Future Links March 1st
Here are our daily links with the most important news from the printing industry. Today they feature a new measure to gauge print’s effectiveness, Kodak’s flexo line for drupa, Orora’s acquisition of IntegraColor, coffee powering a photo printer, 3D printing one of the world’s lightest materials, printed food at first class restaurants and the new drupa song: “drupa is in town again”.
Shopability measures effectiveness of print to generate purchases
The impact of print advertising on purchases is notoriously difficult to measure. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Creative companies like Net-a-Porter have found solutions and the media assurance agency BPA Worldwide is reacting to the new trend. It added a new gauge of audience impact called ‘shopability’ that attempts to measure the effectiveness of the print publication in generating actual purchases of advertised products.
More at Folio
Kodak announces flexo line-up for drupa
Kodak today announced its line-up of new flexo technologies to be launched on its stand at drupa 2016. The new FLEXCEL NX System ’16, powered by an expanding NX Advantage feature set, includes features to help printers achieve print production efficiencies and quality to become more competitive.
More at Printing News
Orora acquires IntegraColor for 77 million USD
The Australian packaging company Orora has acquired U.S. marketing and print company IntegraColor for 77 million USD. The Amcor spinoff says it has bought the Dallas-based visual communications provider to expand its North American footprint.
More at Sydney Morning Herald
Photo printer uses coffee instead of ink
A cup of coffee makes many activities easier. Now, it also helps with printing photos. Photography professor Ted Kinsman invented a printer that uses different sized coffee drops to print photographs. Each of the pixels is turned into a number from 0 (no coffee) to 256 (the largest drip size). The size of each pixel is controlled by determining how long to open the drip valve for, which can be up to 63 milliseconds for the largest drop.
More at PetaPixel
Researchers manage to 3D print one of the world’s lightest materials
Aerogels are among the world’s lightest materials. Graphene aerogel, specifically, is a record holder in this category but because of the characteristics of this material, it was very difficult to make. Researchers from State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo have found a way to 3D print graphene aerogel.
More at Quarz
Food printer changes fine dining
Unlike some other food-capable 3D printers, the Foodini printer has been designed from the start to be a specialized food-printing machine. Paco Perez, chef at La Enoteca at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona, who has won several Michelin stars for his restaurant, is using the Foodini to create special dishes. The printer allows him to arrange the ingredients in intricate design patterns.
More at BBC
New drupa song online: “drupa is in town again”
The time has come – the wait is over: the new drupa song is mixed and online, and has what it takes to potentially become a hit drupa dance-floor hymn. One thing is certain: you will find it hard to sit still while the tune is playing – this soul track features hot horn licks and plenty of funky guitar and piano riffs.
More in the article