Save Ink (and a tree) with Greenprint
Ink is expensive, I think we can all agree on this fact, yet programs with ink saving technologies are not available widely. Free programs that save ink are even rarer and it is nice to see that a program named Greenprint is now available in a free version which does have reduced functionality and ads.
But what's so special about Greenprint which I discovered at the Download Squad ? Greenprint gives you options before you start the print job. It displays all pages and determines those that are most likely not needed, this can be for instance pages with just a footer which would be a waste of ink. Besides that users can remove certain elements from pages that do get printed by right-clicking those pages and selecting one of the three available options to remove certain elements on the page.
Elements that can be removed are images, text and the whole page much like a basic version of the Firefox extension Aardvark. The advantage of Greenprint is that it is available in all types of applications because it installs itself as a virtual printer, the disadvantage is that you can't select single elements on a page and remove only those. It's all or nothing. Documents can also be saved instead of printed using Greenprint.
Statistics displays how many pages you did not print because of Greenprint and how many money has been saved because of this measure. The companies estimation is that individuals can save $90 per year if they do use Greenprint continuously. The figure seems a bit high because their estimation is that 1400 pages will not be printed because of Greenprint which would mean that a user would not print 4 pages per day. Maybe it's aimed at companies where this figure becomes more likely.
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That sounds like too much work. I find I don’t print much anymore but I specifically brought a duplex capable printer about a year ago for when I must. It just makes so much sense to use both sides of a piece of paper. And you can do a simple print preview to make sure you don’t print pages you don’t need.
With many people having decent monitors these days, I think saving as PDF files and using one of the free PDF readers is a good way to go to save paper and be more “green”.
Speaking of “green”:
This is way cool!
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/naked-glacier-tunick-08182007
Check out the wallpaper at the bottom.
Cool! I personally don’t print that much anymore, like jojo says. But I do find a lot of “tree huggers” who lashes you about saving the Earth, by handing you all this colored glossies. That gets tossed on the ground.
If you’re interested, today only you can get GreenPrint Premium for 43% off:
http://digg.com/software/Get_GreenPrint_at_43_off_Today_Only
Spread the word, save some trees!!!