Newsletter Archives

• Not you too Bro?

  Posted on March 7, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Remember when I said be careful about printer firmware updates? For years, Brother was the go-to brand that many in the small biz tech industry would recommend as affordable and reliable. Those of us who remote into offices and (gasp) want to remote print, Brother printers would — and still do — easily connect and easily handle remote printing.

  There was a report on Tuesday by YouTube personality Louis Rossmann (see Brother turns heel & becomes anti-consumer printer company) who claimed that Brother was blocking the use of third-party printer cartridges after an update. Now, Brother denies it’s them.

  With another printer vendor, Lexmark, I have seen some generics not properly labeled to match the printer. When you fit them into the slot, the printer doesn’t recognize them as valid. But this wasn’t as a result of an update, rather it’s the imported printer cartridges that are not being marked appropriately. Bottom line, and once again, wait on those clickbait headlines.

  I find the “printer divide” interesting. If you are an older geek, you probably have a printer. The youth? Not so much. It’s understandable — you can almost get away with not having a printer. But I said “almost.” Sometimes, governments and financial institutions will want that piece of paper with a “wet” signature. You know, signed with one of those old-fashioned ink pens.

  Hardware

• Epson EcoTank update

  Posted on February 3, 2025 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  My article about Epson EcoTank printers was well received but contained some errors.

  This week, I provide some updates and attempt to correct my mistakes.

  I also present some questions and comments that came from our readers.

  The biggest goof was my commentary about the so-called “maintenance box.”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.05.0, 2025-02-03).

  Hardware EcoTank, Epson, Newsletters

• CES is not about consumers

  Posted on January 8, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  You’ll be hearing headlines about the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. But here’s the thing — CES is not for consumers, it’s for the business and manufacturers of consumer technology. Also, most of the time it’s not about technology available right now, but rather technology soon to come. A lot of floor space is dedicated to the manufacturers of components, not finished products. Need a widget for your new tech wonder? This is the place to find it.

  I know of many managed service providers that go to CES to get a pulse on what’s coming in technology. In small businesses, we often use both consumer and business tech.

  There is also an increasing amount of health-related technology. I am a fan of the Withings monitoring cuff to take measurements of my blood pressure, as well as my dad’s. We tend towards high blood pressure (dealing with technology probably doesn’t help), so I monitor it on a regular basis. It uploads the readings to an electronic database. We print out the listing of the readings before we head to the doctor, which allows the information to be reviewed without the “increased by the stress of going to the doctor” effect.

  Going to the show? Withings is at Level 2, Halls A-D, Booth 54119.  Tell them I said “Hi!” They have a new blood pressure monitor that was shown at last year’s CES but still awaits approval. See? That cool new thing announced at CES may — or may not — be available for sale!

  Hardware Patch Lady Posts

• Incase, redux

  Posted on January 3, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  A few weeks ago, I noted that Incase had not seemed to make much progress towards its stated goal of having “Designed by Microsoft” products available in 2024. Beating that goal by mere days, the company added a Designed by Microsoft section to its website listing 17 products, with 11 “coming soon” and the rest available for shipping.

  On Thursday, Incase announced a new addition to the lineup, the Ergonomic Compact Keyboard (left). The keyboard will be displayed at the 2025 Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas starting next Tuesday. A notable feature is the inclusion of a Copilot key next to the righthand Alt key, replacing the longstanding, righthand Windows key.

  Incase also announced that its products would be available through Amazon and BestBuy.com. Incase already has an Amazon page, but the Designed by Microsoft products are not yet displayed there. Some of them can be found by searching.

  I’m glad to see some of these products on the market again. It remains to be seen whether they match the quality of their Microsoft predecessors.

  Hardware Designed by Microsoft, Incase, Keyboards, Mice, Peripherals

• Mouse quest – Incase edition

  Posted on December 17, 2024 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  In my article Mouse quest (AskWoody, 2024-04-22), I opined about Microsoft getting out of the hardware business, at least with respect to its long-running line of mice, keyboards, and webcams. It announced that Incase would carry the devices forward under the banner “Designed by Microsoft.”

  At the time of the announcement, Incase said it would introduce this line in 2024, without providing any specifics. The company also added a section to its website describing its planned products.

  Two weeks ago, noticing that absolutely nothing had happened, I initiated queries with both Microsoft and Incase. A Microsoft spokesperson replied that Microsoft had nothing to add. Incase replied that it would meet the 2024 goal, even though there was nothing on the site at that moment. Late last week, there was still nothing on the site.

  That just changed. Two products, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 1850 (above) and the Modern Mobile Mouse, are now available for purchase at the Incase site. If you examine those two links carefully, you’ll notice that they are “new arrivals.” The Designed by Microsoft section shows these products among all the anticipated products in the line, but you can’t click anything there to find the product details.

  Twenty products in the line are shown at the site but just two have become available. Worse, both mice are slated to come in five colors, but only black is available. It’s a weak showing.

  But I guess Incase made its deadline.

  Hardware Incase, Mice, News

• The IBM Personal Computer

  Posted on November 25, 2024 at 02:44 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  
  Creative Computing Magazine, December 1981

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.48.0, 2024-11-25).

  Hardware Basic, EasyWriter, Epson, IBM, IBM Model 5150, IBM PC, IBM Personal Computer, IBM-DOS, MS-DOS, Newsletters, Pascal, Peach Tree

• Epson EcoTank printers

  Posted on November 18, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.47 • 2024-11-18

  Look for our BONUS issue on November 25, 2024!

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  Epson has done a lot of things right with its ink-tank printer line, including making Shaquille O’Neal its spokesperson. Who doesn’t love Shaq?

  Regarding those right moves, I’ll provide my history with printing, give a quick review of my Epson EcoTank ET-5150, and discuss how Epson has managed to change the face of printing while selling over 80 million units.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.47.0, 2024-11-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Hardware Bottled Ink, EcoTank, Epson, Ink Cartridges, Newsletters, Printers, Printing Costs

• Terabyte update 2024

  Posted on June 24, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  This year, the numbers are bouncing around and the trends are muddled.

  Except for the influences exerted by events such as floods in Thailand and global pandemics, pricing for storage usually follows a predictable trend line.

  Prices are behaving slightly differently this time around. I will offer some thoughts about why this might have happened, but I admit to a lack of clarity.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.26.0, 2024-06-24).

  Hardware HDDs, Newsletters, RAM, SD Cards, SSDs, storage, Storage Prices
• « Older Entries