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HP Laserjet Pro CM1415

Today’s growth in mobile device usage in the country has spawned new ways of accomplishing tasks. For example, mobile users now read news on their tablets or send messages via their smart phones. With the ease in communications afforded by mobile devices, users have also come to demand more conveniences in other ways. HP is addressing one of those through their ePrint technology, which is now enabled in all of their new printers.

On my Apple iPod touch, I can have PDF files, MSWord files, but due to the closed nature of the iOS environment, there’s not much I can do with those files on the device when the need arises for me to print them. But with HP’s ePrint-enabled printers, all I need do is to email the file directly to an HP printer for printing.

No more tinkering with drivers or worrying about supported file formats! When you email a file (attached to the email message) to your printer, it’s HP’s cloud-hosted printing service that’ll take care of determining the proper drivers to use for completing the print job. And you even get a confirmation email response to inform you whether or not the print job was successful.

At the ePrint launch in Makati last 15 April 2011, HP’s market development manager, Erwin E. Creencia, and his colleagues talked about this newfangled innovation. In answer to my question regarding file formats that are not yet supported, Creencia said that AutoCAD files are the only printable files that can’t be printed via ePrint. (Although, ePrint is now also enabled in HP’s large-format Indigo printers.)

What came to mind right away after learning of ePrint and how it works was spam. HP Philippines country general manager, Mandy Pascual, addressed this by apprising us of the safeguards built into HP’s cloud printing service. He said that the service allows for whitelisting of source email addresses, aside from having built-in anti-spam monitoring. (I just wonder how good their anti-spam software is…) The good news is, you can change your printer’s email address anytime, and for an unlimited number of times.

HP Officejet Pro 8500a

Printers that are equipped with the ePrint technology — i.e., HP’s printers that can be connected to the Internet either via LAN or Wi-Fi — need only be registered online. Once registered, it will be assigned its unique email address. An online account will be created where you can manage or monitor print jobs.

For those who are concerned about privacy, Pascual said that the online printer registration is secure and can be done anonymously. (I certainly hope HP won’t do profiling of their customers, or worse, sell the aggregated user data to advertisers.)

Currently, ePrint is enabled on the following printers: HP LaserJet Pro M1536dnf Multifunction Printer, HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fn/fnw Color Multifunction Printer, HP LaserJet Pro CP1525 Color Printer, HP Photosmart Ink Advantage K510a, and the HP Officejet Pro 8500A e-All-in-One Printer.

According to HP Philippines, there is also an enterprise solution for corporations that require the ePrint service on their private networks. Normally, printers with their own email addresses are open to the world for receiving documents — this is what lets you print from wherever. But for companies that require a more secure system, HP can enable the use of their ePrint technology within a corporate Intranet.

With a growing number of individuals and businesses going online, it’s becoming more and more practical to use the ubiquitous email for communicating… and for printing. One day soon, HP’s ePrinting will most probably replace the fax machine. In fact, I’m trying to convince my friends in the travel industry to consider the shift. Since all of them have email already, and since they still need to print stuff regularly, upgrading to HP’s ePrint technology is but natural!

Consider this: when buying an airline ticket online, you could supply your printer’s email address to the online booking system. So that when your e-ticket is sent to you, it gets printed right away!

What about you? Can you think of other practical uses for printers that have their own email addresses?

HP Officejet Advantage 4500

Hewlett-Packard (Phils.) launched in Davao City last 7 April 2011 a new line of value-for-money printers that are designed primarily for the home-use market. In total, six new models have been introduced: from the basic HP Deskjet Ink Advantage K109a, to the advanced HP Officejet Advantage 4500 All-in-One Printer, of which SME companies could very well take advantage as well.

These printers are priced very competitively at ₱8,999 (SRP) for the Officejet 4500. This particular printer has all the bells and whistles, such as borderless printing, network printing, and PC-less printing (via SD card). You can event assign

But what caught my attention was the new line of inks that HP has come up with. These new printers accommodate the new Ink Advantage 703/704 ink cartridges.

In addition to providing greater choices and outstanding value, the new HP Ink Advantage printers deliver the same quality, reliability and convenience customers rely on from HP.

The high-capacity HP 703 Black and Tri-Color Ink Cartridges used in the new HP Photosmart Ink Advantage e-All-in-One and the HP Officejet Advantage 4500 All-in-One offer up to 600 pages in black and 250 pages in color, delivering finely detailed graphics, laser-quality text, and archival-quality output.

The New HP 704 Black and Tri-Color Ink Cartridges used in the New Deskjet HP Ink Advantage Printers offer up to 480 pages in black and 200 pages in color and is composed of up to 70%(3) recycled plastic.

Personally, I use the HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 2060 AIO Printer (SRP: ₱4,999) at home. It can print, scan and copy and the ink cartridge costs less than ₱400 apiece!

With this new line of HP printing solutions, equipped with the new Ink Advantage color and black ink cartridges, the cost of ownership of an HP printer should be its greatest selling point. Over time, an HP printer owner will spend less compared to other brands whose printers are cheap but the corresponding ink cartridges are exorbitantly priced.

When I asked an HP representative about the new Ink Advantage cartridges being HP’s response to the spread of continuous-ink systems, he said that it was. He said that HP does care about their customers, and that’s why they came up with this solution: a very cost-effective ink cartridge that delivers the same quality of printing as HP’s more high-end ink cartridges. Plus, you get to keep your printer’s warranty, too!

HP Ink Advantage printers

HP printers are available in many of Davao’s computer shops. And, there is an HP service center in the city, at Digital Interface, Pryce Business Park, J.P. Laurel Ave., Davao City.

After introducing an air ticket booking service that’s completely online and automated, Cebu Pacific has introduced new features into their Web-based reservation system. This is one thing that I’ve long been pining for ever since I started using this airline’s Web site: the facility to not only book tickets but reserve seats as well. And now they have it.

Booking for my flight to Manila in October, I noticed that the Web site’s interface had undergone slight changes — some layout changes and minor improvements in the user interface. Then I was pleasantly surprised when I was presented with the Seat Selector screen (screen capture below).

It’s pretty neat! But, it’s a premium service — meaning, it ain’t free. After choosing my preferred seats, I noticed an extra charge of P448 on my total airfare. Oh well. Anyway, reserving seats isn’t compulsory. But at least passengers now have a choice, especially people who are particular about seating, like me.

Another change that I’ve noticed is an option to prepay for excess baggage. I find it deplorable that Cebu Pacific lowered the baggage allowance to 15kg per passenger on domestic flights, and this new online service doesn’t really alleviate the pain. However, I do appreciate it that the airline has put in place this measure that makes it less of a hassle for passengers to check in.

CebuPacificAir.com also now has a way for passengers to donate to the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines). To quote: “Your donation will be used to support the WWF-Philippines climate adaptation work in Mindoro. The amount is based on the estimated carbon dioxide emission versus the actual flight distance being purchased.”

Kudos to Cebu Pacific!