http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/printingtools/ My Blog on Graphic Arts Online.com en-us Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:19:56 GMT CakePHP http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/printingtools/apple-and-adobe-will-get-over-it/ The recent minor storm over the lack of Flash capability on the iPhone and iPad may generate something more useful than rants over Apple putting out a weak product and Adobe being lazy. There is some truth to the fact that the iPad is not yet a finished product, but looking at the phenomenal sales and the huge number of applications available for the iPhone (all of which work on the iPad), it seems reasonable to say the iPad will soon have some very meaty programs in the very near future. Far beyond what can be done on a small screen device. Sure Jobs is ticked that Google got into the smartphone business, but Apple isn’t used to being the only player out there. The Android OS is pretty good and the competition may well take some market share away from Apple, but for consumers, having two really good OS’s for Smartphones is a good thing. And as an iPhone user who had to downgrade to a Blackberry because the ATT&T plan is simply too pricey, I can appreciate the lower rate deal Apple struck. But I’d like to see it applied to my iPhone. Better, I’d like to see Verizon support both products. OK, I can dream, right? Frankly, I think Jobs is probably right that Flash dominance days are numbered. Still, folks want a product that works with the tools available today, and not having Flash support certainly cripples some web sites (and not just porn sites: as another nearly laughable retort from Apple implied). Apple and Adobe Will “Get OverIt” In Apple’s defense, yeah it should have had a webcam for Skype, but some folks wanted a web cam, a still cam and a video cam. You can’t please everyone and still hit that $499 price tag. Not sure what Adobe would have wanted to license Flash, but I’m betting that was a bigger problem the “Bugginess” of the product. What’s interesting is the notable lack of Microsoft amidst all this banter. I mean who is talking about Windows Mobile these days? Or evenWindows 7? Aren’t people still sticking with XP Pro as the only really decent OS Microsoft has managed to come up with? (Personally, I’ve been impressed with Windows 7). Here’s the thing, if the iPad sells like Apple thinks it will, developers including Adobe and maybe even Microsoft will develop for the platform. I’m not expecting an Adobe CS4 or MS Office for iPad in 2010, but get a few million users and you have a real market. One reasonable question is whether there will be another product like the iPad in the next year or so. My bet is that folks will stick with netbooks and eBook readers and wait to see what happens with the iPad. But if it succeeds, there will be Droid Tablets, HP slates, and Dell Pads. Oh, and yes I think iPad was a lousy choice for a name. SB http://www.printoolz.com Wed, Feb 3rd 2010, 05:57 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/printingtools/don-t-be-too-certain-about-print-s-future/ http://www.printoolz.com I have been reading many written views by pundits about how print will survive because it’s something you can touch and feel: that it gives the reader a sense of interaction with the words and a feeling of control. All of which is true. They also say printed products do things online products cannot. You can clip a coupon from a magazine: although you can also clip coupons online, you still have to print them out...for now.I’m speaking of general commercial printing. Package printing, wide format and certain types of print, such as thermography, foil printing are products e-print can’t really replace.Still, things are changing and they are changing rapidly. Kids are much more comfortable reading from a screen than most adults. Older folks (like me) still print out long documents because we want to hold them in our hands and underline things with a highlighter.Electronic media delivery is developing rapidly, and if we think print will forever allow people to “do things you can’t do electronically,” think again. iPhone apps are a perfect example of using new media to do things that are intuitive, interactive and involve touch and feel: just like print only different - and in some ways better.I just came back from attending a meeting where 50 people spent three days grading church ordination papers. Nearly everyone had a laptop. We used a Word template to make the comments on the papers.Even this ancient forms of human interaction - between student and teacher -is entering the 21st century. In all likelihood, next year's exam readers will be required to bring a laptop, and students will submit their exams electronically. The goal is to do it all online. Testing. Scoring. Everything. It will save the church tens of thousands of dollars in ink, paper, administration, printing, and the cost of mailing the physical exams all over the country.For my last on-campus class, I ordered a book, but it didn’t come in time. I found the e-book on Amazon for 99 cents, downloaded it to my iPhone, (A Kindle wold have been much better). A book that’s cheaper and can be obtained instantly has a big advantage over one that must be printed and shipped.The electronic books of the very near future will be read on tablet computers that look and feel a lot like books, only will be able to do far more - like have color photos and videos, interactive note taking, underlining and annotating, searches and more.We should be concerned about the effect instant access to information will have on the ability to think creatively, but it is happening whatever the consequences. The clever ads Microsoft is playing about search engine overload syndrome strike a chord. We’re become addicted to instant data gratification.You will NEVER be able to get that gratification from print. Print turnaround has gotten very fast, but it can’t be instantaneous.Print providers need to augment online communications. Printers are not going out of business tomorrow because of the Internet, but they need to engage in and be responsive to electronic formats to remain viable.At some point e-paper will bring truly instant delivery of any form of data that can be delivered by print today. It will be in a portable, and interactive (even “touchy-feely”) and reusable form that will be much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than print on paper.I don’t think many people realize how quickly that is likely to happen.Technology will make the experience seem far better than print for the end user.People won’t be concerned that e-print is not the same as print-on-paper as long as it is just as simple and convenient to use.Print on paper won’t disappear: it may never disappear completely.The continuing rise in demand for data is not likely to lessen, but the portion of that demand that will be filled by print-on-paper providers will. Tue, Nov 3rd 2009, 15:36 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/printingtools/e-books-are-books/ Dr. Joe Webb, industry pundit said in a column today “E-books are not books, they’re e-commerce sites that let you read books.” In a sense, he’s certainly right, but if you print books, the idea that e-books are not books and will not replace books is a dangerous concept. What e-books replace is not the idea of a book which will persist. If you are a writer or a publisher, e-book technology offers up new opportunities, and challenges as well as new marketing and distribution possibilities.But none of these opportunities mean much if your bread and butter is putting ink on paper and your customers are book publishers. For those folks, e-books ARE books and their electronic delivery eats into their core business. The fact that writers and publishers can build business models on electronic delivery systems does nothing to help them.For the immediate future, book publishing trends are fairly clear. People are buying a huge number of e-books and not only is the number increasing daily, but also the percentage of e-books versus ink on paper books is increasing. In other words, people are consciously deciding to go with electronic delivery and e-paper editions.The net effect is that ink on paper book publishing is rapidly becoming a short-run, on-demand business for many types of publishers, particularly in the educational book market. Mass market hardcover and paperbacks will still be printed in large quantities, but new authors, scholars, many children’s book writers and niche market offerings will see a huge impact from e-books in the coming few years (particularly when color and video capable versions become available).The new Nook from Barnes and Noble wisely incorporated a color touch screen with an e-paper screen. It will only be a matter of time before e-paper screens are color touch screens, which may be what Apple will be releasing soon. Folks might quibble that such books are hybrid computers and not actually “e-books,” but how you define the technology really is not the point. The point is that electronic delivery is going to replace ink on paper delivery for a huge number of readers, and the impact on ink on paper book printers will be significant.Even Joe Webb is hoping for some kind of e-reader in his Christmas stocking.So I’m not quite sure what he means when he says an e-book is not a book.If you’re a book printer, it is. Tue, Nov 3rd 2009, 15:35 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/printingtools/printoolz-is-up-and-running/ Printoolz is a site for print production professionals to find the latest and greatest software to help them compete. It has videos, product guides, forums, blogz, a weekly newsletter, and much more. htttp://www.printoolz.com Mon, Jul 20th 2009, 18:05 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/printingtools/how-will-kodak-partner/ How Will Kodak Partner?February 5, 2009 Kodak sent some shivers down investor's spines when the Wall Street Journal reported the company was planning to divest itself of the NexPress and DigiMaster lines. Kodak responded quickly saying "t'aint so!"The way Kodak responded was very Web 2.0. They released a video of CEO Antonio Perez dealing directly and exclusively with that subject. The approach has resulted in the video appearing on YouTube and a variety of links from social networking sites like Twitter.What Kodak does say is they are actively seeking partnerships in the digital print arena so their product line can reach its full potential. The question of the day is, who will they form those partnerships with. It is quite likely, since they are talking about it in public, that more than one such partnership is already in the works.If you were Kodak, who would you partner with? Someone with marketing clout? Some one with technology expertise? Someone with a great sales force?In this economic downturn, any partnership is risky, but probably not as risky as making a huge investment entirely on your own, even if you are Kodak.My guess is, Kodak will seek a partner that is Web 2.0 savvy. A company that knows and understand viral marketing and can exploit the web-to-print marketplace to capture customers that present players have so far been unable to attract. Web-to-print has done well in the consumer end (photobooks, et al) and high end, but seems to have limited success among mid-range clientele who demand more sophisticated and flexible input and output capabilities but are not prepared to create and support fully customized workflows.Who is that? I'm thinking a large printer who has been successful in web to print and is willing to gamble on investing in the infrastructure to support that mid-range market.I'd love to hear what tact the readers of plugged-in think Kodak is likely to take: or what partnerships you would pick if you were running Kodak.Visit Printing Tools at graphicartsonline.comPRINTING TOOLSSB Tue, Feb 10th 2009, 09:03 GMT