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Clubhouse, New Printers,

and Battery Cases

By Bob DeLaurentis

Q. What is Clubhouse? Sometimes you can Google around and find a print-
A. Clubhouse is a new social network that connects er's consumable costs in printer reviews. But unless
people in audio chat rooms. It has become quite you have a clear idea of how many pages you are
popular in the last couple of months and is by invita- going to print over a given time frame, it will still be a
tion only. rough estimate.
If it continues to accelerate, it will only be a matter Inkjet printers can produce stunning photo prints
of time before someone invites you to join. But my and attractive color charts.
advice is to tread cautiously. and graphs. When you move up-in price, you gener-
The Clubhouse app does a few things that old- ally get better quality,
time Internet folks such as myself find distasteful. and faster output. That means the" ink" refills will be
When you first sign on you are asked for permis- more expensive as well, and the cheapest inks are
sion to access your contact more expensive per ounce than fine wine. While I
list. Say no and you are stopped cold. Say yes and have owned inkjets from time to time, I send photo
Clubhouse now has access to every single one of prints to the drug store or a pro photo lab.
your contacts. For everyday printing, I depend on a wireless
The request is framed like a benefit to you, but a Brother laser printer, model HL-L2350DW. It is inex-
single tap will send Clubhouse your entire contact pensive and reliable, handling several ·thousand
list, including everything from street. pages on a single toner cartridge.
addresses to telephone numbers. In my view, the
contact information for my friends belongs to my Q. Searching my house. for fresh batteries has
friends, and I have an obligation to protect their pri- become a regular pastime. How do I make sure I
vacy. have borrowed from one device to feed another
Another behavior I find downright dangerous is for the last time?
that Clubhouse can connect you with a random per- A. Extra disposable batteries are just as vital as duct
son in your address book with a single tap. You may tape or a box of bandages.
not realize what is happening until you are talking to I am old enough to remember when the phrase
someone you prefer to avoid. Every contact is con- "batteries not included" was a punch line. When
sidered your best friend, no matter what. That is [ was a kid, batteries were a kind of Currency. We
simply wrong. never had enough. As an adult I used the kitchen
Clubhouse is functionally similar to Facetime audio junk drawer to keep extra batteries, but what start-
or Skype calls, alone "with a few added bells and ed .as good intentions sank into chaos.
whistles. If Clubhouse becomes wildly popular, simi- I finally achieved battery nirvana thanks to the
lar features will appear in other apps, and hopefully 'Battery Daddy 180 Battery Organizer Storage Case
public pressure will address the privacy concerns. (about $20 on Amazon).
Until then, stick with what you have now. As a tech nerd with an affinity for electronic gadg-
ets, 180 batteries seem about right. I don't fill every
Q. I need a new printer. There are so. many mod- slot, but make sure to keep a few of ‘every possible
els, so many different prices. Choosing is over- size, just in case. "Fortunately, there are dozens of
whelming. ' smaller cases available more suited to a modest-
sized inventory.
Where do I start? But no matter the size: a case is the solution. It lets
A. Start with the biggest difference among printers, you keep track of batteries as they are used, prompt-
inkjet, or laser. If you print color photos, inkjet is your ing you to buy replacements before it is” ‘too late.
best option. If you print black text or illustration on
white copier paper, you should choose a laser print-
er.
Printing is expensive no matter what but compar-
ing printer prices is measuring the wrong thing. What
matters most is the price per page. Unless you only
print a few dozen pages a year, a laser printer will
be the most cost effective.

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