A Google Calendar/Tasks-polling, Arduino-driven thermal printer with one press printouts has been somewhere on my "eventual weekend projects" list for a while.
I really like this idea. I think the services it supports will make or break it.
As someone who has a smartphone permanently embedded in his pocket, an iPad never more than an arm's length away, and is strongly considering buying a second tablet, I definitely still see a great deal of utility in small, printed infoclusters.
(And for everyone saying "this just generates trash," every moment you've ever spent reading vapid nonsense on backlit screens has been a utter waste of precious energy. What's your point?)
The point is that it takes a hell of a lot less energy to display something on a screen for a couple of minutes versus printing it out; and it leaves a lot less paper trash lying around, specifically none.
You don't have to agree, but it's obviously something to consider. I still get a daily newspaper, and I'm always on the verge of cancelling it both because it's such a waste of resources and it's a chore to have to throw out a pile of paper every few weeks.
I suspect you're right that the amount of energy used to download the information and run the mechanism to print it is greater than the energy required to download and display it temporarily. Also, thermal paper is apparently non-recyclable, so that sucks.
I suppose what I was getting at is that we're all great wasters of energy and resources, and a product like this represents a fraction of a drop in the bucket, so all the commentary on how wasteful it is may miss the forest for the trees.
The primary reason I like the idea is that I waste less psychic energy with a piece of paper sitting on my desk which I glance at occasionally, versus my iPad or Android phone sitting in the same spot, capable of displaying the same information plus an entire universe of distraction.
I think their landing page should de-emphasize use cases like printing Foursquare checkins from your friends (who really needs to know where their friends were?) and emphasize this. I would love to leave for work each morning grabbing my automatically pre-printed schedule and top ToDos off this printer. Something that only needs to last a day, but has info I don't always want to open my phone to check.
I really like this idea. I think the services it supports will make or break it.
As someone who has a smartphone permanently embedded in his pocket, an iPad never more than an arm's length away, and is strongly considering buying a second tablet, I definitely still see a great deal of utility in small, printed infoclusters.
(And for everyone saying "this just generates trash," every moment you've ever spent reading vapid nonsense on backlit screens has been a utter waste of precious energy. What's your point?)