Solar Paper?

Imagine the possibilities of solar paper!

One more acronym to learn: NFC

I thought it stood for National Football Conference, but you can tell where my mind is these days! NFC can also stand for Near Field Communication, which is a way to smart phones to interact with a variety of things, people and information. One of the most interesting is instant payments. Learn More.

Of football and LEGOs...two of my favorite things

It started innocently with a conversation with a friend about football. We were talking about the virtual line on the field that shows where the first down is. Was there some sort of machine on the sideline that shot a laser beam (unseen by the human eye) across the field? No, it's something much more fun than that: Augmented Reality (AR). AR is adding (or augmenting) what the human eye sees with computer-generated inputs. Not to be confused with virtual reality, AR takes an everyday view and adds something to it. In football, you see the play just as someone in the stadium would, but with the addition of the yellow line. It's uses are becoming more common. In the print world, you can "hide" a code in an image and with an AR reader, generate something new. Think about it as a QR code of the next level. Check out what LEGO does in it's stores. An AR code is hidden in the box and when you take it to a kiosk, you get to see the finished product.

The 2012 stamps are coming!

The post office has announced it's 2012 stamps at this link. Keep checking back as they will periodically release designs. I really like the Cherry Blossom one, what's your favorite?

Ikea Uses Every Inch of Space

Ikea "gets it" when it comes to printing. There is just something special about a catalog that you can touch, feel, steal (from a co-worker) and...measure. Check out the spine of this book, it incorporates a handy ruler. You can use it at home to do a quick measurement of a space and then head to the store to find something to fit it. Handy, indeed!

3D Printing. Yes, 3D!

Here's a fascinating article on 3-D "printing". It is a rare thing for me to be speechless, but this is something just mind-blowing!

A Program to Remember

Here's a copy of the Royal Wedding Program that will be used on the 29th for the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. It is a gorgeous piece of print work. We wish the young couple a very happy life together!