There's Something New Under the Sun
Anyone care for an Espresso?
No matter what the old adage says, there IS something new under the sun.
Although an espresso coffee may give you a jolt, an Espresso book machine will blow your mind. I have yet to see the machine but I have seen videos of it and heard from someone who has seen it in action. Basically, the machine, that was originally made by Xerox, is a copying machine on steroids. You scroll through a menu to find the book you want, insert your credit card, and, in just four minutes--out pops the book, freshly printed!
The machine prints the cover, then the text, then it applies glue to the binding and attaches the pages. The next step is to cut the pages to an even size, all within the machine, then the book is deposited in the unloading tray. It's a lot like a vending machine that takes your money, you press the button for a candy bar and it drops down. A door opens and allows you to reach in for it.
The book publisher who explained the process to me said she can't tell the difference between a book that came from her printing company and a book that was created via the Espresso machine.
I just recently learned that they’ve stopped making the machine; however, some libraries, colleges, and small bookstores and such still use it to cut down on inventory. Although the machine is expensive, around, it is more cost efficient in the long run to have people print out the book they want rather than stock a multitude of books and have to return the unsold ones. College book stores have been trying out the machine for the last few years rather than stocking a quantity of text books that might not get sold. Students insert their parents' credit card and print out the text book they want. The cost of the book is the same, whether it's done this way or purchased by the book store and then by the student.
AND, if this doesn't blow your mind, here's something else! The machine will also print in braille! And wait, there's more. If you happen to be dyslectic, you can ask the machine to print the book out in Daisy, a language more easily read by dyslectics. It will also print the book in a multitude of languages--English, Spanish, French, Russian, whatever language you prefer to read in.
I can order my books from Amazon and have them printed and on my doorstep in a week since they only print what’s ordered and don’t keep a large selection on hand. I can’t imagine what’s in store for us in the future. The possibilities are endless as we've only read the first page of life's book.
The merry-go-round was invented in 1871 by William Schneider of Davenport, Iowa. I love to ride on one but let's face it, you just go round and round and get nowhere. That can't be said of today's inventions, they are taking us to places we never dreamed possible. Case in point—AI.
Today's Quote: Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Marie Curie.