WastedTimes

Detaching printers for non-PC users

Author:  aiolos [ Tue 23 May, 2006 ]
Post subject:  Detaching printers for non-PC users

It sounds like a good idea for the "pc-challenged" Wink

The idea behind Presto comes from Beninato's attempts to set his mother up with a PC. "I bought her a PC with AOL, and she can't quite figure it out." E-mail messages bearing family photos often got lost among spam and other messages, and Beninato's mother wound up simply leaving the PC to collect dust, he said.

So Presto has developed what it calls a "printing mailbox," basically a simple HP photo printer that users plug into a phone jack and a wall socket, Beninato said. That printer contains software that accesses an online mailbox set up by a more tech-savvy relative or friend. New snapshots can be e-mailed to the mailbox, and the service will take those photos and send them to the printer every so often.

No Internet service is required on behalf of the printer user, and Beninato promises that the device doesn't need any configuration. The company plans to announce pricing later this year when it launches the service, but users will have to purchase the printer and pay a monthly or annual service fee.


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