Hello,

I get a lot of calls around the country from customers trying to use RISO's new EZ line's "User Management" function. There are, of course, many things to remember, but here is the basics:

If the unit of your choice is outfitted properly you can:

1. Assign up to 100 accounts per unit (divided into up to 32 groups, if desired).
2. Set limits for copies and/or masters per user
3. PIN can be from 1 to 4 digits on the EZ220 & 390 and up to 8 digits the EZ590
4. Each user can have different “direct access” settings on the EZ590
5. Each copy can be tracked from the scanner

Your administrator can:

1. Reset meters
2. Change limits
3. Add users
4. Disable users

Your manual will have much more information as well as your RISO sales rep.

Best Wishes,

Here is some interesting information from Larry Hunt’s Color Copy News, a nationally distributed publication that surveys street prices and placements of color copiers. Recently, Hunt reported that high-speed (more than 30 CPM) models make up 87% of all installed color copiers, which is up from 65% in 2006 and 46% in 2004. He also notes that 63% of survey respondents rated the growth in color copy volume as either “excellent” or “good.” That figure is down from 70% in last year's survey, but up from the average of 60% in 2005 and 2006. The percentage of two-sided color work continues to grow as well.

To subscribe to Larry Hunt’s Color Copy News or Larry Hunt’s High Speed Copy News, visit www.larryhunt.com

Take a look at these two letters. The one on the left is a standard form letter that is apparently sent to “everyone” with no regard to their individual qualities. Not surprisingly, communications like this get very little response. Why should they with all the clutter in the communications channel these days? Now note the letter on the left, which uses variable data printing (VDP) to go beyond simply personalizing a letter by addressing the recipient by his real name. this letter actually is customized to each recipient by including relevant, useful, and accurate information about the recipient’s relationship with the sender.

VDP can really be simple. The one on the right was actually created using an Microsoft Word template, with the variable data imported from a separate Microsoft Excel template. Try VDP in your printed communications and you should see a giant increase in your response and retention rate.

We saw this survey report from InfoTrends and thought you might be interested in seeing a snippet on MFP hot buttons...

Customers are faced with mountains of information that they need to view, process, and print. In short, customers want to produce better looking documents, they want to be more productive, and they want to lower their printing costs. To address these customer needs, printer manufacturers continue to improve the marking technology used in their products. In a recent survey, InfoTrends asked various business users to rank the importance of certain features relative to their next printer or MFP purchase. Not surprisingly, speed, image quality, and paper handling ranked highest as the most important features among all respondents.
Source: Opportunities for Ink-Based Marking Technologies

Xerox Survey Reveals Top 10 Environmental Pet Peeves
The Full List
The top ten environmental pet peeves among U.S. office workers:
1) Mindless printing resulting in increased waste (40%)
2) Leaving lights on (37%)
3) Lack of recycling bins (33%)
4) Excessive air conditioning in summer and heat in winter (29%)
5) Excessive use of paper products, like cups, plates, etc. (27%)
6) Coworkers not recycling (27%)
7) Coworkers not printing double-sided when they can (24%)
8) Too many cover sheets when faxing or printing (24%)
9) Having to store paper copies of existing, electronic files (24%)
10) Leaving computer on and not powering down when going home (23%)
For smarter ways to ‘green’ an office of any size, visit www.xerox.com/environment

Hey Everybody,

One of our reps has brought to our attention a paper you might want to consider for your HC printer. This paper from HP, might just fit your application needs. The price has come down from when we first saw it for .01638 per sheet!

Here is the info:

HP Color Inkjet Paper, 8 1/2" x 11", Ream
Produces high-contrast text and images.

24 lb.
96 US / 107 Euro Bright
High opacity that is ideal for two-sided printing
ColorLok™ technology for faster drying, bolder blacks and vivid colors
Acid free will not yellow or crumble over time
Features easy-open sip strip
The item number from HP is: HPK115

For the BEST possible print quality, use RISO Bright White Matte Paper, but this might worth considering for the cost-conscience.

Well it depends on what you call high-speed. If you just want to print at speeds of less than 70 pages per minute, there are plenty of options. But is that really high-speed when there are black & white MFPs and copiers that can print at over 135 ppm? The reality is that there are not that many providers of truly high-speed color MFPs, printers, and copiers. As this chart shows, there is currently only one electrophotographic (EP) device with print speeds of more than 80 ppm. Notice the equipment SRP. This is one more reason why the RISO HC5500 high-speed full color inkjet printer provides an attractive alternative to traditional toner-based MFPs. And with an SRP of less than $45,000, many organizations decide to buy several of them.

How effectively are you using direct mail to reach your target audience?

Some people see the value of direct mail and some don’t. It is interesting to note that Barack Obama has outspent John McCain almost four-to-one ($7.7 million vs. $1.7 million) in direct mail. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, over $20 million has been spent on direct mail by all 2008 Presidential contenders so far.

InfoTrends studies show that people prefer to receive marketing messages via direct mail over other methods such as telemarketing or email.

There are 3 steps for printing an envelope using the ComColor Express RIP:

1. Create a custom paper size in the RIP using RISO Console (Web Browser)
(For this workshop we will print #10 envelopes)
2. Programming the HC Unit for Envelopes
3. Printing the envelope


Step 1: Create a custom paper size in the RIP using RISO Console (Web Browser)

a. Log on as Admin on your computer using the web browser interface (using the IP Address of the printer in the address bar)
(Log on using Admin as the user name and leaving the password window empty)
b. Click on “RIP”
c. Click on “Custom Preferences”
d. Click on “Custom Paper Sizes”
e. Notice the columns; in the spaces put the name of envelope (for this exercise, type #10 envelope with your name in the title)
f. Type in the width of your envelope in the first column (4.2)
g. Type in the height of your envelope in the second column (9.5)
h. Click “Apply” (in red, you will see the message: “RIP settings have been changed”
i. Click OK
You’ll then find yourself at the home screen


Step 2: Programming the HC Unit for Envelopes (This step is done on the LCD panel on the printer)

a. Press the “Menu” button
b. Use the down arrow to choose menu setting 4 (configuration)
c. Press the OK button (you will see the menu selection “Standard feed tray-4.1”
d. Press the OK button (you will see the menu selection 4.1.1)
e. Press the down arrow to advance menu to 4.1.2
f. Press OK button
g. Scroll down to the paper type “envelope”
h. Press OK button
i. Press the green button to exit and save your changes




Step 3: Printing the envelopes

a. Open the document called “#10 envelope Kickoff”
b. Click: File, Print, Properties (for this exercise choose the printer called: “Small Envelope HC5500”)
c. Click on “Options”
d. Click on “Gather Custom Paper sizes”, you will then notice a green message saying “Success”
e. Click on the “Basic” Tab, in the “Page size” Select #10 envelope in the drop down menu.
f. In the “Paper Type” select “Envelope”
g. Click “OK”
h. Select the quantity (for this exercise select 5)
i. Click “OK”

Note: Sometimes within Microsoft Word, a “Paper Mis-match” will occur illegitimately. This can be a conflict between the computer program (MS Word) and the RIP.
To fix this, go IN THE DOCUMENT:
1. Select “File”
2. Select “Page Set up”
3. Click on the “Paper” tab
4. Change “Paper Source” from “Default tray” to “Standard Tray”
5. To save your changes in the document click the save button

PDF, PDF, PDF, that's all I ever hear anymore.

Our reliance on PDFs is staggering!

Everywhere I go, people want to see PDFs as the answer to all of their printing problems. It is not. Most people don't know that when they make a PDF, there are loads of ways to make your PDF very BIG, or very small. Remember, the smaller (file size), your PDF is the faster it will print. It's important to keep your PDFs small. Here are some tips to help you keep them small:

Use the Save As Command
This is Adobe's No. 1 suggestion for reducing the sizes of your PDFs. When you make changes to your PDF, select Save As to overwrite the entire PDF. Otherwise, if you just click Save, changes are appended to your file, and you'll notice a slow and steady accretion of kilobytes.

Named Destinations: Use 'em or Lose 'em
Named destinations are markers that identify locations in a PDF file. Many PDF authors use named destinations for one document when they plan to link a second PDF file to a specific point in the first doc. (It's actually possible to deep link to a PDF file without named destinations. See this article for more info.) Unfortunately, every ten or so named destinations account for 1KB of file size. So if you don't need em, don't use em.

Use the PDF Optimizer
By selecting Advanced > PDF Optimizer > Audit Space Usage, you can find out which elements in your PDF (fonts? images?) are taking up the most space and make changes accordingly.

Manage your graphics
Graphics are always a big problem when optimizing a PDF for size. First and foremost, use vector-based graphics whenever possible. Vector-based graphics scale perfectly, look better and take up less space than their GIF counterparts.
If you have to insert a graphic as a bitmap, prepare it for maximum compression and minimum dimensions. Don't compress the graphic beforehand, because distilling them in the PDF may cause the creation of noticeable artifacts in the image.
To tinker with the image compression quality to size ratios, select Advanced > PDF Optimizer, and on the images tab select compression options for color, grayscale, and monochrome images. Or, select Enable Adaptive Compression and drag the slider to balance file size and quality.

Manage Your Color
If you're making a PDF for the Web and/or if you're not concerned about printing colors, use the RGB color space. RGB has one less data channel than CMYK, so your files will be that much smaller.

Minimize Fonts
Fonts take up a lot of space. If possible, don't embed your fonts. But if your document requires a certain look (and most do), keep the number of fonts to a minimum. Using subsetted fonts that only include the glyphs actually used will go a long way toward minimizing font size bloat.

Watch out for version bloat
Acrobat 5 (PDF version 1.4) introduced JBIG2 (Joint Bilevel Image Experts Group) compression, which is superior to the CCITT or Zip algorithms that previous versions used when compressing scanned monochromatic copy. Most PDF users have made the switch to newer versions of Acrobat, but if you're still using an old copy, it may be time to make the switch.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors have endorsed EPA's Energy Star Challenge as a key strategy in meeting the goals of the conference's Climate Protection Agreement. As part of the resolution, the organization will encourage its members to support and take the Energy Star Challenge, a national campaign to improve energy efficiency by 10 percent or more in commercial and industrial buildings across the United States. "The U.S. Conference of Mayors is leading the way on climate protection for cities across the country with the help of Energy Star," said Bob Meyers, EPA's acting assistant administrator for Air and Radiation. "Energy efficiency is a win-win for cities looking to save energy and protect the environment."

Click here for full news release

For more information about taking the Energy Star Challenge: http://www.energystar.gov/challenge

Click here to learn more about RISO's energy saving printers

PiezoElectric - commonly called piezo— inkjet technology was first developed and patented by Epson and uses a piezo (pronounced "pee ay zo") crystal located at the back of the ink reservoir of each nozzle. The crystal receives a tiny electric charge that causes it to vibrate. When the crystal vibrates inward, it forces a tiny amount of ink out of the nozzle. When it vibrates out, it pulls some more ink into the reservoir to replace the ink sprayed out.

Piezo printheads use vacuum pumps and large ink-absorbent pads to keep nozzles printing reliably.

Market researcher InfoTrends states that there is a movement toward UCPs or Universal Copier/Printers. A Universal Copier/Printer is a device that can print and copy black & white and color with similar functionality and costs of dedicated devices. In this trend, a lot of office document production is moving from very large production printers toward UCPs for shorter-run printing, faster turnaround, and reduced capital costs. On the other hand, documents are also moving from personal printers toward UCPs for better paper handling, larger documents, faster production, and lower printing costs. Which device is right for your color printing needs?

Do you need a color device that can seriously handle very high volumes at speeds of more than 60 pages per minute? Here is a look at some of your options in this chart created by InfoTrends. At the lower end of the volume spectrum are products like Xerox’s DocuColor 260, Konica Minolta’s bizhub PRO C6500 and the 120-ppm RISO HC5500. Next are printers like Canon’s C7000VP and Xerox’s DocuColor 6060, 7000, and 8000. In the volume range above 1 million are products like Xerox’s iGen3 90 and 110; Punch Graphix’s Xeikon 4000, 5000plus, and 6000; the Kodak NexPress 2100plus, 2500, and S3000; and the HP Indigo press 3500 and 5500. In the very high volume range are exclusively roll-fed products. All of the products in this top category are inkjet except for the HP Indigo w3250. The inkjet products are Agfa’s Dotrix TransColor, InfoPrint Solutions Company’s InfoPrint 5000, Kodak’s Versamark VX5000, and Screen’s Truepress Jet 520. Océ will join this product category soon with a process Color version of the Océ VarioStream 9240. It is easily to spend $2 million dollars or more on the larger devices. Only RISO provides an entry to this medium production space for a price tag of less than $50,000. The next step up is $500,000 or more!

The Riley Point Wildfire devastated 850 acres of Wyoming's Bighorn National Forest in August of 2003. Working with the Arbor Day Foundation, RISO provided 6,250 trees to the National Forest Service this month to help replant this area. This is just part of RISO's commitment to plant 100,000 trees over the next four years.

Visit the Bighorn National Forest and enjoy the multiple reservoirs, 32 campgrounds, 3 scenic byways, 14 picnic areas, 7 lodges, miles and miles of streams, 189,000 acres of Wilderness, 1,500 miles of trails, and much more that provide a forest experience unique to the Big Horns. http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/bighorn/ -

More on the Arbor Day Foundation

More on RISO and the environment

Simple things your company or organization can do to save electricity:

1. Power down: Copiers consume the most energy of all types of office equipment and use power even when sitting idle. Turn copiers and printers off at night and on the weekends.

2. Print duplex: Electricity is not only used to create documents, but also for the production of the paper on which it is printed. Set your printer and copier to automatically default to making two-sided copies.

3. Re-use: Reduce paper usage by printing on the back side of used paper. Many schools set a paper box beside the copier for discarded copies so the the next person can use the back side of the paper.

4. Preview before you print: Cases of paper end up in the dumpster due to documents not printing as the user expected. Use your "print preview" to reduce the number of unwanted prints.

5. Sleep to save: Copiers and printers are on all day but only used for a small part of the day. Use the "stand-by" and "sleep" modes available on the device.

6. Don't print it: How many times do you print an email or memo to read it and then just throw it out. Save electricity and paper and just read it from the monitor, you can always print it later if you need to.

7. Get the right size: A mid-volume (20 to 44 copies per minute) copier in a low-volume office can use 70% more energy per page than an efficient low-volume (under 20 copies per minute) copier.

8. Strategic placement: Place printers and MFPs strategically around the office so several people or groups can use the same printer.

9. Get out of the heat: Buying more office equipment raises energy consumption and also makes work areas hotter and this requires more power for cooling. Put printing devices in areas with natural ventilation and good airflow to reduce the need for air-conditioning.

10. Energy Star: Look for the Energy Star logo when buying office equipment. The logo ensures that the device has automatic power-management features and therefor a better use of energy.

To learn how RISO can help you save even more energy follow the links below.
Energy Savings
RISO Energy Savings Calculator

RSS (an abbreviation of “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”) is a format for delivering regularly changing Web content. You can use an RSS reader to obtain RSS feeds, or data feeds, from various sources. RSS lets you stay informed easily, without continually having to visit sites; an RSS feed automatically lets you know when a site has been updated. RSS is a great way to monitor updates to Web sites or blogs, like this one.

Where do I find an RSS reader?
The Open Directory Project has a list of common RSS readers; which one that is best for you will depend on several variables, including your operating system, browser, and more. Simply click on a link and follow the appropriate installation instructions. You can also type “RSS reader” in Google to find additional readers.

http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Internet/Clients/WWW/Feed_Readers/

How do you set up an RSS feed for this blog?
After you’ve installed an RSS reader, you need to “subscribe” to a feed in order to monitor the content. Follow the instructions in your reader in order to subcribe to a feed. Once you have subscribed to a feed, the RSS reader (also called an aggregator) is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update.

Earthle is an environmentally friendly version of the popular search engine Google. Earthle saves energy by displaying a black screen instead of the mostly white screen on Google. Monitors use less energy displaying white space then black space. Don't worry, Earthle uses Google search results so nothing else changes. Check out http://www.earthle.com

If you feel like helping the cause, you can do the following:

1) Set your Internet browser homepage to www.earthle.com
2) Forward this on
3) Spread the word

I bet you never thought saving energy could be this easy!

Hello Document Creators,

There is a great tool that we use to grab images off of websites, documents, whatever. We use it to create flyers, mailers, and training material here at RISO.

It's called "Snag it". If you do any kind of document creation it can be impossible to get images you see on the screen to fit well into your document. Some, can't be grabbed at all. Snag it, to the rescue! There is a free download trial, so you can see if it's worth the 40 bucks. I use this tool ALL THE TIME. This is not a paid advertisement, but as a satisfied customer, I could understand why you might think so.

Here is some info:

SnagIt Features Overview
All the screen capture and image editing functionality you'll ever need, in one simply powerful program.

Using SnagIt, you can select and capture anything on your screen, then easily add text, arrows, or effects, and save the screen capture to a file or share it immediately by e-mail or IM.

Capture Anything
Capture an article, image, or Web page directly from your screen. Or, capture windows, menus, icons, and regions from any application that runs on your PC.

Edit and Transform
The SnagIt image editor makes it easy to add creative and professional touches to your screen capture. Transform your images with a full-featured paint tools palette, a variety of edge effects, and practical options for color and size adjustment.

Share Easily
E-mail, copy and paste, print, and IM your screen captures, or upload them to your Web site. SnagIt helps you communicate any way you prefer.

If you want to try it, here is the link:
http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp