HP ePrint really works: eMails and attachments printed from the cloud (video)
By Richard Lai 
posted July 2nd 2010 2:07PM
posted July 2nd 2010 2:07PM
Once registered, any email sent to the printer will first be screened by HP's ePrintCenter for viruses and spam (white and black lists supported) before the email body and supported attachments (PDFs, JPEGs, and Microsoft Office documents; no more than 5MB in total) are printed. As you'd expect, all of this scanning and downloading over the web does incur additional delay -- in Engadget Chinese's hands-on video below, it took about 30 seconds before the email started printing (this already excludes the ten seconds taken up by a previous document), and then the attached image (258KB) followed about a minute later. Of course, this one test alone isn't enough to judge ePrint's performance, but it sure seems to work.
@lrn2swim Reply fail!
oh and Excuse me! You wanna try saying that again!
@greg787
ya totally. But you're still a moron.
Great now my printer can insult the dimensions of certain portions of my anatomy too. I just can't wait to get those new offers from Nigeria and DHL shipment notifications printed automatically for me too.
What a brilliant idea.
OK..so this doesn't seem hard to do with existing printers, etc.
Why should I buy a new printer? How about an application for my Windows Home Server or home PC that will fetch email and print the attachments?
Here's another idea: Give me print drivers that automatically send the to-be-printed document straight to a Kindle or Nook.
Hit print and it instantly pops up on your e-reader telling you it's just received a printjob and allowing you to open it on the device.
Already being done... Outlook automatically print using the rules feature. (You could send the mail with a particular subject line to be checked for...say print spelled backwards? tnirp)
http://email.about.com/od/mozillathunderbirdtips/qt/et_auto_print.htm
Im puzzled here, first of all.... what does the word "Cloud" have to do with the printing? Does it print from the Clouds... Im a Techi but im lost.
I just have no need for more paper. I'm working hard to get OUT of the paper biz, desperate for apps and tools that let me print LESS not more.
Now HP (granted, printing is their biz) wants to find new ways for me to print MORE paper? And I'm sure they want me to pay a couple hundred bucks more for the printer to be able to do it, right?
I haven't mailed a letter or check in five years and I have no need for a..... printer portal.
WACK!!! "Thank you, sir! May I have another!"
Ok, but I still can't out figure why its useful. Simply printing those morsels from my iPhone?
This spells the end of faxes.
Actually, what would be cooler is a device that has an RJ-45 in and a USB out so that this feature can be set up on any printer.
Personally, if I ever have something I need to immediately print for a client, I either email it to them with an attachment (and they can print it) or I can fax it to them with an electronic fax. Formal presentations, attachment to an email, and let them print it. Quick note (or boarding passes) fax it to the company or the hotel desk for pickup.
Well, that was deceiving.. I ran out to get one of these because it seemed like a great solution to print from my ipad. Well.. apparently the ePrint feature hasn't gone live yet. After installing it said I'll be getting a free update that enables ePrint sometime soon, but didnt say specifically when. what a bummer.
Received this printer on Friday only to be disappointed that HP is not really ready for this service. From their website:
"HP ePrint is coming soon as a free product update for your HP Photosmart e-All-in-One web-connected printer!"
I guess I just have to wait till they are ready. Not sure why this wasn't reported in any of the articles or announcements that I've seen.
How's this so different from HP Instant Share?
I still don't feel compelled to replace that Photosmart 3210 I snagged from a thrift store in perfect working order-especially since a full set of HP 02 cartridges (which it didn't come with) costs a ridiculous $70.
Furthermore, I do NOT need someone hacking my printer to waste that expensive ink on hardcore, fetish-laden Rule 34 of non-human things that will take some serious explaining to the rest of the family. I'm betting that someone's going to do just that to every Web-connected printer they can get access to, just for the lulz, and many minds will be scarred and jobs will be lost.
At least there's a whitelist, but I'd still prefer a confirmation queue at the printer itself that has to be gone through BEFORE anything prints. (Even with that, it would suck if said queue was spammed up with Internet smut and ads anyway, getting in the way of what you actually want to print.)
I'm still not clear on how this could work on something like a tablet or iPad. Either every app needs to support some sort of 'save as image' feature, or the HP Server needs to have every known app installed - neither option seems likely. E.g. Keynote on my iPad doesn't have the ability to convert to a multipage image - or any format that seems likely to be supported. So, can I send the keynote file itself and expect it to print? Maybe... For Keynote... But what about every other app out there? Some sort of standardized eDocument format is going to have to be widely adopted before this becomes a truly viable solution.
This technology feels like an answer without a question. Who cares?
@appsman People buy printers, if it's just another feature added on with little extra cost (If it has wifi / ethernet, all you need is a few megabytes on a flash chip somewhere), the average consumer would think "Oh, this printer has more features than X, lets put it in the cart!".
The only problem I see are those "Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network" type signatures :)