“Honey I Shrunk the Office”
This week, consolidations are expanding, growing office space is shrinking, Xerox is not so best of a buy, and augmented reality takes another step into managed print services.
There’s more.
Bad Guys Are in Your Toner –
HP says those reprogrammable third-party chips are open to dastardly deeds from global evil-doers: Hackers can use your knock-off toner to gain a backdoor through printers to larger IT networks. We’re not sure if criminals are breaking into NORAD or if smart kids are changing report cards, but a threat is a threat.
The Recession is Coming –
Something wicked this way comes – if the Philly’s win. Stay with me on this. In the past 100 years, every time the Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series, we go into a financial crisis. I ain’t kidding, 1929, 1980, and 2008, the Phillies won. Yesterday, they secured a spot in the playoffs.
Amazon and Meta reduce their office space footprint-
Amazon sends almost all its service desk employees home – to work from home – shuttering offices across the country and Meta ends its lease in a New York high rise. Tip of the iceberg? Yes. Expect more of the same in the coming months as the recession and the work-from-home movement settles.
Canon has a new ‘thing’ for remote work & EKM is exploring Augmented Reality –
Canon, the premiere copier company, is looking for ways to fit into the hybrid-office model with a new way to communicate ‘face to face’ and EKM is exploring remote servicing via augmented reality. Groovy.
Xerox is not so good –
The struggles at X continue as Seeking Alpha describes Xerox as a “No” buy. They feel “The company is a business that at least, in part, is exposed to what many would describe as a dying sort of business – printing.”
Rumors of the World –
I’m hearing supply chain issues will remain until Q2, 2023 and chips are finding their way into the A3 devices, NOT A4, freeing up inventory of the bigger, higher margin, yet over spec’d, devices. Hiring the right person remains a challenge, the smaller dealers are still being assimilated into VC based behemoths and many are waiting for big OEM consolidation.
Exciting Times.
This week the Internet Relay Chat includes: Facebook is winding down its newsletter service, be careful who you write parodies about, you could go to jail, ‘quiet quitting’ is a response to a toxic work environment, and in the spirit of George Jetson, a new pilotless air taxi is ready for FAA certification. That’s right. Pilotless.
On Oct. 4 of that year, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar eliminating 10 days in October. So, the people of 1582 went to bed on Oct. 4 and woke up the next day on Oct. 15, probably feeling quite refreshed.
It’s a great week, go sell something!
EKM Launches New Remote Technician & Augmented Reality Module
The module is made up of three parts: Augmented reality, Service requests & Chat. We think this is the future of all services. BMW has been doing this for years. Read, it here.
Hiring freezes and layoffs –Meta, Amazon, and denizens of the digital realm are all realigning, reducing, or freezing human resources and chopping real estate costs. Meta closes Manhattan offices and Amazon is pushing remote working. Another gift of Covid. Could a recession save the city?
HP Toner Pirates –
HP confirms third-party cartridges can be used to infiltrate printers and compromise networks. As if there isn’t enough controversy around clones, remans, and rebuilt toner cartridges, now spies can live in your little printers. What next?
Xerox – A Company Worth A ‘Buy’, Or Not –The company is a business that at least, in part, is exposed to what many would describe as a dying sort of business – printing. Is anyone surprised?
Canon USA Joins the IMCCA to Help Share Information about its Upcoming Solution, AMLOS.
The AMLOS (Activate My Line Of Sight) system* is a hybrid meeting software solution being developed to utilize a single compatible Canon PTZ camera** in a meeting room.
The Internet Relay Chat – News & Fun to Go
- Facebook Winds Down Its Newsletter Service
“Other newsletter projects have also suffered in recent months. Substack laid off 14 percent of its staff in June.”
- The man who wrote the Onion’s Supreme Court brief takes parody very seriously
Some guy wrote a parody for his local police and got thrown in the clink for his troubles.
- Quiet firing: Let’s call it what it is – toxic workplace culture
You know you’re out of the loop when you hear about the company BBQ on the following Monday. Read, it here.
- Wisk Aero unveils new pilotless air taxis it plans to ask FAA to certify
“What we are developing will be the safest form of transportation in aviation. It will be safer than any piloted aircraft.”
- HP pays out in another settlement over ink cartridge DRM
The trouble started when a firmware update for some of HP’s printers caused them to refuse ink
cartridges from companies other than HP. Read, it here.
