NEWS worthy Clips (1/2)

Update your vocabulary with news clips from around the world 

The New Printer for the 21st Century

A former executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP) is helping to develop a printer to rival even HP’s exceptional printers

Bill McGlynn spent more than two decades at printing powerhouse Hewlett-Packard. He was part of the team that brought the world the first LaserJet printer in 1984. Now, he is chief executive of a little Idaho company you’ve never heard of, Memjet Home and Office, marketing new printer technology that could change the printing industry.

Memjet-powered printers through 70,000 nozzles to print a color, 8.5 x 11 page in a second. Blink, and you’ll miss it. The company promises fast, laser-quality prints at a third of the cost of LaserJet printers. McGlynn insists his year-old company is no David to HP’s Goliath—indeed, he hopes to gain HP as a customer.

Memjet has set up shop in Eagle, Idaho, practically in the backyard of HP’s Boise printing and imaging campus. HP will be forced to pay attention, says Steve Hoffenberg, consumer-imaging researcher for Lyra Research.

“What Memjet is offering blows away anything else out there,” Hoffenberg said.

Proud owner

McGlynn watches with pleasure when pages fly out of inkjet printers packed with Memjet components. A document printer blasts out 60 pages a minute. A photo printer delivers a 4 x 6 print every two seconds. A Memjet document printer will cost $300 to $500, and a photo printer will start at $150—prices unmatched for printers.

After 24 years with HP, McGlynn retired in 2005 and now is working to a niche in a field dominated by his former employer. But he’s not intimidated.

“I’ve had the good fortune to be involved with two revolutionary technologies that have changed the way people work,” McGlynn said. “And we think this will do it in a bigger way than the original LaserJet.”

 

Vocabulary Focus

set up shop (idiom) ---to start your own business

blow (something) away (phr. v) ---to defeat someone or something completely

carve out (phr. v) ---to create for one’s self a job or position through skillful work

Specialized terms

LaserJet (n)--- 激光打印机 a computer printer that uses the direct scanning of a laser beam to rapidly produce images on a page

nozzle (n)--- 喷嘴 a narrow piece fixed to the end of a tube through which liquid can be discharged

David and Goliath (n. phr)--- 大卫迎战歌利亚（比喻以小搏大而胜利） well-known Bible character; David, a shepherd boy who with just a sling and a stone defeated the well-armed giant warrior, Goliath