What do you do with your printer toners after they run out of ink?

For most of us, it’s straight to the trash for these spent cartridges. But did you know that they can be recycled and re-made into useful products?

To encourage such a practice, five major printer brands – Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, and Lexmark – have come together in a joint initiative to offer collection points for these used inks and toners.

Called Project Homecoming, the initiative is supported by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and National Library Board (NLB). The collection boxes will be placed at public libraries island-wide, starting immediately at these 13 branches:

1. Ang Mo Kio Public Library
2. Bedok Public Library
3. Bishan Public Library
4. Bukit Merah Public Library
5. Geylang East Public Library
6. Jurong Regional Library
7. Jurong West Public Library
8. Marine Parade Public Library
9. National Library Building
10. Queenstown Public Library
11. Tampines Regional Library
12. Toa Payoh Public Library
13. Woodlands Regional Library

Ink and toner cartridges of any brand, not just the five companies behind the initiative, can be deposited in the boxes.

Joseph Hui, Deputy CEO of NEA, lauded Project Homecoming as an “exemplary initiative”.

“Together with the support of the community, we hope to see more organizations promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling and to form partnerships where common sustainability objectives can be found.” Hui said.

Recycling vendors will collect the used cartridges and break down recyclable parts, including plastics and metal. These can then be fashioned into new products, such as stationery, tables and chairs, and even eco-friendly bags.

Project Homecoming is the first international expansion of its successful Japanese counterpart, called Ink Cartridge Satogaeri (literally “homecoming”), which has been running for three years. As of February 2011, there are more than 1,000 collection points spread throughout Japan.

The next time you head down to the public libraries listed above, keep an eye out for these boxes:

Singapore Expo is a long way away for most people, other than folks living in the east, so before you head down to Sitex, Singapore’s last quarterly IT bazaar for 2011, check out some of the standout deals that people have been putting up on brochure sites.

Yes, in the past, you had to squeeze your way through the halls for some small bargain, collecting loads of brochures on the way. Today, you can check out what’s on offer online before heading down for a more targeted trip.

Here are some great deals so far at this weekend’s show. We’ll update this page as we get more info.

D-Link’s DIR-825 router and DNS-320 network attached storage (NAS)

These are some of the best bang for buck gear that you can hook up your home with if you are looking for both high performance and value for money.

A great router for homes, the DIR-825 (S$129) supports dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi and comes with four gigabit ports that are necessary for today’s fast PCs and large file transfers. Not too long ago, similar routers cost a whole lot more, likely closer to or more than S$200.

The DNS-320 is another favourite NAS of home networking buffs because it’s not only good looking but also extremely speedy and feature-packed. Supporting two hard disks, it even lets you convert the backup device from a non-RAID to RAID 1 configuration easily, so you can mirror your hard disk content for safer backups.

Needless to say, it also comes with a bit-torrent client that you can use to download to your heart’s content, especially with that S$39-a-month M1 fibre plan offering 100Mbps to homes. At S$109, the DNS-320 is a definitely worth checking out for folks looking to set up their own NAS for the first time.

>> Download the brochure.

Pay S$48 for an Apple Magic Trackpad and memory upgrade with an Apple iMac

Buy an iMac at nubox’s stand, one of several offering Mac computers at the show, and you can pay just S$48 for a double memory upgrade (usually from 4GB to 8GB) and have an Apple Magic Trackpad to add to the style of your Apple computer.

The offer goes with several models of the iMac, from the entry level 2.5GHz version with a Core i5 chip and 21.5-inch screen costing S$1,648 to the top-end S$2,748 version with a 3.1GHz Core i5 chip and 27-inch screen.

Also noteworthy to folks opting to run Windows on a Mac: Parallels Desktop 6 and Windows Home Premium (OEM) are being bundled at S$238 (usual S$298). The package of software lets you run your Windows programs right on your Mac desktop as if they are Mac programs.

>> Download the brochures.

Print anywhere with an HP printer
Printers are a mainstay at each IT show in Singapore and this Sitex expo is no different. One interesting all-in-one machine worth checking out is HP’s Photosmart Premium Fax e-All-in-One, which lets you print remotely using the Internet. It also comes with all the useful features expected these days, like Wi-Fi support, so you can share the printer at home easily without worrying about wires.

The S$369 printer is going for S$299 at Sitex, so it may be worth checking out.

>> Download the brochures.

Buy Microsoft Office, get a wireless mouse free
This is the type of deal that will be welcome news to new PC or laptop owners. Microsoft is dangling a free Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 (usually S$39.90) as part of a deal with its Office 2010 productivity software, which will be nice to install on a new PC.

The Office packages you can buy at the Microsoft booth include Office Home & Student Edition 2010, which costs S$199, and the Office Home & Business Edition 2010 which retails for S$298.

>> Download the brochures.

Nokia N9 at S$98 at StarHub

Nokia’s neat-looking N9 is going for a nice S$98 at StarHub’s booth, along with other Android favourites now like the Samsung Galaxy S II (S$218), HTC Sensation XE (S$198) and Motorola Razr (S$48), if you sign up with a high-end mobile plan.

Worth queuing up? Well, if you plan to spend a day at Singapore Expo anyway, no harm doing so!

>> Download the brochures.

Share with us other great Sitex deals you have spotted in the comments here!

Another one of Singapore’s quarterly tech bazaars, Comex 2011, opens its doors today to thousands of bargain hunters eager to cash in on discounts – or perceived discounts – on laptops, headphones, printers, TVs, broadband plans and just about anything tech you can find on the island.

One of the most hotly-awaited deals – HP’s TouchPad – has already been sold out this morning. Only 100 units of each version of the tablet (16GB and 32GB) went on sale today and the queue numbers were snapped up in no time. A queue had formed as early as 4am, according to the good folks from The Straits Times Digital Life.

HP is still selling the tablet from S$118 in the coming days, but you’d have to love queues to get in line for one of these fire sale items.

Meanwhile, here are a few other deals we’d be interested with:

1. HP’s Officejet 6500A all-in-one at S$299
Down from the usual S$399, this inkjet-based AIO machine will fit well with home and small businesses which don’t need the crispness of laser and prefer perhaps a bit of colour printing on occasions. Like its bigger brother, the Officejet Pro 8500A ($499), this AIO can connect via Wi-Fi and offers two-sided printing.

Download the HP flyers here.

2. Free Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with broadband signup
StarHub is giving away a spanking new tablet from Samsung if you sign up for its 50Mbps fibre plan at about S$80 a month. Yeah, we know you are paying more each month for your subscription, but hey, if you don’t wish to pony up S$848 for the 16GB 3G version of the hottest Android tablet now, there’s always this option!

Download StarHub’s flyers here.

3. Seagate external hard disks
The usual hard disk fest continues at Comex 2011. We know you’d buy something you don’t need – and when there’s nothing to buy, people seem to just buy a fancy red external drive just for fun. Here’s what Seagate is offering.

Download Seagate’s flyers here.

4. HP Envy 14 comes with free printer
Buy a S$2,499 Envy 14 laptop – a great rival to the Macbook Pro in our eyes – and get a free Nikon S1000PJ 12-meg camera, an HP Deskjet 1000 all-in-one printer and Trend Micro anti-virus for free. A good deal for a laptop that usually goes for the same price – without the freebies.

If the Envy is not your cup of tea, check out the ProBooks and EliteBooks from HP. Much nicer designs than previous HP units and definitely better built than the consumer Pavilion range, they are worth checking out.

Download the HP PC flyers here.

We’ll be updating with more deals as the show goes on in the next few days!

We already know how great the large-screen smartphone or tablet computer is as a remote controller to play music or movies from your PC server. Now, there’s also an iOS app that lets you control your Xerox machine and send documents to print – directly from your handheld device.

Unveiled today by Fuji Xerox, the free app on Apple’s AppStore enables users to do what many smartphone users often can’t do after viewing a document – print it.

With the app, they get to select the print mode (say, for a photo or webpage) and print settings, like whether to print in mono or colour, and to select which paper tray and paper type. In other words, a whole lot of features you’d expect from the print menu from your PC, whether you actually use them or not.

What’s more interesting is the multi-language support, which includes Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean, besides English, so the app will be great for East Asian users.

On its own, the app is no big deal unless you’re an iPhone/iPad user who happens to have a Xerox machine nearby. However, it’s yet another sign of the smartphone taking over remote control functions where it traditionally was not well-known for.

Are we in the worst recession since the 1930s? Doesn’t seem like it when you see the long lines of people waiting to sign up for a StarHub line or those snapping up LCD TVs like there was no tomorrow at the IT Show.

When I turned up at around noon, the Suntec area was was already a nightmare to drive around. Was going to give up after being stuck in my car, when I finally managed to enter Marina Square from the back (near Ritz Carlton), and guess what, there were dozens of empty carpark lots. Amazing how the security folks just happily block off all the carparks in the area and list them as “full”.

Anyway, I walked around and found some bargains – not downright dirt cheap, but somewhat tempting, especially if you are in the market for some of these gadgets.

1) LG HD-ready 42-inch plasma
I believe the model name is LG’s 42PG10R, which Courts was clearing on Level 4 for (if I don’t remember wrongly) S$1,299 at the time I was there. Good deal, as these folks clear their HD-ready models to move on to Full HD LCDs, which surprisingly wasn’t all that cheap.

The cheapest Full HD 40-incher from Samsung, at one of the many booths selling the Korean brand’s TVs, was going for S$2,249 (the Series 6 model). Not that much cheaper than what I paid for my Full HD model six months ago (albeit an older Samsung model).

Samsung, however, was selling its 32-inchers at S$749 – a great deal for a second TV in the bedroom, say, for movies or games. Saw quite a few people carting away these babies in trolleys.

2) HP Photosmart C6380 all-in-one
It prints, it scans and it reads your camera’s photo memory cards. This all-in-one is all you need if you want everything in a small form factor and at an attractive price – S$299. Better yet, it comes with Wi-Fi, so no more tangling with wires or wasting one Ethernet port on your router (as my older HP Photosmart C5180 AIO does on my desk). HP is throwing in one extra year of warranty for this model, so it’s worth checking out.

3) Sony Vaio Z laptop
Not such a cheapo bargain at S$3,199, but the entry level to Sony’s thin-and-light 13-incher Vaios looks stunning and is a joy to hold in your hands, especially when it weighs just 1.48kg.

The typical Vaio keyboard – with nicely spaced-out keys – are a joy to type in. Now if only this came out before I sunk my money on a Fujitsu S6520, which is great but surely not half as sexy!

The S$3,199 deal at IT Show gets you a top-end Intel Centrino 2 P9600 processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM and most crucially, Windows Vista Business in 64-bit (no point running 4GB on 32-bit Windows, which is usually able to use up to only 3GB).

Some pix here to share with you from the show:

Check out also Chi-loong’s posts on IT Show 2009 Part I and Part II.

We seem to have forgotten that printers were once the thing to buy at these shows. Visiting the HP booth brought to my attention this nice little gem of a colour laser printer.

The Color LaserJet CP1515n costs a nice S$479 and comes with networking and 96MB of RAM for faster printing. Compared to a slightly cheaper S$379 LaserJet CP1215, this one seems a better deal with all the added features for a SOHO. Oh, and there’s free delivery for these colour lasers (they’re damn heavy, after all).

Another find is the XFX graphics cards, which make their appearance at every quarterly bazaar. This time round, the good deal is in the S$699 GTX280, Nvidia’s top-end card now.

The price may just seem so-so, until you find that the box comes with the Far Cry 2 game (S$61.90 the last I checked at Sim Lim) instead of some crappy old title. The slightly slower GTX 260 with 216 cores, at just over S$500 also looks attractive. Fix two of these together and you get one speedy SLI rig!

There are the usual memory card discounts, of course. This time, the cheapest stuff is going for a throwaway price of S$6 for a 2GB micro SD for your phone. Amazing.

But unlike what some media are saying, not everything is cheaper at Sitex, of course. D-Link’s much-sought after dual-bay NAS enclosure, the DNS-323, was going for S$209 – S$10 more than at the last show.  You might as well get it at S$209 at Funan and avoid the jam at Sitex.

What’s missing from D-Link is also its long, long-awaited simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz dual-band Wireless N routers, which have been selling in the US for months

Hello, don’t tell me you’re going finish selling all your existing Wireless N products before bringing the new ones in (last time I checked, D-Link said these new Wireless N routers would ship here in November, and we are already in the last week of November).

Without a doubt, D-Link is leaving Linksys to cream off this top-end market, with its S$259 WRT610N, which offers dual-band Wireless N. I can’t wait to get one of these to get my Wireless N laptop on a separate 5GHz from the wireless signals spilling over from my neighbours. C’mon, D-Link, don’t make your users switch to Linksys.