October 2005

See the hottie. No, not the dude on the banner. The desk. More precisely, Joi’s desk. A gorgeous Sauder Willow Falls Computer Desk . American Cherry. With Hutch.

Yeah, hot. I know.

Okay, so, it’s not actually Joi’s desk just yet. It’s just a matter of time, though. Any day now my husband will agree to refurnish our home office. He’ll realize that Office Depot is now having a Furniture Sale and that an elegantly decorated office bespeaks success. He’ll be overcome with an urge to start with furniture, and will insist that we start by replacing my desk first. With a gorgeous Sauder Willow Falls Computer Desk . American Cherry. With Hutch.

I’ll wear him down. I have my ways. Victoria? I know her Secret.

We bought a new printer for our SOHO a while back. It’s a Canon PIXMA iP4000 and we love it.

It’s the first Canon we’ve owned and our next one will be a Canon, too, if this one is any indication of the type of output and reliability that Canon is pimping to the world.

From their website:

If you’re looking for outstanding quality, high speed and advanced convenience features, the Canon PIXMA™ iP4000 Photo Printer is ideal. Its ContrastPLUS 5-color ink system with four dye-based inks plus a pigment-based black ink produces true-life photos with improved color saturation and contrast along with laser-quality text. Plus, it achieves a resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 color dpi1, for exceptional detail and photo-realism. Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) uses a high-performance 1,856-nozzle print head that ejects consistent, prescribed-volume droplets as small as 2 picoliters. Simply put: more nozzles with higher accuracy equal better results at impressive speeds. You can even produce edge-to-edge borderless photos in 4 x 6, 5 x 7 and 8.5 x 11 in. sizes, with the look and feel of traditional photographs.

Using the PIXMA iP4000 Photo Printer is fast and easy. How fast? It can produce up to 25 ppm in black and up to 17 ppm in color, and a 4″ x 6″ borderless print takes only 36 seconds2. How easy? With direct photo printing, you can even print without a computer: simply connect any PictBridge compatible3 digital camera or DV camcorder, and print!

To help keep printing costs down, Canon has developed an efficient system that has five individual ink tanks that let you replace only the color that runs out, rather than an entire cartridge containing unused ink. Plus, a unique low-ink sensor alerts you when ink levels are low, so you are prepared to just drop in a new tank as needed. They call it ” Canon Think Tank System ”

The iP4000 has several unique features that make it a winner:

1) ContrastPLUS ink system for true-life photos and laser-quality text.

2) Up to 25 ppm black/up to 17 ppm color.

3) Dual paper path with built-in 2 sided printing.

4) Maximum 4800 x 1200 color dpi with microscopic droplets as small as 2 picoliters.

5) Direct photo printing from PictBridge compatible digital cameras & DV camcorders.

6) Borderless 4″ x 6″ photographs in approx. 36 seconds.

If you need a quality inkjet printer, give the Canon PIXMA iP4000 a try. It’s working for us.

Good Lord we should have bought one of these a long time ago…seriously, while we’ve since switched to backing our data up on 60GB ATA-Tape cartridges, my department at work still has over a thousand backup CD-Rs—all with my cruddy handwriting scrawled across them. Not exactly PRO. To make matters worse, when our clients ask for backups of their data they get the same thing—a cheap looking CD-R with, you guessed it, my nearly illegible writing in black sharpie ink.

But no more! It’s time to move up, so I’ve been eyeing one of these babies, namely, the Casio CW75 Thermal CD-R Label Printer. Here’s a bit from the website:

Stand-Alone or PC Compatible Disc Title Printer • Creates crisp, clear professional-looking CDs without the hassle of applying labels • Thermal printing wont damage CD-R/DVD or drive! • Imports any font, graphic or data from your PC, including track names from Windows Media Player • Print area: each 5/8 x 2-15/16 • Typewriter-style keyboard for stand-alone operation; or hook up to PC. Print area equals 16 lines. 12-character/one-line display, shows CD-R/DVD layout. Print format: 18 alphanumeric and four graphics. Uses eight AA batteries (included) or optional AC Adapter (CSOADA12280L), sold separately. Includes USB cable, PC software with six fonts and 1,055 symbols, black ink ribbon, template and sample CD-R

Personally, I could care less about the computer compatibility…I just want to punch in a title and push print! If I can convince my boss to part with a few bucks I’ll post a review.

Get The Latest Price on the Casio CW75 Thermal CD-R Label Printer (Aff.)

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