A printer without ink from Zink

Zink wants to take the printer off of your desk and put it in your pocket. The question now is whether you'll want it.

The Waltham, Mass.-based start-up has created--with help from Polaroid--a way to print photographs or documents without ink or an ink cartridge. Without an ink cartridge, the printer can be reduced to the size of an iPod or smaller, CEO Wendy Caswell says. The controlling factor when it comes to printer size is whether you want 2x3 pictures or 4x6 prints.

A camera-printer combo the size of an iPod

(Credit: Zink)

The first two products likely will be a standalone printer, and a camera with a built-in printer. The company is showing off the technology this week at the technology conference Demo 07, taking place this week in Palm Desert, CA (Sonny Bono and Gerald Ford territory).

The trick is the paper. In conventional machines, print heads squirt ink in a meticulous pattern onto a sheet of paper, which gets affixed through heat or other means.

In Zink's system, images are created when a heated printer head comes into contact with a sheet of specialized paper. The paper--which is actually a polymer but feels like ordinary photo paper--contains three crystalline layers. The three layers are clear until heated. When heated, the material turns amorphous and changes colors: one of the crystalline layers turns yellow, the middle one goes magenta, while the final one turns blue. The layers are activated at different temperatures and require different cooking times.

The first printer will cost about $199. Sheets of 100 pieces of paper will go for $19.95.

[ikswortso]

a camera with a built in printer????

Gee....in the 50's we called that a poloroid camera!!..

[crustycracker]

heat damage?

Hopefully these won't turn black like ticketmaster tickets do when you accidently leave them in your car!

[GymW]

Regurgation 101

Sure sounds like a color thermal printer to me.The article does not mention what
happens if you rub it hard, fold it or expose it to sunlight for a period of time.
Sounds ok for proofs, drafts, and print tests in the field. Would be great for
printing warranties; not only does your warranty for a product expire, the
warranty itself simply disappears.

[zincink]

zero creativity

you know of alll the words in the dictionary you had to use zinc...i hate you.

[anand.adagal]

It is very nice to hear the word zink.

Its sounds very stringe when you heare the word zink. but it is true now and am witing for it

[Printer-Ink-Toner]

What a cool concept. Wonder if it'll actually work with no printer ink or toner. Not sure the world is ready for this.
[Editor's note: Spam deleted]

[Deni Kay]

Roll out of printer supposed to be a year ago

I have been reading about this product for over a year. When are they going to roll it out? Response to an email last year said six months.

[simbako]

ohh i don't think so it would be work that way. how could that happen that theres no such ink to make a copy, though technology is in high level but how long will that device last.

[Editor's note: Spam deleted]

[clubvikram]

thats just not possible! i refuse to believe it, if that is so the cost would be so high that common man would not be able to afford it

[Editor's note: Spam deleted]

[kardelen1334]

Sure sounds like a color thermal printer to me.The article does not mention what happens if you rub it hard, fold it or expose it to sunlight for a period of time. Sounds ok for proofs, drafts, and print tests in the field. Would be great for printing warranties; not only does your warranty for a product expire, the warranty itself simply disappears.oto kiralama

[Editor's note: Spam deleted]

[lidamida]

i don't think so it would be work that way. how could that happen that theres no such ink to make a copy, though technology is in high level but how long will that device last.
[Editor's note: Spam deleted]