HP and Yahoo team up to deliver targeted ads... to printers


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HP and Yahoo team up to deliver targeted ads... to printers

hp_photosmart_premium_small.jpg

Seriously. To be specific, the two companies are working on delivering targeted ads to HP's web-connected printers, and the ads would apparently only show up when you use HP's "scheduled delivery" service to have portions of a newspaper or magazine printed every morning. To make those ads as targeted as possible, HP says the printers would employ IP sniffing to help pin down your location, and the company says that the ads could also be targeted based on "user's behavior as well as the content" -- although it's quick to point out that everything must be done with privacy in mind. Will folks mind having ads encroach on their own printed materials (not to mention printer ink)? Not according to HP's Stephen Nigro, who says that HP has discovered "that people were not bothered by it," and that part of its belief is that "you're used to it. You're used to seeing things with ads."

Source: Engadget

  On 16/06/2010 at 22:21, .Neo said:

Alright then... My next printer is going to be a Canon...

Why, do you use scheduled delivery on your printers to print stuff out every morning? Its not like it will randomly print ads on networked printers.

Really its only for one feature of the printer...its not like its going to print out ads every 10 minutes. I never have and never will use that feature "scheduled delivery" so I could care less. I doubt many people will actually ditch HP because of this.

  On 16/06/2010 at 23:52, techbeck said:

Really its only for one feature of the printer...its not like its going to print out ads every 10 minutes. I never have and never will use that feature "scheduled delivery" so I could care less. I doubt many people will actually ditch HP because of this.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but most people usually pay for their printers. If I wanted to use this "scheduled delivery", and I spend $200 or whatever for a printer that has that feature, then I have given HP proper compensation for their work in creating that feature. Since I paid for that feature, I should rightfully expect to be able to use my printer without them sending me unwanted advertisements. And then on top of that, these ads waste ink, which means you run out of ink more frequently, which means you have to purchase ink more frequently, meaning even more money for them.

Now, if these printers were free, then I could understand the advertisements, as HP would like to be compensated for designing and building the printer. But since that isn't the case, they are compensated when you buy the printer, and now they're being over-compensated. If they want more money or they're coming up short in their profits, they should raise their prices - consumes will still buy their merchandise at higher prices if they really want the features. But HP shouldn't be using physical spam to over-compensate for their shortcomings.

  On 17/06/2010 at 03:15, Joey H said:

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but most people usually pay for their printers. If I wanted to use this "scheduled delivery", and I spend $200 or whatever for a printer that has that feature, then I have given HP proper compensation for their work in creating that feature. Since I paid for that feature, I should rightfully expect to be able to use my printer without them sending me unwanted advertisements. And then on top of that, these ads waste ink, which means you run out of ink more frequently, which means you have to purchase ink more frequently, meaning even more money for them.

Now, if these printers were free, then I could understand the advertisements, as HP would like to be compensated for designing and building the printer. But since that isn't the case, they are compensated when you buy the printer, and now they're being over-compensated. If they want more money or they're coming up short in their profits, they should raise their prices - consumes will still buy their merchandise at higher prices if they really want the features. But HP shouldn't be using physical spam to over-compensate for their shortcomings.

I'm sure the ads would be very minimal, and built into the "scheduled delivery" system. It's not like they will be sending 900 pages of ads to your printer... Im sur it'll be something along the lines of the ads you see in newspapers...

  On 17/06/2010 at 03:20, Conjor said:

I'm sure the ads would be very minimal, and built into the "scheduled delivery" system. It's not like they will be sending 900 pages of ads to your printer... Im sur it'll be something along the lines of the ads you see in newspapers...

Yea until the bot sniffers get a hold of the address and you start receiving 100's of spam printouts each day

  On 17/06/2010 at 03:20, Conjor said:

I'm sure the ads would be very minimal, and built into the "scheduled delivery" system. It's not like they will be sending 900 pages of ads to your printer... Im sur it'll be something along the lines of the ads you see in newspapers...

I see you paid to be a subscriber2, would you mind if Neowin showed you "minimal" advertisements?

  On 17/06/2010 at 03:25, Phenom II said:

Yea until the bot sniffers get a hold of the address and you start receiving 100's of spam printouts each day

+1, it will take just one hole for all sorts of spam.

The only effect that is going to happen with that idea is that web-connected printers are going to be unplugged from the web. We get spam via e-mails, we get spam via faxes, and now via printers. That is money and environment wasted.

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