Say you have one printer in your house and a couple of computers, smartphones, and maybe an iPad or another mobile device. How exactly are you supposed to send print jobs to that printer from all those devices? You could email files to the computer plugged into the printer, power it up, and hit the print button. Or you could set up a network printer that would let you print from multiple computers — but not your iPad or smartphone. Now it looks like Pogoplug has another solution that will let you send print jobs from almost any web-connected device.

Pogoplug currently offers a small box that you can connect to your network to access files from a USB flash drive from anywhere. Later this summer the company will offer a free update that lets you plug in a printer and send print jobs.

At launch HP and recent Epson printers will be supported. Users will be able to print from the web or email documents to their Pogoplug box to be printed.

The whole thing sounds a lot like Google’s upcoming cloud-based printing solution. But the advantage to using Pogoplug is that you won’t need a web-aware printer or an always-on PC in order to print documents. On the other hand, you will need a Pogoplug box, which runs about $100.

via Web Worker Daily

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5 replies on “Pogoplug adds support for cloud-based printing”

  1. This whole “web printing” idea has never made any sense to me. . . why would I want to print to a printer in some place where I can’t get the printout? Network printers are awesome and have been affordable for several years now – even wi-fi printers. But “web”? If I need to print something on my home network while I’m out (and I never have) I can VPN-in to by desktop . . . hmmm . . . .I wonder if these amazing devices will also clear a printer jam for me? Now that would be worth while. . . .

  2. Hum, I am not real big on redundant gadgets. I am not all that rich and and have set up a computer for a print sever. It’s not hard to do and there is always away to print from most any device. Most people would be better off spending the $100. for a terabyte hdd to back up there important pictures and other data. But if you really need one, DO they have one NOT in hot pink?
    I might be the only one, but I have no interest in cloud computing.
    I prefer SUNNY computing, having everything possible on my computer so I don’t need the internet for anything that my computer can do on it’s on. There are enough free apps and storage is cheap.

    1. There is a Pogoplug that is plain white. It’s actually a Segate Dockstar with the same Pogoplug service. It’s nice to have a separate computer for a print server like cups in Linux. The problem is that it has to always be on. That’s a waste of electricity. I guarantee this thing uses less power. You are right though, if someone has the money they should buy an external to backup. But after they buy that this is the perfect device to get your files wherever you are from the backup. The Seagate Pogoplug was $25 on Amazon BTW.

  3. It sounds like a good idea at a good price. It would be nice to print without having to be actually connected to the printer.

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