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* Posts by Harry Tansey

4 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2011

HP customers claim firmware update rendered third-party ink verboten

Harry Tansey
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Re: And they've just raised the Instant Ink subscription prices. Again

Did I say probably?...

From https://instantink.hpconnected.com/uk/en/terms

5.d.5) When Your Service is cancelled for any reason, HP will remotely disable the Subscription Cartridges and You will no longer be able to print with the Subscription Cartridges. In such a case, you will need to purchase a regular HP cartridge compatible with your printer, in order to continue printing.

5.e) Subscription Cartridges Must be Returned by You to HP. You must return to HP all used Subscription Cartridges by following instructions for return and using the materials provided to You by HP (if any). Without limiting the foregoing, You must return the Subscription Cartridges to HP when (i) the Subscription Cartridges have been removed from the printer or You otherwise cease using them, (ii) Your Service is cancelled for any reason, or (iii) HP otherwise directs You to return the Subscription Cartridges to HP. You agree to not include items other than the Subscription Cartridges in any HP-provided postage prepaid return envelopes that You send back to HP. You assume any and all responsibility for any Cartridges You return to HP using a method of return that does not comply with HP’s instructions. You assume responsibility for ensuring that any cartridges not returned to HP are handled in accordance with applicable environmental law.

So, I'll have to remove it's Internet access and see where that gets me.

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Harry Tansey

And they've just raised the Instant Ink subscription prices. Again

I've had an Instant Ink subscription with HP since I bought my OfficeJet 3831 in 2016. I don't print much so have the lowest plan for 50 pages/month. Originally this cost £1.99 a month which was fine. In April 2022 they put it up (50%) to £2.99, now they're putting it up again (from 5th Feb) to £3.99. So apparently ink now costs 2x as much as it did less than 2 years ago???

They used to send me emails telling me how much money I'd saved compared to buying retail cartridges instead of a subscription. They no longer do - because it's barely a saving now... from Nov 2022:

"Happy Instant Ink Anniversary!! Congratulations, you have been an Instant Ink customer for 6 years! In the last year, you saved £19.92 on Ink for your HP OfficeJet 3831 All-in-One Printer because you did not need to purchase Ink at retail prices. We hope you have enjoyed the convenience and flexibility of printing with HP Instant Ink.".

So with another £12 a year it looks like now I'd be saving all of £6 a year against buying genuine cartridges.Here's my "Happy New Year" email I received 3rd Jan:

"A change to your plan price is scheduled ... Dear xxxxxxxx, Thank you for subscribing to HP Instant Ink. As a valued customer we want to keep delivering the convenience and savings you expect for years to come. Today we're writing you about an upcoming price change to your HP Instant Ink plan for your OfficeJet 3831. We value your loyalty and trust in our service, and we believe it's essential to be transparent with this change.Beginning 05 February 2024, the monthly fee for your 50 page plan will be £3.99 (an increase of £1.00). You'll continue to experience worry-free printing , as we'll automatically ship you HP Instant Ink cartridges before you run out. We understand that everyone's needs are unique, and we want to offer you flexibility. If the new pricing doesn't align with your budget, we have alternative subscription plans available, including lower-priced options (see below options). You can review these plans, make changes, or you can cancel any time by visiting your account dashboard at hpinstantink.com/signin.3 Thank you for choosing HP Instant Ink, we look forward to continuing to serve you. HP Instant Ink Plan Options (effective 23 January 2024)

Monthly Plan Plan Fee

10 pages £1.49

50 pages £3.99

100 pages £5.49

300 pages £11.99

500 pages £18.49

700 pages £25.49

1500 pages £49.49"

So... I've just bought an ink tank printer (not HP) and will be cancelling my subscription. But not before printing out a load of pure black pages just to get an extra cartridge delivered that I didn't otherwise need before the subscription stops. Mind you, they'll probably try to remotely brick the cartridge when they see the cancellation.

As for the printer? Once the new carridges run out it will be stripped down for parts for projects but most bits are essentially plastic landfill. Well done HP, great job.

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Chrome beta promises super-fast URL loads

Harry Tansey
FAIL

What about the server owners?

Hey Google, this is *really stupid*. There's not enough detail to know for sure what the effects of this will be, but it sounds like the background pre-fetching could slightly or massively increase the number of requests to the web server, based on guesswork. Any URLs loaded that are not used will screw server-based analytics. It will also needlessly increase bandwidth for the user and the site owner, both of which can cost a lot of money as this multiplies up. A lot of web pages are now generated dynamically, e.g. by a CMS, and the servers may well start to bog down - at best reducing the response time for real requests and at worst causing serious performance issues. AVG tried this a while back - pre-loading results pages from Google to check for virii - and it caused similar issues and was removed, thankfully. Fasterfox also did id and similarly caused issues. Google - think! If you think this speeds up the Internet you're wrong - it slows down servers and costs everyone (but you) money. It's irresponsible.

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Got a website? Pay attention, Cookie Law will come

Harry Tansey
Flame

How did this ever happen?

Overly restrictive!

The restrictions on using session cookies and analytics cookies, such as Google Analytics cookies, is ridiculous. Session cookies merely get over the fact that http is stateless and allow features such as a vote to work without the user then being able to vote again - can you imagine "when you vote for your favourite choice would you please accept this cookie, because if you don't you can vote as many times as you wish"... or the amount of log on forms that have to be polluted with "blah blah, cookie, blah blah...." ... that'll do a great service to web design!

Not to mention ICO themselves drop a session cookie without asking... let's face it, storing a number on a user's browser really isn't that intrusive, to do without just means a lot more work behind the scenes to achieve the same goal.

Why shouldn't a website owner be able to track a user's visit around the site to see how the site is used, or to help with problems? It's not like you can opt out of CCTV in a physical store.

Yes, third party cross-site advertising is intrusive, and this is where the effort of enforcement should be placed, not on routine functionality used unobtrusively by millions of websites.

It's bad enough if you are capable of doing something about it. What about those web site owners who use code developed by third parties or open source? Have the EU investigated the effects on such people who'll have to pay (in time and/or money) to "fix" their web sites?

This is a total waste of time and money. Why should UK/EU site owners be disadvantaged by all this extra effort and polution of the user experience?

The web industry should be up in arms about this. Where are the protest sites?

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