Is The Number Of Printed Pages Dropping?
December 29, 2009
Photo by leokoivulehto
According to this article in the Herald & Review, a study was done by IDC that shows the amount of paper being printed is actually going down.
“It was like going over a waterfall,” said Wang, an analyst for the business consultant and market-research firm IDC. “Starting with the fourth quarter of 2008, we saw a definite drop in page outputs,” which nonetheless totaled 1.5 trillion pages for the year – or 5,000 sheets of printouts per man, woman and child.
That number will be lower this year, perhaps by more than 10 percent, though it had been climbing steadily since 2000. A temporary effect of the slow economy, or the beginning of a society truly less glued to paper?
Obviously 1.5 trillion pages is still nuts, but it is still a positive sign. For those of you who work in offices, have you noticed a trend to print less?
Great Paperless Workflow Post At Interface Matters
December 23, 2009
Chris Blatnick over at the Interface Matters blog has just done an absolutely epic post about his paper processing workflow.
He has included a diagram in which he mapped out his process, and two great videos in which he explains and demonstrates the whole thing.
So I recognized a problem: too much paper. That was the first step. Now I needed to make an actionable plan to deal with it. That’s where the ScanSnap came in. I started using it to scan papers in when they came in the mail. As soon as I came across something I needed to keep (my monthly bank statement, for instance), I digitized it and stored it on my hard drive and then shredded the document. Ah…a great feeling. I’ve been doing this for several months now and it has been very successful. However, nagging at the back of my mind (even though it was on my Someday/Maybe GTD list) was the massive task of tackling those file cabinets. Over the Thanksgiving break, I finally took the plunge and mapped out my paper processing workflow.
If you are curious about how different people handle their paper (and if you’re not, why are you here? 
), I highly recommend checking out the post and associated videos.
The tools Chris uses are the ScanSnap S1500 and, a personal favorite, Dropbox. He is also a fellow GTD devotee.
His next step will be to send the documents into Lotus Notes. If you don’t already use it, that’s a little hardcore, but if you already in Notes all day like he is, why not.
Great post Chris!
Use Paperless Post Instead of Mailing Out a Card This Year
December 21, 2009
Let’s face it. A lot, if not most, of the online cards that we receive are cheesy.
There are two classes of invites and cards out there: handwritten cards, which are seen as “nicer” and more thoughtful, and online cards and invitation which are seen as quick and disposable.
A brother-and-sister founded company out of New York called Paperless Post is trying to create a third category – online cards and invitations that are beautiful and special, but at the same time have the environmental and convenience benefits of online.
It works like you’d expect – you design your card, add a logo, “envelope”, photo etc., then send it to your recipients, and then (and this is a big plus over paper cards), you can monitor who opens and replies to them.
Each card you send costs a “stamp”, and you get 25 stamps for signing up. After that it costs about .12 per stamp if you buy 40 down to .05 per stamp if you buy 500.
Even though these are nicer than normal e-cards, I am sure there are some people who still want to keep it old school and do paper cards. How about you? Would you use something like Paperless Post, or do you feel that nothing replaces a handwritten cards? Or are e-vites and the like good enough for you? Let us know in the comments.
What’s Inside That PDF Document?
December 9, 2009
Photo by tomeppy
Have you ever wondered what makes up a PDF document? What the inner workings are like? OK probably not, but Tad over at Paper Jammed has, and he has put together a delightfully geeky rundown of some of the internal workings of the PDF document that allow for multiple changes.
(I bet you thought PDFs were read only, didn’t you?).
It was at that moment that I recalled a peculiar feature of the PDF file format: it is designed to support nondestructive updates, allowing people to make vast changes to a PDF document while still retaining the original document, fully intact. I did a few experiments and was surprised with the results.
His point: If you want to make sure that your stuff that you thought you removed WAS removed, use a redaction tool. Good advice.
Video: Is the ScanSnap Dangerous?
December 3, 2009
This guy’s seems to be!
Windows 7 Updates For ScanSnap S1500 and S300 Now Available
December 1, 2009
As we posted earlier, Windows 7 support wasn’t quite there for ScanSnap when the new operating system was released.
Yesterday, Fujitsu sent out a bulletin that at least the updates for the ScanSnap S1500 and S300 have been released.
From the email:
The ScanSnap compatibility update for Windows 7 with ScanSnap S1500 and S300 is now posted! This update is for compatibility with select Windows 7 operating systems only. Proceed to the following site and go to the section labeled “ScanSnap/Organizer Service Packs” and locate the Windows 7 update for your model. Observe the download applicability notes and instructions for additional details related to installing the update.
The download page for the updates is here: http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/support/downloads.html
One thing to note: You need to make sure you download both pieces. The ScanSnap Manager and ScanSnap Organizer updates.
What About The S510?
According to this support bulletin, the S510 update is due “end of December”. Not sure what the difference is, but there you go. I’ll update when it drops.
As always, let us know in the comments how your update goes.
What Is The ScanSnap S1300?
December 1, 2009
Update: The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 has been released in the US! See this post for details.
OK, well, this is pretty hot. It looks like Fujitsu in Japan has a new ScanSnap cooking up called the ScanSnap S1300.
Basically, it looks like the love child of the ScanSnap S1500 and the S300, with the “M” versions as godparents.
Its compatible with Windows 7 and Mac OSX Snow Leopard out of the box. It has similar specs to the S300 – it’s 8 pages per minute and holds 10 sheets.
Not sure when it will be released in North America but it was released on November 21, 2009 in Japan. Here’s a link to it on Amazon Japan. The price over there is 25,901 Yen which is about $300 USD.
Details (in English anyways) are pretty scarce but here is a video (WMV unfortunately) that shows it in action. It’s in Japanese of course, but you will get the idea. Here’s Fujitsu Japan’s page about it too.
What do you think of the S1300? Obviously I’ll post more info as it becomes available.
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