I thought you’d like to take a look at a cool retro concept — a computerless printer. The company is Presto, and Clearstone, Kleiner Perkins and Vanguard have backed it.
HP makes a specialized US$150 device which is essentially a printer with a modem. The user simply loads paper and an ink cartridge, and plugs it into the wall and phone lines. It does not require a special phone line. The printer has its own email address using a service run by Presto that costs US$9.95 per month or US$99 per year.
In a typical scenario, the device will be given as a gift to someone who is not comfortable using a computer by someone who wants to send him/her emails and photos. The giver goes to the Presto website and specifies which email addresses are authorized to send stuff to the device, so there is no possibility of spam.
The service has a ton of nice features. For example, the font size can be made large on all emails, no matter what font size was used in the original. Photos and other attachments are formatted and automatically printed. Beautiful templates, seasonal greetings and calendars can be generated. And customized content can be delivered, such as horoscopes, Sudoko, news articles of interest, etc.
The device even knows its own ink levels and paper status, and this can be reported via email to the giver, or used for automatic ink replenishment shipments.
More details at www.presto.com — also on Amazon, Hammacher Schlemmer, Buy.com and other Web sites.
I thought you’d like to take a look at a cool retro concept — a computerless printer. The company is Presto, and Clearstone, Kleiner Perkins and Vanguard have backed it.
HP makes a specialized US$150 device which is essentially a printer with a modem. The user simply loads paper and an ink cartridge, and plugs it into the wall and phone lines. It does not require a special phone line. The printer has its own email address using a service run by Presto that costs US$9.95 per month or US$99 per year.
In a typical scenario, the device will be given as a gift to someone who is not comfortable using a computer by someone who wants to send him/her emails and photos. The giver goes to the Presto website and specifies which email addresses are authorized to send stuff to the device, so there is no possibility of spam.
The service has a ton of nice features. For example, the font size can be made large on all emails, no matter what font size was used in the original. Photos and other attachments are formatted and automatically printed. Beautiful templates, seasonal greetings and calendars can be generated. And customized content can be delivered, such as horoscopes, Sudoko, news articles of interest, etc.
The device even knows its own ink levels and paper status, and this can be reported via email to the giver, or used for automatic ink replenishment shipments.
More details at www.presto.com — also on Amazon, Hammacher Schlemmer, Buy.com and other Web sites.
