Howie Fenton Digital Prepress Consultant, NAPL NAPL Blog

Howie Fenton is a senior consultant for the National Association for Printing Leadership

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NAPL Senior Technology Consultant Howard Fenton provides strategies companies can use to maximize their workflow integration and efficiencies, click here.

Effectively leveraging digital and variable printing to provide customers with value-added communications solutions is the focus of this "live from TMC" audio podcast, in which Howard Fenton, NAPL senior technology consultant, engages in a insightful discussion with Tom Conley of LectraMedia, John Mahoney of The Mahoney Group, and Bob Radzis of RT Associates, click here.

Interested in the latest on web-to-print, prepress, packaging, and more? To hear NAPL Senior Digital Technologies Consultant Howard Fenton's 'take' on technology trends at the show, click here.

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• InPlant Graphics Article: The State of On-demand Printing
  What impact will the latest ink-jet presses have on the print-on-demand market?

• Web-to-Print Business Models
  What is Web-to-Print and why is it profitable for some and a loss for others?

• Ways to Go Green and Move Toward Sustainability
  You don't have to break the bank to print more green and move toward a more sustainable business model.

• The Value of Inplant Printing
  When customers challenge print's cost, speed or competitiveness vs. electronic media, you need to create customized solutions to help you sell value, rather than products.

• The Upside of Declining Disruptive Technologies is Increased Equipment Sales
  As the wildly successful Graph Expo 2006 fades into our memories as one of the most successful in years, we must ask ourselves one question: Why was the show this year so successful?

• CTP More Viable For Small Printers
  Recent improvements in cost effective technologies are enabling more smaller printers to make the move to CTP.

• Digital Book Technologies May Reshape All Production
  The book is the “fabulous invalid” of the printing industry, its imminent death regularly predicted. The future of printed books is still debated, but it seems less likely that digital technology will kill books than that it will just change how they are produced.

• Streamline Internal Processes To Combat External Threats
  Printers battling competitors banking on low price to win work—and those just trying to improve bottom-line profitability—would do well to focus on productivity initiatives that drive operational efficiency.

• ProcessLess Plate Update
• Changes in the CTP Landscape
• Color Management – The Good the Bad and the Ugly (Part 1)
• Color Management – The Good the Bad and the Ugly (Part 2)
• Digital is Faster But Not Always Better
• Digital Front Ends for Digital Presses
• Digital Printing Q&A
• Managing Proofing Technologies (Part 1)
• Managing Proofing Technologies (Part 2)
• The Status of Remote Proofing
• The Three Keys To On-Demand Printing
• In an Ideal World You Wouldn't Have to Back-Up
• Looking For a Monitor
• Shopping For a Scanner or Scans
• Should You Offer CD-ROM Production Services?
• A Closer Look at Digital Systems
• The Cold, Hard Truth About Computer to Plate
• Illustrating Some of Deming's 14 Points
• Reducing Network Broadcast Traffic with Fastswitching
• The Good, The Bad, and the 4 Uglys of Stochastic Screening
• Saving Money and Avoiding Problems In Outputting Your Files
• Mac Hard Disk Management

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IN PDF FORMAT  REQUIRES ACROBAT 6.0 OR HIGHER   (Download Acrobat here.)

The Hot Digital
Technologies That are
Changing Your Business

 

Analyzing Bottlenecks
and Improving
Your Workflow

On Demand,
Digital and
Variable Data Printing

What Every Sales,
Customer Service and
Designer Needs to Know
about Digital Technologies

 

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The Color Management Controversy - Is it Worth It?

Slowdown in 'Disruptive Technologies' May Speed Up Sales

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BACK ISSUES OF
HOWIE FENTON'S
NEWSLETTER

DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY
TRENDS

IN PDF FORMAT 
REQUIRES ACROBAT 6.0 OR HIGHER  
 (Download Acrobat here.)

 

Issue 24: August 2005

• Print '05 Overview
• Association Events & Special Pavilions
• Desktop Software: PDF & Color Tools
• RIPS & Workflow Systems
• Management, Enterprise & MIS systems
• Variable data & Web Based
• CTP, DI & Digital presses
• Small & Large Presses
• Post-Press, Mailing, Press Accessories

Issue 23: April 2005

• NAPL and Print Image International Merger Rumors squashed
• Growth in Color Laser Market and HP's new product
• Andy says improvements continue for printers
• Learning To Live With Spam
• What type of training do you need?
• Exercise, music, stress and pain
   

Issue 22: March 2005

• Next Generation Color Devices are coming
• Consolidation of Digital Standards Groups
• Xerox's Gil Hatch Center opens with new products
• Catalogers Use Internet Better but not Key Data
• Adults better Web surfers than teens
• Screen Printing and Wide-Format Inkjet to Co-Exist
• Kids Consume Media Like Candy
• Netscape v8 Beta released

Issue 21: January 2005

• Inplants vs Commercial Printers: equipment, cost models & convenience
• Inplants vs Commercial Printers: Start up problems with variable data printing
• The theory behind the Apple Mini
• The Status of the Economic recovery
• RFID (radio frequency identification technology)
• 3rd Generation (3G) Wireless Networks
• Micro Fuel cells as longer lasting batteries

Issue 20: December 2004

• Turbocharging the Info Superhighway using RSS
• Mac OSX Tiger's, Safari 2.0
• Xpress 6.5 "cool" features and problems
• Xpress 6.5 Printing Problems
• Acrobat 7
• Processless Plates Update - Article

Issue 19: August 2004  

• Business is not "as usual",  its better because cross media marketing
  works
• NAPL reports Print Sales are Back (Finally!)
• Presstek buys ABDick, what's next?
• SWOP merges with IDEAlliance
• Kodak announced a 37% jump in second-quarter profit
• Quark changed licensing
• Donelly brings Six Sigma to workflows in Seybold SFO 04
• Andy Tribute creates CTP and digital print controversies

Issue 18: April 2004  

• Inkjet vs Toner- Digital Printing Battle Lines being drawn
• Agfa resumes digital printing sales with a inkjet device
• Kodak returns to digital printing with toner and inkjet
• Heidelberg leaves digital printing
• Photogram announces Dense Raster Image Processing (DRIP) technology
• Xeikon and Xerox continue to sell toner technology

Issue 17: March 2004  

• Preview, editorial and some soap boxing
• NAPL's Latest Economic Report – "Lookin' Good"
• Kodak to Acquire NexPress and Heidelberg Digital
• Industry Chiefs Testify on Postal Reform
• Agfa's new press, closed-loop platemaking & buys Lastr
• Hal Hinderliter Named Director of Graphic Communication Institute
• Drip a new high definition printing technology
• Print On Demand Patent Infringed, Jury Awards $15 Million
• GraphicConverter 5.0 released
• Thanks and Goodbye to Seybold Publishing
• Podi Show is a hit

Issue 16: February 2004  

• Market Researcher Trendwatch counts Graphic Arts companies
• Spams driving shoppers away from Internet
• Family names son version 2.0
• Ricoh Launches Aficio 2232C (24ppm) and Aficio 2238C (28ppm)
• MPA Proposes Lower Mailing Rates
• KPG to introduce a Thermal Direct Non Process Plate
• Screen's new DI press, the TruePress 344
• Xerox on Broadway (new product announcements)
• Editorial - The Scanner is the Killer App and Xerox Targets HP

Issue 15: January 2004  

• Xerox's Secret Announcement
• Mohawk Paper launches a "cool" new website
• Enfocus & StaffingTools create online Pitstop training
• Study on the Cost Of CTP Plates creates controversy
• FedEx Buys Kinko's Quick Copy Franchise
• InPlants go digital
• Unhappy Apple users

Issue 14: November 2003

• What's New in Wireless? Getting Up to Speed
• Pros and Cons of Wireless Networks
• Deciphering alphabet soup IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.16
• Security Issues and answers such as wardriving and warchalking

Issue 13: September 2003

• Teens Spending More Time Online Than Watching TV
• Bye Bye home phones
• America's Key Influentials are Web Junkies
• Xplor 2002 theme
• Adobe PostScript 3 version 3016 software
• Cost of satellite TV less than cable

Issue 12: July 2003

• Macintosh G5 “world’s fastest personal computer”
• TWGA says 2003 another tough year for creative pros
• Online Shoppers Indicate Satisfaction is Key to Repeat Business
• CMR Boosts 2003 Ad Revenue Forecast
• Print Buying Made Simpler
• Acrobat 6 Review
• Digital Do's, Don'ts: An Interview with this author

Issue 11: April 2003

• In Depth Article: Digital Front Ends: The Evolved RIP

Issue 10: November 2002

• Author (Howie Fenton) Joins NAPL
• New, higher resolution, cameras
• Time's Tech Guide Offers hi-tech gifts just in time for holidays
• Online Shopping Gets a Lift From Experienced Net Surfer
• New Palms
• Cheaper Pocket PCs
• Apple reclaims 'innovation lead'
• Home Networking
• Stock photography not dead
• Report Highlights top sales opportunities

Issue 9: October 2002

• Prices for flat panel monitors going down
• Computer sales and what's new with computers
• 51% Of U.S. Online time is now high speed or Broadband
• Study discusses proofing, cross-media, & digital camera usage
• Free Web Directories (catalogs)
• PC World Ranks Inexpensive Inkjets
• Happy Mac Gets the Ax
• DVD sends the VCR tapes packing

Issue 8: October 2002

• Prices for flat panel monitors going down
• Computer sales and what’s new with computers
• 51% Of U.S. Online time is now high speed or Broadband
• Study discusses proofing, cross-media, & digital camera usage
• Free Web Directories (catalogs)
• PC World Ranks Inexpensive Inkjets
• Happy Mac Gets the Ax
• DVD sends the VCR tapes packing
• Happy – smiley opening Mac Icon gets the ax & it’s a bad sign

Issue 7: September 2002

• New Trendwatch Study on Digital Workflows
• NAPL Report Raises Doubts About Industry Recovery
• Updated version PPML
• Color Guide in Pantone Colors Printed by Flexography
• Apple moves desktops to dual processor
• Free Web Directories (catalogs)
• Creo Returns To Profitability
• Creo to Acquire ScenicSoft
• Networking without the Wires
• Letter to the editor: Platemaking vs. Imagesetting

Issue 6: August 2002

• Digital Technology Trends author resigns from GATF
• GraphicConverter Update
• Inkjet Saving Software
• Printers predict growth of digital printing
• Point : Counterpoint - USB 2 vs. Firewire 1394b
• Michael Jahn joins Enfocus
• Enfocus Ghent PDF "Quality Standard"
• Case Study: Color Managed Inkjet - Not Matching Press
• New 12-Step Plan for Adopting a CTP Workflow

Issue 5: June 2002

• ICC Releases 2001 Report
• Service Winners: Heidelberg, HP, Epson, Xerox and Agfa
• Fast-drying, broader gamut inkjet printer
• Global Graphics Sells Hardware Division To Management Team
• Epson Launches Seven New Wide Format Papers
• Apple introduces OS X server hardware
• AOL to switch from IE to Netscape
• Special Offer for QuarkXPress Users
• Platemaking vs Imagesetting: Issues and Answers
• Point Counterpoint - The Future of Cymbolic Sciences
• Heidelberg Eliminates Scanners and Low End Imagesetters

Issue 4: May 2002

• Email effective for Customer Retention & Sales
• Xeikon stops sheet fed press, but not technology
• Point Counterpoint - Better PDF creation strategy
• PC World’s Best Monitor
• Blocking On-Line Ads
• Xaar and Toshiba collaborate for branded printheads
• Exclusive - 2002 Presidents Conference report
• Recent proofing reviews
• PDF/X-1 and PDF/X-1a Approved
• New version Internet Explorer
• GATF’s 12-Step Plan for Adopting a CTP Workflow

Issue 3: April 2002

• Printing Companies Honored
• Xeikon Gets Acquired
• Adast files for bankruptcy
• New IEEE wireless spec
• Dot-bombings decreased last month
• GAM ID's 5 five key print-purchasing industries
• Effects of Postal rate increase
• Key applications, predicted for static black and white toner pages

Issue 2: March 2002

• Tech Alert Show: PDF, large format inkjet, pressroom issues
• Study Documents Branding Impact of Online Ads
• Quark 5 Ships, Photoshop 7 announced
• Comparing Features and Functions of CTP Equipment
• Finally Answers about Typical Run Lengths in Digital Printing
• Innovative Press monitoring systems: NexPress & MAN Roland
• Time Shocks Advertisers / Printers with PDF/X-1a endorsement

Issue 1: February 2002

• Case History: Streamlined Color Production DAM + ICC
• Internet security: basic & advanced
• Updates: Toast, Nero, QuickTime, Norton 7.0
• Hands-On Tips: Issues and Answers with PDF files

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FENTON ON PREPRESS INDEX
Back to IN3.ORG

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