HP plans printer, PC unit merge

Hewlett-Packard's chief executive Mark Hurd, in what would be one of his biggest moves yet to overhaul HP's inner workings, is finalising a plan to combine HP's printer and PC businesses into one unit under current PC chief Todd Bradley, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The details and date of the reorganisation aren't firm yet, and the move is contingent on Hurd making a final decision, say sources.

It's also unclear what role current printer chief and HP veteran Vyomesh 'VJ' Joshi would play in the newly combined operations.

Xerox has introduced its ColorQube printers in the UK, aiming to make colour documents as affordable as black-and-white printing for enterprise customers, states Computing.co.uk. It also plans to reduce waste and cut the volume of consumables that IT departments have to store.

Shipping to European resellers now, the ColorQube 9200 range brings Xerox's solid ink printing technology into a departmental multi-function printer for the first time.

The three models are similar in purchase price to comparable laser printers, but reduce waste by up to 90% and the cost of printing in colour by 50%, according to the firm.

A group of engineering students has developed a portable, low-cost Braille printer that lets the blind and visually impaired easily label objects that feel similar to the touch, like DVDs, says CNET News.

The six-dot Braille label maker is cheaper and easier to use than other label makers, according to the students from MIT, the University of Toronto, and Stanford University. Still in development, it might cost as little as $200 when released, less than half the cost of some other Braille label makers.

Users push six keys on the ergonomic device, one for each of the dots that make up a Braille character, to emboss any character, including contractions, on a roll of adhesive tape. An internal microprocessor can store up to 16 characters.