By all measures, the digital color market is experiencing strong growth. this growth is tied to services beyond printing that incorporates super-efficiency. Info Trends surveys confirm that digital color and the value-added applications that drive it will generate significant growth for print service providers. Cost reductions, productivity enhancements and imporved workflows will likely increase color printing volume. The highest growth in the printing market will occur in the digital color arena, and savvy in-plants will be able to capitalize on color to grow in -plant volumes.



Info Trends expects the U.S. print-on-demand market to experience an 11% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) between 2006 and 2011. This will bring the market to $79billion in terms of retail value of print by 2011. Nearly$70billion of this total will be attributable to pages printed on color devices. Color is expected to rise at a 14% CAGR, while black and white will decline by 2%.



Digital color presses are clearly a key enabling force that is driving this market. Since the price/performance ration and quality of these presses has improved, organization can more easily and cost effectively colorize documents and promotional messages.



Taken from an article in In Plant Graphics magazine

their website is http://www.ipgonline.com/

"The current generation of students wants to go to schools that take their environmental responsibility seriously." This article from the Boston Globe explains how environmental friendliness is an important consideration for students applying for college, and colleges are rushing to become more green. In fact, Harvard University has twenty-four full-time staff members working on their Green Campus Initiative. Shouldn't these colleges and universities know about RISO's great green printers?

Paper is an important element in determining the output quality of your printed document. Choosing the right paper for the job will impact both your cost and your final product. Retail chain-branded 20lb bond papers cost less, but tend to produce lower quality output, be subject to bleed through or show through, and feed less reliably in most print devices. While this paper is perfectly suitable for many office print jobs, they are are not usually suitable for outward facing documents such as brochrues, flyers, proposals, presentations and the like.

High quality papers tend to be a higher bond weight, between 24lb and 32lb, will cost more than 20lb bond paper, and will usually be geared toward a specific output technology such as "inkjet", "laser", "color copy", etc. These papers are coated and textured to best handle the print delivery vehicle, i.e., ink or toner.

RISO's HC5500 inkjet printer uses an oil-based pigmented ink. The advantages of our ink technology is that it is not UV sensitive, so if used for archival documents it will never fade, it will not run or bleed if it gets wet. It will not distort or "cockle" the paper, so printed sheets come out flat and undistorted. This is especially beneficial if the paper will go through other finishing or post insertion devices. Our unique ink formulation is also what enables the HC5500 to print at such high speeds and so reliably. The challenge with our ink is that it is "heavier" so it tends to pull the pigment of the ink away from the surface of the media as it absorbs into the paper. This can give the output a dull or muted look. The oil in the ink will cause certain papers to have more dramatic show through and bleed through of the image. Lastly, it is not compatible with glossy paper. The HC's ink must be able to absorb into the media.

Because the HC's ink is different from other inkjet printers, the rule for "best papers" to use does not follow the same convention. In other words, inkjet papers do not necessarily yield better results. Below is a short list of papers that provide good to excellent quality, and a link to our webiste with a larger list of papers we have tested.

Hammermill's Laser Print paper produces good output quality and is one of the more affordable laser papers on the maret, so it is suitable for many "everyday" applications. Retail costs vary by reseller and quantity but the average cost per sheet is around 1.5 cents.

Hammermill's Color Copy paper offers good output quality in a paper that has a smooth texture. This paper is slighly more expensive than the Laser Print paper, retailing for approximately 2.5 cents per sheet.

For applications needing high quality, vivid colors and rich blacks, HP's Presentation Paper is an excellent choice. The paper has a smooth matte finish with high brightness. This paper sells for a premium, retailing for around 8 cents per letter size sheet. It comes in packages of about 150 sheets so is ideal for short run applications.

HP's Brochure and Flyer paper offers the same high quality output as the Presentation Paper, but in a thicker, 47lb bond weight. This is ideal for those applications needing a heavier weight paper. This paper also sells at a premium, costing around 14 cents per sheet. Paper is available in packages of 100 sheets, letter size only.

RISO also offers our own branded matte paper, available in letter, legal and ledger sizes and is the most cost effective alternative over the HP papers if using in volume. This paper offers some of the highest quality output available using standard settings on the HC. Cost per sheet varies by size but ranges from about 5 cents for a letter size sheet to about 9 cents for a ledger size sheet. The paper is packaged in cases of 1,000 to 2,000 sheets depending on size.

To learn more about other suggested papers for use in the RISO HC5500 click here

Recycled paper, water-based coatings, soy & vegetable based inks and wind-power.
Yeah, wind-power. Greenerprinter certainly seemed to have covered all of there bases.

Check them out at http://www.greenerprinter.com/

The future is now!
Well ok, it's coming in September to Esquire.

The company will roll out the first embedded use of E Ink in a magazine.
By incorporating technology by the company E Ink and a small battery specially designed for this application the cover will flash “the 21st Century Begins Now” .
E Ink, in case you don't know is the company and tech behind what makes Amazons paperless 'Kindle' work.

NYT has a nice write up check it out.

Partners Shane Fortune and Kevin LaHay, are the owners of PB Copy, a Surrey, British Columbia printing business going green for both Health and the Environment.
They have begun generating their own power to run a RISO RP3700 printer. Kevin, says "It started when my girlfriend wanted a treadmill and I wanted to get an exercise bike. I wondered if there was any way that I could generate electricity while getting fit. I’d heard that you could watch tv from peddling a bike, so when I found the apparatus, I wondered if there was anything at work I could power with it. So here we are, we have a RISO machine that draws about 600 watts, and with our solar and the bike, we can run it on 100% renewable resource power, completely off the grid."


The battery pack they use to power the machine consists of two sealed Gel Batteries and a 1 Kilowatt inverter, they completed the package with two solar panels and the generator for the bike. With a full charge, the battery alone will run the RISO for about three hours. With someone on the bike and a sunny day, we can extend that considerably by recharging it while it’s running.
PB copy has other printing machines but they all draw to much power for this system.
Click here for the complete story as reported in the Business in Surrey puplication
Pictured below Don Wall from RISO's Vancouver office.
Click here to try RISO's Energy Savings Calculator

Here is something interesting we read at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation website and elsewhere...
Imagine that every time you printed a document, it automatically included a secret code that could be used to identify the printer - and potentially, the person who used it. Sounds like something from an episode of "Alias," right?
Unfortunately, the scenario isn't fictional. In a purported effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you're using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what's worse, there are no laws to prevent abuse.
To read the article in full, click here. To see a list of printer and copier manufacturers that display tracking dots, click here.

According to another website called Seeing Yellow, over 14,000 people have contacted their printer manufacturers to complain.
By the way, RISO's printers and duplicators DP NOT use tracking dots.

Manufacturers and industry experts alike have been singing the praises of VDP (variable data printing) to the commercial and quick printing community for years. A few years ago VDP was the "untapped market" and if you didn't jump on the bandwagon you would be left behind. Well not many printers did jump on the bandwagon but that doesn't mean they have been left behind.

The VDP market still holds great potential today as printers have been slow to embrace this emerging technology. One of the major reasons printers have been slow to take on this market is that there has been no cheap entry point, most mainstream hardware and software solutions run upwards of $100,000 - $150,00, until now.

RISO has partnered with Objectif Lune to sell PlanetPress® Suite and PrintShop® Mail software, both of which are fully compatible with RISO’s HC inkjet printer and will allow for easy creation and printing of transactional and promotional variable content documents. With the RSIO HC and software by Objectf Lune VDP is now very affordable. You can get into this market for less than $50,000. Other printing solutions run 2 or 3 times that at entry level.

To learn more about VDP click here.

The Keri Design and Print blog has posted the worst fonts that were ever created. The author describes these fonts as overused, difficult to read if used for more than a headline, are just plain ugly.

Here is the list:
5: Times New Roman (overused)
4: Montype Corsiva (difficult to read when used for more than a line of a few words)
3. Brush Script (very difficult to read. Low-end designers have pretty much beaten this one to death - just flip through your local yellow pages)
2. Papyrus (just "horrible")

And the number 1 worst font:
Comic Sans The absolute worst font ever. Hey, when there's a website dedicated to banning you, you know you're beyond overused. From what I've gathered, apparently this font gives people an impression of "friendliness." I guess I can see that. But, like Papyrus, why do folks insist on using it for longer bits of text? Comic Sans' angles are so abrupt and strange that it doesn't make for quick reading or scanning.

When using the User Management feature on the EZ220 it is important to remember that the EZ220 must have a Neo Rosa PCB installed in order to print the ID Counter Report. The Neo Rosa PCB is the same PCB as the USB Controller PCB.

Even though the User Managment feature can still be activated and used without the Neo Rosa PCB, you will not be able to print the ID Counter Report without that PCB installed.

On a military testing ground somewhere in South Carolina the RISO HC recently passed a rigorous test. To test the HC's ruggedness it was packed into a crate and strapped to a Humvee, then the Humvee took it for a wild ride. The ride was so rough that it was reported the Humvee broke down and needed to be towed back to the testing center.

When the RISO HC was uncrated and powered up it began to print right away and finished its 100,000 prints in 15 hours. The outstanding performance of the HC won it a spot as the printer of choice for the Military on the front lines. See the video above.

For more RISO videos visit our website

Hello Everyone,

The next time you are in a hurry to do 14 things at the same time, try this to save some time.

Did you know that you can print a file without opening it? Usually we open a file, then we click file, print, etc.

Next time try this:

1. Find the file you want to print
2. RIGHT click on the file (a menu will appear)
3. Click "print"

That's it. The file will now be printed on your default printer.

You can "stack up" many jobs one right after the other.

It allows you to print several jobs in a row, while you do more important things. (like get your coffee in the morning).

Good Day!

In order for the HC5500 to automatically select paper trays there are some settings that must be made on the printer. Once these settings are made, they will remain in effect regardless if the printer is on or off.

To set Automatic Tray Select:

1. Press the MENU Key
2. Navigate to Menu 4, Configuration.
3. Use the up or down keys to access submenu 4.4, Feed Tray Relay
4. Press the OK key
5. Use the up or down keys to select ON
6. Press OK
7. Press the BACK key
8. Navigate to submenu 4.5, Triple Tray Source
9. Press OK
10. Use the up or down keys to select ON
11. Press the BACK key until menu 4 reappears
12. Use up or down keys to navigate to menu 5, Administration
13. Press OK, a confirmation message should appear, press OK again
14. Use DOWN arrow key to navigate to submenu 5.8, Initial Setting
15. Press OK
16. Use the Down arrow key to go to menu 5.8.17, Tray Selection Rule
17. Press OK
18. Use Down arrow to select Size
19. Press OK key
20. Navigate to menu 6, Feed Tray Selection
21. Press OK key
22. Use the up or down arrow to select Auto
23. Press OK
24. Press green Pause/Print key to exit the menu

The HC5500 is now ready for Auto Tray Selection.

Do you ever have an issue with sorting longer docs?
For most laser printers this isn't an issue since they tend to output doc's face down.
Inkjets on the other had print face up so page one ends up on the bottom of your stack.

Need to print a bunch of name tags for a meeting or a show?
Check out big.first.name

Most people are familiar with inkjet printing; after all, it is the dominant printing technology in the consumer market. There are basically two types of inkjet technology, Continuous Flow and Drop-on-Demand. Let’s look at the two types and how they differ.
Continuous Flow: A continuous flow of ink droplets is projected through a nozzle under constant pressure. An electric charge is then applied to the ink drops to form an image. Where these drops fall is determined by the amount of electrical charge applied to each drop. Drops that are not charged fall away from the printing surface and are gathered, routed to a recycle container and reused. This type of inkjet printing is used primarily in high-speed production printing.
Drop-on-Demand: Ink drops are ejected only when needed. The three most popular method of D-O-D printing are; Thermal inkjet, piezoelectric inkjet, and solid ink.
Thermal inkjet: Use electrical charge to boil a small amount of ink, which forms a bubble. The bubble then expands, creating pressure which forces a drop of ink out of the nozzle.
Piezoelectric inkjet: Work on a principle similar to a phonograph needle (remember those?). A crystal lining is placed inside the ink channel and, like the aforementioned phonograph needle, when the crystal is flexed (or excited) it produces an electric charge which expels the drop through the nozzle. This technology is used by high-reliability, high-speed printers, such as the RISO HC5500.
Solid ink: Utilizes ink that is in stick form, similar to a crayon. The ink is melted and then jetted onto a transfer drum. The drum is then pressed against the media, transferring the image. Once transferred, the ink solidifies on contact, preventing smudging and smearing. This method is a sort of hybrid of liquid ink and toner-based printing.
Each method has its advantages and its disadvantages. When making a decision to purchase an high-speed inkjet printer you should look closely at the printer and decide which is best for your application.

It's easier than ever to get copies of photos, videos, and other material posted on the Web. But just because you can download it from a Web site doesn't mean you have the right to use the material. So, what are the rules for usage when it comes to copyrighted material? This article from wikiHow explains some of the basic principles of copyright law.

Click here to see the article.

Here is some fun news from Crave...

According to a new survey , about 60 percent of the Canadian workforce is making personal use of their office printer.

The survey, conducted by Angus Reid Strategies for Samsung Electronics revealed that a large majority of Canadians who work in offices with high volume laser printers aren't using them for memos and work-related e-mails, but rather for personal letters, color photos, and even *gasp* resumes! The study breaks down the percentage of people that print out random documents:

I think it's safe to assume that the reason for all this work-printer abuse is because of the consensus that printers are simply too expensive to maintain. After all, why pay for an expensive toner cartridge or inkjet when your company is willing to foot the bill?

To read this entire article, visit here.

Steven Gremillion spends his day hunting.The energy manager at Clear Creek Independent School District stalks the hogs in odd places. He has found them in superfluous vending machine lights and in the form of inefficient bulbs hiding in exit signs.There are 19,000 computers in the district, humming, buzzing and feeding on the power grid like hungry mosquitoes. Gremillion has swatted them down.He’s found energy hogs in the outdoor lighting system. He found them in the boiler and the chiller, which, at times, were waging unnecessary and costly battles against one another.Every find is a small triumph for Gremillion — one small step toward helping the public school district meet a state mandate to reduce energy consumption 5 percent each year from now through 2013.

Across the state, public school districts are passing plans to reduce energy consumption. It’s an effort to comply with a state law passed in 2007 to help the state reduce the amount of power placed on the energy grid, especially during peak demand periods.Predicting an energy shortfall, legislators passed House Bill 3693 to reduce energy consumption and avoid rolling blackouts and brownouts.The law requires public school districts and universities, among other government agencies, to adopt energy efficiency programs.Besides the law, school districts are motivated by soaring energy prices. In Galveston County, Dickinson, Friendswood, Galveston and Texas City school districts spent a combined $6.8 million on electricity in 2007.

He regularly visits science classrooms to extol the virtues of turning off lights.
He’s made a deal with soda and snack companies to switch off the lights in vending machines.
He’s replacing all of the incandescent light bulbs in the district’s 633 exit signs with light-emitting-diode lights, which consume 95 percent less energy.

Other schools are:
Turning off lights in classrooms that are empty for more than five minutes
Setting thermostats at 74 degrees on hot days and 70 degrees on cool days
Shutting down all computers and copiers at the end of the day
Banning personal refrigerators and space heaters
Consolidating after-school activities
Click here for full article

If you have any energy saving ideas plese leave your comments

Click here to view RISO energy saving calculator

I was just reading yet another article on the importance of going green, and I stumbled upon this page from the nice folks at National Geographic: "What you do counts: A new way to think of ourselves as consumers." They share plenty of green tips, but what really struck me was the categories they fall under: "Global warming," "Natural resource use," and "Waste." These are all things that RISO products help with--no greenhouse gas emissions, the ability to print on recycled paper, and printers that last and last.

Check out National Geographic's list of what we all can do as consumers by clicking here.

On RISO's new EZ series, I often get the question: What is the difference between the Counter Report and the ID Counter report? Well, here it is:


•The ID Counter Report is to view usage of copies and masters by each user (when user management is turned on)

–Riso Print Count Viewer software is used to view this image, or it can be viewed by Microsoft Excel

•The Counter Report is to view the total usage of the unit for billing purposes

–This is the report that you can customize for easy reporting to the RISO billing location or Dealer billing location

Strap yourself in.
Deke McClelland is bringing 101 Photoshop tips to your world in 5 with music.



And if you're really interested in what he's saying check out the transcribed version. You will need to sign up for his site to see this article, but it's fast and painless.

Props to Lifehacker [101 Photoshop Tips in 5 Minutes]

The info below was borrowed from Print Buyers Online.com, who recently asked its print buyer members, “How important is the brand of printing press/equipment in the production of your jobs?” Of the 72 print buyers who participated in the Quick Poll Survey:

• 6% said it was “very important”
• 44% said it was “somewhat important”
• 49% said it was “not important at all”
• 1% said “I don’t know”

It is interesting that 50% of major print buyers now deem the brand of equipment to be important. This is a 20% increase from two years ago, when they last asked this question. The results of this newest poll support the belief that these days, print buyers are more interested in collaborating with their printers on workflow and equipment issues. Here is what some of them had to say:

“I know which presses are the best and have the highest quality—and I also know which ones are very old, problematic and to stay away from. Taking plant tours of shops lets me know what kind of equipment new vendors have and thus what types of jobs are best suited for their equipment.”

“The right equipment will print my job efficiently—and more quickly—and result in cost savings for my organization!”

“The right type of equipment can yield better pricing, faster throughput and increased quality.”

On the other hand, print buyers who said brand was not important also had valuable input:

“The professionals who run the equipment are more important to me than the brand of the machine itself. Some product names get thrown at me by prospective vendors who think the name of the press manufacturer will impress me so much that I will give them all my work. I have been witness to equipment that has not measured up to expectations. It is up to the management of the print house to have the best people, who are trained to get the most out of the equipment.”

“More important than brand is a particular printing press’ set of features, age, maintenance and integration into a plant’s job management systems. Most important is its operator.”

Thanks to www.printbuyersonline.com for this content.