New Details on Xerox Inkless Printer

Iddo Genuth writes "Xerox is developing a new printing technology which does not require ink of any kind. The new technology includes reusable paper which can be printed and erased dozens of times and has the potential to revolutionize printing. New details on this upcoming technology, which was first reported in September 2006, are now revealed."

Comments

and who will employ the squid?

[abes]

I think this is a great idea. Except for the fact that I almost only print things out so I can write on them. If I didn't need to write on the paper, I probably would just read it from the screen. Occasionally I'll print out a map or a list to take with me, but then it gets put in my pocket and ultimately ends up torn, scrunched, and not so reusable.

So while I'm sure the Earth applauds this invention, I'm not quite sure for whom or understand what circumstances its useful. I also wonder how resusability is there. They claim 50 reprints, but I wonder if the image quality is as good by the 20th time as the first. Also, it apparently fades within a day.

It's not that I think the technology is useless, just limited.

Re:Fantastic

[dbolger]

One major reason is that out mail server (over which I have no control), can take a long time to deliver mail, even internally. If I need to show a manager a report with information they need, I print it out so that I can go to them with it in my hand, rather than sending it to them, then walking over to wait an indeterminate length of time until they get it. In other cases, I would be dealing with people who were not even at a computer, but would still need the information. I don't think its wise to call things retarded just because you can't immediately see how they work.

Re:won't happen.

[mabhatter654]

the newspaper idea is kind of cool.... you only need a newspaper for 1 day anyway 90% end up in the recycle bin. If it didn't require ink to print (or minimal ink) then you could really beef up recycling by having newspaper "vending" machines. Put your old newspaper in + a quarter or fifty cents and get the latest copy. You could of course sell the paper for several dollars on a "new" page. The thing to do as well to change culture is to make the pages more resistant to wear than regular paper.. maybe have 45 degree corners or something (BSG reference!) also develop folios and tubes to store the paper in when not in use so it stays neat and fresh... back to a little old school engineering tubes and such. Actually scrolls would work really well. They would allow long prints of dozens of pages and have a built in storage device to keep the paper fresh.. that could be why we have 3000 year old scrolls but stacked paper books don't last nearly as long.

I'm curious if this new paper can be copied or scanned without damage. The next remaining question is if we can get notebooks made of this stuff and a special pen for writing on it... there's already 2 types of tech for reading handwriting either the logitech/penfly "dot" paper and magic pen, or the magic notebook that follows your writing. The failure of both of those models is that you spend all your time writing on ACTUAL paper, put the data into digital, then have to buy more special paper... you gain nothing over a regular notebook... unless you had magic erasing paper... now it's a really cool idea!!!!