Printer maker Xerox has broken HP's cash cow and released ink toner cartridges are inexpensive, less wasteful, and require less energy.

For years the likes of HP have made a killing on printer ink and sold comparatively cheap printers knowing that punters would have to buy the stuff.  Printer ink is about the same price as gold so the mark up must be incredible. Xerox's  ColorQube 9200 printers are quite clever. Instead of using traditional cartridges, the printers use solid blocks of ink that melt when heated.

Unfortunately they only are aimed at the top end of the market. One machine costs $23,500. However the cartridges can cut printing costs by 60 per cent and eliminate 90 per cent of wastage. Since the solid ink sticks don’t have shells, there aren’t empty cartridges to deal with when the ink runs out.

It will be yonks before we see this pretty cool technology in our home printers. Probably about the same time as my Jet pack arrives.