Thinking outside the box: very cool simple idea from epson

[mouser]

while in the store looking for lcd monitors a friend pointed out something very cool epson just started doing..
you know how you normally have to try to match up your printer model with the ink it takes, so you are always trying to remember your exact model and then find it listed on ink packages.

well what epson has started doing is using some distinctive pictures, that are on your printer and on ink packages that are compatible with is.

so one model has a guitar, another has a tropical fish, etc.

very clever because your mind can remember those a lot better than model numbers and its much easier to spot on a package.

very simple, very clever.
it's the first time ive seen it on printer ink, but i'll bet the idea has been used in other markets for matching up products with compatible accessories..

[Rover]

Wow... GarAnimals for Printers!  Cool 

Don't rember GarAnimals?
http://zhumor.blogspot.com/2005/02/garanimals.html

[AbteriX]

That's clever . Remembers me to the O'Reilly books.

What's about the Epson driver/print dialog. Are the as feature rich as the Canon one we talked about last days?

[mouser]

good question - i wonder if any site has done a review of printer drivers..

[jgpaiva]

Wow... GarAnimals for Printers!  Cool 

Don't rember GarAnimals?
http://zhumor.blogspot.com/2005/02/garanimals.html

-Rover (June 04, 2006, 12:37 AM)

Nice! I didn't know there was such thing! I'd love to have those for my clothes. Usually, my method for choosing my clothes is just picking up the t-shirt and the pants that are on the top of the pile!

[jgpaiva]

good question - i wonder if any site has done a review of printer drivers..

-mouser (June 04, 2006, 06:14 AM)

I hope you're not thinking about buying an epson printer... I would advise you not to.
I've had an hp930C, and an epson CX3200. I was extremelly happy with the hp, but i moved out from my parent's house, and had to buy another printer.
I am extremelly disapointed with the epson, though.
It has a bunch of problems: when installing it, it instals a stupid amount of unuseful apps, gets 2 (!!) unuseful processes with the startup of the computer, doesn't print any better than the hp, and takes about 3 times more space than the hp equivalent (the cx3200 is a multifunction printer, with scanner included).
But, the biggest problem of all, is that the cartridges last MUCH (like 5 times) less than the hp cartriges, and are exactly as expensive.
Truth is, that i'd never buy an epson again.
But i love my hp

[AbteriX]

...Usually, my method for choosing my clothes is just picking up the t-shirt
and the pants that are on the top of the pile!

-jgpaiva (June 04, 2006, 05:47 PM)

I am confused!  Are there other ways to choose your clothes for the day then this 

[mouser]

I am confused!   Are there other ways to choose your clothes for the day then this 

hehehe - i'm with you abterix.

[brotherS]

[...] something very cool epson just started doing..

[...]
well what epson has started doing is using some distinctive pictures, that are on your printer and on ink packages that are compatible with is.

so one model has a guitar, another has a tropical fish, etc.

-mouser (June 04, 2006, 12:29 AM)

Really, really cool! Companies need to think way more often in that direction. Worst thing I ever experienced: a company forcing you to write down a 30-digit invoice number if you wanted to call them back about delivery details etc. - no email to confirm the delivery, nothing.

while in the store looking for lcd monitors [...]

-mouser (June 04, 2006, 12:29 AM)

I hope you'll check online reviews too. Those, in combination with online price searches (and no, I don't pick the cheapest, I pick the most trust-worthy with a great price), is how I bought hardware for the last years, after being disappointed with offline shopping too often.

[rjbull]

good question - i wonder if any site has done a review of printer drivers..

-mouser (June 04, 2006, 06:14 AM)

Don't know about printers.  But the UK magazine Amateur Photographer has more than once mentioned Hamrick Software's VueScan driver for film scanners, and found it superior to those supplied as standard; it does a better job, has more features, and it's faster.

[db90h]

Personally, I remember a sequence of numbers and letters better than any silly fish or flowers!

Printer manufacterers mostly all suck because none seem to realize that device drivers are an important part of development. They are always the last drivers to be updated when a new OS version is released, most likely to be buggy, difficult to find, and otherwise annoying.

If they want to do something helpful for end users, how about at least sticking a label on the box that indicates what for what platforms they've decided to develop drivers for.

But my real beef with printer manufacturers is that paper kills trees.