More Incredible Tech

I like tech that installs itself.
When you get an IPAD you soon realize that printing is reserved for expensive apps or printers that are wireless and designed for Apples Airprint technology.
I only buy a new printer when the old one dies... Mine died. It was a six year old laser printer that had a duplexer and printed color in its early days. The print cartridges cost about $350 bucks a set and the printouts were not good enough in color to justify the cost. So I used it for BW printing for the last couple of years. When its network interface failed I took that as a sign from the almighty that I needed a new printer.

Shopping online is so easy. I decided that I wanted a wireless printer/scanner that was AirPrint compatible. I wanted speed and ease. I shopped amazon, J and R, buy.com and HP. HP remarkably had the best prices and selection so I compared all the printers, using their tool and decided on the HP C310a. Some of the reviews said it was a bit complicated but I thought that the performance specs were probably worth the trouble with initial setup.
HP's website is a bit troublesome. Great information but every time I go to buy, I have a question that does not seem to be answered online. (or a coupon code it refuses to recognize) The salesperson was excellent and eventually sold me the printer for about 15 bucks less than if I had completed the purchase online. There is a lesson there.
So here is my experience:
It came in about 2 days. The box was so light, I thought they forgot the printer. The packaging was sensible, a reusable zipper bag for the small items and the printer was set in the box in a reusable grocery type bag. Pulling gently on the bag handles and the printer slid out, easy and neat. I set the printer on my desk. Believe me the hard part was done.

Today's Gem

Unpacked and on my desk, I followed the directions, pictographs actually, on how to remove the tape, install the cartridges and then plug the thing into the power. From there the 4" touchscreen came into play. Following the directions on the screen, and answering a few questions, The next thing I knew a test page popped out. I was done setting up the printer and its wireless connection. The touchscreen suggested that I might want to put a disk in the drive and install this on my computer.
Computer setup is not necessary if you use an IPAD. In that case you are done. If you never print anything but photos from picassa, for example, or direct from a memory card, you are also done. It does that stuff right out of the box.

Here is today's gem!!!
I put the CD in my computer and followed the onscreen directions. It asked me how the printer was attached to the network, I said wireless. That's it. Next thing I knew there was a test page coming out of the printer from the computer.  That's about it. Never did have to plug the printer/scanner into the computer, it does everything through the network and wirelessly. The scanning is fast and accurate, but this isn't a review, its a gee wiz.
So the best is yet to come. The printer, it turns out, has an email address. HP calls it eprint technology and there is an app for that too. A few seconds of setup on the computer, accessing the eprint site and resetting the email address to something I could remember and I was done. Actually, I also secured it so that only certain email address can communicate with MY printer. You could leave it open to all but that would take a lot of ink and paper.
My daughter is kind enough to leave a picture in my tray once in a while. Not often enough, if she's reading this. My son has yet to do it but I hold out hope.
All they do is send me a picture, from any device, as an attachment. It supports pictures, documents etc. The printer simply prints the pictures and leaves them for me to retrieve.
From the IPAD there is actually no setup. Just find the right icon at the top of your app and select print. It finds the AirPrinter and voila, a page pops out. Isn't tech great.....