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Malfunctioning fax machine prints out bomb ClipArt, forces evacuation of area
In any normal town across America there are countless faxes sent and received which feature poorly chosen ClipArt: why then must a promotional fax like the one pictured above fail to print out correctly -- leaving only a picture of a bomb -- in the town of Ashland Massachusetts, not far from the recent high profile Boston bomb scares? This innocent fax caused the evacuation of a dozen nearby businesses after it was received at a Bank of America branch, coinciding with what police said was the delivery of a suspicious package by a customer. The package turned out to merely be "papers," and the fax turned out to be a promotion counting down to an explosion event called "Small Business Commitment Week." Maybe next time the company behind the fax will be a little more wary of the consequences of inappropriately using bomb imagery, and the staff that received the fax will stop to consider whether a potential bomber would use an off-center and badly stretched ClipArt image of a bomb to illustrate their intent. Or, if the Aqua Teen Hunger Force farce is anything to go by, then everyone will blame the person responsible for maintaining the fax machine, and he/she'll appear on TV talking about hairstyles from the 70s.[Thanks, George]
Xerox innovation can add anti-counterfeit measures to digital printers
Xerox, the same outfit looking to extract information from your web browsing excursions, has now churned out a swank anti-counterfeiting procedure that purportedly allows a vanilla digital printer to "create personalized fluorescent marks on documents." Of course, these fluorescent signatures are commonly used to authenticate currency, and Xerox is hoping that people warm up to the idea of slapping the same level of security onto documents ranging from licenses, certificates, or even personal checks. The method utilizes the "dry ink" found in xerographic printers to create the secure imprint, and curious users can spot the tell-tale sign when exposing the document to ultraviolet light. Of course, you should still be wary of that dubious looking bizhub crammed over in the corner office, but if you're interested in Xerox's latest counterfeit squashing technology, you can snag it as part of the FreeFlow Variable Information Suite 5.0 software.[Via Gizmag]
Possio introduces GRETA, the GSM fax / printer
Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to GRETA, your anachronistic device (with the anachronistic name) for today. As anyone who's ever actually done business in today's world knows, fax just hasn't freaking gone away. So why not do a little to bring it up to date, hm? GRETA's got a 50-foot roll of fax machine paper and an illuminated keyboard to make on the go paper-to-paper transmissions easy as possible. Faxes are sent via tri-band GSM in a 35 ounce, 11.4 x 5.9 x 2-inch housing that has its own independent, internal NiMH battery power supply. No word yet when she'll be hitting the streets or for how much.
Samsung announces US release of CLX-3160FN and SCX-4725FN laser printers
Continuing to maintain their reputation for launching a truckload of new products at CES, Samsung has announced the US launch of two previously Asia-only laser printers. First up is the CLX-3160FN, a Multifunction Color Laser Printer and Fax that is apparently the smallest and lightest "in the world": at 45.19-pounds, that says a lot about the state of miniaturisation in the multifunction fax / printer business. Other features include print speeds at up to 17 ppm in black and white, and 4 ppm in color, standard USB connectivity, PictBridge support for instant photo printing, and compatibility with Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. One of the less welcome "features" includes yet another newly designed toner cartridge design, which means all your older carts won't work. The second printer that Samsung is unveiling today is the monochrome SCX-4725FN Four-in-one laser printer which combines print, copy, scan, and fax capabilities into one. The SCX-4725FN can print at up to 24 ppm, and outputs at up to 1200 dpi resolution. It also features optical character recognition for scanned text, a mysterious "ID Card Copy" function, and a toner-saving function that apparently reduced consumption by up to 30 percent. Currently Samsung hasn't revealed when either of these printers will ship, and has only given us the price for the CLX-3160FN at $599.
Konica Minolta's coffee-making "bizhub of the future"
There's really not a whole lot the workplace can offer (or that corporate will allow) to make us want to roll into the office day after day, but Konica Minolta's "bizhub of the future" just might change all that. Besides being the typical "prone to jamming" mega printer that has become a staple of workplaces everywhere, it touts an integrated screen, DVD player, built-in speakers, and even an espresso machine to keep our eyelids peeled. Of course, you can also scan, copy, and fax while you're sipping sucking down that caffeinated goodness, but we don't envision much work getting done with Mike Judge's Office Space rolling on the LCD. Currently, the machine is simply a prototype waiting for production, but if the Michael Scott's of the world all band together, surely we can make the mundane work week seem a bit less humdrum.[Via Pocket-Lint]
Sharp's UX-MF series: faxing has never been so good
It's still hard to believe sometimes, but there are indeed fax machines alive and well in the world. Sharp hopes to ease this pain a bit by integrating what they are calling the first fax-to-email solution right in the box. Just plug-in the Ethernet, configure a recipient's address, and Sharp's UX-MF series of all-in-ones will automatically email received faxes as an attached TIFF file. The box can also be used to fax direct from your PC or to scan and print/fax/copy documents old-school-like while leering at the receptionist. It will even print pictures received from any of the new IrSimple infrared handsets like the SH902iS, SH902iSL and SH702iS from NTT DoCoMo capable of transferring a 2 megapixel image in less than a second. The series boasts a 4.3-inch LCD for reviewing scanned images prior to execution, an SD card reader, 2.4GHz cordless phone with answering machine, and the ability to print 26ppm monochrome or 24ppm color at 1200x1200dpi. The top-end UX-MF60CL will set you back about ¥50,800 (roughly $435), a pittance for the reward of a more sedentary lifestyle. Now please pass the donuts.[Via Impress]
Sharp launches UX-B800SE Broadband Fax
Ahh, the analog-phone document facsimile machine. A technology that could and should have gone far, far away a long, long time ago, yet lingers still for businesses who can't seem to let go. There are, of course, some painfully obvious reasons why this is: person A puts a printed document in person B's hand with little or no effort on either person's part, and, well, it just works. Sharp's new UX-B800SE Broadband Fax does the usual boring squelchy phone thing, oh sure, but it also has an Ethernet connection allowing you to send PDF or TIFF scans (two-sided, if you prefer) of your documents via email, as well as receive analog faxes and email them to you if you're like the tethered office drones of yesteryear, waiting around all morning for so-and-so's fax. So as much as we'd like to take the faxes of the world out back and go all Office Space on 'em, we know it's just not going away any time soon. Thus, for now we'll call a truce between factions; on behalf of email addicts everywhere, we accept Sharp's UX-B800SE Broadband Fax as an adequate compromise; we'll take two and call your fax in the morning.
