Tag: hp’s
HP’s Omen Transcend 16 is an ultra-portable gaming laptop with a Core i9 CPU and RTX 4070 GPU
‘My Printer Is Extorting Me’, Complains Subscriber to HP’s ‘Instant Ink’ Program
I discovered an error message on my computer indicating that my HP OfficeJet Pro had been remotely disabled by the company. When I logged on to HP’s website, I learned why: The credit card I had used to sign up for HP’s Instant Ink cartridge-refill program had expired, and the company had effectively bricked my device in response….
Instant Ink is a monthly subscription program that purports to monitor one’s printer usage and ink levels and automatically send new cartridges when they run low. The name is misleading, because the monthly fee is not for the ink itself but for the number of pages printed. (The recommended household plan is $5.99 a month for 100 pages). Like others, I signed up in haste during the printer-setup process, only slightly aware of what I was purchasing. Getting ink delivered when I need it sounded convenient enough to me….
The monthly fee is incurred whether you print or not, and the ink cartridges occupy some liminal ownership space. You possess them, but you are, in essence, renting both them and your machine while you’re enrolled in the program…. Here was a piece of technology that I had paid more than $200 for, stocked with full ink cartridges. My printer, gently used, was sitting on my desk in perfect working order but rendered useless by Hewlett-Packard, a tech corporation with a $28 billion market cap at the time of writing, because I had failed to make a monthly payment for a service intended to deliver new printer cartridges that I did not yet need….
There are tales of woe across HP’s customer-support site, in Reddit threads, and on Twitter. A pending class-action lawsuit in California alleges that the Instant Ink program has “significant catches” and does not deliver new cartridges on time or allow those enrolled to use cartridges purchased outside the subscription service, rendering the consumer frequently unable to print. Parker Truax, a spokesperson for HP, told me, “Instant Ink cartridges will continue working until the end of the current billing cycle in which [a customer cancels]. To continue printing after they discontinue their Instant Ink subscription and their billing cycle ends, they can purchase and use HP original Standard or XL cartridges.”
“Nobody told me that if I canceled, then all those cartridges would stop working,” complains another owner of an HP printer cited in the article. “I guess this is our future, where your printer ink spies on you.”
But the article ultimately concludes that the printer’s shakedown is “just one example of how digital subscriptions have permeated physical tech so thoroughly that they are blurring the lines of ownership. Even if I paid for it, can I really say that I own my printer if HP can flip a switch and make it inert?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Save up to 66% on laptops, gaming PCs in HP’s holiday sale
HP’s construction robot puts blueprints on site floors
Construction workers might soon spend more time building and less time preparing. HP has unveiled a SitePrint robot that autonomously prints layouts on construction site floors. With the help of a remote control tablet and cloud tools, the machine can outline walls, doors and other elements with little intervention — it can avoid unexpected obstacles, including steep drops. The company claims the bot can finish a layout in a “fraction” of the time humans require, although this will vary by the complexity of the project.
The robot includes two batteries that can each handle up to four hours of printing. It can print on surfaces like concrete, plywood and terrazzo, even if they’re rough. You can also choose inks that last days or months to suit the timeline for a given job.
HP is making the SitePrint robot available to North American companies this month as part of an early access program. The finished automaton and a full-scale launch are due sometime in 2023. The hardware has already been tested with projects ranging from airports to hospitals.
There’s clearly a concern SitePrint might automate people out of jobs. The robot only requires one operator versus the two or three people typically needed for manual layouts. However, its timing might be particularly apt. As in many other fields, the construction industry is grappling with labor shortages. Robots like SitePrint could help builders make the most of limited staff, or take on more ambitious tasks without hiring larger crews.
HPQ Earnings: A snapshot of HP’s Q3 2022 financial results
Technology firm HP, Inc. (NYSE: HPE) on Tuesday reported higher adjusted earnings for the third quarter of 2022, despite a decline in revenues. The bottom line matched the consensus forecast. […]
The post HPQ Earnings: A snapshot of HP’s Q3 2022 financial results first appeared on AlphaStreet.
HP’s new 4K business webcam uses AI to keep your whole team in the frame
HP has a new webcam that feels familiar and uses AI to keep you and your fidgeting guests in the frame during meetings. The $199.99 HP 965 4K Streaming webcam is the company’s new business-oriented model that contains a Sony Starvis CMOS sensor, similar in spec (and price) to Dell’s 4K webcam offering, Elgato’s Facecam, and Razer’s Kiyo Pro. A home office 960 version is available in white but, according to HP spokesperson Christine Wahl, has identical specs, and after initially appearing on HP’s website with a $50 discount, the 960 is now priced identically with the 965.
Those webcams have similar tracking abilities, just like the following abilities found in Logitech’s StreamCam (one of the best webcams our colleague Cameron tested)…