iRadar: Print Anything Wherever You Are With PrinterOn

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Print Anything Wherever You Are With PrinterOn

Print Anything Wherever You Are With PrinterOn: "

print anywhere With all of the mobility and digital gadgetry that we have these days, it’s a wonder we haven’t completely done away with using paper printouts for anything anymore. The technology fanatic’s dream is a world where everything is automated and all information is not only digitized, but also accessible from anywhere in the world.

This is a cool idea for a technological utopia of the future, but today the world is no closer to a truly paperless society. People still like the reality and authority that paper provides. When it’s “on paper,” it really means something. So there are times when you’re conducting business or collaborating on a project with your classmates that you’ll need to quickly print something out. It might be an important diagram, a photo or a paper that you forgot to print on your race to get out the door to class.

Here at MUO, we’ve brought you lots of apps meant to make such a fast-paced mobile life a lot easier. Aibek described how you could get your postal mail in PDF format right in your email inbox. Simon described how you can use Printershare installed on your home PC to print anything you want to print from your mobile phone.

If you need a solution that lets you print anywhere you are, then you’ll love PrinterOn. Once you see the flexibility of the PrinterOn global printing system, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been using it all along.

The Mobile Printing Solution

The cool thing about PrinterOn is that it’s named such because it’s like having a printer that’s “always on”. No matter where you are in the world, you can point your Internet ready phone to printeron.net and find a local printer near you. The system is set up especially for travelers that are constantly on the road and without any immediate means to print documents. And printer locations, like cafes, libraries or hotels, are willing to provide the service because it gets customers in the door.

print anywhere

When you search by keyword, you can type in your location, such as city and state, and you’ll see a list of the printer locations nearest you. Once you have the list, the magic key is that special @printspots.com email address.

print to any printer

Just compose an email to that email address and attach the file that you want to print. Once you arrive at your destination, it will be there waiting for you.

print to any printer

Once you send the email, you’ll receive a response back with a secret code. Keep it handy because you won’t be able to pick up your printout unless you have that code.

Printing From A Browser

Another option is the browser approach to using PrinterOn. This is perfect if you’re at a public computer, such as at a mall or an Internet cafe, and there’s no printer available. In that case, all you have to do is point the browser over to PrintSpots.com, and you’ll find yourself at the location directory page.

print to any printer

All you have to do is drill down starting from country to your local area, and you’ll see a list of the nearest locations that you can print to. In my case, I discovered a convenient Hilton Inn in Portland where I could send over my printout. Once you click on a location, it’s a three step process to send over your document.

printing anywhere

Just select which printer you’d like to use (if there are multiple ones), type in the email address where you want to receive the secret “release code” to obtain your printout, and then browse to the file that you want to print.

Printing From Home To Anywhere In The World

My favorite option is definitely the Windows Printer Driver solution. All you have to do is download and install an application called PrintWhere, which basically installs the remote printer of your choice as one of your installed printers. When you run PrintWhere, you’ll have the same option to browse all printers in your local area as you do when you use the browser based or mobile phone solution.

printing anywhere

Just select the remote printer and click OK. That printer gets added to your list of installed printers. So, the next time you go to print from any application, you’ll see the PrintWhere printer available.

print anywhere

When you print to that printer, your printout will go to the remote location and you’ll receive the release code via email. This is a very cool solution if you’re traveling with your laptop and need to quickly print something out. Just find a local printer using PrintWhere, add it to your list of installed printers, and you’re good to go.

PrinterOn is a pretty innovative service in that it offers businesses a unique opportunity to pull in new customers, and it provides the public with easy access to a printer nearly anywhere in the world.

Have you ever tried this service? What do you think? Are there similar or better services out there? Share your insight in the comments section below.

Image credit: Kriss Szkurlatowski