Ink Inc

摘要

Printer ink is easy to hate. It's messy and costly, and it runs out right when you need it most. Some printer manufacturers have tried to build more ink-efficient models; other companies sell off-label refill ink so you can reuse cartridges. But a start-up called Zink (short for "zero ink") has a bolder solution: How about getting rid of the ink entirely? Zink's trick is to encode paper with billions of dye crystals. To produce pictures, a print head emits heat pulses that melt the dye crystals, rendering them into the desired colors. Zink is betting on the magic of that inkless process-a process protected by some 100 patents and pending patents.