ICC profiles are great things but once in a while they fall just short of expectations. John Nate of Fine Eye just put together a great introduction into the hair-raising world of ICC profile editing in his column over at News & Tech.
Check out the whole article.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Quad to buy World Color Press
Well, frankly, we're long past this sort of story being news anymore, but just for the record, here goes:
TORONTO (AP) — The U.S. commercial printing company Quad/Graphics Inc. plans to buy Canadian rival World Color Press Inc., which prints magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone.
Quad/Graphics Inc., which is based in Sussex, Wis., is the largest privately held printer in the U.S. but would go public in connection with the takeover announced Tuesday. The combined company will have 30,000 employees. World Color is based in Montreal.
Chief executive Mark Angelson said that layoffs would be no more than would have happened anyway.....hmmm, sounds a little squirmy to me but you can read all about it in The Times.
TORONTO (AP) — The U.S. commercial printing company Quad/Graphics Inc. plans to buy Canadian rival World Color Press Inc., which prints magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone.
Quad/Graphics Inc., which is based in Sussex, Wis., is the largest privately held printer in the U.S. but would go public in connection with the takeover announced Tuesday. The combined company will have 30,000 employees. World Color is based in Montreal.
Chief executive Mark Angelson said that layoffs would be no more than would have happened anyway.....hmmm, sounds a little squirmy to me but you can read all about it in The Times.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Creel Printing Achieves G7 qualification
Las Vegas-based Creel Printing has achieved G7 Master Printer certification, a distinction Creel shares with 409 providers worldwide.
Hey, I wasn't even involved in this one and I still couldn't be happier! Hats off to everyone at Creel for caring enough to go G7 and making it official by getting G7 Master Qualification. It really is more than your name on a plaque, its the best sign that you are committed to quality.
“As a partner to many of the most reputable publishers, businesses, and agencies, we are dedicated to providing unparalleled quality,” says Allan G. Creel, president. “Our G7 designation supports our mission as a leader in the technologies and processes that drive value."
Hey, I wasn't even involved in this one and I still couldn't be happier! Hats off to everyone at Creel for caring enough to go G7 and making it official by getting G7 Master Qualification. It really is more than your name on a plaque, its the best sign that you are committed to quality.
“As a partner to many of the most reputable publishers, businesses, and agencies, we are dedicated to providing unparalleled quality,” says Allan G. Creel, president. “Our G7 designation supports our mission as a leader in the technologies and processes that drive value."
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Apple iPhone Becomes Most Popular Camera
It seems inevitable, but it still comes as a surprise: Apples iPhone has become the most popular camera on the planet, or at least on Flikr:
"The iPhone, with its bare-bones, two-megapixel camera, has been battling for the No. 2 spot for months in a tight race with two other Canon cameras and the Nikon D80, according to a graph plotting the overall user percentages of each model on Flickr's Camera Finder."
Camera capability has long been a feature on most cellphones, but it was often a one-way street...there was no easy way to upload the images or move them to a personal computer. With the iPHone it became seamless and near-automatic.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Smurfit-Stone Closing Stuns Missoula
Montana has been mostly insulated from the national recession. Local economists say the state is typically the last to enter a recession, and the last to emerge from it. In Missoula, the largest industrial plant (Smurfit-Stone) shut its doors last month — sending 417 people to unemployment lines.
Many of us close to the graphic arts industry have gotten used to closings and consolidations. But for many Montanans, this comes as their first close look at a recession that seemed to be happening far away. NPR coveres the story in their Morning Edition.
Many of us close to the graphic arts industry have gotten used to closings and consolidations. But for many Montanans, this comes as their first close look at a recession that seemed to be happening far away. NPR coveres the story in their Morning Edition.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Graphics of the Americas
Graphics of the Americas is coming....Feb 25-27 and I wish I were going (Ire' el ano que viene, sin ninguna duda ). This will be year 35 of the second-biggest graphic arts event in the country. So what makes Graphics of the Americas special? Latino presence in the United States continues to grow, and a global economy has closed the technological gap between English-speaking North America and Spanish speaking Central and South America. Robust economies in countries like Peru mean that a lot of moving and shaking will be coming from unexpected directions.
And it's not just about offset:
"GOA 2010 boasts many niche offerings as well, including mailing, fulfillment, digital garment printing, vehicle wraps, ad specialties, wide format inkjet printing, digital envelope and letterhead printing and more."
Top 5 Obstacles to Technology Implementation
Printing is a technology driven industry, yet we too often drag our feet in implementation of new technology, and it's damaging.
Mark Scacco takes a look at the Top 5 Technology Implementation Obstacles:
"A failed technology upgrade can have a far greater impact than just the lost time and wasted effort that went into the unsuccessful project. Typically, it creates an atmosphere of general resistance to any future attempts to improve a process. It may also result in disciplinary action against or firing of the project leader; and perhaps most importantly, may put your company at a disadvantage when directly competing with other companies and when trying to attract and retain talented staff members."
Mark Scacco takes a look at the Top 5 Technology Implementation Obstacles:
"A failed technology upgrade can have a far greater impact than just the lost time and wasted effort that went into the unsuccessful project. Typically, it creates an atmosphere of general resistance to any future attempts to improve a process. It may also result in disciplinary action against or firing of the project leader; and perhaps most importantly, may put your company at a disadvantage when directly competing with other companies and when trying to attract and retain talented staff members."
HP Seizes the Day with Latex
Those of us who grew up doing around-the-house painting using oil-based paints hardly saw latex coming. We just assumed it would never match the quality and durability of traditional paint. How wrong we were! Today, it's hard to even find oil-based paints, and the quality gap has disappeared entirely.
Unexpectedly, the same thing is happening in the wide format world, with many of the major players making the same mistake we do-it-yourselfers made years ago. Latex is set to push solvent and even eco-solvent inks aside, yet almost nobody seems to be taking advantage, with the exception of Hewlett Packard, with their new Designjet L2550 latex printer.
FLAAR has a report outlining the trend, and if they are right (as they usually are), we are about to see a major shift in how wide-format printing is done, with pretty serious implications for the other players.
"If there is no new ink technology in the Roland, Mimaki, or Mutoh booth at SGIA 2009 then there is no evidence that these manufacturers of eco-solvent printers realize the impact that HP latex ink and the HP Designjet L25500 latex ink printer will have on market share of eco-solvent, mild-solvent, and full-solvent ink printers."
Unexpectedly, the same thing is happening in the wide format world, with many of the major players making the same mistake we do-it-yourselfers made years ago. Latex is set to push solvent and even eco-solvent inks aside, yet almost nobody seems to be taking advantage, with the exception of Hewlett Packard, with their new Designjet L2550 latex printer.
FLAAR has a report outlining the trend, and if they are right (as they usually are), we are about to see a major shift in how wide-format printing is done, with pretty serious implications for the other players.
"If there is no new ink technology in the Roland, Mimaki, or Mutoh booth at SGIA 2009 then there is no evidence that these manufacturers of eco-solvent printers realize the impact that HP latex ink and the HP Designjet L25500 latex ink printer will have on market share of eco-solvent, mild-solvent, and full-solvent ink printers."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
E&P finds New Owner, Shifts Focus
Editor & Publisher, pronounced dead just a week ago after a 125 year run, is back. Emphasis is shifting from newsroom/editorial to technology/business.
Cue the punch lines: The owner of a publication called FishRap has resuscitated Editor & Publisher, the magazine devoted to covering the newspaper industry. But the new Editor & Publisher returned to life late on Thursday, two weeks after it shut down, without two of its stalwarts....Mr. McIntosh said in an interview that he wanted to shift Editor & Publisher’s focus toward the business and technology of the industry, with less emphasis on what happens in newsrooms.
Cue the punch lines: The owner of a publication called FishRap has resuscitated Editor & Publisher, the magazine devoted to covering the newspaper industry. But the new Editor & Publisher returned to life late on Thursday, two weeks after it shut down, without two of its stalwarts....Mr. McIntosh said in an interview that he wanted to shift Editor & Publisher’s focus toward the business and technology of the industry, with less emphasis on what happens in newsrooms.
Vutek Announces QS220 UV
Not that I would normally shill for any particular product, but what I've seen of this series impresses the hell out of me....high speed, great consistency across substrates, and an image that could pass as a proof
VUTEk QS220 Extends Superwide Capabilities at Wide-Format Price Levels
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Jan 14, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- EFI(TM) (Nasdaq: EFII), a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today unveiled the VUTEk(R) QS220, a direct-to-substrate, two-meter UV-curing flatbed printer with High-Definition Print (HDP) quality and superwide productivity that boasts lower ink running costs than traditional wide-format printers and unique application abilities that allow print businesses to expand into higher-end, premium-margin applications. The QS220 is ideal for businesses that want to fuel profitability by adding flexible, production-level equipment that will support their growth.
VUTEk QS220 Extends Superwide Capabilities at Wide-Format Price Levels
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Jan 14, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- EFI(TM) (Nasdaq: EFII), a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today unveiled the VUTEk(R) QS220, a direct-to-substrate, two-meter UV-curing flatbed printer with High-Definition Print (HDP) quality and superwide productivity that boasts lower ink running costs than traditional wide-format printers and unique application abilities that allow print businesses to expand into higher-end, premium-margin applications. The QS220 is ideal for businesses that want to fuel profitability by adding flexible, production-level equipment that will support their growth.
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