Know What Yellow Dots Say About You

A study done by Electronic Frontier Foundation finds that most color laser printers add an identifying code on every page you print. This code is actually microscopic yellow dots printed on each page in a grid pattern. Normally these dots are invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen using a blue LED light.

The information in the yellow dots varies, some have just the serial number of the printer and others also have the date printed. On the picture below you can see the date and time when page was printed and the serial number of the printer.

Originally the technology was implemented to help secret services track and find counterfeiter who use color laser printers to forge money and other valuable documents. But who know how seriously this can compromise our privacy.

New Large-Format Color Printer by OKI

Okidata announced C8800 Series printer, a digital color large-format printer producing up to 11x17 in. printouts in compact design.

The new printer feature greater media control and flexibility, it allows printing banners 11x 47.25 in. which fits fine for architectural renderings and engineering design documents.

The printer is fast; it uses printer toner, produces 26 pages per minute in color and 32 pages per minute in black-and-white at 1200x600 dpi resolution.

OKI C8800 Series printer is built using digital LED Technology and Single Pass Color Technology. The latter allows make products requiring fewer moving parts.

The estimated retail price of the C8800 Series starts at $2399. The printer will be available in North America in June 2007 through Okidata authorized providers.