We rarely need to print things these days. But for the first 40+ years of personal computing, printers were commonplace. And they were some of the most frustrating pieces of equipment ever. The book Shitty Printers catalogs and rips apart some of the worst offenders, from cheap home inkjets to menacing tractor-feed machines.
This handheld color printer can print on any surface, including fabric. When combined with its optional docking station, it works as a traditional inkjet printer capable of printing on A4, A5, or A6 size paper. From the looks of the prototype, its full-sheet prints are a bit stripey, but it still looks like a versatile little gadget.
Normally, if you want a mural on your wall, you need to paint it. But the guys at Russia’s Cool Print SPB have a computer-controlled rig that does all the hard work. The machine rides on rails and then moves along the wall like a gigantic inkjet printer, outputting large-scale, full-color images. Longer tracks = wider images.
This palm-size printer makes quick work of labeling cables, circuit breakers, parts drawers, and more. It uses thermal printing, so it never needs ink and can print text, QR codes, and bar codes on dozens of different label styles, including transparent ones. Its labels are waterproof and peel off without leaving a mess.
This tiny printer is great for printing quick notes, doodles, or photos in black and white. It outputs 200 dpi monochrome images on 1.9″ rolls of paper and needs no ink. It can also print on sticky paper. Save an extra $10 with code PRINT10 in The Awesomer Shop.
This portable printer quickly outputs copies of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other images on your phone onto 2″ x 3″ mini prints. Each glossy print has a peel-off sticky back so you can slap them on notebooks, laptops, and other surfaces.
Evebot’s tiny, battery-powered printer works wirelessly with a smartphone app to print designs up to 1″ tall on just about any surface, rough or smooth, flat or curved. It works with three types of ink: permanent, invisible, and skin-safe for temporary tattoos.
(PG-13: Language) While at home on quarantine, one of the SleepySisters’ printers stopped working. So rather than get it fixed or toss it in the alley, she and her husband took the opportunity to recreate the famous printer destruction scene from Office Space. PC LOAD LETTER! WTF does that mean?
Save big on computers, peripherals, and accessories in the HP Presidents’ Day Sale. They’ve got great laptops, desktops, printers, monitors, and other gear at prices up to 60% off. From the HP Spectre X360 touchscreen laptop to the HP Color Laserjet Pro MFP, there’s no better time to upgrade your office or home. (Sale ends 2/22/20)
Artist DP Truong is capable of drawing portraits with all kinds of interesting techniques. For this image of Will Smith inspired by Gemini Man, he used the line-by-line approach that a dot-matrix or inkjet printer would use to create an image from top to bottom.
Ever wonder how images get printed on things like phone and tablet cases? UV inkjet printers can print on just about any surface, and can even create textures. Strange Parts takes us inside of the Besjet factory, where they make these industrial wonders, and offers a look at how they’re made, as well as their capabilities.
This nifty bit of tech from EBS Ink-Jet Systems can be used to imprint text, images, and barcodes onto metal, plastic, textiles, concrete, wood, cardboard, and more. The EBS-260 is designed for industrial uses, but it could be pretty sweet for street artists.
Digital fingerprinting and identity tracking is a fact of life these days. But did you know that even the pages your printer has been spewing out could be tattling on you? According to this video from Half as Interesting, printer manufacturers have been outputting a hidden serial number onto every sheet of paper for years.
PrintDreams’ PrintBrush XDR is a handheld thermal color inkjet printer designed to print directly onto a surface. It can print on paper, wood, plastic, textile and metal. It accounts for your hand speed and will print properly no matter how fast or slow you go.
HP’s Tango printer is designed to be used primarily with its companion app. It lets you print both via a Wi-Fi and a data connection, scan and share documents, even automatically order ink refills. It also works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana.
(Flashing colors) The latest video from the masters of video gimmickry features a gag that was made using more than 500 individual printers, each spewing out sheets of Double A paper to create an animated backdrop. The track is from the 2014 album Hungry Ghosts.
JK Brickworks shows off another awesome mechanical build – a fully-functional printer/plotter that uses a pen to draw words and images on a sheet of paper that it feeds using the wheels from a LEGO vehicle, and a Mindstorms’ EV3 controller.
(PG-13: Language) While it’s not quite as satisfying as the PC LOAD LETTER scene in Office Space, we still can appreciate the way thehypnoguy1 and his pals fixed their broken laser printer once and for all.
These days, there’s not a ton of need to print things, but sometimes it’s still nice to have a hardcopy. The compact Rolto printer wirelessly connects to your iPhone and can print perfectly proportioned screengrabs in black and white. Great for recipes and to-do lists.
Epson finally caught on to third-party ink vendors. Its new EcoTank printers have no ink cartridges; each color tank is refilled by the bottle. The printers come loaded with around 2 years’ worth of ink (at least 4000 black/6500 color pages).
A tiny inkjet printer driven by a robot. PocketPrinter prints grayscale documents at about one page per minute. Its cartridge carries enough black ink for 1,000 printed pages while its battery lasts up to an hour per charge.
A photo printer for iOS and Android devices. Send a photo from your phone to any LifePrint anywhere in the world via Wi-Fi, 3G or Bluetooth. You can also follow other LifePrint users so their images will be sent to your print queue.
This goofy little gadget lets you subscribe to feeds including news, weather, sayings, puzzles, and more, and prints them out for you to carry around or pin up on your corkboard or fridge.
