Welcome to Digital Dots, home of...

Digital Dots is an independent graphic arts research group. The company is a collection of like-minded consultants and professional journalists specialising in digital prepress, printing and publishing technologies. We provide exclusive market research, testing and evaluation services for digital production technologies relating to these industries.

Digital Dots is publisher of the leading industry newsletter, Spindrift.

Last minute thoughts

Mon, 05/24/2010 - 12:34 — Nessan Cleary

It’s the last day for me, though the show still has another day to run. People have been desperately willing this Ipex to be a success, as though it will somehow indicate that we have come through the worst of the recession. By and large I think that it has been a good show. It seems to me that it is significantly smaller than in previous years but the halls have been busy and there has been a palpable buzz to the show that was missing last time around.

For he is a jolly good Fellow. . .

Sun, 05/23/2010 - 15:14 — Paul Lindström

CIP4 ran seminars and showed samples on JDF connectivity during the show, and also took the opportunity to have working meetings for the members. This years Fellowship Award was also announced, and it went rightfully to Henny van Esch at MIS vendor Optimus. The CIP4 Fellowship Award ”recognizes individuals whose contributions to the development of the Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification are both substantial and significant to the integrity and function of JDF, as well as individuals who may have contributed to the industry’s adoption of JDF by educating manufacturers of JDF systems and JDF users and/or by actively disseminating information about JDF.” Our congratulations to Henny, and also congrats to CIP4 who can celebrate that the JDF format is 10 years old this year, launched originally at DRUPA 2000. Time flies.

The Chinese are coming

Sun, 05/23/2010 - 12:28 — Nessan Cleary

Quite literally, in my case as the missus has turned up. There are a lot of Chinese companies here though the one that everyone in the West knows, Founder, is strangely absent. Shanghai Electric, which is now in the driving seat at Goss, is here in force, and there are clusters of Chinese stands dotted here and there, mostly with conventional press and finishing kit.

David Preskett, Canon, appointed President

Fri, 05/21/2010 - 12:28 — Paul Lindström

Midway into IPEX, the organizers revealed attendee numbers for the first half of the show, and they are well on par with the 2006 show. Around 35 000 visitors from more than 120 countries has visited IPEX 2010 this far. Another announcement was that David Preskett, Canon, was appointed President for the IPEX 2014 show.

Going beyond digital

Fri, 05/21/2010 - 12:14 — Nessan Cleary

The show is starting to heat up, quite literally. It’s a lovely day outside. Here in the halls I’ve lost all track of time. I’ve been here since Monday but I’ve no idea what day it is today.

At last!

Fri, 05/21/2010 - 08:57 — Paul Lindström

A new version of ProfileMaker on the horizon! Or rather – a completely new colour engine from X-Rite named iOne Profiler, that will replace ProfileMaker if we understood it correctly. Betatesting is in full swing, and the samples of rendering images using iOne Profiler made profiles looks promising. User interface is improved, and all the tools are in one single application – not in three different applications like with “old” ProfileMaker. A final release is expected in Q4 this year.

Things are warming up

Fri, 05/21/2010 - 08:49 — Nessan Cleary

The weather in the UK is starting to get better with the temperatures approaching 20 degrees. That’s nice if you are on a beach, but not nearly as much fun for those of us stuck inside the halls here at the NEC. Quite a lot of people are sitting around on the grass just outside hall 12, intermingling with the fake crowd display boards, which looks a little surreal.

Screen’s TPJ Smaller But Still Perfectly Formed

Thu, 05/20/2010 - 13:33 — Laurel Brunner

Of course this is the digital print IPEX but that bland cliché belies an entangled and complex reality, one that does not lend itself to simple categorization. The impressive new Screen press is an example of for why. It’s the only inkjet digital press we’ve come across that runs on standard printing stocks. This means Screen has an easier recyclability conversation than many of it’s competitors and is in a rather stronger position to tackled the B2 commercial sector where Fujifilm also hopes to make its mark.

Pause for thought

Thu, 05/20/2010 - 09:14 — Nessan Cleary

At last, the press office here has woken up and the Wi-Fi seems to be working most of the time. The show is clearly smaller than four years ago and there are noticeably less people milling around the halls. But despite this there is a definite buzz about the show. I’m tempted to say that this is down to the newer digital machines, and while it’s clear that digital is far more dominant here than the last time around, there is also a lot of interest around the conventional printing halls.

Syndicate content