Category Archives: Basic Business Concepts

New HP Wireless Printer is a winner

Posted on April 27, 2009 by David St Lawrence

 The HP Officejet Pro 8000 Wireless printer handles one of the biggest problems of our home office. It prints high quality images from any computer in the house or shop and was available on Amazon.com last week for only $127.99. This is something that almost any home office can use.

DSC00991With our multiple computers and laptops, it has always been a struggle to connect to a printer when we needed one in a hurry. With this new wireless printer we can print from anywhere in the house or workshop or even from the back deck.

This printer is fast (up to 35 pages per minute black and up to 34 pages per minute color) and the four ink cartridges give it a range of colors that our other printers could not achieve.

DSC00995 Installation was a bit unnerving at first because I am not used to peripherals that turn themselves on and perform a 20 minute setup procedure with no human intervention.

When I plugged in the power cord, the OfficeJet Pro 8000 went into a busy self-test cycle that produced lots of chirps and other noises, but no printouts at all.

I looked at the instructions but there was only a cryptic instruction to turn on the unit and wait for the alignment page to print.

After another five minutes of clicking and whirring and no printout, I was ready to turn the printer off and check for a paper jam.

At this exact moment, the printer spat out a brief instruction sheet in nine languages:

Do not turn off the printer; the printer is initializing.
During this process, you might hear some tapping sounds.
While waiting, install the printer software.

(It did not mention the whirring, machine muttering, and chirps)

I am not used to getting scolded by my printers, but I took its advice and installed the software on all computers within reach. By the time the computer software installation was complete, the printer had stopped muttering to itself and was ready for action.

We fired off print commands from one computer after another and the printer smoothly executed them at high speed. The wireless capability makes all the difference in the world. We have used printer sharing systems in the past, but the cabling makes for a time-consuming installation.

The designers at HP got this design right. For more information on this beauty, read on after the jump.

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Economics in a tightly-connected community

Posted on April 25, 2009 by David St Lawrence

The Community as social network In this county people get to know each other and while we may not be one big happy family, we share a lot of information on how people are doing, who needs help, and who … Continue reading →

Posted in Basic Business Concepts, Country Living, Dealing with hard times, Expanding Your Opportunities | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Search-and-Buy Economy

Posted on March 8, 2009 by David St Lawrence

Jeff Jarvis recently wrote an interesting article "The Great Restructuring" in which he said, " Large-scale retail will shrink and consolidate and then be transformed by a search-and-buy economy." I think he may be on to something. It certainly applies … Continue reading →

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If a rising tide floats all boats, what about a falling tide?

Posted on December 5, 2008 by David St Lawrence

When general economic conditions get worse, which businesses get stranded? More importantly, how does a small business owner survive when large businesses are struggling? I think there is a lesson to be learned from observing the struggling Ukrops store in … Continue reading →

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