The app will launch tomorrow as a free download, and will work with the PIXMA MP990, MP640 and MP560 wireless all-in-one printers, letting you print photos wirelessly on your home network.

[Canon]

As you will see in the video, the ScribbleBot is a wireless printing device that follows a pre-set drawing path downloaded from the internet. Essentially, it’s like a fancy printer, but your hand can go along for the ride. Would something like this help you learn how to draw? With repetition I suppose anything is possible — although I don’t see it emerging from the concept stage anytime soon. [Yanko]

Print quality is 300dpi, and basic edits include zoom, crop, brightness, contrast, hue and sharpness adjustment. To print whatever is on the screen at the time, you (or grandma) can just hit the Screen Capture button.

Sony DPP-F700 Gallery

As you can see in the pics, the F700 can sit vertically or horizontally, and it will automatically rotate photos as you do.
1GB of storage comes built-in, and you can print from your PC, USB sticks and a variety of media cards, including SD and xD. No RAW format support, but the F700 will print JPEG, TIFF and BMP image files. [Sony]

The Gadget

What the hell is it? It’s a $US400 Wi-Fi printer all-in-one (yes, this includes fax). It has a touchscreen that includes a string of different branded widgets. The widgets do many things you can do on your mobile phone or a computer, but they all centre around printing. So you don’t just order movie tickets, you print them out, along with weather reports, blank to-do lists, Google calendars, colouring book pages from Nickelodeon and Disney, news synopses from USA Today and coupons for everything from Hasbro toys to Yoplait yogurt.

The Price

$US400. Count ‘em. That’s more than twice what most similarly classed all-in-ones cost.

The Widgets — and What’s Missing

In case you’re not picking up on this, regular Giz readers may not be the target audience. It’s as much an arts-and-crafts hub as it is a don’t-want-to-mess-with-a-computer resource, full of easy-access widgets that scream out “overworked mother of five”, with barely anything for “twentysomething nerd”. (Honestly, I can picture Kristin Wiig using this and making one of those weird smiles of surprised satisfaction.) Still, I was impressed by the diversity and wealth of resources this thing has — at launch.

Here’s what it still needs though, and has the SDK to provide, so listen up, developers:

• Driving directions – Google Maps is included, but for now you can just print the actual maps. A note says that driving directions are coming soon, and that just isn’t soon enough. Hurry!

• Boarding passes – Airlines widgets would be glorious: With all the emphasis on printing out boarding passes at home, how about a way to log into Delta or United and pull up your latest boarding passes?

• Email – I swear HP had some device that printed emails out for old people who didn’t like computers but liked hearing from their grandkids. Why isn’t that app on here?

• Epicurious – There’s already a recipe widget, and you can already sift through nearly 600 dishes, but that’s not satisfactory. Let’s have proven content from the culinary maestros.

• Sesame Street – As a dad, I am impressed with all the colouring and crafts that you can do with this thing, but if there’s no Elmo, someone’s gonna cry.

The Performance

I realise I’ve used up most of your attention talking about the services, and that’s because the printer itself works fine. I have criticised HP’s colour palette in the past, but ever since my Epson blowout, I have given up on trying to find “the best printer” in all aspects. Epson may still have the absolute best colour representation, but here I found a printer that jumped onto my Wi-Fi network faster than anything I’ve seen from Epson or Canon, and soon started spitting out out perfectly usable snapshots — not just from my computer but from my iPhone, using HP’s simple but effective iPrint Photo app. It’s a quick printer, if you don’t count the painfully long “one-time” ink initialisation period or inkjet head calibration.

The Verdict

Do I think you should spend $US400 on this printer? Not for your bachelor pad, dorm room or group home, that’s for sure. But do I think you and the rest of the fam chip in to get this thing for mum for Christmas? To quote one of the more famous mums of our time, “You betcha”.

Possibly the easiest Wi-Fi setup experience I’ve had to date

Fast, decent print quality using HP premium print paper

Amazing diversity of widgets for printing coupons, coloring books, movie tickets and more

Designed for a full house, with kids in need of boredom relief, and parents in need of quick data and services—it’s not for everyone

The $US400 price is twice what other all-in-one printers in this class cost, so basically the widgets cost you $US200

Launch was great, but there’s a lot of fluff in the content lineup, and it’s missing key applications that would make it a must-have appliance

Here’s the scene. After installing Snow Leopard, prints from both my Epson RX 650 and a HP Pro B9180 turned the mushiest shade of mush ever. Now, as all good troubleshooters should know, it’s good form to not always blame the obvious. In this case, the obvious being Snow Leopard.

So care was taken to track down the problem, and even more care taken to discount the possibility of worn or blocked printheads. As it turns out, the custom printer profiles I use for these printers are the problem. Or not, depending how you look at it. They weren’t a problem in Leopard (OS 10.5) but are now in disarray using Snow Leopard (OS 10.6). Instead of being able to use the custom profiles, I have to rely on “System managed” colour, which is OK, but fails to get the best from the printers. And you know the worst part is it cost me some hours and money to get back on track. I don’t like wasting my time, and I don’t like throwing money away on borked photo prints.

I also just checked both HP and Epson support and they still have not issued updated drivers for Snow Leopard. There was an HP printer driver update delivered via Software Update but it didn’t seem to make any difference.

What’s more, reports are surfacing of problems with other printers. I know of one person whose perfectly good SMB-class Kyocera printer doesn’t work at all, and the manufacturer will not be issuing a driver update, forcing the user to spend thousands of dollars on a new printer. So much for a cheap upgrade. Snow Leopard at $39 = $3000 for forced printer upgrade.

Whaddya say Gizmodians? Is this simply not good enough? Should we send the ninja team around to talk to Mr Jobs? Are you with me? Let us know in the comments.

The message here is that if you haven’t yet installed Snow Leopard and your workflow is dependent on colour-accurate printing using custom profiles, it may be wise to hold fire on the upgrade.

The formal name for this MakerBot is the Cupcake CNC, and is able to rapidly prototype anything. It consists of a series of belts and pulleys, laser cutter, a wood cabinet and a stepper motor. And really, it’s hard to complain about anything that plays “Television Rules the Nation” as a pure aside.

Read more about our Giz Gallery 09 here and see what else we’ll be playing with at the event.

Because of the plastics and metals in printer cartridges, they take a long time to break down in landfill. But they can be relatively easily recycled, either being reused by printer manufacturers or recycled into new products.

To find the nearest place to recycle your cartridges, point your browser at cartridges.planetark.org. It may take a little bit of extra effort, but it has a real benefit for the environment, so you should do it anyway.

[Planet Ark]

Without having to use your computer, the printer was designed to print out reformatted Web content—maps, coupons, etc.—right from the Wi-Fi enabled printer using the 4-inch touchscreen (which we have seen to work like a charm). And now the company is releasing its App Studio and a SDK letting any web content developer create applications for the printer.

Getting the apps on your printer seems simple enough: you hit the Get More button on the user interface and select from different categories of applications which will then be downloaded over Wi-Fi. You can also browse the apps on the App Studio website. HP will start to roll out more and more applications over the next couple of months (especially as developers start working with the SDK), but some of the first applications will include ones by Disney (for printing out colouring pages for kids), CBS News (for printing text versions of 60 Minutes), Flickr (for printing photos directly from the printer), and Tabbloid (for creating and printing customised RSS feeds).

HP also announced partnerships with USA TODAY, Google (maps and calendar applications), Coupons.com, Fandango, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku, Weathernews, Snapfish.com and HP Creative Studio.

All the applications are free, but the PhotoSmart Premium with TouchSmart Web (an app to shorten that product name would be nice) itself costs $US399. And hey, maybe HP won’t make its app store approval process so hellish. [HP App Studio]

The ESP 3250 (above) is similar to the ESP 3, but for the same $US130 price point it adds a multifunction card reader and a 1.5-inch LCD (the ESP 3 has no display).

The ESP 5250 (pictured up at the top), which at $US170 is $US20 more than the ESP 5, adds Wi-Fi to the mix, a welcome new feature. It also keeps the ESP 5’s multifunction card reader and shrinks the display to a 2.4-incher.

These printers both use Kodacolor, a tech which Kodak claims reduces ink costs by up to $US110 a year. Without having tested them we can’t really tell, but Kodak’s ink sure is cheaper than competitors: A three-colour cartridge for either printer costs $US15 and black is $US10. Compare that to Canon’s ink, which is $US13 per colour and $US15 for black. If Kodak’s printers are efficient, that’ll mean a lot of money saved. [Kodak]

KODAK Printers Offer Lowest Total Ink Replacement Cost in the Industry

Rochester, NY, September 2, 2009 – Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) invites consumers to print, copy, scan and save with its new KODAK ESP 3250 and ESP 5250 All-in-One (AiO) Printers. The ESP 3250 and ESP 5250 Printers join Kodak’s innovative line of printers that are revolutionizing the inkjet business by offering the lowest total ink replacement cost in the industry². With KODAK AiO Printers, consumers can print vivid colour documents and KODAK lab-quality photos³ at home for less, saving an average of $US110 a year on ink¹ compared to other leading consumer inkjet printers on the market.

“The introduction of the new KODAK ESP 3250 and ESP 5250 AiO models delivers on Kodak’s commitment to bring consumers affordable, first-class printing solutions,” says Randy Brody, Vice-President, Worldwide Marketing, Consumer Inkjet Systems at Eastman Kodak Company. “With our line of innovative and intuitive printers, Kodak is committed to providing high-quality, in-home printing with fairly-priced ink so that consumers can print what they want, when they want, without fear of the ink replacement cost.”

Innovations in Printing Solutions

KODAK ESP 3250 and ESP 5250 AiO Printers continue to combine the latest in printing technology with low-cost, high-quality pigment ink cartridges that deliver brilliant documents and KODAK lab-quality photos³. The end result is what consumers want – an easy-to-use printer that produces exceptional prints that last a lifetime and are rated highest in water and stain resistance as well as savings on their ink replacement costs.

The KODAK ESP 3250 and 5250 Printers are designed to efficiently print with a speed of up to 30 pages per minute in black and 29 pages per minute in colour. In addition, both feature improved paper handling with intelligent paper tray systems that automatically adjust settings based on paper type and size to reduce printing errors and save time. With colour LCD display screens and memory card slots, the ESP 3250 and ESP 5250 Printers make it easier than ever to create colour and black-and-white documents and photos without a computer.

KODAK ESP 3250 AiO Printer ($129.99 MSRP7) features a 1.5″ colour LCD along with memory card compatibility, making it easy for consumers to view and print without a computer.

KODAK ESP 5250 AiO Printer ($169.99 MSRP7) is enabled with built-in Wi-Fi, offering increased efficiency and flexibility for the freedom to easily print from anywhere in the home and without cables. The printer also features a 2.4″ colour LCD and memory card compatibility to view, edit and print photos.

Quality and Performance for Less

KODAK All-in-One Printers use Kodak’s premium pigmented inks that come in a simple two-cartridge set-up, saving consumers an average of $US110 a year on ink¹. Black cartridges retail for $US9.99 U.S. MSRP7 and a five-ink colour cartridge retails at $US14.99 U.S. MSRP7. The exclusive KODACOLOR Technology embedded in each printer enables consumers to cost-effectively print crisp documents and KODAK lab-quality photos³. This technology is a combination of four key elements: pigment-based inks, micro-porous photo papers, colour and image science and a Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) print head.

Furthermore, Kodak’s Home centre Software includes the exclusive Facial Retouch feature that enables consumers to improve their personal photographs right at home by automatically reducing blemishes and enhancing facial features in just one click. Also, KODAK All-in-One Home centre Software contains an Optical Character Reader (OCR) which allows the user to scan documents that can be edited.

Both KODAK ESP 3250 and ESP 5250 Printers are ENERGY STAR qualified and include features such as manual two-sided printing and multiple-pages-per-sheet printing. In “Standby” mode, both printers use less than one watt of power. Both printers are also compliant with the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, which limits the presence of certain substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

The 25mm x 50mm labels produced by this printer are intended to simplify the identification of similarly shaped or sized objects. Understandably, the designer appears to focus on the potential applications in identifying prescription medication bottles in particular. Being fortunate enough to only require minor vision correction, I can’t even imagine how someone could identify medications without sight: the containers are nearly identical and there are plenty of pills that would feel the same. While this concept could save lives by preventing accidental overdoses, the applications seem limitless:

• Which socks go together?
• What’s the colour of those pants?
• Before you open the bag, are those BBQ-flavoured chips or Cheetos?
• What’s in that box? Ultra-ribbed or Her Pleasure?
• Which cat is that? Dizzy or Angel?

We could probably justify a label for everything in the house, inanimate or not. What would be the first thing you’d label? [Coroflot via Core77]