INK, Inc,

Gizmos    Ink Jet Printers Some years ago I carried on about the inkjet (and laser)  printer cartridge scam.  Since then I bought my current printer, a Canon IP 2700, because it was cheaper than buying refill cartridges for my HP.  I do very little printing anymore so the ink ought go a long way. It does not.  That suggests that Canon may be one of the manufacturers who have a "date expiration" chip.  Anyway, these failed reset it. Because the industry operates on a classic razor-and-blades business model—the printer itself isn't pricy, but ink and toner refills cost an exorbitant amount—printer manufacturers have a huge incentive to get you to replace your cartridges quickly. One way they do so is through technology: Rather than printing ever-fainter pages, many brands of printers are outfitted with sensors or software that try to predict when they'll run out of ink. Often, though, the printer's guess is off; all over the Web, people report that their printers die (38%) before their time. I tried refilling my own cartridges, but with horrid result.  For awhile I beat the system by buying refills from a third party ink refiller, but the last two times the cartridges ($30 for black and color - against $68 for small Canon) were crap.  I discovered by reading this that printer companies have put the most successful of these companies out of business for violating copyright law (by reading and reverse engineering their cartridge detectors).  Sounds like a Eric Holder thing, wot?  Those left operating, I guess, pose no competitive problem. Around 2008 Kodak introduced, and vigorously advertised,  a new Ink Jet printer  line.  Part of the spiel were low ink cartridge replacement cost, and longer lasting too.  This was possible because it's estimated that up to  38% of ink is left when the "programmed" printer  shuts them down.  Kodak didn't do that.  Then. Now, I'd buy one in a heartbeat, but evidently Kodak, too,  have  joined the scamming,  as witnessed by Kodak fixes I found. I always had good success with HP cheap printers, and there are tons of documentation about beating HP cartridge monitors, so that's the way I'll probably go.  It all just pisses me off though. But still not half as bad as Verizon do, who think it's my full time job to figure out how to get around their latest additions to an already f'kd up cable menu system, and table set box and router apparatus exchanges.  Grrrr.  Don't get me started.