Not that the Big N hasn't snubbed the vast majority of the world before with these channel releases, but folks holed up everywhere save for Japan have yet another one they can only look longingly at from afar. Thanks to a new partnership between Nintendo and Fujifilm, the Wii Digicam Print Channel is immediately available for Japanese Wii consoles to access, which essentially gives owners the ability to upload images from SD cards and receive customized prints, photo books, business cards, etc. in the mail. We're not totally at all sure why someone would choose to handle this on a gaming console rather than, say, an actual computer, but hey -- who are we to judge? Oh, and for you folks in North America, Europe and beyond, expect the service to roll your way sometime in the future.

[Via DigitalCameraInfo]

Watching the digits in front of your dedicated spam folder grow isn't entirely enthralling, and to be honest, witnessing just how much junk email you receive on a daily basis can actually be somewhat infuriating. The Spamtrap provides a much more tactile and satisfying way to demolish said waste, as it disregards the delete command and gets straight to the dirty work. The installation interacts with spammers by monitoring several email addresses, and once any spam is received, the Pentium II-based machine "automatically prints and shreds" the garbage so you can really tell the spam whose boss. Subsequently, the system then feeds blacklists with the information it receives in an attempt to further clean up the web for other individuals without such extreme means of purging their inbox. And for those environmentally conscience folks who are on the edge of irate, yes, the creator does go the extra mile by recycling the paper that inevitably gets wasted. Hit the read link for a video demonstration.

[Via BoingBoing]

Just when you thought a $5,000 3D printer wasn't such a bad deal after all, the zany gurus at the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories have put Desktop Factory's iteration to shame. The CandyFab 4000 is a homegrown printer that utilized a bevy of miscellaneous spare parts around the lab as well as the same sort of CNC hot-air control mechanism that we previously saw in the text writing toaster contraption. Their selective hot air sintering and melting (SHASAM) method allows the printer to begin with a bed of granular media (sugar, in this case) in which a directed, low-velocity beam of hit air can be used to fuse together certain areas repeatedly, eventually working the remaining grains into a three-dimensional object. The creators claim that while their CandyFab machine only ran them $500 in addition to junk parts and manual labor, even starting from scratch shouldn't demand more than a grand or so, so be sure to click on through for a few snaps of the fascinating results and hit the read link for the full-blown skinny.

[Via MetaFilter]

No doubt about it, vanilla inkjets seem to be garnering a whole lot of attention these days, and while the latest trick won't yield circuits or OLED displays, it could make filmmakers who long for days past quite excited. Jesse England has apparently discovered a fairly easy to automate process to print video frames onto transparency film. After discovering the dimensions for both Super 8 and 16-millimeter film, he simply made a template, arranged the filmstrip using Adobe's Premier and Photoshop, and printed it out on an everyday Epson inkjet. The noticeably manual task of punching out sprocket holes was still left to a hand-powered box cutter, but we're sure there are less tedious solutions just waiting to be implemented. As expected, the actual video quality was deemed "terrible," but the emotional impact was bittersweet indeed. Be sure to hit the read link for the whole low-down and to see a couple of video demonstrations to show you what the fuss is all about.

[Via BoingBoing]

Slicing up ole Xbox consoles or using immensely powerful lasers to heat your morning cup of joe are certainly entertaining ways to make industrial machinery a bit more fun, but the CNC Toast printer ups the ante by providing an over-the-top replacement for those plastic molds we used as youngsters. By hacking a CNC hot-air gun to respond to a "computer-dictated X-Y control system" and affixing it to the carriage of a printer, the evil scientists were able instruct the toasty (ahem) blaster to move around in a user-selected pattern in order to print images and text onto pieces of toast. Cleverly dubbed "digital toast imaging technology," the apparatus was able to affix a number of slightly awkward faces on slices of bread, and even imprint "Hello World" onto one piece in particular. Still, you can't get the full impression of how geektacular this truly is without seeing it in motion, so that's why you should click on through right about now and hit play, cool?

[Via HackedGadgets]

Sure, turning your OS X or Linux-based machine into a FON Spot is snazzy in and of itself, but what about that dusty grey printer that stays shoved beside your desk? In an admittedly impressive feat of determination, a certain modder took a screwdriver, cutting utensil, and a few dollars worth of FON routers to the inside of a printer's case, and the result is a lesson in utility to say the least. By shoving one of those inexpensive FON routers inside the case, and relying on DD-WRT to open up the appropriate channels, he was able to convert a HP LaserJet 5 into a wireless printer and WiFi hotspot, all without making a scene. Still, the idea of turning your tethered printer into one that accepts incoming jobs wirelessly is no easy task, and judging by the laundry list of duties required to pull this all together, we wouldn't recommend giving this a go without hordes of spare time on your hands. That being said, those still interested should be delighted that a step-by-step guide (with pictures, no less) has been made available for the brave and talented, so be sure to hit the read link and start digesting.

While we're still not sure whether refilling those empty ink cartridges is indeed a criminal act (or a waste of money), Epson has taken one more step towards forcing the average consumer to purchase name-brand carts at sky-high prices. Of course, Epson would have you believe that it's simply protecting its patents, but in a recent preliminary ruling that deemed some 24 suppliers that "import and sell Epson-compatible cartridges" as in the wrong, it could spell higher prices and less choices for consumers with Epson printers. Nevertheless, if the final ruling (set for July 30th) follows the same path as this one, a "general exclusion order on the cartridges" would be enforced, barring any future imports of the presumably lower-cost alternatives into the States. It looks we're almost down to two choices when it comes to printing: break the law, or break the bank?

[Via TGDaily]

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.