Clancy column . . . overflow . . . the best bits . . . funnies
"However, the reality is the market for printing and writing paper is mature and growth rates are slowing. In fact, CAP Ventures forecasts by the year 2021, the compound annual growth rate will be less than 1% per year."
Hayes was commenting on the release of a new CAP Ventures report, Future of Paper. The 400-page study predicts that paper manufacturers and printing equipment vendors face important decisions about their core business and company assets. It maintains that individual companies need to seriously consider diversifying into additional lines of business that provide new long-term growth opportunities or risk being “disintermediated” from the broader market.
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Guardian Newspapers will start digitally printing two newspapers in Australia in June as part of its international strategy. The Guardian and The Observer, respected UK broadsheets, will be printed on an Océ Digital Newspress 8000 by Security Mail, Océ’s strategic print partner in Australia.
International editions of the two papers will be printed in Sydney seven days a week. Due to the nine-hour time difference, it will mean that the newspapers are on the streets of Sydney before the United Kingdom, and that The Guardian Newspaper Group will carry fresher news than Australian domestic publications. The papers will be available at lunchtime both to subscribers and newsstands. The Guardian Weekly, is already printed in Australia under conventional printing methods.
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Come on Ozzie! At the inaugural UK Vision in Print conference in London, invited speaker from Australia, David La Ferla, of local company Negotiaction, may have let national pride and the urge to stick it to them, get the better of him. He was reported in the British trade press as telling the assembled printers: “[In Australia] the top performers paid their people well and trained their people well – without exception.”
You tell ‘em, David.
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Creo and KBA have become partners in the Creo Networked Graphic Production initiative. “The chance to participate in the Creo Networked Graphic Production Partner Program is a logical step in KBA's efforts to make the complete print production process more rational, more reliable and more economical. Sheet-fed or web, conventional or digital, presses today can no longer exist as islands,” said Klaus Schmidt, Marketing Director of the Koenig & Bauer Group.
In Australia, Mark Wilton, Creo marketing manager, Asia Pacific, welcomed the move and said he was looking forward to working with the newly revitalized KBA regional team.
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Self-heating cappuccino coffee in a can is the latest consumer craze in Europe. The cans, known as Caldo Caldo, are now sold in Spain, Greece, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic following their initial launch in Italy in mid 2001. They will be launched in the UK next month.
The cans heat and cool their contents within minutes by reacting water and calcium chloride. The two substances are kept in a chamber in the can’s base. The consumer presses a button on the base to tear an aluminium separator lying between the two substances. The reaction warms the drink to 42° higher than its original temperature.
A self chilling drink is on the drawing board powered by mixing water and sodium thiosulphate in a chamber within the can.
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Adobe Systems will open a new office in Canberra this month. The company sees the Federal bureaucracy as a huge potential market for its desktop products, especially by converting documents to PDF.
"While government departments and agencies have invested heavily in automating back-end systems, desktop document processing is still largely manual, unstructured, and disconnected from back-end processes," said Peter Doolan, Manager of Government Business, Adobe Pacific and Manager of the Canberra office.
To date, Adobe has successfully integrated PDF-based document workflow processes with government agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Department of Defence.
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Australian Type Foundry has a new web site. Launched in 2001 as the commercial outlet for the work of type designer Wayne Thompson, ATP’s redesigned web presence will make it easier to purchase genuine Australian-designed typefaces.
Wayne had licensed some of his type designs to International Typeface Corporation (ITC Django, ITC Don't Panic and ITC Panic) and T-26 (Dallas). Wayne started ATF because, "I felt there was no Australian presence in the international type community. ATF is my attempt to redress that imbalance. All the fonts we use today seem to come from America or Britain, there's almost nothing of Australian origin."
For the launch he has added some new fonts to the site: FRESH, “a hi-tech display face suitable for anything with a futuristic feel,” OGRE, :a fun and lively font which seems to jump about,”and
IPERION, “a bold italic display font suitable for making strong statements.”
Check it out at www.atf.com.au/home.asp
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And finally . . . a cautionary tale from the ever effervescent Astrid Swires.
Recently a "Husband Shopping Centre" opened in Dallas, where women could go to choose a husband from among many men. It was laid out in five floors, with the men increasing in positive attributes as you ascended. The only rule was, once you opened the door to any floor, you HAD to choose a man from that floor. If you went up a floor, you couldn't go back down except to leave the place, never to return.
Recently, a couple of girlfriends went to the shopping centre to find some husbands, and this is what they found:
The door had a sign saying, "These men have jobs and love kids." The women read the sign and said, "Well, that's better than not having a job,or not loving kids, but I wonder what's further up?"
So up they went.
The sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking." Hmmm, said the ladies. But, I wonder what's further up?
This sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, are extremely good looking, love kids and help with the housework." Wow! went the women. Very tempting, BUT, there's more further up!
And up they went.
This door had a sign saying "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak." Oh, mercy me. But just think! What must be awaiting us further on!
So up to the fifth floor they went.
The sign on that door said, "This floor is empty and exists only to prove that women are absolutely impossible to please."