1y ago

HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing

boingboing.net HP printer USB port covered with warning sticker in hopes you won't use it | Boing Boing

HP wants you to print things through its cloud service, wherein you pay a subscription fee for ink and your usage is routed through its servers. To encourage you to do this, it covers the USB port …

Technology @kbin.social

boingboing.net /2023/08/04/hp-printer-usb-port-covered-with-warning-sticker-in-hopes-you-wont-use-it.html

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106 comments

EU needs to get their shit together and clamp down on this, absolute abomination of a company
- I'm sure they'll get to it. Trouble is there's so many bullshit moves that companies engage in and it takes time to ban all of them.
  I think the EU should ban apple devices. They claim to be pro privacy but what they really are is pro not giving everyone else your data but keeping it themselves, that's not privacy, that's false advertising.
  
  That bothers me less though.
  Apple "Ok yeah we're gonna keep your data and mine it. But just us" is a whole lot better than "Lol, your shits for sale" which is Google.

Like 15 years ago I bought the cheapest Brother laser printer. It's still going strong. The ink never dries out or fucks up. I've never felt like the company was trying to rape my asshole. Why anyone still plays the ink jet game I do not fuckin know. I've boycotted HP decades ago and to this day I continue to see reasons to never change that decision.
- We got a Brother laser as well. Only print a few times a year, and the toner is always good to go when it does get switched on. Love my Brother!
- Why anyone still plays the ink jet game I do not fuckin know.
  Space. At least for me, space is the reason. I'm flatting at the moment and can only keep the printer in my room, and it's already quite cramped with all my gear here. If I could get a compact color laser MFD within the same dimensions as my current Brother inkjet, I'd switch in a heartbeart. Most of the compact laser printers I've seen are either monochrome, or don't include form-feed scanning, or have some or the other shortcomings.
  
  Initial cost as well. If you only print very small amount, you're not going to spend couple hundred bucks on the laser printer and then 100 or so bucks on a cartridge for it if you're not going to print often
  
  My Canon ink jet has done well for years on cheap third party ink. It does color and even decent photo, and created many excellent school presentations for my kids. However it’s likely my last printer.
  I don’t even know the last time I printed something, it’s always been for the kids’ schools and now they’re old enough to have no more of those
- Ink and dye printers still rule the photo print space. Laser printers simply don't have sufficient image quality.
  Other than that I completely agree that laser printing is the way to go.
  
  This is true but you can always order photos online from Shutterfly, etc. or go to local drug store
  
  I went with a laser and small dye sub printer. If you only need occasional 6x4 photos it's probably the best option.
- 5 years ago with a reasonably priced Samsung colour laser scanner combi. No complaints. When I turn it on, it just prints.

JFC! HP sucks. Just buy a Brother laser printer used and never worry about it because it's bulletproof and a workhorse.
- And will work OOTB on Linux with CUPS. Easiest process ever.
  
  I don't know what CUPS is, but I had 3 major reservations about switching my barely functional computer to Linux:
  Ive never worked in Linux before
  My dive computer only uploads to proprietary software using a proprietary cable.
  My Brother laser printer was working SO well wirelessly. It's the first time I've ever not hated my printer
  Turns out some amazing people made open source dive logging software so I can still download my dives.
  And for printing, I meant to get around to setting it up, then one day I forgot and accidentally printed something and it just worked. I was so shocked that for a bit I assumed that reformatting the hard drive and changing operating systems must've somehow preserved my printer settings.
  
  Exactamundo!

The original mastodon post that kicked off this controversy: https://haunted.computer/@netspooky/110832978569741892
- the original mastodon post
  Unrelated to this post:
  IMO it's stuff like this, original content that shows up on Mastodon/Lemmy/Kbin first, that will get people to switch over.
  Slow organic growth is nice. Keep making good quality content and people will shift over

Kinda baffling that anyone's still buying HP - isn't it common knowledge that they're one of the worst printer brands?
- They're also the cheapest among well-known brands, so the average person buys these
- Used to sell printers. It's the old people 100%
- HP has decent enterprise models. So office drones will have a positive image of HP. Also old people who have been out of touch with the market for 20 years or so.

A gentle reminder to those coming in to complain about their prior printers: In some areas, libraries have a computer area where you can print out a reasonable number of pages. It's not totally convenient, but generally a far better option than maintaining your own cartridge-muncher.
- Hurray for public libraries!
- Or print shops.
- I don’t have a printer at home, and I’ve been just fine. Nowadays you don’t even need to print tickets, so who cares about a printer any more. You get them in your email, and all you need to do is show the QR code off your phone when you show up at the event, enter the theater, board the plane or whatever.
  
  I'm the same way, which then puts me in a tizzy when I actually do need a printer: For instance, needing to print a notice to other apartment residents near me (eg, "Do not move this item, it is a trap for rodents!"), or needing to print shipping labels to send in an item for return/repair.

Never buying HP printers again, not after I got a Brother one last year. It works OOTB even with linux and there's no such lockdown bullshit.
- @gogosempai @stopthatgirl7
  I ran my business with two Brother laser printers for 20 years, with NO maintenance problems.
  In the past year, I’ve discarded two new HP printers as they are just crap. And expensive-ink hogs.
  
  Damn 20 years?! That's a commendable vouch for Brother.
  
  My brother hl-2070n from like, 2006-2007 is still going strong. Drivers aren't in macOS anymore, but the generic one works fine. I think I've only replaced the toner once, maybe twice since i got it. They are excellent printers, fuck hp.
  
  HP small business printers are almost as bad as their home printers.
  Around 2006, I started at a company it had a couple of small business MFPs. I spent more time fixing the printers then they spent printing on them. I ended up talking them into a couple of Enterprise class MFPs They were fantastic but we spent several grand on printers. It's kind of a shame we don't print so much, but we scan to email and fax a lot and it was worth it to have something that just works all the time.
  I kind of regret not going with brother at this point though we probably could have gotten away much cheaper.
- You would never know it from the brand name, but Brother is a Japanese company, and the Japanese are known for making elegant, well made, and easy to use stuff. Konica Minolta is also Japanese and makes pretty good stuff, but for a basic printer I prefer Brother. And don't bother with inkjet, get a Brother all in one laser printer, and you'll have a very reliable machine that isn't expensive to operate. The ink won't dry up if you don't use it, and the drivers aren't constantly trying to sell you anything.
  
  Canon is Japanese too, can't say the same about their fairly recent practices...

Wtf is going on with printers market
- The market for people who NEED printers is shrinking. Last concert I went to I had the QR code ticket in my phone, I havent printed map directions in at least 15 years and I literally cannot remember the last item I needed to print at home.
  But they also cant say "Oh well, we had a good 30 year run with home printers" they have to keep making more than last year, so they have to get increasingly predatory.
  
  I just don't understand why people fall for it. Who is subscribing to this nonsense? I would never purchase or use something like that when there are still other options available. It should have been a dead idea from day 1.
  
  I haven't had a printer since early 2020 when I was last in the office. Sometimes I definitely miss it. But not enough to buy one.
  Since then, the only thing I've needed to print was a visa which said I must carry a printed copy, but at the border it was digitally attached to my passport, so turns out I didn't need it at all.
- We let game publishers and adobe get away with charging infinite money for faux services so now everyone else wants to do the same.

https://boingboing.net/2023/08/04/hp-printer-usb-port-covered-with-warning-sticker-in-hopes-you-wont-use-it.html
- Remember it's not cloud storage it's just somebody else's computer.

I work at a retirement place doing tech. Have had 3 hp printers shit the bed exclusively because of software in the 6 months I've been there. Hp smart is so bad.
Such a shitty company. As most of these people are former professionals they get an hp because they used it at work then get talked into the subscription ink because they aren't 21st century tech savvy.
One printer stopped printing because they did not have the subscription ink. They placed a normal ink cartridge in with a subscription one and the software would not allow printing because it recognized non subscription ink. Disgusting.
So many companies want to enter this subscription hellscape.
- After being in IT and software development for over 25 years, the only printer brand I bother with any more is Brother. It's unbelievable how much better they are than everyone else. No nonsense drivers and they're not constantly trying to force you to buy expensive ink.
  
  From a repair standpoint, Brother are definitely the best option (that I know of). I do authorised repair work for them, and their support guides, technical support team and range of spare parts is absolutely amazing. The biggest problem I see is aftermarket toner wrinkling up the fuser of laser models, but that's not like it's something Brother's introduced to be anti-competitive slime bags.
  I've got a second-hand HL-5370DW (from 2009~) that's been through the wringer of a medical practice - I still use it to print without any issue, despite the Web UI insisting that all the non-toner consumables need to be replaced immediately.
  
  People complain about them supposedly having DRM now or whatever but, to be frank, the fact that I can just click "print" and it actually prints makes it miles ahead by default. My printer actually functions now so I can't say I have any regrets.

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! Removing this sticker will reveal a consumer-friendly communications port that will deprive HP of even more money than it's already milking you for with overpriced ink!
- I’m kind of surprised they just didn’t remove the usb port entirely
  
  Design revisions are expensive

I have been contemplating abandoning my HP (with instant ink subscription) for an Epson Ecotank. Stuff like this isn’t convincing me to stay. My subscription has already risen to $80 a year, so the value is gone.
- Do your self a favour and check out Brother color lasers. Prices are quite good and the speed and quality outstrip a jet by a long way.
  
  My printer is mainly used for color photos and laser printers just aren’t as good at handling those.
- Be sure to research the ink sponge situation on the ecotank. When it is full, epson has drm to force you to get licensed service to replace it. No expensive cartridges, but expensive sponge instead.
  
  Change the EcoTank sponge yourself: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/429699/Epson+ECO+TANK+%22inkpad%22+requires+replacing.+How+to
- I’ve had an EcoTank for two years and have been VERY happy with it. My only complaint is that I should have gone for a model that allows double sided printing.
  The price on the ink is great, that you can fill individual colors as needed is nice, and the print quality is very good.
- I ditched the cartridge crap for an eco tank and it’s great. You can even buy off brand Ink bottle for super cheap.

People will still buy it when they suffer economically or techonological ignorance. If there was another system where people could vote on a business death penalty.. HP and other printer IP holders have already earned my vote.
- Nothing like having to pull out the official ink to clear a paper jam and be told afterwards that the ink you just took out is not the same official ink or gasp reused so the printer punishes you by using more ink so you buy the official ink next time that you already bought.
  Fuck HP.

Wow, HP. Way to make even Lexmark look like a paragon of corporate virtue in the home printer market.

For the love of the old gods what kind of Lovecraftian horror is this

I have a m11 laser printer. I bought the compatible laser cilinder thingy with a tiger and a green box because hp laser ink is double the price.
So far I have no problems with printing. Aside from the fact that hp puts an exclamation after each print with the prompt: DANGER! COUNTERFEIT INK CARTRIDGE InstALLED!
Ok man I’ll be careful so it doesn’t explode. Only because it’s not the proprietary ink…. Hope I didn’t give them any ideas…

Yet another reason I’m glad I got my Canon Pixima 5000 series a while back. Individual cheap replacement ink carts with no electronics in them. I can (and have) buy 5 sets of carts for $20 that last me years.
If it wasn’t for photos, I’d have picked up a cheap laser printer.

I switched to a brother laser printer last year and will never go back to a hp or Epson, especially ink.

I've been really happy with my samsung laser printer - bought it 10+ years ago, works flawlessly to this day

What's stopping some printer company from being nice and pleasant?
Is us, who buy the cheapest model in the store without considering maintenance cost?
- I shop for ink first and then a printer. Monoprice used to offer insanely cheap ink for my brother printer.

Not to defend HP^[1], but if you look closely at the picture, the sticker has an arrow suggesting you to peel off the sticker. I would still say that the intentions of even putting this sticker there is malicious though.

[1]: I've also been "scammed" by HP. I have a DeskJet 2130 bought more than 5 years ago. (I guess you could say it was from before HP went greedy.) It was under only very light use (occasional school stuff that needed to be printed out). Every time I came back to the printer after not using the printer for several months, the ink cartridges would have dried out. I would swap them out because they wouldn't work even after shaking, none the wiser that half of the "empty" cartridges probably could have been revived by wiping it with a tissue. (I discovered this only 1 year ago when I tried it.)
- Inkjet printers need to be used regularly, or go through several cleaning prints (which are features of HP printers). That's not HP scamming you, that's just how inkjet printers are...
  That said, IMO, most people are infrequent printers and would be better served by a laser printer. Toner doesn't dry out. I have had a brother laser printer for 3-4 years now and haven't had to change the toner once. Every time I need to print something, it fires right up, and prints it without a fuss.
  
  Yeah I eventually figured that out, hence the quotes. When my HP printer dies, I will replace it with a Brother printer.

I have a question about that. It's a US thing, isn't it?
I had to install one for a relative and I never needed an app or software or connecting the printer to internet. I simply ran the windows tool and it installed the drivers while the printers couldn't access the internet. Everything works perfectly. But, I'm in Europe.
- That works for most printers I’ve used in the US too.

Country make atomic bomb.
USA invade the country.
"Hide the atomic bomb button with a sticker"
See ? We don't have an atomic bomb.
USA : it seems like it but you got oil tho.
Shit , we forgot to print the "not an oil pump" stickers. We're fucked !

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