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Xerox Demos Self-Erasing, Eco-Friendly Paper

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the sitting-on-photocopiers-to-make-a-comeback dept.

Lucas123 writes "The same Xerox lab that brought us Ethernet, the GUI and the mouse has demonstrated paper that can be reused after printed text automatically deletes itself from its surface in a day. Instead of trashing or recycling after one use, a single piece of paper can be reused up to 100 times. 'The paper contains specially coded molecules that create a print after being exposed to ultraviolet light emitted from a thin bar in a printer. The ultraviolet bar itself is very small, so it can be used in mobile printers. The technology could also be useful for network printing.'"

8 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm... by djcapelis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now... where *did* I put that document...

    --
    I touch computers in naughty places
  2. Hacking the paper? by niko9 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wonder if you can recover sensitive data much like you can with over written hard disk sectors...

  3. But will the paper start to jam after a few uses? by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But will the paper start to jam after a few uses?
    100 times is a lot of it to get jammed in the printer after a few uses.

  4. etch-a-sketch by WarJolt · · Score: 3, Funny

    What if I want to keep it for longer? Just make it so it disappears when I shake it real hard.

  5. Dilbert by MikeDirnt69 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder how it would show up on Dilbert cartoons: "Here. Read these 50 pages and make a report. You have 24h"

    --
    Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
  6. Print this story by Skapare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Next thing we'll have is DRM enabled printing that refuses to print this story unless it gets printed with self-erasing ink. But you can print it on permanent ink if you are a registered user. Registration is free. Enter your SSN here.

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    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  7. Ultra violet? by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Interesting
    That stuff that comes from the sun? Don't want to take your valuable printings outside then.

    Back in the 1980s we used UV erasable EPROMS. With the correct UV lamps you could erase them in seconds or minutes. If you had natural light coming onto your desk then they'd get erased, but it would take a few days. Many an engineer was stumped as to why his circuit that worked fine yesterday was behaving badly today.

    Now the same problem will extend to accountants!

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  8. Re:Possibilities... by utopianfiat · · Score: 3, Funny

    congratulations, Xerox! You've just invented the eraser!

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    +5, Truth