Want your printer to do more for you? Here are 5 interesting ways to put your printer to good use.
1. Print out your very own customizable pocket organizer
The PocketMod is no stranger to productivity fans and has been around for a very long time. It’s basically a paper replacement of a PDA, but extremely well designed, very customizable and simple to set up.
It’s more functional than a simple notepad, cheaper and less cumbersome than a PDA.
It also opens like a book, leading to easier to find, more organized notes, and the first page has a pouch - big enough to carry a business card.
All you do is use the download the free PocketMod maker, or just create one instantly on the site.
Still not convinced? PocketMod even comes with extensions for ‘Google Calendar’, ‘30 Boxes’ (Online Calendar), ‘Remember The Milk’ (To do lists), as well as many other useful services. (Yes - it’s a PAPER replacement of a PDA).
2. Quickly print out big beautiful nametags
A better way to create good looking nametags, Big.first.name helps you come up with handy nametags in a snap.
Big.first.name supports importing name lists in plain text or CSV (comma separated value) format, as well as direct extraction from event service Upcoming.Org, which means you don’t have to spend a lot of time crafting these tags.
3. Print out graph paper, Smith Charts, Soduku tables, and so much more
PDFPad provides a place to download all kinds of other specialized papers like graph paper Smith. This site is perfect for science and math work, craft projects and other graph paper needs - all of which are customizable in terms of size and measurements. When you just need a few sheets of specialized paper, this is a quick easy way to get it.
4. Design printable professional looking business cards
Businesscardland is a free service which helps you design your very own business cards online. It comes with a mountain load of templates, text, backgrounds and templates to make your life easier. After you’re done designing your card, you can save it as a PDF file to send to a commercial printing service (or do it yourself if you have a good enough printer).
5. Print out a lens hood
This site contains PDF documents that can be printed and cut out to make lens hoods for a variety of 35mm and digital SLR camera lenses. Lens hoods give better quality photographs by reducing flare caused by non-image-forming light.
- Ultra compact - can be carried unfolded
- No waiting to order one - simply download, print, cut-out and attach
- Redundancy - don’t worry if you lose one; just print another!
- 100% recyclable
- Can be modified to cater for different digital SLR sensor crop factors
- Available in both ’rounded’ and ‘petal’ versions
Update: Due to good response and contributions from readers - here’s an extended version of this post - an ultimate guide to items you never know you could print out!
What other interesting items do you print out? Tell us in the comments!
[tags] paper, printouts, print, pocketmod, pdfpad, [/tags]
July 17th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Fantastic stuff…Thanks!
July 18th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
the PocketMod tips is a nice one. thanks for the pointers.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
readers, drop me an email with your big.first.name username quoting “friedbeef” before july 25th 2007 and I will upgrade your big.first.name account free of charge! Jason.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
I print Cornell note taking sheets for my university courses at http://eleven21.com/notetaker
July 26th, 2007 at 12:28 am
USEFUL ! TNX !
July 26th, 2007 at 12:59 am
iwrap.de lets you print out iPod Covers
July 26th, 2007 at 1:20 am
For puzzle lovers, you can print two colorful Triazzle style puzzles:
http://www.playlandstation.com/2007/03/29/print-and-play-puzzles-for-your-kids/
July 26th, 2007 at 1:21 am
http://iPaperCraft.com lets you print out iPod Covers and paper wallets too.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:25 am
You can print out a CD sleeve at http://www.papercdcase.com/. Apply a little packing tape to the edges, and it becomes an ideal CD mailer as well; the site even lets you put a mailing address on the sleeve. That’s one of my personal faves.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:37 am
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html
a wifi antenna
July 26th, 2007 at 1:56 am
Paper *rulers* rule!
http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/paper_rulers/
July 26th, 2007 at 3:11 am
PocketMod is pure genius, I’m going to use all the paper I have in the house for it!!!
Thank You!!
July 26th, 2007 at 3:59 am
Thanks for these links! You’ve hit on a few of my own favorites, and introduced some others (love those printable Triazzle puzzles!)
[...] Printables
Inspired by Friedbeef’s Top 5 Useful Items You Never Knew You Could Print Out, here’s a list of interesting printables I’ve come across in my travels:[...]
http://justbrowsing.tumblr.com/post/6750780
July 26th, 2007 at 5:37 am
I use the tools on the website http://incompetech.com/
They’re under “PDF” on the sidebar, and here’s their URLs:
Graph/Grid Paper: http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
Mailing Labels: http://incompetech.com/beta/maillabel/
Monthly Calendars: http://incompetech.com/beta/cal-monthly/
Yearly Calendars: http://incompetech.com/beta/cal-yearly/
July 26th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Printable, compacted and simplified Amazon wish lists. Great for keeping with you when you happen to be in the bookstore, etc.
http://www.xefer.com/amazon
July 27th, 2007 at 10:35 am
We print T-shirts from our printers prints.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:40 am
PocketMod is cool, but it’s got me thinking that the same kind of thing could be done by ImageMagick:
1) print document to .pdf, (or save as .pdf in OO.o)
2) make each .pdf an exact 1/8 of an 8.5×11 sheet (convert -resize)
3) piece together the resized .pdfs so together they form an 8.5×11 sheet (montage -tile )
voila, you’ve got your document.
Now, if you’re creating the original .pdf documents from some kind of to do list database, then you’d be really cranking. Imagine printing out one page first thing in the morning, making a couple of snips, stapling and being good to go.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:18 am
Keep those tips coming guys - I’m going to assemble a super list soon with all your suggestions!
August 15th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
…and use rss2pdf to convert newsfeeds to print-ready and portable pdf files: http://rss2pdf.com
September 26th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
I would of course add to the list paper automaton
( http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/ for example)
March 20th, 2008 at 8:12 am
I had the same idea as JDB and have created a small bash script that can create a pocketmod from an 8 page PDF using imagemagick.
See: http://textsnip.com/77f005/vb