Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We wish to thank for the support you've given us during 2008. Stay safe during this festive season, see you again in 2009.
We will be able to take your orders by email or website during the holidays. However, shipping will cease between 19 Dec 2008 - 3 Jan 2009.

December Special: Christmas Greeting

Free for all, don't need to buy anything, just email info@ecbinkjet.com.au to request for your customized Christmas greeting text. Sample:


Your text will appear covered in snow, perfect during Christmas. Use it for greeting cards, email signatures, door signs etc

November Special - Buy 3 Get 1 Free is Back!

Everything listed on the www.ecbinkjet.com.au is eligible. Ink cartridges, fax film, paper, laser toners and refill kits - buy any 3 of them and receive a 4th item free (doesn't have to be same iteme). Free item must be of least value. Do not include free item in shopping basket. Instead, send a separate email after your purchase to indicate your choice of the free item

Tip 92 - How to get beautiful Black and White prints from your inkjet printer

By giving the command to your printer to only use the black ink to print, you will get rid of any colour cast in your black and white photos, which is by far the most common problem in black and white prints. However, side effects are peppered highlights (dots spacing out in light areas). But hey, it doesn't cost us an arm.

Tip 91 - About Epson new cartridges T073/73N etc

Since August 2008, Epson released a new range of printers and cartridges (like T073/73N cartridges) which will only work with each other.

For example,
CX9300F made before August 2008 can take T0731, 732, 733 and 734 cartridges, and T073/73N cartridges.
CX9300F made after August 2008 can only take T073/73N cartridges.

If you are unsure when your printer is manufactured, just check your user manual and see what cartridges do it need.

Tip No 90 - Pause printing

If you often print large photos, you may wish to purchase a printer which allows you to pause the printing and change the cartridges halfway when they are nearly empty. Ask the salesperson on which printer they sell have this feature.

October Special - How did you found us?

To help streamline our advertising avenues, we would appreciate if you let us know how did you found us during your first visit. Did you use a search engine? What keyword did you use? Did a friened pass on our details? This in turn, helps keep prices low. Not only that, you will also receive a AUD5.00 voucher to spend with us.

Tip No 89 - Should I buy refillable cartridge?

Refillable cartridge seems like an excellent idea to slash printing costs, but it depends on how much you print. Remember, when you buy your refill ink in bulk, they have to be used up within 6 months. If you only print 1 page a month, normal cartridges is definately a cheaper option for you. If you go through at least 3 sets of cartridges every 6 month, that's when you can enjoy the cost savings of refillable cartridges.

September Special - Write us a testimonial

The testimonial page is a bit dusty now. So send your feedbacks to info@ecbinkjet.com.au, whether good or bad. In return, you will receive a $5 credit to spend with us.

Tip No 88 - Speed up your PC

Windows may be starting files that are on their way to the printer in their "raw" form. That's sometimes the default Windows setting. But raw files must be converted from their raw format that the application understood to the printer format. If you instead tell Windows to send documents as EMF -- Enhanced Metafile Format -- files, then Windows doesn't have to work at the conversion. The printer is then responsible for understanding the EMF. That can slow the printer but speed your PC. To send documents as EMF, first choose Start, Settings, Printers. Next, right-click the printer you're using. Choose Properties, Details, Spool Settings. In the Spool Data Format list, choose EMF. Easy enough.

August Special - Free photocube

Every customer this month shall receive a customized photocube with every order above $25:

Photo courtesy of PanosFX

Amount must be paid for in a single payment.

Please send the photos to info@ecbinkjet.com.au. You can choose to have 5 different photos. Photos must be at least 736 x 736 pixels @ 300DPI. Photos must be square. Cropping or distortion will occur if the photo isn't square.

You will receive a printed, uncut, unglued piece as below:

Photo courtesy of PanosFX

Simply cut out the shape and glue it together at marked places.

The photocube will arrive in a separate mail.

Tip No 87 - Photo Colours are not "Better" colours

Every month, we get a couple of customers who purchased Canon photo colours (namely Photo Cyan and Photo Magenta) thinking that they are "better" than the normal colours counterpart (cyan and magenta). So this is the clarification: PC and PM are an entirely different cartridge compared to C and M, just like red and yellow are different colours. Photo colours are meant to work in conjunction with normal colours. If you printer did not specify it needs photo colours, then do not use them. It will just screw up your colour settings. In reality, they are a lighter shade compared to regular colours, and are meant to produce better details in shadowy area of a photo (and probably the name photo colours). At least there are no confusion in Epson printers: they name it Light Cyan and Light Magenta.

Tip No 86 - Rumuor about Epson inkjet printers

There is a RUMUOR that Epson has been advising distributors to clear their current batch of cartridges before August. Speculators predict that Epson will be releasing /upgrading a new range of printers, with encoding so powerful that even current batch of OEM cartridges cannot be recognised, let alone generic cartridges. So if you are wanting to buy an Epson and use generic cartridges, this is a heads up for you.

July Special - Buy 3 Get 1 Free is finally back!

This time, everything listed on the www.ecbinkjet.com.au is eligible. Ink cartridges, fax film, paper, laser toners and refill kits - buy any 3 of them and receive a 4th item free. Free item must be of least value. Do not include free item in shopping basket. Instead, send a separate email after your purchase to indicate your choice of the free item.

Tip No 85 - Price Points

Price does not equate to print quality or even durability. Chances are, a manufacturer will only design and build one or two print engines. So you'll probably be getting the same engine and guns from the bottom model through the intermediate models. Price points are usually based on features: faster print speed, oversized paper support, roll paper support, direct printing, and even PC-Card slots for printing directly from a digital camera or pocket drive memory card. In these cases you have to determine which features are most beneficial to you, and if they're worth the added cost.

Tip No 84 - Page Separation

Don't you hate it when you do multiple print jobs, then end up wasting time trying to figure out where the first job ends and the next one starts? Or worse - pulling your print jobs out from a bunch of other jobs sitting in the tray of a network printer. It can drive you nuts.
Before you go and seek the advice of a good therapist, you may want to consider a separator page. You can tell the printer in question to print out a page between each print job. That way, you'll know where one job ends and the next one begins. Sure, you'll eat up a piece of paper each time you print, but look at it this way - it's cheaper than tranquilizers.

Here's how to set it up for most printers:
1. Click the Start button, Settings, Printers
2. Right-click your Printer and select "Properties" from the resulting menu
The General tab should be displayed.
3. Next, from the "Separator page" drop down box, select either Simple or Full ('Full' makes a prettier page). Win 2000 users will find they probably need the Advanced tab, "Separator page" button to do this.
4. Click the Apply button and hit the Print Test Page button.
A separator page will print, then your test page. From now on, no more trying to figure out what pages go with which job.

Cool huh?

June Special - 5% Discount for paying by Bank Deposit

Pay by bank deposit and receive a 5% discount (exclude postage). To order, go to www.ecbinkjet.com.au and compile a list of items you wanted. Then send your list to sales@ecbinkjet.com.au and request to pay by bank deposit.

Tip No 83 - Just for laughs, printer problem

If your printer doesn't work, just photocopy your monitor!

Tip No 82 - How to print double sided

If your print support duplex printing then on the file menu click on print option. In printing dialog box click on Properties option. Here you will select a check box" Print on both sides" and Ok for print.
But if your printer does not support duplex printing then you can do it manually.
Print the odd number of pages first then on the back side of pages even number. From the printing dialog box select the option "Pages" and put the odd pages range separated by commas, for example 1,3,5,7,9,11. After printing on one side of the page, change the order of pages depending on the paper feeds in your printer.
For the back side enter the even numbers into the "Pages" for example 2,4,6,8,10 or choose "Even pages" from the print drop down box.

Tip No 81 - How to make glowing printing ink

This is an interesting find on the internet. For the commandos only, http://www.metacafe.com/watch/650603/how_make_glowing_printer_ink/. ECB Inkjet is not responsible for any damage caused.

Tip No 80 - Print your system properties

If for some reasons you will need to a printout of your system info (eg. for backing up), do this: Assuming you are using WIndows XP. Right click "My Computer" and select "Properties". The system properties box will be displayed. Click the "Hardware" tab, then select "Device Manager" button. Click on the computer icon at the very top, then under "Actions" menu, select "Print".

May Special - Laser Toners Sale

Buy one and get a 2nd one at half price! Go to www.ecbinkjet.com.au

Tip 79 - N-up printing

Some programs and printers allow users to shrink documents so that multiple pages can be printed onto a single sheet of paper. So called "n-up" printing can be convenient for reference documents, especially if you don't want them taking up a lot of space. You may not want to read an entire book at 16 pages per sheet, but it can be convenient to have your address book crammed onto just a few sheets of paper to carry in a notebook or wallet. Programmes such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint allows such option during the printing process. Some printers even had this built into their drivers.

Tip No 78 - Duplex printing

Many larger printers offer an automatic duplexing option, allowing you to easily print on both sides of a sheet of paper. Unfortunately, the option is not always enabled by default. If you're not sure whether your printer is capable of duplex printing, look in the driver settings or on the printer's configuration page for information on duplex or double-sided printing

April Special - Write a testimonial

Special discount for photography services at www.teddytan.com, please enquire. Additionally, write a testimonial to receive a $5 credit towards your next purchase! Send your testimonial to info@ecbinkjet.com.au. Your testimonial might be displayed at http://www.ecbinkjet.com.au/testimonial.htm

Tip No 77 - Print Preview

Printouts don't always come out looking like you'd expect, especially when printing from the Web. For instance, when printing directions from Google Maps, I often get a page at the end of the printout with nothing but a header and footer. In cases like these, it pays to use your browser's Print Preview function to make sure what you see really is what you'll get.

Tip No 76 - Print only what you need

When printing webpages, why waste ink printing online ads, navigation elements, or other extraneous junk? Or what if you just need to print a phone number or graphic, rather than an entire page? You may already use page range printing, but most programs allow you to print even smaller portions of a document.
Use your mouse to highlight just the area you need. Select File -> Print, then under the "Print range" options, choose "Selection." Only the area you selected will be printed

A superfast, little known secret shortcut to your printer utility (drivers)

In fact, you're looking at it right now! The same Web browser that is showing you this page can be used to give you quick access to your printer's software utility to do maintenance, adjust paper and color settings, and more. In the address bar, type the following: control panel\printers (that's the backslash "\") and press Enter on the keyboard. Next, right-click on your printer's icon and choose Properties from the drop-down menu.

Tip No 75 - Refilling instructions

Most popular cartridges, here and here.

March Special - Free photo paper

All orders from www.ecbinkjet.com.au above $40 (except remanufactured items) will receive a book of 20 sheets 180gsm photo quality glossy paper as a gift!

Tip Number 74 - Epson Ordering Tips

All epson owners, before ordering your cartridge, it is best to let us or any other sellers know the model and the purchase date of your printer. This is to let us supply you with the latest chipset to suit your printer.

Tip No 73 - Canon Stink Jet Printer

Ok, this is old news, but for those who are not aware of this, Canon have a range of ink sets with different aroma, think blueberry, lemon and strawberry http://www.alotofthings.com/viartshop/article.php?category_id=42&article_id=149. Just imagine instead of bothering to send someone a forty pound fruit cake for Christmas that they'll only throw away or use as a door stop, you can send them a picture that they can sniff and then throw away. Just joking

Tip No 72 - Don't throw away your old cartridges

You can use them to practice your refilling skill before doing it for real.

Tip No 71 - ICC Profile

To get an accurate colour on your prints, you will need a custom ICC profile, and a unique one for each ink+paper combination.

February Special - Buy 3 Get 1 Free is back

Simply purchase any 3 items from www.ecbinkjet.com.au (except remanufactured cartridges, laser toners and CISS) and receive an additional item free. Free item must be of least value.

Tip No 70 - Autoprint

The best way of keeping your printer running clog free is to use it everyday. Now of course, you may not want to print every day, but if you leave it too long the inks in the head can really dry out, settle in, and become a major clogging issue. One solution it to use a program to automatically print an image each day to keep things running smoothly. Should use less ink than a series of head cleans overall, and keep frustration at bay. You can download some software to help you with this here.

Tip No 69 - Epson Chip Programming

Epson users, you may have already known this, Epson has been reprogramming their printers, so that aftermarket cartridges will not be recognised by it. Our cartridges has been able to kept up with this mayhem, on the condition that a full set of our cartridges were installed simultaneously (no mixing with original cartridges). Alotofthings.com had a great article about this, which you can view here

Game recommendation

Virtual human development game



www.human-age.com

This is a human age development simulation game. You will go through the pre-history right through to the modern age. Try it! highly recommended.

January Special - How useful are the tips?

In this new year, we would like to hear from you. Let us know what do you think about the tips we have provided in the past? Are they useful? Or did you know them already? Send your comments to info@ecbinkjet.com.au, and we shall reward you with a choice of a 5 dollars gift voucher, or free postage for your order.