HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web: First Web-Connected Printer Ever

HP just unveiled their HP PhotoSmart Premium with TouchSmart Web home printer. While that is a mouthful to say, we know, it actually turns out to be pretty cool technology for those of us who do still rely on a printer. The easiest way to describe it is, imagine if your printer had an iPhone-like control panel that was connected to the Internet, and controlled both the printer and could control and pull up web data for printing. That is what HP has put together here. Through the magic of HP Applications, you’ll be able to use the 4.33-inch control pad to pull up maps with directions, coupons, movie tickets, newspaper articles, are more. Even better, the apps are smart enough to know how best to print each piece of content, so all will usually look decent. If you have a Snapfish account, the printer can connect directly to that, and print photos…I know, thrilling. Luckily, the apps will be something that just about anyone can make, so the current limits that seem to be apparent as it pertains to which services you can use with this printer may actually fall to the wayside. The only barrier to companies spending time on making apps for this printer, though, are going to be in the numbers. The reason the Apple App Store has over 50,000 apps is because there are millions of iPhone and iPod touch units out there. We aren’t so sure that people will be rushing to buy the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web when it hits stores this fall, what with its $399 price tag, but hey, we are all for innovation, and HP has at least tried to do that with this product.

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