Although I am not sure this is anything truly revolutionary, the NYTimes is reporting that Hewlett Packard has “quietly introduced” a mobile printing feature. Cloudprint, as the project is known, was developed over several months by a group of H.P. researchers. Supposedly, the service will give users the ability to print on almost any printer in the world.
H.P.’s director for Internet and computing platforms technologies is quoted as saying, “[t]he world is going to flip…[w]e want to ride the wave of the Web.” Evidently the service will work like this: Users will first print the document to H.P. servers, then the servers will transmit the document to a cell phone. With the cell phone in hand, the documents can be printed from any location.
One great feature of this service is the public directory of available printers, which will be implemented using the Google Maps API. Hopefully larger organizations like universities will find uses for this technology, especially considering the poor design of many of the mobile printing solutions now available. iPhone users may find this technology appealing, but I somehow doubt that this service will make anyone “flip.”
Other Commentary From: Electrogeek, AskTheAdmin, and CrunchGear
Note: The bride in the picture is not calling to see where the groom is, she is printing this picture.
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