Archive for February, 2014

On the first day of Launch Conference in San Francisco, we got to meet a lot of great companies. Entrepreneurs, investors, and developers gathered to talk about the latest and greatest upcoming companies and ideas. Here are our three favorite gems.

High Def Humanity

It was “humanity in high def”. That’s how Uber CEO Travis Kalanick described his night as an Uber driver. As the evening wore on and his clientele grew more inebriated, the social interactions he had fascinated him.

Kalanick went on to encourage people to do what they loved. “I heard a hundred no’s a day for six years straight.” If he hadn’t been working on something he loved, it would have been impossible to keep going.

Robot Cops Are Coming

“As much as I’m scared of it, I kind of want one,” Jason Calacanis, founder and host of Launch voiced the general audience sentiment. Knightscope CEO William Santana Li had just walked us through the features of his five foot tall, 300 pound security machine, which has the ability to scan license plates and identify sex offenders using facial recognition.

Continue reading “Wise Words from the Launch of Launch Conference” »

The Olympics are nearly over. While most of us don’t compete in sports at a world class level, there are still lessons we can learn from those who do.

1. Let Nothing Stand in your Way

Continue reading “3 Life Lessons from Olympic Athletes” »

‘Tis that time of year again when our minds invariably turn to love and to showing the select individuals in our lives just how much they mean to us. Instead of whipping out your credit card to impress with diamonds and a dozen roses, why not show you care with something beautifully crafted by your own two hands?

Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us, so Ink Technologies has put together a list of five special gift options that require little more than a dash of creativity and a pinch of craftiness. (Side note: you might also need access to a printer, and you might have to procure a few necessary items from your local craft store to successfully complete these projects.)

1. Felt Fortune Cookies

Continue reading “5 Gift Go-To’s: A Valentine’s Craftacular!” »

Ever wonder how your favorite magazine is made and how so many are mass produced? We have all heard the term “offset printing,” but do you actually know what goes into that particular printing process? Find out more about how so many publications are produced before they get into your hands. Continue reading “How Offset Printing Works Infographic” »

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi begin this week, and at $50 billion and counting, these Games have already ranked as the most expensive in history. While there is always much to look forward to with any Olympics, years of work have gone on behind the scenes to prepare for the 17-day event, including new technological advancements that will make this Olympics unlike any before.

Snow Machines

Since Sochi technically falls within a sub-tropical climate zone along the shores of the Black Sea, there are concerns over the venue’s ability to provide enough good quality snow. Organizers of the Vancouver Olympics four years ago were criticized for their lack of snow, and last year’s cancellation of the slopestyle skiing and snowboarding World Cups in Sochi due to insufficient snow prompted current Olympic organizers to execute various precautions (or snow-cautions, if you will).

Mikko Martikainen, whose Finnish company Snow Secure drafted the master plan for snow production at the Games, has ensured there are snow machines – snow cannons and snow guns – on hand at all of the slopes. Because of the way it’s made, artificial snow is often thought to trump Mother Nature’s quality. The air turbulence generated by snow machines yields small spheres rather than traditional six-sided flakes, and the smaller surface area of the spherical shape allows for increased melting resistance.

Image via Yahoo! News Continue reading “New Technology Behind the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics” »

With recent stories of decline from other manufacturers, such as our recent story of Dell No Longer Making Inkjet Printers, HP continues to show strong sales and innovation in its printer lineup. While it may be true that inkjet printer sales are on the decline, the market for laser printers is still strong. HP’s laser printers are seeing such low prices in recent months that they are becoming affordable enough for busy home and small office users to take the plunge.

Monochrome Laser Models

The HP LaserJet 1606dn

HP’s monochrome laser models are a staple of the modern office environment, but affordable models are starting to make their way into homes and small offices as well. Consider the company’s least expensive model, the HP LaserJet Pro 1606dn. This unit includes both networking and duplexing with sharp laser quality, but its price is more in line with that of a typical inkjet model. Of course, the savings on HP 1606dn toner cartridges will make it a more cost-effective solution in the long term. Continue reading “Affordable HP Laser Printers for the Home and Small Office” »