Seth Goodin and the Printernet

Seth Godin " There's room in the market for 100,000 profitable micro-magazines" http://ilnk.me/275d >Biz case for printernet.

• Having a very specific audience (call it a tribe)
• Enabling that tribe to connect by sharing the ideas in the magazine among them, as well as supporting it with a forum or blog
• Containing ads that are relevant to that audience
• Being longer than 140 characters or even a blog post, so significant ideas can be exposed in detail

There's room in the market for 100,000 profitable micro-magazines. Why not have one about Aruba, for example? If all the people who vacation in Aruba could read about the island in detail every month, read about restaurants, resorts and politics, for free, in an easy to share format... Multiply this by every destination, every interest group, every type of profession (how about a micro-magazine for ethnobiologists?)

#Printernet is massively parallel manufacture of Print output. 50,000,000+ Print pieces w/a minimal carbon footprint. http://ilnk.me/27d1

“Massive parallel manufacturing with standards-based interfaces, real time production information and easy access for everyone. Each printer — the combination of the machinery and the intelligence that manages the machinery — is a print output node. Each node is both part of the network and self-sufficient. When the nodes are working together mass customization of print product becomes commonplace at previously impossible speeds and quantities.”

It's money with the wrong dna. (originally posted May 25,2009)

Funny money thinks it has all the answers. It forgets that its replication is based on a rising market and its arrogance on a short memory. If something crashes it's usually because "the economy is blablabla." If money gets burned in the Print space, it's because "the internet balabala and the End of Print." That's why Cenveo closed Anderson, that's why Boundary Capital is closing outlets all over the UK and why Zell took the Tribune into bankruptcy.

Meanwhile David Black is doing very nicely with newspapers in Southwest Canada/Northwest USA and The Color Company just replaced Fedex Kinko's in London and is also growing nicely.

In the States we have this thing about "Go West! Young Man." Maybe the Color Company should "Go North!" They could pick through the debris and find those smart, ever resilient, persistent Printers and click them on to their printernet. Then they could move to Australasia and do the same. Then maybe they could give AlphaGraphics a real run for their money in the States.

Then they could both fight it out with our homegrown good guys to see who will be the Starbucks of the Printernet.

"Earning" money by getting transaction fees from your VARs may work in finance. It's not sustainable in the real economy. Earning money from your VARs through value given, value received transactions is a different business model.

The End of Print? Hah! More likely it's the end of Funny Money poking it's nose into places it doesn't belong.

Prontaprint accused of supplier 'kickbacks'
@ comment posted at printweek.com

"Firms that want to supply Prontaprint had better be careful.

If anybody from Boundary Capital or ODC rings you up and says 'you can supply our franchisees but you'll have to grease our palms first, by the way your not allowed to speak to anyone about it' just remember that the guys that pay the bills namely the franchisees won't touch you with a bargepole if they find out about it. If we find out your doing it already we'll tell each other. Kickbacks mean WE HAVE TO PAY MORE. Be careful what you get yourselves into.

We want to deal with firms that don't give kickbacks.

Another step towards a Robust Printernet. Press Sense gets new CEO.

The quote from the Press Release:

“With growing demand for Business Flow Automation throughout the marketplace, our intensified focus upon this critical region is paramount to our worldwide success,” notes Press-sense CEO Shlomo Ben David. “Amir’s extensive sales and executive management experience compliments our growth strategy and is a valuable addition to our management team. We anticipate his impact will accentuate our results in these regions. ”

Amir's dna is from IT not Print.

Amir Rosentuler’s experience is evidence of a results-driven management executive with more than 20 years experience in sales management and business development. With more than 10 years with NASDAQ software companies, he has exhibited strong P&L management, and cross-company strategic project management skills. Prior to Press-sense, Amir was the General Manager and Vice President of International Sales for Magic Software (a leader in enterprise application development and integration software) where he constructed and implemented their new turnaround strategy.

Amir also held several senior positions in IBM, and several senior management positions in Novell, as well as senior sales management and channel distribution management positions at Computer Associates.

IT dna is precisely what's needed to pull together a stable, resilient Printernet.

“Massive parallel manufacturing with standards-based interfaces, real time production information and easy access for everyone. Each printer — the combination of the machinery and the intelligence that manages the machinery — is a print output node. Each node is both part of the network and self-sufficient. When the nodes are working together mass customization of print product becomes commonplace at previously impossible speeds and quantities.”

Gosh I wish HP were a pure play on Print

The thing is it's too complicated for my IRA. Print centric has been doing just fine and as they say "focus, focus, focus."

Anyway, just one more datapoint on how HP could be a Printernet all by itself. The money phrase

industry’s largest personal publishing ecosystem

HP Press Kit: HP at PMA 2010
"At the 2010 Photo Marketing Association (PMA) tradeshow, HP is showcasing new digital photography and personal publishing solutions designed to accelerate the analog to digital transformation of the photo industry.

With the industry’s largest personal publishing ecosystem, HP and its solutions help retailers and print service providers to profitably grow their photo offerings and enable consumers to capture and access dynamic content where they want, when they want, how they want – and bring it to life through the power of print."

Anyone else notice that Kodak closed over $6 last week. How come?

Since about October EK has been sitting at around $4 while the other printernet stocks have been moving nicely upward. But starting around the January 25 on unusual volume it got to $6.94. Since then it retreated to $6.08 on Friday. Clearly something's up.

My take is that the KKR dna is starting to manifest. The defensible value going forward for Kodak is photos, not printing. Kodak Gallery has many millions of users who have stored high resolution images on the web. These are the people who created "The Kodak Moment."

On January 14th, Gail Nickel-Kailing continued the convo at Print CEO about a possible Kodak Heidelberg deal.
Although much of the focus was on the NexPress, I said, "

Just last month the Prosper has finally come to market with the first announced deal by Consolidated in Texas. If the TOC and price points that Kodak has announced for the Prosper bear out, it could well become the low cost ink jet web output machine on the street.

Consider what a Kodak/Heidelberg deal might mean on the offset side. Kodak’s Prinergy seems to now be focused on seamless workflow from offset to the Prosper.

Given Kodak’s lead in the offset workflow and Heidelberg’s lead in the offset output device it sounds like a synergy to me.

Today Kodak rolls out ambitious plans for mobile appears at Mobile Marketer.
My favorite snippet is

Since December 2009, consumers have been able to use their mobile devices to interact with the Kodak Times Square billboard in New York City.

This is a one-of-kind experience in Times Square. Consumers can email a photo to Kodak@aerva.com, and once the photo is approved, they’ll receive a second email containing a code.

When they’re ready to see their picture on the big screen, they simply text the code to the number provided and the photo will appear at the next opportunity.

Full disclosure : Long Kodak.

Enuff already with "Print is Dead" and "XYZ" is the next big thing. Just follow the money.

I have a feeling that 2010 will finally be the time to retire a couple of buzzwords that obscure what's going on. My first nomination is "Print is Dead." My second is "Market Service Provider".

As I've said since January 2009, when I first started blogging, Printers print. To survive and thrive it means printing better, faster and cheaper than the other guy. And it means inventing new uses for Print, not trying to make believe we're something we're not.

Rather than a long blah blah, I thought it might be useful to share some numbers.

Consolidated Graphics (CGX) is up 92.47% since 8/20 and McClatchey (MNI) is up 773.28% since 4/15 . Check out some of the other stocks in my IRA printernet portfolio to see what I'm seeing.

WOW. Here comes the HP printernet.HP Launches Printing Network

This deserves a much longer post, but I don't have the time just this minute. More later. But, any one who has followed this blog knows what a printernet is. To see what I mean do a Google search on "Printernet"

It could have been Xerox Premier Partners or Oce's Digital Newspaper Network or Staples. But it's HP.

I'm still hoping they give me a way to get in on the action by figuring out a way to separate the print piece from the computer piece. My bet is that sooner or later.... but not as of today.

The money sentence:

The launch of the PSP Network is an exciting first step that brings a new dimension of versatility and reliability to print buying,” says Martin.

HP Launches Printing Network

"n an effort to drive printing business to its customers, HP announced the launch of the PSP Network, a global on-line directory for print buyers to find local print service providers—what it calls 'PSP'—around the world. The site lists more than 80 countries, from Latvia and Lithuania to Turkmenistan and Tunisia, as well as major print centers in the U.S. and Canada"

Canon to acquire Oce . Ricoh took Ikon. Canon fights back. What will Fuji do?

It shouldn't be that surprising.

The titans of print are based in Tokyo. The yen is playing under new rules after the recent election in Japan. Oce owns the HVTO space and is first to play in versioned newspapers. With their history of the DNN they have first mover advantage. Today, Nov 16, the really disruptive innovation for versioned and personalized newspapers goes live in Berlin. http://ilnk.me/47e

But it's too late for Oce get a space on the desktop or the CRD. On top of it all, Canon took a big hit from Ricoh when they bought IKON and replaced the Canon boxes with Ricoh boxes.

What's next?
What I'm seeing is that outsourced print and insourced print will just be print. That's what Xerox EPS is about. Given that KKR has recently joined the party, Kodak will probably spin off the Creo and Scitex piece to focus on their core dna in photo and the consumer space.

The last remaining question is what will HP do? I'm hoping they will spin off the Indigo piece so that it can get the focus it needs to be number one in commercial digital printing.

But whatever happens next, it's pretty clear to me that today, the printernet took a huge step forward.

Canon in £655m bid to acquire Océ
Tim Sheahan, printweek.com, 16 November 2009

Canon is set to acquire Oce after making a 730m euro ($655m) cash offer for the digital press manufacturer.

Japan-based Canon has made an offer of €8.60 per Oce share, which represents a premium of 70% more than the company's closing share price at the end of play on 13 November, valuing the company at €730m.

The deal hinges on the offer being accepted by Oc�s ordinary shareholders, a decision that has been fully recommended by the company's board."

Now it's Flickr + HP (Snapfish) Anyone else seeing the pattern

Flickr and HP’s Snapfish Team on Photo Printing:

"Users will be able to order standard prints from images in their Flickr photostreams, but will also be able to create calendars, cards, books, collages, and canvas prints."

Here's the cool part.

. Flickr users in the United States will also have the option to pick up their photos locally at Snapfish retail partners, which include brick-and-mortar operations like Walmart, Staples, and Walgreens.

Who gets the clicks?
Will it be best of class in HP's Indigo fleet? Will it be CGX? If the volumes increase I bet it could be a sustainable revenue stream for an HP printernet. http://ilnk.me/8bc

Sir Speedy, Edwards Brothers, SPC, GAERF +SkillsUSA and Xerox with a magic bullet. Today's PR.

This morning's perusal of the Press Releases had some interesting(2me) stuff.

Sir Speedy. " in North, Central and South America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe ." scores 82 on top 100 franchises http://ilnk.me/5e0

The franchises are an important thread of the growing printernet, distributed print locally produced. Nice.

37 graphic arts companies selected as Best Workplaces by PIA. list at http://ilnk.me/5df #twitterprint

The companies that are rated best workplaces are probably exactly the ones that will thrive. HR is the way to manage human resources. Human resources are the defensible advantage.

Edwards Brothers ..set up digital book centers in customer locations with numerous facilities in the States and UK. http://ilnk.me/5de

Another example of printernet functionality. This time in publishing, as opposed to the retail space. Edwards Brothers is one of the best workplaces so it shouldn't be a surprise that they are well developed in this new functionality.

"SPC, a national print company. ..closed the books on their most successful sales month to date." http://ilnk.me/5dd #twitterprint

Another example that there are growth opportunities in a "weak economy."

GAERF & SkillsUSA offer a credential that validates skill sets all graphic communications students http://ilnk.me/5db #twitterprint

This one has the potential to change the game. Many Community Colleges and Graphics Programs are offered that ostensibly prepare students for a career in the graphic industries. If this test gets traction, it will help improve the programs that don't and reward the programs that do.

#Xerox finds " the silver bullet that could make electronic clothing and inexpensive games a reality today." http://ilnk.me/5da

The engineers in Xerox Canada may have come up with a real game changer. Once again Xerox demonstrates their extraordinary engineers. But it's still not clear to me whether the advantage will accrue to big X.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the rules for monetizing engineering breakthroughs have moved from locking up and licensing IP to bringing products to market. But I've been wrong many times before, so we'll just have to wait and see.

InfoPrint first to issue statement on Google in Printed Books

Google has teamed up with On Demand Books to offer Print-On-Demand publishing for two million out-of-copyright books.

The story at
Publisher's Weekly.
Times Online (UK)
E Week
LA Times
Cnet News (pix)
San Jose Biz Journal

@Sandraz (Sandra Zoratti, Vice President of Global Solutions Marketing says:

“Today’s news from Google and On Demand books is a boost of adrenaline to the print on demand industry. Despite the headlines on the boom in electronic books, readers still generally prefer printed copies – after all, how can you pass on a book you love to your friend, if it is kept on an e-reader?

The problem has always been how to create a decent business case around producing more niche titles, for an important audience that is less interested in reading on a computer screen than in holding a printed and bound version in its hands. Print on demand solves this, as well as the waste issue around pulping books that go unsold from larger print runs. With Google taking the first big step in this direction, it is likely many other well-known brands will follow suit.”

I say,

End of Print? Ha! As long as they don't get it, I get to buy more under valued stock. The biz model for books going forward is "Read for Free. Pay for Print."

Go Print!

I bet Amazon will respond by looking for a distribute and print network to keep Google out of the book business. Once they get the contextually accurate ads in the form of QR and one tag line in the right hand column we'll get pretty close to Books free-to user, paid for by appropriate advertising to the "printernet". Way cool!

And either BN or Borders will contract with part of that network instead of spending the money for an Espresso Machine.

The story at
Publisher's Weekly.
Times Online (UK)
E Week
LA Times
Cnet News (pix)
San Jose Biz Journal

Nice work, Katie Maller. I knew I was right to add EFI to the portfolio

I put EFI in to my "printernet" portfolio at 10.768. At 2:52pm EDT it's 12.06. Just keep taking advantage of PRINT IS DEAD. Any way, I got my email from Katie a couple of hours ago. Instead of me having to wade through everything now, I can wait till later.

Just a friendly suggestion.
The format of your email is perfect for tweeting. It hasn't gotten on my radar so you may be already doing that.

And....
If you use a tinyurl or a QR code, you could have all your PSPs have a clickable postcard that would make a great leave behind for the sales force. If it were a TinyPurl and it took the customer to a video at YouTube, I'm thinking your folks stay top of mind. Plus then I could listen instead of read. Less work(2me), which is of course all I really care about it.

Here's what I mean about the print piece:

EFI Extends Fiery Leadership in Digital Production Printing with its Latest Product Innovations

http://tinyurl.com/muplxd

QR code generator


Anyway, keep those cards and letters coming.

Here's Katie's email:

EFI Extends Fiery Leadership in Digital Production Printing with its Latest Product Innovations

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1330904&highlight=

EFI Reaches New Level of Integration with Embedded JDF Technology

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331083&highlight=

Advanced Fiery Technology Now Available on Konica Minolta Color Digital Presses

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1330913&highlight=

Ricoh and EFI Introduce Powerful Fiery QX100 for the Production Printing Market

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331037&highlight=

EFI Launches High Performance Fiery Server Designed for Ricoh Black-and-White Digital Imaging Systems

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsarticle&id=1331087&highlight=

EFI Launches High Performance Fiery Server for New Xerox DocuColor Digital Presses

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331086&highlight=

Print MIS and Workflow News

EFI Web Control Center Manages Remote Proofing and Printing

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1330972&highlight=

EFI and xpedx Enter National Reseller Agreement, Expand Technology Collaboration for Printers

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331098&highlight=

EFI Previews Enhancements to Pace MIS at PRINT 09, Announces Hosted SAAS Option

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331084&highlight=

EFI Makes Anytime, Anywhere Scheduling Control Possible with Launch of PrintFlow Web

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331084&highlight=

Heeter Direct Upgrades to EFI Pace Solution to Strengthen JDF Workflows, Further Streamline Operations

http://www.ir.efi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117454&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1331565&highlight=

Why I added PBI to my IRA

MapInfo + Group 1 and @anetah

Since I am now a shareholder of record when the Market opens, here's some advice.

The 24:13 min video at http://www.accelacast.com/programs/gartner_pitney_bowes/ is way sub opitmal(4me). If I were talking at twitter, I might say "it sucks eggs."

1.
Ten minutes of consultant is not a value add. If it came on after Lisa Sutrick it would have been irrelevant, but ok. But to put it on before Ms Sutrick made it a value take away. With all due respect, 10 minutes of blablablabla with nothing I didn't know is not my idea of fun.

My bet is that it's nothing any professional hasn't heard before. It implies that the viewer needs to be "educated". Please I've got a job to do. The last thing I want is to be "educated" in the form of blablabla.

2.
Asking for all my personal info before seeing the "complimentary" webcast is BAD. It might make sense(4U) but it really is a pain in the behind(2me). Even worse it means the brand lied, in the sense that complimentary does not mean "you give me something and I will give you something." That's an exchange. Not complimentary.

Every exchange either augments or damages. If I get what I expect, you tell truth. If I don't get what I expect, you tell lies. It's not pretty, but there it is.

3.
The two minutes of straight talk from Ms Sutrick on YouTube should cost zero. I could have gotten what I needed in 2 minutes instead of a total elapsed time of about an hour. (check the time of the earlier post to get a real fix on how long it took.

4. This email follow up says "We want to sell you stuff." There has to be a better way to get the info you want than..

On behalf of Pitney Bowes Business Insight, we'd like to thank you for registering to view "Transform your Multi-Channel Customer Experience: Advantages of Customer Communications Management". We hope you found the program valuable. If you haven't yet viewed the program or would like to watch it again, it is available on-demand at the link below.

http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/regthankyou/0/50610351/
www.telectiygroup.com
******************************

******************************
LIKE WHAT YOU HEARD? SPREAD THE WORD.
If you know someone else who would be interested in this program, simply forward this email to them with your recommendation. We appreciate it! Remember, this program is completely searchable and is available at your convenience, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Having said all that, my IRA is focused on the "printernet" industry. Given that "The End of Print" has been the meme for so long, print companies have been grossly undervalued. It looks(2me) that is in the process of changing. Based on my returns this year, it seems that the data supports my view ...so far.

I can't see why PBI won't be a major player in a world of everywhere TV and everywhere Print.

An aside:
For the last couple of days I've been testing #AWTtv and #AWTprint for a couple of days. I considered #EvTV for everywhere TV, but I'm not liking #EvPrint.

Perhaps someone out there would like to try #SmartPrint and #SmartTV to see if that gets traction?

What I Think I'm seeing about Print09

To set the context, I love print and printers and like globals. My day job is managing my IRA (see sidebar for full disclosure.) My radar is limited to what I can find on the screen. No "inside" knowledge. No compensation from anyone in the industry.

What I Think
Kodak has gotten back to it's roots in the consumer industry. Their exhibit is efficient in the context of a national trade event. It's modular and could be repurposed in many settings. A trimmed down version could fit in a retail setting. The same sensibility could be duplicated on the web. On the screen and the buzz sphere - different from the real world, but still important -t they succeeded in "sucking all the oxygen out of the room."

From the videos and live streaming there was still the "educating" the customer story. Can you imagine Kodak "educating" a consumer to buy their cameras or to create that "Kodak moment?" Hardly. My bet is that going forward they will also figure out that part.

HP has made more alliances, the most interesting one with Pitney Bowes. But I feel they are still trapped by top management focusing on too many things. No doubt they are the 800 pound gorilla in the States, but their consumer facing dna is probably very far away from the print piece. Their Print division on the other hand has the in place infrastructure to be the backbone of a "many to many" distribute and print network. If it were a standalone business unit or spun off as a separate company, I bet it would grow much faster.

Xerox was only sporadically on my radar. Their tweets were all about "come to this event or that event" and "wow, I'm having a great time.". I did see something about the inline short run packaging on the Igen, but didn't have the time to search. (I like "discover" much more than search.)

Yesterday I did get to a Xerox video that seemed just right. Simple, with "good enough" production values. The interviewer did a good job and it was easy to get to the video on YouTube. Most impressive was how quickly it was done and posted. .

From where I sit, Xerox has enterprise dna. That's both a bug and a feature. The problem is that the very enterprises where the brand is strongest are exactly the ones in which the brand is under severe attack. The new normal is a threat to any organization that has lived as the "trusted provider." Inefficiencies are inevitable when "trusted brand" protects margins. I'm betting they can transform themselves fast enough. But the jury is still out.

I was surprised and disappointed that Oce and InfoPrint didn't appear to me as much as I had hoped. From my point of view, they have the strongest tech in the industrial strength infrastructure part of the industry. Although I did find a good Info video about "intelligent barcodes. They had a top ranked CMO presenting, but I never found a video that allowed me to hear what was said. Meanwhile, Oce is in the lead with books, versioned newspapers and QR codes, but again I didn't come across anything that I could view or link to.

The most interesting (2me) was Pitney Bowes and Bell&Howell. They are exactly in the right place to drive efficiencies in the connection between the printed product and distributing the printed product. In my mind, that's the real growth opportunity in the States. As cost of production continues to be driven out of the value equation of print, "delivery" still has lots of waste to be invented away.

The overall sense was that natural differentiation is picking up steam. Oce + InfoPrint in industrial strength solutions. Kodak with the right voice, but still not highlighting the Prinergy piece and the ability for hybrid digital/offset workflows. I still not getting a clear signal from Xerox. The challenge from ink jet solutions in production printing is formidable. I'm hoping they can bring to the fore their MPS and ColorQube offerings and will eventually see the value in connecting their MPS to the PSPs.

In any case, the "Printernet" portfolio I've assembled is doing very nicely.

Go Print!

Go Kodak! Any one else looking at EK? My Printernet IRA is having such a nice day,

So...

I said :
ToughLoveforX RT @transpromo #PRINT09 has been a home run for #Kodak. Check it out! http://bit.ly/PxcOB | Nice

The Video


I have a feeling this is going to be a game changer both for trade shows and how the industry markets. I think the crux of the matter is treating printers like consumers.

Full Disclosure: Long EK

Clickable Print, Printernet and me has a fan in the Netherlands!

I live in New York City which was founded by the Dutch. It's probably why we all get along in NYC. But I never learned Dutch. But Google Translate, Grab and export to .jpg saved the day.

To read it in the original. http://www.crossmediaspecialist.nl
Here it is in Englis:

This morning at TwitterSchool I made AWTtv and AWTprint

The experience at twitter is very similar for me as walking through a college campus back in the 60's. Informal learning through the chance meeting. Hopefully the tweets below will clarify what happened this morning.

1. #AWF-TV = AnyWhereTIme video. ADF= automatic document factory. #QR = open source 2d code. PSP = Printer. #Print09

2 OOPS! #AWT-TV = AnyWhereTIme video. ADF= automatic document factory. #QR = open source 2d code. PSP = Printer. #Print09

3. #AWT-Print = Printernet = ADF x 70 or 700 or 7000

4. Please ignore, this is only a test: #AWTtv or #AWT(tv) or #awtTV {#AWT-TV doesn't work.}. I'm liking #AWT(tv) and #AWT(print)

5. #AWTtv = AnyWhereTIme Video. #AWTprint = printernet = massive parallel manufacturing & delivery of print product w/minimal carbon ftprnt.

Which evolved into

Q: Can #AWTtv + #AWTprint + #AWTcontent (that doesn't suck) reinvent #education and #revolutionizescience? A: Yes.

And then I wandered off into the Lion's Den. Oops! What I meant to say is the TwitterQuad.

It's hard to keep things straight when you're a retired boomer like me. :-)

800 lb gorillas playing nicely: HP+ Donnelly

We could all get from here to there if everyone would learn to play nicely. Given the stresses of a quickly differentiating and reorganizing Print space, maybe they will. At any rate given that the two leading players in the evolving printernet are Consolidated and Donnelly, it's interesting to see HP involved with both.

C'mon, HP. Spin off the print piece so my IRA could get into the action. I'm just not seeing how the computer piece is ever going to get to reasonable margins.

From a press release:

RR Donnelley and HP Plan to Create an Alliance to Develop Next-Generation Digital Printing Technology

CHICAGO, Sept. 10, 2009 –

RR Donnelley's Research and Development Center is expected to collaborate with the Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions unit of HP to develop new digital printing technologies. Products are planned to be sold under the HP brand.

The two companies, which are working to put formal agreements in place, initially plan to focus on the development of a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) printing solution.

MICR printing enables high-speed and secure reading of checks by financial institutions. This solution would be based on HP's inkjet printing technology and developed by RR Donnelley for transactional, transpromotional and direct mail applications.

The companies anticipate that the solution will be offered as an optional component of the HP T300 Color Inkjet Web Press and be used for RR Donnelley's internal needs as well as offered by HP.

While everyone is at Print 09, the real action may be in Berlin. Go Oce!

We're almost there. A 24 page newspaper with the copy chosen the night before for delivery the next day. see snippet below.

Consider the Education Application:
The teacher chooses the content for the next couple of days from the web. An Oce PSP delivers the papers to the class the next morning. Instead of a being personalized to one, it's versioned to a class of thirty or a grade of a couple of hundred.

Put in QR and human readable TinyUrls and why would anyone ever want to buy a K -12 textbook.

Versioned clickable newspapers to replace textbooks in K -12.

Go Print!
Go Printernet!

Digital newspapers:
Reverse osmosis on GXpress:
"Oce’s Robert Koeckeis says the company is also equipment supplier for a start-up in Berlin called ‘niiu.de’ to produce customised newspapers overnight. The idea is that you can log into the website up to 2 pm the day before, to select pages – from the six or seven sections in each of about 30 newspaper titles – you want to be in your morning paper tomorrow. The 24-page product will also automatically include content from your social networking sites.

“Everything is linked to the internet,” he says, “with the first and last pages personalised from the internet.”

First editions . . . will reach 5000 readers, many of whom are students who will participate in market research as a focus group. Copies come off a 150metres/minute Jetstream 2200, and will be delivered through a system owned by German publishers. Individual publishers receive royalties for the pages used, while ‘niiu.de’ gets the advertising revenue and cover price proceeds.

Again it’s only a pilot project and there’s an expectation that if the launch is a success, the concept will be sold."

"Printernet" was coined at PacPrint 09 in Australia

I started a conversation about the printernet over at Digital Nirvana. Turns out I did not coin the word. Some marketing professional at PacPrint 09 did. From the comments:

1. Andy McCourt Says:
   March 25th, 2009 at 8:34 pm edit

   Michael,
   See: http://www.pacprint.com.au/
   Printernet is one of the themes of this upcoming show, although more in a marketing sense than the apps you describe.
   I am one who believes that the contextualisation - on both personal and interest group levels - of information in a bound printed product is set to be one of the next big things. If that’s Printernet then yes, it’s useful.

2. mjosefowicz Says:
   March 26th, 2009 at 4:36 am edit

   Andy-
   And I thought I coined the term. lol. Just goes to show that there are no new ideas, just different implementations in different places! If someone in Australia thought it was a good word, and I thought it was a good word here in New York. It might actually be a good word.

   At any rate, my sense is that if the term is used not merely for marketing, but as a guide for strategy it works. It means that local printers become eager to make connections, instead of trying to go it alone. It means that the vendors see that they are part of much greater media ecosystem that implies they can’t go it alone.

   With the coming to market of mass customization technology, it means the beginning of the end of one size fits all Print. The under appreciated opportunity is the ability of Print to communicate with groups of people, with micro versioning, instead of focusing on 1 to 1 in the service of direct mail on steroids.

   I’m seeing:

   Relevant content printed and distributed by local PSP’s as bi monthly “stay in front of the customer” newsletter? newspaper? poster? And every once in a while a book?

   It could be:
   Corporate communication to stockholders directly that by passes the “busyness press.”. Or the latest print stories from Australia, India or Europe. Or industry specific content - marketing? advertising? education? etc etc

   Or the good news about people on the ground with innovative solutions, as one finds in the Christian Science Monitor.
   http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/

I didn't say there what I think is the most interesting opportunity of all, replacing textbooks and supplementals with WikiBooks, WikiNewspapers, and posters that are the right information in the right form at the right time for bottom of the pyramid high school students, either in school, drop outs from school or incarcerated.

If the question is peace and sustainability, the answer is education.