Canon Pixma MP600R: drama of the good kind

Hey, is this thing meant to glow like that?...

Unfortunately experience teaches us to expect drama of the bad kind when installing a new multi-function printer on a home network. But the new Canon Pixma MP600R I installed tonight completely blew me away with some drama of the positive kind, and I'm still smiling from the memory.

After all, it wasn't until I brought home my HP PSC-2210 that I discovered Mac network drivers hadn't yet shipped and that I'd have to search high and low for compatible open-source drivers that would work. And it wasn't until I tried to scan for the first time that I discovered that was one of the many features the PSC-2210 only offered over a USB connection. And it wasn't until the power supply failed just out of warranty that I discovered HP's appalling policy of not offering service for out-of-warranty inkjet devices in Australia, its terrible policy of not making spare parts available for inkjet products to third-party repairers, and its shameful policy of not offering recycling for printer products for home and small business customers. (HP, I hope you get buried in a landslide of your own dead printer products.)

Talk about drama of the bad kind! Not so with the Canon Pixma MP600R... so far, it's been all drama of the good kind.

What's wrong? Sceptical that a multi-function printer could be dramatic? How's this: when I turned it on for the first time and flipped up the bright, clear colour LCD, the printer popped open its own paper tray during the power-up.

Surprised? I was. But not nearly so surprised as when I discovered the individual ink cartridges light up with a warm red glow when you've plugged them in correctly (or, according to the manual, a bright orange if you get it wrong.)

Holy self-destruct-sequence-on-the-Nostromo-batman! Plugging each of the cartridges in one-by-one was like something from Mission Impossible or Star Wars, more like re-enabling the tractor beams on the Death Star than installing a mere printer. Cool!

The MP600R doesn't fax like the HP used to, but the only thing non-recyclable in the entire box was the foam packing inserts - all the other plastics and tape were recyclable. And it scans over the network, over wifi, to a Mac, with Canon Mac OSX drivers.

Cool!

My AppleTV reviewette on Meebo.com

[16:17] goonker: how's your apple tv treating you? i don't recall any gushing blog posts

[16:17] bigyahu: yeah i've been a little busy and it was a little unclear for a while whether i loved it or not. decision is in: i love it
[16:18] bigyahu: initial disappointment was: you can only sync one mac with the appletv's HD. you can stream from up to five other macs, but streaming sucks
[16:18] bigyahu: - got to have those macs open and running itunes..
[16:19] bigyahu: - got to have dot n wifi which for me would require buying new basestation and 2x new macs
[16:19] bigyahu: can't see why it couldnt let you assign some appletv storage to one itunes account and the rest to another. i can visualise the nice little slider
[16:20] bigyahu: had some initial hiccups with syncing from my mac, cause not really clear[16:20] bigyahu: but thats settled down now
[16:21] bigyahu: had some MAJOR issues with hookup, because it needs DVi or HDMI and the TV in our house is connected to the cabinet via component, because the cabinet is further away from the TV than the max. DVi or HDMI cable length 18mths ago when the house was built
[16:21] bigyahu: no accessible wallspace to run new cable
[16:22] bigyahu: so installer guy wanted to run a new ducted cable on the outside wall of the house all the way around three walls
[16:22] bigyahu: would have sucked visually!!!
[16:24] bigyahu: managed to talk him out of it and he put the appletv in another cupboard underneath the TV. so now i have one a/v component not in the main cabinet with all the rest of my stuff, which means the appleTV's on a different input source (all the other devices input to the TV on the AV source for simplicity)
[16:24] bigyahu: and it needed a separate IR receiver added, so on the TV now there are three little red blinky-blinky reactions every time i use the programmable remote

[16:24] goonker: wow, sounds like a complicated toy

[16:25] bigyahu: yeah, as always, it's easier if it's a greenfields install!

[16:26] goonker: is there much content avail for appletv? or do you encode your own?

[16:27] bigyahu: both
[16:28] bigyahu: got one of those usb tv twin digital tuner doodads that records free to air programs using the icetv.com.au EPG
[16:29] bigyahu: the software that comes with the doodad gives you the option to automatically encode for video ipod and/or appletv
[16:29] bigyahu: so, if only the icetv EPG was accurate and reliable, i think it would be time to chuck out the Sony HD recorder

Yes honey, it's our new autonomous chore-saving device!

Yes honey, it's our new autonomous chore-saving device!
Originally uploaded by thatjonesboy.

I may not fly to work in a nuclear-powered flying car, I may not dress in a one-piece silver suit, and I may not take my meals in pill form... But I DO have a robot housemaid!

Much to the collective household sceptics' amazement, it actually works! It cleans floors! No workchoice agreement, no awkward visa issues, no stealing from the coin jar!

However, it doesn't want to have an affair with me either... yet...