Prevent Paper Jams

Here are some techniques on how to help prevent paper jams in you Lexmark printers.

While your competitors are parked on the phone with tech support trying to clear a paper jam, you can zoom right past them on the road to success. To avert paper jams before they happen, try these easy tips:

· Fan the paper like you do with playing cards and then align the edges.
Quickly prepare the paper. Watch video »

· Make sure the paper lies flat in the tray.

· Don't remove trays while the printer is printing.

· Don't load trays or feeders while the printer is printing. Load them prior to printing, or wait for a prompt to load them.

· Don't load too much paper. Make sure the stack height does not exceed the indicated maximum height. Best way to load paper. Watch video »

· Make sure the guides in the paper trays and feeders are properly positioned so they are not pressing too tightly against the paper or envelopes.

· Push all trays in firmly after loading paper.

Paper tray recommendations

• Make sure the paper lies flat in the tray.

• Do not remove trays while the printer is printing.

• Do not load trays, the multipurpose feeder, or the envelope feeder while the printer is printing. Load them prior to printing, or wait for a prompt to load them.

• Do not load too much paper. Make sure the stack height does not exceed the indicated maximum height.

• Make sure the guides in the paper trays, multipurpose feeder, or envelope feeder are properly positioned and are not pressing too tightly against the paper or envelopes.

• Push all trays in firmly after loading paper.

Paper recommendations

• Use only recommended paper or specialty media.

• Do not load wrinkled, creased, damp, bent, or curled paper.

• Flex, fan, and straighten paper before loading it.

• Do not use paper that has been cut or trimmed by hand.

• Do not mix paper sizes, weights, or types in the same stack.

• Make sure all sizes and types are set correctly in the printer control panel menus.

• Store paper per the manufacturer's recommendations.

Envelope recommendations

• To reduce wrinkling, use the Envelope Enhance menu in the Paper menu.

• Do not feed envelopes that:

  • Have excessive curl or twist.

  • Have windows, holes, perforations, cutouts, or embossing.

  • Have metal clasps, string ties, or folding bars.

  • Have an interlocking design.

  • Have postage stamps attached.

  • Have any exposed adhesive when the flap is in the sealed or closed position.

  • Have bent corners.

  • Have rough, wrinkled, or laid finishes.

  • Are stuck together or damaged in any way.

Following all these recommendations and still getting paper jams? If you've been getting a lot of mileage out of your Lexmark printer, it may be time for a new maintenance kit or pick rollers. Contact Lexmark to help with printer troubleshooting before taking any more action.

Cloud meets FedEx?

Ok. I know we don't all have printers strapped to our hips but what the heck?

I was on the road for many years and I probably would have wanted this capability back then when I was so busy documenting procedures and presenting them back to my clients (1978-1983), but the proliferation of printing functions that are available to us at this time are so prevalent I cant imaging the scenario that would require me presenting paper when I can present a digital image that you can carry any where with you on any device that you decide to have it available on.

Has anyone heard of print of PDF? The story this week of Dropbox now connecting to FedEx Office Retail Stores to be able to provide printing functions is really foreign to me as a positive new capability. This is supposedly a self-serve function, that you can send a job to the local FedEx Office and pick it up later in the day.This is not something that jumps in front of me says I need this capability.

Lexmark Printer Tip – Lost Printer CD

Want to connect your trusty Lexmark printer to a new computer, but can't find your printer CD? Don't put work on hold while you search every nook and cranny of your office. You can quickly download the most current drivers for your Lexmark printer right from our support site—and speed ahead like the pro you are. Here's how:

1. Go to support.lexmark.com

2. Choose one of the following steps:

a. If you're a visual person, select your product type from the images and then select your printer model.

b. If you want a shortcut, enter your printer model in the product box above the images and then click on the printer model.

3. Click Support & Downloads on the left side of the page.

4. At the bottom, select your operating system and version to see all options for your printer.

You can now download current printer drivers and check out other tools to keep your device running smoothly, like firmware updates.

Lexmark Inkjet Printer Tips

This is from a recent email sent out by the Lexmark News Group on some suggestions on how to maintain the best quality printing from your Lexmark Inkjet Printer.

Don't get stuck troubleshooting print streaks, missing colors, or other print quality issues. Most of these printer problems are caused by clogs in ink cartridges, which form when ink dries inside the print head or ink nozzles. But if you keep your cartridges in good condition, your Lexmark printer will continue to run like a well-oiled machine. Here's a little advice that can help:

1. Do you use your printer regularly? Of course, you shouldn't just print for printing's sake, but when you naturally have print jobs to do, don't hold back! Printing black and color documents multiple times on most days will help to avoid print quality issues by keeping the ink flowing, so it doesn't dry out.

2. Use your printer less frequently? If your printer goes unused for lengthy periods of time with ink cartridges inside, your cartridge nozzles can dry out. This can affect your print quality or interfere with your printer's ability to do its job. When you're not planning on using your printer for a long period of time, remove your cartridges from the printer, place them in an airtight container and store them somewhere cool.

3. Regardless of your print habits, don't let your cartridges run completely out of ink. Just like you wouldn't let your car run on empty, you can't let your printer run until the very last drop of ink is used. Replace your cartridges just before you're running on fumes—your printer will alert you when it's time. This simple step will ensure that your printer continues to function properly.

Lexmark Pro5500

The Lexmark Pro5500 is a really solid business class inkjet printer. All our old preconceptions of the limitations of inkjet printers go out the window when looking at these new class of inkjet printers. Priced at $399 the Pro5500 is fast and inexpensive to operate. This is a multifunction printer with Print, Scan, Copy and Fax functions that is network ready with wireless AirPrint capabilities.

Features:

• Legal-sized Flatbed Scanner
• 4.3” touch screen with SmartSolutions
• Fast laser-quality printing: 21/14 ipm
• 300 sheet tray
• Optional 550 sheet tray takes the paper input capacity to 850 sheet total
• Automatic duplex printing up to legal size
• After market High Yield cartridges provide 2500 b/w 1600 color pages per cartridge
• Business class fax with duplex and backup memory (up to 900 pages)
• Network Ready: Ethernet & Wireless N
• 50 Sheet ADF with single pass duplex scan
• Front USB port & media card reader
• Solid and reliable- 30k page duty cycle
• Cost per page: 1.5/7.9 cents BW/Color

I have one of the earlier Pro901’s but I really want to replace it with this one. Just the duplex scanning feature alone makes it worthwhile as well as the AirPrint capability. Take a look at the demo video below.

Do the scheduled printer maintenance, and extend the life of your printer…

Yet another message from our friends at Lexmark…

Most people routinely change their car's oil, spark plugs, and wiper blades. And yet few people think to clean internal printer parts, replace their print heads, and perform regular printer maintenance. But just like newer cars these days, today's printers are more sophisticated machines that require a bit of service occasionally in order to operate at their highest standards. And when it comes to maintenance, a little attention goes a long, long way. By following these simple tips, you'll ensure that your printer runs great for many years to come.

• Don't ignore warnings: Just like ignoring a "check engine" light on your car, ignoring printer maintenance notifications can lead to everything from print quality issues to costly repairs—or worse, the need for an all-new printer. To prevent this from happening, just keep in mind that printers are affected by normal wear and tear, just like cars.

• Keep your machine clean: If your wiper blades started streaking, you'd try to clean them off, right? It's the same with your printer. When you see print quality declining on your inkjet printer, start by running a Deep Clean on your printhead. Simply go to your printer's control panel and follow the steps for performing a Deep Clean. If quality problems persist, it may be time to replace your printhead, just like you'd replace your wiper blades. If you own a laser printer and use it to print glue-based labels, make sure you order a special label cartridge and clean or replace the fuser wiper as directed. These fast, easy steps will ensure print quality and extend the lifespan of your printer.

Little known printer tricks for reducing business printing costs…

Lexmark has sent out the following list of tips to help you reduce the cost of printing. In fact, this advice works for any manufacturer’s printer line as well.

Customize your printer setting and save.

Did you know that you can change the settings on your printer to save paper and even energy? In fact, one simple change, like switching to 2-sided printing, can reduce your paper consumption by up to 50 percent.

The following small changes can help you save big while avoiding many of the typical printing problems—and many of them can be made with little or no reduction in performance or quality. Best of all, you can change these settings in a snap, all from the main menu of your printer:

	• Print double sided: Set your printer to "duplex mode" to print on both sides of your paper. You'll save paper and the environment.
	• Use black and white: Change your settings to black and white printing, and make color the exception.
	• Adjust the darkness: Set your ink or toner darkness slightly lower to reduce consumption and get more from each cartridge.
	• Print only when you're ready: Set your printer to "print and hold" a print job in the printer until you are ready to retrieve it, instead of sending it to print and forgetting to pick it up.
	• Print in draft mode: If you have an inkjet, set it to "draft mode" to use less ink for internal and draft documents, and to print much faster. You can then switch to higher quality settings when you need to print the final version.

Canon unveils two more AirPrint printers

Another printer manufacturer joins AirPrint crowd. Canon thinks you should print more from your iPad and is offer two choices of printers to allow you to do so.

Canon's offering up the Pixma MX512 and MX432, two all-in-one inkjets that offer up Apple AirPrint support, letting users wirelessly prints photos, docs and the like from their iPad, iPhone and iPod touches running iOS 4.2 or later. Canon also used the announcement to reaffirm its commitment to the technology, ensuring as before that it "will be available with the majority of Canon PIXMA Wireless All-In-One inkjet printers launched from this point forward."

AirPrint allows users to wirelessly print photos, emails, web pages and other documents without the need to install device drivers, saving time and making for a seamless user experience.

Airprint is also available on the PIXMA MG8220, MG6220 and MG5320 as well with the installation of the lastest firmware installed.

xPrintServer makes printers AirPrint-compatible

I like looking for new products that will make both my life easier as well as our clients. For those of you that have an iOS device and none of your printers are AirPrint compatible there will soon be a product that could make your printers AirPrint compatible. Lantronix is planning on releasing this January their xPrintServer product that allows printing from any iOS device to network-connected printers.

I have several printers in my house and at work that I would love to be able to print to without the convoluted methods I now employ from my iPad and iPhone devices. Whether it is to my beautiful Canon Pro 900 photo printer or my Lexmark MFC Pro901 I want to be able to whip off a quick printed page for friends or family. Also, at work it would be nice while I am sitting with a client discussing options for their network I would love to be able to share the information I have on my iPad as I am talking to them.

The current drawback of this device is that it will only work with Ethernet-networked printers only. This means it doesn't help with printers that are connected directly to your computer via an USB port. The device comes with just one network port and will need an available LAN port from your router or switch to work. It also require an external power source.

When you plug the device into you network it will auto-discover and auto-provision for your network printers which in turn allows your iOS device to print to them. There is no software or device drivers to load and no special Apps to purchase. I am looking forward to testing this out myself.

More information at Lantronix’s site

Supported Printer List

3D Printing has been getting a lot of focus lately…

Here is another potential use for the 3D printer, body part replacements! Referred to as Bioprinting, the process is used to make biological tissue such as skin, bone and cartilage. 3D printing has been around for over twenty years but researchers recently began using it to create biological structures. The idea is to make custom designed tissue and organs from a patient’s own cells which may in turn eliminate the need for donated organs. While the research is ongoing there has been some interesting research being done at the Medical University of South Carolina by Vladimir Mironov who is the director of the Bioprinting Research Center at the university.

Dr. Mironov MD, PhD explains that Bioprinting is a mixture of both Art, Science and Technology. In his mission statement titled: On Art and Science: Bioprinting & Pygmalion’s Dream? he discussing how his vision of this science was born from his artistic beginnings. He talks about how in the scientist’s everyday life they are constantly using art to describe and show their ideas, whether it is through description, drawings, photography, or modeling they use artistic methods to present their ideas to others.

Their Roadmap shows the starting with creating blood vessels to carry blood and nutrients to the cells in the tissue that they want to create. This is the first step in creating the infrastructure of the organ replacements. It certainly is an exciting time to be alive and it will be interesting to see how this research progresses in the years to come.

Need a fast Network Monochrome Laser Printer?

Lexmark has just made it easier to purchase their T652n Monochrome Laser Printer. This printer is normally $1,299 but this month they have lowered the price to just $899!

What a deal. So if you were thinking of getting a solid printer for your office this is a great product at a great price.

A little more about the Lexmark T652n Laser Printer…

High-Endurance Printing at Its Best: Simplify high-volume jobs with a fast-thinking powerhouse featuring robust monthly duty cycle, up to 50 ppm print speed, and generous input capacity (650 sheets standard, up to 4,300 sheets with options). Plus diverse media support and a rich selection of paper handling options to choose from.

Let It Decide the Best Speed: Identifies the size and complexity of your job and automatically calculates the optimal speed—quicker time-to-first-page for short jobs and more pages per minute for longer jobs.

Intelligent Job Waiting: No more letting missing media derail hours of print time. The innovative Job Waiting feature will simply hold that job aside, letting others go on working without interruption (requires the hard disk option).

Outstanding Print Quality: Combines true 1200 x 1200 dpi with automatic darkness adjustment and pixel-boosting technology to ensure high-quality, professional documents every time.

Cutting-Edge Security: From network security to user-access restrictions, you’ll be fully equipped to keep valuable data safe and sound. In addition to IPSec, SNMPv3 and 802.1x network security, the Lexmark T652dn offers an alphanumeric pad for easy PIN authentication, plus encryption and disk wiping to secure the optional hard disk.

Less Work for IT: Network-ready and very easy to set up, plus Universal Driver support for simple deployment. Includes Lexmark MarkVision™ Professional software for time-saving remote management and automated tools.

Lexmark X543DN Color MFP $100 Instant Rebate

This well built workgroup color multifunction printer is now costing you $100’s less than before. Normal Retail on this product is $749 but for a limited time (Promo ends on Jan 30, 2010), your price is just $599. This printer supports network scanning,  copying and duplex printing with output speeds up to 21 ppm in black and color.

The only drawback with this unit is that it is missing a fax function and if you need that you could upgrade to the X544DN! See product demo by clicking here!

And here is something that you don’t see every day…

Lifetime Pricing Guarantee - For as long as you own your X543dn, Lexmark guarantees never to increase the U.S. toner cartridge price found on Lexmark.com.

Feature Highlights:

Paper Handling Standard - 150-Sheet Output Bin  Integrated Duplex  Single Sheet Manual Feed 250-Sheet Input Tray

ADF Paper Input Capacity : Up to 50 pages 20 lb or 75 gsm bond

Standard Ports - Ethernet 10/100BaseTX (RJ-45)  USB 2.0 Specification Hi-Speed Certified (Type B)

Scan Area, Maximum 8.5 x 14 inches

Size (in. - H x W x D) 18.23 x 17.32 x 21.14 in.

Recommended Monthly Page Volume 500 - 1,500 pages

Lexmark X560N Scanning to File Demo

I put together a short demo video to show how you can scan to a file. In the demo we have setup the printers internal settings to FTP to file locations on our server. We have setup a function for all of the key personnel in the office where each individual has their own dedicated landing point folder on the server. This is a short video and won’t take long to demonstrate this function.

Review of the Lexmark X560N

We have had this unit in our shop now for over a month and I can honestly tell you that I don’t know how I lived without it until now. We haven’t had a decent copier for awhile, we print everything original, but the scanner is what I have come to love. We have setup FTP functions on the printer to allow it to scan to individual directories on our server that you can access and manipulate the scanned documents to your heart’s content. We have taken several functions that created more paper copies and now have fully digitized the functions. We are getting closer to that dream of a paperless office. I have taken to scanning all of my day notes into the system and now I able to quickly use these to working with the information.

This is a color printer so you have full capability of B/W and Color Printing, Scanning and Copying as well as Fax capabilities. I haven’t told you the best thing yet.

It costs only $999.

What a deal. Here’s a pointer to the product brochure, be sure to take a look. Let me know if this is something that you are interested in and we can setup a demo for you.