H.P. Offers the First Web-Connected Printer

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H.P. Offers the First Web-Connected Printer
June 24, 2009
By Rik Fairlie
The New York Times

It’s pretty hard to get all excited about a new printer, but the new Hewlett-Packard Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web is certainly an exception.

The TouchSmart Web connects to your PCs and the Web via built-in Wi-Fi. Linking to a home computer via wireless networking is nothing new, but the way that the printer directly connects to the Web to print photos, coupons, maps, event tickets, and more is truly head-turning.

The TouchSmart Web is an all-in-one device that prints, faxes, copies, and scans. You navigate the printer’s features via a large 4.33-inch touchscreen control panel that has an unusually intuitive interface.

For photographers, the TouchSmart Web can connect directly to Snapfish (the online photo-sharing site that H.P. owns) to print photos from the site. The printer has a built-in tray for 4-by-6 and 5-by-7 photo paper. You can also plug a memory card into the printer and upload to your Snapfish account directly from the printer, no computer necessary. The printer can also connect to photo projects stored on H.P. Creative Studio.

The TouchSmart Web is built upon a new Web-based printing platform that employs apps designed in conjunction with Web partners to deliver optimal printing capabilities, straight from the printer. So far, partners include be USA Today, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku and Weathernews. There will likely be more apps, however, because H.P. is making its API available so that third-party developers can create their own apps and share them at the H.P. App Studio, which will begin this fall.

These apps optimize layout the print job for maximum efficiency. For instance, when you print coupons from Coupons.com, you get a page of neatly organized coupons with a lined space for shopping notes beside them. Google Maps’ driving directions no longer print in four or five separate pages, but in preformatted layouts that make them easier to use and follow.

In a demo a few weeks ago, an H.P. rep noted that the printer even enables you to view trailers of movies from DreamWorks on its LCD. It seems very unlikely that anyone would chose to do that, but you can download coloring pages for the kids from DreamWorks. And a lot more.

The H.P. Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web is $399 and will be available in September.