Star Micronics has taken its global environmental responsibility and commitment to the next level. Following the international success of the TSP100 futurePRNT™ series, Star Micronics has announced the production of a new, more environmentally friendly POS printer. Developed to be both the most energy-efficient single station receipt printer available, as well as drastically reduce paper consumption, the TSP100ECO™ is designed to minimize the environmental impact of point of sale receipt printing.
The TSP100ECO™ provides users with an impressive selection of innovative features that help to reduce negative environmental effects. Chief among these features are the sophisticated power and paper management systems, which can result in up to 40% less power consumption on average than other available single station POS receipt printer.
SATO, a pioneer in the Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) industry and a leader in barcode printing, labelling, and EPC/RFID solutions announced that its label design and printing software, SATO Label Gallery™, has been certified to be compatible with the latest Microsoft operating system, Windows 7. The Microsoft-designed certification tests represent the highest test standard for compatibility and reliability. The latest release of SATO Label Gallery™, LG3.2.2, successfully met the rigorous certification requirements, thus demonstrating compatibility with Microsoft’s latest operating systems standards.
Newest Teller Printer Offers Top Reliability, Industry-Leading Four Year Warranty
Today Epson, a leading supplier of value-added printing and check scanning solutions for the financial industry, introduced the TM-T88V thermal printer, the newest addition to Epson’s best-selling TM-T88 printer series and the latest in Epson’s growing line of reliable teller printers. With an industry-leading, four-year warranty, print speeds up to 50% faster than the previous model, and a small, sleek footprint, Epson’s TM-T88V offers solid reliability along with advanced, full-featured printing functionality ideal for high volume teller transaction printing applications.
“The TM-T88V sets the standard for fast, reliable thermal printing,” commented Mike Helm, Director of Sales and Marketing, Epson System Device Group. “Financial institutions looking for top reliability will appreciate this workhorse, along with its four-year warranty.”
MSC Home Terminal, the largest container terminal in the port of Antwerp, is a 50/50 joint venture between PSA (Port of Singapore Authorities) and MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company). Located at the Delwaide dock in Antwerp, it is the most important North European hub for MSC. The terminal’s vital statistics are impressive: a total surface area of 1.6 million m², a quay length extending to almost 3 km, and a total capacity of around 4.3 million TEU. It operates 24/7.
Not surprisingly, MSC Home Terminal is equipped with state-of-the-art handling equipment and controlled by high-performance IT applications. A wireless network was recently implemented. MSC Home Terminal decided to replace the aging narrow band system with a modern Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz network. At the same time the technical department wanted to launch a proactive maintenance system which would enable maintenance messages to be monitored and eventually sent to the straddle carriers. The messages would inform the drivers to bring their straddle carrier in for a service check. Various selection criteria were drawn up for the vehicle-mounted computers. At the top of the list was undoubtedly the ruggedness of the devices, closely followed by the readability and ergonomics of the screens. All teams of MSC Home Terminal were involved in the selection process, from management to dock workers.
A short list of three suppliers was drawn up and their devices were thoroughly tested by users for ruggedness in a tough industrial environment, ergonomics and screen readability. In addition, the technical department and the IT department looked closely at the technical specifications to ensure the selected device had all the necessary features for end-to-end monitoring of the straddle carriers. Finally, the decision was made for LXE’s VX9 Förj vehicle-mount computers. These are rugged, Windows XP-based mobile PCs with 12.1” touch screen display. Around 120 LXE VX9 Förj computers will be installed on straddle carriers at MSC Home Terminal. The Förj is implemented as a FAT client allowing it to communicate with an independent PLC and the TOS.
Zebra Performance class card printers are built to deliver reliability and performance for high-volume card production. Now the most popular of Zebra’s card printers—the P330i™, P330m™ and P430i™—offer more features and better performance to provide best-in-class card printers. The following enhancements will be implemented via the new firmware and driver (except where noted):
Improved data download efficiency with USB connectivity, which increases the overall throughput 10-15 percent when printing with full color ribbons.
Up to 50 percent faster encoding speeds for Smart Card contact and MIFARE® contactless options. (Speed will vary based on conditions.)
Microsoft® certified drivers: Windows® 7 (32 and 64 bit), and Windows Vista® (64 bit). (Windows 2000, Windows Server® 2003, XP, and Vista (32 bit) are currently supported.)
Increased standard memory to 20 MB. (hardware upgrade)
The enhancements noted above will be available via the updated firmware and driver shown in the chart below.
New technology changed Wet Seal’s price markdown and receiving processes from a nightmare to a dream
New technology changed Wet Seal’s price markdown and receiving processes from a nightmare to a dream. Ron Hunt, Senior Manager of Operations for Wet Seal, a specialty retailer with approximately 400 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, explained how his company reallocated labor hours being wasted on price markdowns and reduced shrinkage with help from the Datalogic Falcon® 4400 mobile computer.
Before, “We used old scanners. Training was difficult … a nightmare,” he said. “This is a dream … You never have to reprogram it.”
The headset is a prototype hands-free terminal for use in construction or other tough environments where the user has his hands busy, but still needs a computer. Designed to fit under a construction helmet, the Golden-i puts a tiny screen up close to the eye which gives the equivalent of a 15-inch display, and also has a headphone, a microphone along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for talking to other devices.
The headset is voice-controlled, and I tried it out. Once you have adjusted the eyepiece for your eyesight, you simply read off the names of the icons to access them: My Music, My Pictures and so on. The voice detection software, supplied by Nuance and called VoCon3200, ignores normal conversation, only listening to commands when there is a gap first, so you can say “my pictures” as part of sentence and it will be ignored.