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Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

bleepingcomputer.com

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Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#411
post #200

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Condescending is used when you describe someone who thinks he is superior to others.

TIL! False cognate. I'm not a native speaker. In Portuguese there is the term "condescendente" which means "indulgent, one who doesn't imposes discipline". What is the equivalent term in English?

lenient, lax, permissive, accommodating

BTW also a Portuguese speaker and this particular false cognate gets me almost every time, but the other way (using it in Portuguese with the English meaning in mind)

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#412
post #372

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> As many techies will probably always say anytime inkjet product shenanigans come up: just buy a laser printer It's Canon/HP/$MANUFATURER shenanigans - nothing inherent to inkjets. I think the better solution is to buy from more ethical printer companies, like Brother.

Personal story about a sister-in-law that worked for Brother for 5+ years, all her stories made it seem like a employee focused and ethical company. She got really sick really fast, Brother fired her as suddenly the "position no longe existed", cancelled her health insurance, and - speaking with their lawyers - they knew that she might very well not live to see the end of a civil case trying to reinstate her position…

Very sorry for your loss.

My own experience is that these things - things you deeply care about and are separated from, it doesn't need to be via death, there are (unfortunately) so many ways this experience comes - will probably seem raw forever, as you care, and there will always be moments that those feelings overwhelm you.

I've found no answer to that, other than to face those moments with sincerity and finally a shrug and a smile. I'm not sure there should be one.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#413
post #350

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Re: Printer drivers, you mostly don't need them any more, because almost all printers will now ingest pdf directly. You can bypass cups and your driver and talk directly to the printer using nc: cat myfile.pdf |nc printername 9100

I previously explained why this is a terrible idea: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28058184

Seems like something you could test and see if it works on your printer.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#414

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The thing about laser is it's not a great answer for your typical boomer mom-level consumer. They're large and color laser MFPs are usually ~$500

> The thing about laser is it's not a great answer for your typical boomer mom-level consumer. I'm not sure how someone's age matters, but the elderly appreciate "it just works" peripherals just as much as you little whipper-snappers. One of the best things we did for my mom-in-law was replace her ink-jet printer with a laser printer. B&W MFCs start around $200.

My mom wants to print photos of her grand kids and would absolutely balk at a printer over $150. Before the pandemic, a decent HP inkjet was $60.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#415
post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal story about a sister-in-law that worked for Brother for 5+ years, all her stories made it seem like a employee focused and ethical company. She got really sick really fast, Brother fired her as suddenly the "position no longe existed", cancelled her health insurance, and - speaking with their lawyers - they knew that she might very well not live to see the end of a civil case trying to reinstate her position…

I'm sorry your sister went through this, and that I unintentionally picked at your emotional scab. My PoV is that of a customer, and Brother is relatively less customer-hostile.

I am also sorry for GPs loss. I would point out, though, that in an organization of that size, the people making personnel decisions are likely several degrees removed from the people making product and customer support decisions. Kind of like how I love my Amazon Prime, but I get a little knot in my stomach when I hear about the lives of their fulfillment people.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "boomer mom-level consumer" will pay more than $500 over year in replacing dried out ink cartridges and possibly printers (broken due to ink dry-out). And they're better off with a black&white laser printer, with the occasional color job done in a print shop.

Exactly, I (but not a boomer mom level consumer) bought a HP Black & White Laser on sale from Walmart with Toner for 1000 pages, all for $49. Whenever that toner finishes (I bought about in 2019), new toner is again $49. Way cheaper. Any occasional color print goes to walmart or cvs or staples (exactly 2 times I have done that since I bought this printer).

So, replacement toner costs the same as a new printer?

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#417
post #381

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Laser printers, at least in my experience, suck for photos. Not that people print photos any more but if you're using your printer for any kind of small framed photos or crafts than a laser printer really isn't a solution

anything you can do at home sucks for photos. drugstore prints too. you can't expect inkjet pigments to last very long. if you want a decent photo print that won't deteriorate, projection onto real silver or archival color process is the way to go.

That sounds overkill just for a glossy picture of my dog

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#418

For some reason I enabled the ‘auto refill’ on my new canon printer because that is what our office did (somehow). Don’t do that: it kept making purchases because it didn’t receive the ink as fast as it expected due to supply chain issues. It took a long time for Canon to cancel the orders that had never left the factory and give our hundreds of dollars back. It’s a fun story at least!

I can't think of any scenario where it would be wise to give an IoT device your credit card.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried resetting the counter? The procedure is different on different models, but it goes something like this: https://www.inkhub.com.au/ink/brother-mfc-l3750cdw-toner-res...

Recent firmware updates have disabled this workaround. Brother has joined the malfeasance club.

When did they do this? I reset my cartidge last year.

Re: Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

#420
post #301

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Kinda sounds like the whole economy though.

In some ways we bring it on ourselves by being such cheapskates. People post reviews in the app stores because they think $2 is expensive for an app then wonder why they end up with free software that sells their private data to the highest bidder.

And then they overlook the actually good (real) free software.
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