Tidbits

-Quick historical timeline of printing technology:
o 618AD = first printing is done in China by T’ang Dynasty using ink on carved wood blocks to transfer image on to paper
o 1241 = Koreans use movable type to create books
o 1309 = first paper made in Europe
o 1338 = France opens its first paper mill
o 1390 = Germany opens its first paper mill
o 1423 = Block printing used to print books in Europe
o 1452 = Metal plates used for printing in Europe
o 1456 = Johann Gutenberg prints the Holy Bible
o 1457 – Fust and Schoeffer create first color prints
o 1476 = William Caxton uses Gutenberg press in England
o 1495 = England opens its first paper mill
o 1501 = Italic type is first used
o 1605 = First newspaper published in Germany
o 1611 = King James Bible is printed
o 1691 = Americans open their first paper mill
o 1702 = Jakob Le Blon invents multi-color engraving in Germany
o 1800 = first iron printing presses
o 1829 = Louis Braille invents embossed (raised) printing
o 1841 = Type composing machine invented
o 1844 = Electrotyping invented
o 1846 = Richard Hoe invents cylinder press, running at 8,000 sheets/hour
o 1863 = William Bullock invents rotary web-fed press
o 1865 = Web offset press that prints on both sides of paper is invented
o 1886 = Ottmar Mergenthaler invents linotype composing machine
o 1870 = Paper is produced from wood pulp
o 1890 = First mimeograph machine
o 1892 = First 4 color rotary press
o 1960s = invention of photocopier and laser printer

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-Details from survey from the Agency for Health Research and Quality:o based on data from 10,567 staff from 470 medical offices in 33 states
o More than 50% have encountered problems when exchanging information
o 69% reported that patient was unable to get appointment within 48 hours for serious problem
o 85% reported that a wrong chart/medical record was used for a patient
o 63% reported that a chart/medical record was not available when needed
o 70% reported scanning a patient record into the wrong patient folder
o 22% reported that pharmacy contacted office to clarify prescription
o 44% reported that patient’s medication list was not updated during their visit
o 39% reported that lab results were not available when needed
o 79% reported that an abnormal result from a test was not followed up within one business day
o 55% reported problems communicating with labs/imaging centers
o 50% reported problems communicating with other physicians
o 52% reported problems communicating with pharmacies
o 58% reported problem communicating with hospitals
o 82% had electronic appointment scheduling
o 59% have electronic access to test/lab/imaging results
o 51% have EHR systems
o 41% have electronic medication ordering
o 37% have electronic ordering of tests

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-The California Department of Public Health fined 7 hospitals for HIPAA breaches:
o Kern Medical Center fined $250,000 for theft of 596 patient records from unlocked locker
 Also fined $60,000 regarding unauthorized access to emergency room patient by two employees
o Pacific Hospital of Long Beach fined $225,000 for employee gaining unauthorized access to 9 patient records
o Kawaeah Manor Convalescent Hospital in Visalia fined $125,000 for employee gaining unauthorized access to 5 patient records
o Delano Regional Medical Center fined $60,000 for employee gaining unauthorized access to medical record of relative
o Childrens Hospital of Orange fined $25,000 for employee gaining unauthorized access to patient record of coworker’s child
o Oroville Hospital fine $42,500 for employee discussing patient record on cell phone with others and posting on MySpace
o Biggs Gridley Memorial Hospital of Gridley fined $5000 for two employees gaining unauthorized access to medical record of coworker

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-Okidata reports financial data:

o Worldwide hardcopy revenue declined 12% in first half of 2010 to only $675 million
o Operating loss of $34 million for first half of fiscal year
o Printer revenue down 22% as compared with 2006
o Printer revenue is 33% of total company

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-Microsoft’s Peter Neupert stated that the company is abandoning efforts to make HealthVault (cloud based storage of PHI info) profitable because of the complexity of the U.S. health system. Now the benefit of continuing to offer the product was “simply to increase brand relationship” by raising Microsoft’s image with customers as “important, critical and trusted”.

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-Fuji Xerox president, Tadahito Yamamoto, gave an interview to the press about future of printing business:
o Company is three years into reinvention as a managed print services provider
o Due to maturing hardware markets, is scrambling to diversify its revenue mix
o Spent $761 to build the Yokohama Minatomirai research and development facility
o Will spend $755 million on R&D this fiscal
o Company’s current ingrained hardware manufacturing culture is proving difficult to change
o Looks to IBM as role model

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-HP reported its last quarter’s financials:

o profit up 5%
o total revenue up 8% to $33.28 billion
o net income of $2.5 billion
o operating margin decreased to 9.9% from 10.2%
o PC sales up 4% to $10.3 billion
o Services revenue up 0.4% to $9 billion
o Software revenue up1% to $974 million
o Printer/MFP division revenue up 8% to $7 billion
 Supplies revenue up 6%
 Commercial hardware revenue up 22%
 Consumer hardware revenue down 2%
 Commercial printer/MFP units up 43%

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-Epson announced it celebrated its 20th anniversary of launching piezo crystal inkjet technology:

o competes with technology used by HP and Canon, known as thermal inkjet, that uses heat to vaporize liquid water-based ink and fire it through printhead nozzles
o Instead uses mechanical pressure generated by a piezoelectric element when an electric current is applied to push droplets through nozzle
o Developed by current Epson president, Minoru Usui
o Is division of Seiko, the watchmaker.
 After launching its first dot matrix printer in 1968, the EP101, Seiko Corp. decided on the name “Epson” in 1975 as the division was the son of the EP printer.
o First printer to use technology was the Epson Stylus 800 in 1993
o Technology superior as it produces more precise ink droplets, resulting in sharper and smoother prints, with lower operating temperature
o Able to use synthetic colorants
o Will roll out its first color production inkjet system, the SurePress L4033A in late 2011

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-HP’s new CEO, Leo Apotheker, announced that the company will dump its current Siebel CRM, (division of Oracle) and instead go with Salesforce.com

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-The Equipment Leasing & Finance Association (ELFA) announced that U.S. businesses originated $4.9 billion in leases and loans to invest in capital equipment (which includes MFPs), which is up 14% from this time last year.

o 2.95% of borrowers were delinquent 30 days or more, down 3.41%
o Lenders in October considered just 1.2% of the loans in their portfolios as losses unlikely ever to be paid, down 1.7%
o 73% of all credit applications were approved, up from 72% last year

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-In a press release, new Hewlett Packard CEO, Leo Apotheker, stated that he will refocus the company’s R&D to increase software sales. “With software, companies can add much value to any product which is intended for HP customers”.

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-FM Audit Inc. of Jefferson City, MO announced it has added a “Green Reporting” feature to its managed print services software that will allow dealers to provide info to customers on their printer’s paper consumed, supply usage and power consumption.

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- Canon announced that it is collaborating with Accenture to expand its managed print services business, initially in Europe. Accenture details:
o headquarters in Ireland
o U.S. headquarters in New York
o Was originally a division of Arthur Anderson
o Split away and was called Anderson Consulting
o Renamed Accenture in 2001
o Has 204,000 employees
o 200 locations in 120 countries
o World’s largest outsourcing firm
o Has 96 of Fortune Global 100 as customers
o Last fiscal year revenue of $21.6 billion
o Is largest competitor to the ACS division of Xerox
o Signed 4 year partnership contract with Canon
o In past, Canon has been customer of Accenture for finance and accounting

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-Notable Solutions Inc. (NSi) reports that 25,000 customers now have one of its AutoStore document capture server solutions.

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-According to New York Post, Samsung and Toshiba are in a secret bidding war to acquire Seagate, maker of hard drives.

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-Impact Networking, a dealer with locations in Illinois and Wisconsin, announced it has adopted Pickard Elementary School in Chicago, providing its 432 elementary students with Christmas gifts.

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-A retired Columbia University professor who held the sole patent covering a method of producing LEDs and laser diodes has died at age 83. Details:

o Gertrude Neumark Rothschild began research career with Sylvania Research Labs in Bayside, NY in 1950s
o Later worked at Philips Labs in Briarcliff Manor, NY
o Joined Columbia as professor of materials science in 1985
o Her patents led to laser and LED technologies used in laser print engines, DVD players, computers, instrument panels and background lighting in cell phone screens.
o In March, 2008, she sued LG, Nokia, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba for patent violations
o She received settlements totaling $27 million according to her lawyer, Albert Jacobs

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-Apple will roll out a second generation iPad next April, according to Wall Street analyst, Brian Marshall. In addition, the company announced it purchased the former headquarters of HP in Cupertino, CA for use as new office space.

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-Lexmark announced that some of its products will now be sold by Best Buy.

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-EFI announced a printing solution for owners of Apple iPads. The company released PrintMe Connect for AirPrint, a free software package, allows users of iPads, iPods or iPhones to print to a Fiery driven MFP

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-Hewlett Packard filed a patent for “multi-threading” called “Parallelization in Printing” that will supposedly enable servers to speed up processing of large multi-page print jobs.

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