Last night, I attended an “Internet Week NY Soiree” that was sponsored by HP. I sipped ginger ale, ate yummy appetizers and spent time with several of my wonderful blogger friends at Fig & Olive in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. (It was right around the corner from where I used to live when I was “Single in the City”….memories.) Anyway, when I initally received the invite, it mentioned that I would be able to bring in some of my favorite photos from the school year to print out for free using the HP Photosmart printers. Since I was already planning on creating a “Thanks for the Memories” photo scrapbook for Michael’s wonderful Kindergarten teacher, “Mrs. C.”, I immediately knew the photos that I wanted to print out. In the end, I printed out 15 pictures (3 pictures each from the 5 school outings that I have attended with Michael’s class this school year). Now, there is one less “end of school year” thing that I need to think about. Yes!
After each class trip with 20+ Kindergarten students, I was exhausted for the rest of the day. I guess that teaching large groups of small kids is like physical exercise – teachers grow in their endurance by constant training! I remember walking away from each experience extremely grateful for Michael’s teacher. I still can’t fathom how she handles all of those kids by herself each day (wtih no assistant – due to budget cuts). As we say down South, “Bless her heart!” (On a side note, I like to combine the sentimental with the practical, so I will be including a gift card to Target along with the photos.)
Back to the printers…we already owned a HP printer in the past and it worked great. The printers that I saw tonight are in an entirely different category though. You can actually print from any email device to the printers. There was also talk of the printers’ capacity to store documents or files “in the cloud” which sounds pretty Matrix-y to me. Super techy people are having a hard time coming to a consensus regarding what “the cloud” really means, but I’ll go with the generic meaning: extracting applications from hardware and networks. (If I’m wrong, I’m sure that HP will let me know and I will update this information.) Another cool tech feature is that you can customize print apps on the printers along with timing when you receive content on them. These features are great and everything, but ultimately I want to know if it is easy to use and if it prints well. It passed both tests. I was impressed by the quick turanround and photo quality of the printers that I saw (and used) tonight. In any event, keep an eye out for the new HP ePrint platform printers. The line really does use modern technology in new and amazing ways. You can learn more about all three printers at www.hp.com.
Unfortunately, I don’t have one of these new printers to give away to one of you. (New York City Moms Blog – who co-sponsored the event – does though. You can enter their giveaway on their site.) At the event, we did receive a gift card for 50 free Snapfish prints. I printed out the pictures that I need for now at the event, so one of you can have my gift card. To win, simply let me know what you would like to print in the “Comments” section below by June 15th.