Bob Cringely and his family send out family portrait cards every year for Christmas, and the gimmick is the entire family is nude, but not really nude: all the naughty parts are hidden away behind carefully placed props or accessories. The Fedex Kinko’s in Charleston, SC doesn’t appreciate his family’s sense of humor–the woman there even remembered him from last year, and not in a good way. [More]
printers
Buy A New Printer When You Run Out Of Ink
By 12.10.09
If you’re sick of the high cost of toner, and don’t want to deal with messy refill kits or off-brand versions, here’s a great way to save cash and help struggling manufacturers at the same time: Just buy a new printer every time you run low on ink. Sure, you’ll have a house full of printers in no time, but you can always donate those to Goodwill, or to the local landfill. [More]
Having A Picture Scanned At OfficeMax Is Like Being On A Game Show
By 12.4.09
Adam and his wife never know what they’re going to be charged for scanning services at OfficeMax’s ImPress print center. I like to imagine that the ImPress employee stands in front of them holding a very long microphone, and tries to build tension before a coworker flips over the Actual Price card. [More]
Canon Replaces Lazy Reader's Printer 6 Months Out Of Warranty
By 10.18.09
Canon is apparently a very nice company. So nice, in fact, that they will apparently replace a product out of warranty even when it’s the customer’s own forgetfulness that led to the delay. That’s what reader Chris reports happened when his Canon printer broke down.
Save Ink Or Toner By Changing Your Font
By 10.8.09
Sure, you can save ink and paper by changing around your printer settings, but to truly commit to saving ink or toner, try changing your font.
Reach Hewlett-Packard Executivce Customer Service
By 1.22.09
Expedite a quagmired Hewlett-Packard issue by calling their executive customer service at 1-800-756-0608 option 7. A guy named Tim Metcalf might be the one who helps you, or Dan or Yunsil. Their lines open at 8am, PST. (Photo: orangegeeky)
Morning Deals
By 9.10.08
- 6PM.com: DC Brand Shoes $20 + S/H, all sizes/styles, 856 to choose from
- Nicorette: free pack of Nicorette White Ice Mint (warning, site is slow)
- Circuit City: Panasonic SH-FX85 Wireless Multi-Room Speaker Kit for $44.96, requires in-store pickup
Highlights From Buxr
- Hewlett Packard: $400 Off $999 or more for Desktop Purchase w/ coupon code: DT1158 (Good for 2250 uses)
- NewEgg: Targus Notebook Wireless Optical Mouse for $8.99 w/ Free shipping after $20 off coupon code: EMCAKAKAK
- Buy.com: Av Lab Solar Backpack Charger for $29.99 w/ Free shipping after rebate
Highlights From Dealhack
- Best Buy: Toshiba Satellite Dual Core Notebook PC $500
- Geeks.com: Canon Pixma iP6210D Color Inkjet Photo Printer $35 with Coupon
- Musicnotes.com: 20% or 30% off Guitar Guru Interactive Lessons with Coupons
Office Max Apologizes, Actually Apologizes, For Snooty Manager
By 9.9.08
The condescending store-manager, irked that your request for them to fulfill their contractual agreement has forced them away from a high-scoring session of Snood. Long have consumers suffered under his reign of caprice and indifference. No longer. A weakness has been discovered. The EECB, a modern version of “taking it to the top.” Jim used it and got not only the rare and magnificent personal apology, but a $30 gift card and he was allowed to make the return he wanted to do in the first place. His story follows.
OfficeMax Calls You A Thief For Trying To Recycle
By 5.4.08
OfficeMax called Chris a thief for recycling empty printer cartridges. OfficeMax’s MaxPerks program gives customers $3 for each empty cartridge they recycle, with a limit of 5 cartridges per customer per day. Chris runs a computer repair business that leaves him flush with empty cartridges. According to one cashier, this makes Chris a thief.
HP Won't Issue New Drivers For Leopard, Tells You To Buy A New Printer
By 3.15.08
Matt’s Officejet 6110 scans perfectly under Ubuntu, but won’t play nice with Leopard. When Matt called HP for support, he was told that the company has no plans to issue new drivers so he should just buy a new printer. To soften the blow, the tech mentioned HP’s trade-in program, which would give Matt a whopping $16 for his printer.
Customer Files Class-Action Suit Against HP & Staples, Charging Printer Ink Price Collusion
By 12.20.07
Ranjit Bedi, a Californian, has filed a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Staples in a U.S. District Court in Boston, accusing the two companies of colluding to prevent the sale of third-party ink cartridges in Staples stores. Bedi is accusing HP of paying Staples over $100 million to get it to stop selling lower-priced ink refills, but none of the news sources we found supply any evidence to support that figure, so we hope Bedi has more than just a gut feeling about this.
Canon's Customer Service Is Helpful, Painless
By 11.9.07
A reader writes in to commend Canon for their efficient and—brace yourselves—helpful customer service: “I was on the phone less than two minutes beginning to end.” Among the surprises: the customer service department was based in the U.S., he was called back when a rep was available instead of being abandoned in an endless hold loop, the people he spoke with seemed motivated to help him, and the Canon rep had enough autonomy and intelligence to come up with an alternative solution when the original problem couldn’t be solved.
6 Photo Printers Reviewed
By 10.27.07
We don’t really print photographs much anymore—most of the time, there’s some display we can show them on, and for the rare times we want physical copies, it’s cheaper to order through an online service like Shutterfly than deal with the total cost of owning a photo printer. But maybe you’re more retro than that or need instant gratification with your pics, in which case you might want to read Slate’s side-by-side showdown of six different photo printers.
Morning Deals
By 10.10.07
Office Printers Spew As Many Particles As Smoldering Cigarettes
By 8.3.07
Everyone hates the office printer, including scientists who blame the printers for emitting dangerous amounts of ultra-fine particles. Scientists from Queensland University examined printers from Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh and Toshiba. Their findings don’t condemn any one brand: the HP LaserJet 4050 emitted no particles, while the the HP LaserJet 1320 and 4250 raised the particle count of the surrounding air tenfold. From the LA Times:
Morawska did not originally set out to study printers. She was invited by the Queensland Department of Public Works to measure air quality inside a six-floor office building near a busy road.
Printers Prompt For Ink Replacement Before Ink Is Out
By 7.26.07
An EPSON study found many printers will tell you it’s time to replace the ink cartridge before it’s actually empty.
9 More Hewlett-Packard Company Secrets From A Former Employee
By 2.15.07
A former Hewlett-Packard worker who could barely wait for their non-disclosure-agreement to end so they could spill company secrets to The Consumerist has more, along with clarifications about what was posted yesterday.
