Color is marching upward everywhere, including at copy centers in retail stores, as witnessed by a recent Staples-Xerox contract.

Xerox will be installing digital color copier-printers at Staples under the retailer's new all-digital copy center contract in 2005. The total tally is 5,000 digital printers and copiers at Staples' 1,100 U.S. stores. It's also a deep hit to left field for Danka Business Systems, which will furnish 1,335 high-volume digital copiers in the contract.

Xerox also closed 2004 with awards for digital color copier-printers from Better Buys for Business and Buyers Laboratory Inc. "Editor's Choice" awards went to four Xerox digital color systems: the Xerox CopyCentre C3545 color copier (color-35ppm; black-45 ppm, MSRP-$13,500), WorkCentre Pro C3545 (color-35 pages per minute; black-45 ppm; MSRP: $12,995.00) color multifunction system, DocuColor 12 color copier/printer (12 ppm; MSRP- about $25.00) and DocuColor 3535 (color-12.5 ppm; black-50 ppm; MSRP- about $22,000) multifunction system.

After hemorrhaging red ink several years ago, Xerox has cut its debt in half by 2004. Anne Mulcahy, the Xerox CEO, wants 2005 revenue to grow 3 percent and share earnings to 90 cents to $1 a share, mostly through new technology. The Xerox equipment division is taking her message seriously by offering a smorgasbord of imaging devices. The latest debut this month - WorkCentre Pro 165 and 175 advanced multifunction systems (65 and 75 pages per minute monochrome; prices start at $23,400). These copier-printers are the first available with Xerox's new document-management software.

Fixing machines with e-mail department: Someday humans may talk even more to machines. Panasonic has added remote diagnostics to copier-printers and multifunction devices with its Panasonic WORKiO copiers and multifunction products that can diagnose and sometimes even repair the device without having to physically access it.

Like many other remote diagnostic programs, the device is accessed through an Internet connection and if there are problems, a service technician sends a diagnostic e-mail to the printer for troubleshooting and correction of the problem. If not correctable, the business is delivered a replacement Panasonic printer as soon as possible.

A Dallas office-supply company has launched a growing relief effort by holding auctions for charities that help tsunami survivors.

Called "Mothers for Tsunami Relief," the growing list of mothers and other people engaged in eBay auctions has shown the willingness of United States business people to help those affected by the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Linda O'Neill, co-founder of TheSuppliesRoom.com, an office-products company in Dallas, initiated the group. She hooked up with R&L Model & Talent Inc. of New York City to offer a trip for two to New York City to be "A Model For A Day" with proceeds to The Salvation Army.

The tantalizing modeling auction prize joins auction items such as T-shirts, shopping sprees, and designing services. "One guy wants to auction off advertising space on his blimp," said Kim O'Neill, Linda's husband and co-founder of their business.

The goal is to raise a dollar per tsunami victim, with a current death toll at about 150,000. The O'Neills are also trying to get celebrities to contribute items for auction.

"So far, only about a half dozen auctions have closed and there are about 20 active now on eBay," Kim O'Neill said Jan. 10. "Linda has had nine or 10 women jump on board to help her, so they are going over strategies and the like now."

The kindest acronym for those sometimes-unintelligible SPAM messages is "Something Posing as Mail," although it derives from an old Monty Python skit.

Some statistics estimate there were 12.4 billion daily e-mails sent in 2003 and everyone with an inbox knows it was much higher in 2004.

President Bush signed Anti-SPAM (CAN-SPAM) legislation was in December 2003. Advertising and marketing people need to know the ins and outs of the bill, as it covers all business-to-customer e-mail in the advertising area. Here are some facts from the Federal Trade Commission about the law:

• 1) The law applies to all commercial e-mail, whether solicited or not, so all e-mail has to be in compliance if it goes to customers.
  
• 2) Make sure it's obviously commercial e-mail, if it is. Advertisers and marketers don't have to have "ADV" in the subject line of an advertising piece by e-mail, but note some way that the message is an advertisement.

• 3) There is no "do not e-mail" registry established by the law, although the Federal Trade Commission may create a registry in the future.
  
• 4) Marketers or advertisers can send unsolicited e-mail if the address was obtained "by legitimate means" and the address is neither misleading nor fraudulent. The sender's valid postal address has to be included, plus a method to unsubscribe.
  
• 5) You can't share e-mail addresses of people who have unsubscribed.
  

For more information, get acquainted with the law through the Federal Trade Commission's Web site.

Ferries jammed with cruise-ship tourists hinder service technicians in the Virgin Islands like a traffic jam on I-405. And forgetting a multi-tester sometimes means a journey across the sea to retrieve it.

Spenceley Office Equipment services the Virgin Islands from offices in St. Thomas and St. Croix by land, air and sea to islands like St. John. Richard C. Spenceley III, a St. Thomas native, bought the company from his father 25 years ago.

Elaine Spenceley, the vice president of human resources for the office-equipment enterprise, says digital, color and multifunctional machines are as big in the southern Caribbean as her hometown of Boston. The technology is "really no different from the States or anywhere else in the world," she said.

St. Thomas is about 32 square miles and the scenery, beaches and water are from a tourist brochure, cueing business-owners to move from stateside to the area. Spenceley's has openings, but like other stateside companies, they want capable, serious techs, rather than one who sits beachside singing Jimmy Buffett songs.

"We have recruited technicians from the states," Elaine Spenceley said. "Unfortunately, some think 'life's a beach,' which it can be evenings, weekends and holidays. But you work here like you do anywhere. You still have your bills to pay and your responsibility to yourself and your family."

It's pretty tough copying a book from a platen glass or scanner without traumatizing the spine, and then the results sometimes look a little warped. Now two researchers have devised a solution using mathematics that keeps the back of the book intact.

The computerized copier program presented by Xerox researchers Beilei Xu and Robert Loce at a conference in China recently makes copies of pages from books without damaging the spine. Through use of an algorithm that compensates for the distortion usually associated with copying books, the method makes an exact replica of the face-down book pages.

The technology is being devised for copier use, but also could be adapted for copying books with low-cost scanners, too. When the new method hits the market, it will make digitizing large book collections easier for Internet libraries.

Imagine parking lots that could power nearby buildings, clothing that "sees" in the dark or office equipment powered by the walls of a building.

Scientists have long sought ways to harness solar energy with more efficiency than silicon-based solar cells. Now University of Toronto Professor Ted Sargent has devised a way to harnessing light in the infrared spectrum of light - the other part of long-wavelength light humans cannot see.

Using nanotechnology, tiny "nanocrystals" - each wrapped in a chain of eight carbon atoms - are tuned to catch long-wavelength light. These are dispersed as a film in a type of solvent such as used in paint. When the solvent evaporates, a film of the nanoparticles is left that is photoconductive.

The first uses for the process developed by Sargent and Steve MacDonald, a University of Toronto engineering graduate student, are infrared sensors and power converters. Sargent says new wearable infrared-sensitive clothing could capture 30 percent of the sun's rays for power.

With computers now sometimes worn and integrated within clothing of users, such technology could lighten the battery load. And going out to charge clothing could take on a new meaning.

Selling Sales Manager in Philadelphia, PA
Large established dealership just opened new satellite office

High end Canon Technician in Arizona
Must have OEM Certifications
Large Established Dealer with excellent advancement opportunity

Sales Manager in Nebraska
Base Salary + Commission structure potential to six figures
Company with outstanding local reputation

Canon Tech in Louisville, KY
Must have OEM Certifications
Ground Floor opp with growing organization

To unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send an e-mail to Unsubscribe@copiercareers.com and be sure to put "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

For editorial information and feedback, contact Copier Careers at newsfeedback@copiercareers.com.

Copyright © 2005 CopierCareers.com. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this newsletter may not be published or otherwise distributed without prior written consent.