IT humor merch at Zazzle

Check out the IT Humor collection on Zazzle, with many IT office merch offerings, including the two below. (Designs can also be used on other products not shown.)

Disclaimer: I earn commissions on Zazzle sales made from links in this post.

Energizer batteries on sale at Amazon

Amazon has a great deal on Energizer batteries right now -- 48 batteries (24 AA and 24 AAA) for just $23.07. That's less than 50 cents per battery, a hard-to-beat price. It's a limited time deal but no specified end date, so best to buy now before the price goes back up.

These batteries have a shelf life of up to 10 years, so even if you don't need them now, this is a great time to stock up at an amazing price.

(Disclaimer: I earn a commission on Amazon sales made from links in this post.)

(Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay)

How to opt out of LinkedIn using your data to train AI models

LinkedIn is making changes to its privacy settings. One of those changes involves feeding user data (your data) into the company's generative AI (GenAI) models to help train them. Users in the UK, European Economic Area, and Switzerland are not yet impacted by this change, but users in other areas of the world may automatically be opted in.

See below for how to opt out of letting LinkedIn train its GenAI models on your data. These steps apply to the desktop version of the website, but should be similar for the mobile version.

• While logged into your LinkedIn account, click the "Me" icon on the bar across the top of the screen.
• From the drop down menu that appears, select "Settings & Privacy".
• Select "Data Privacy" on the left sidebar.
• Select "Data for Generative AI Improvement".
• If the toggle for "Use my data for training content creation AI models" is set to On, select it to turn it Off.

How to find the IP address for a Konica Minolta bizhub 368e copier

To view the IP address for a Konica Minolta bizhub 368e multifunction printer that's connected to a network:

- Tap Utility on the home screen (near the bottom)
- Tap Device Information

The IP address (IPv4 and/or IPv6) will be displayed on-screen.

How to change the paper size on a Ricoh Aficio 3035 / 3045

Many of the older lower-volume Ricoh copiers use the same basic system for setting the paper size in a paper tray.  There is a dial located either in the front or the back of the tray, and depending on where you set the dial, the system looks for that size paper.  If the dial is set wrong, the copier will jam.

On a Ricoh Aficio 3035 or 3045, the paper dial is located in the back left section of the paper tray.  If you have four paper trays on your copier, each tray will have its own dial.  (Other Ricoh Aficio models that are set up the same way include the 350, 450, 1035, 1045, 2035, and 2045.)  The paper dial is just a green plastic wheel with several common paper sizes and orientations, and it must be set correctly depending on what size paper you have loaded in the tray.  The paper size that shows through the little cut out in the back of the tray is the size that is currently selected.

If you are using a special size paper that isn't shown on the dial, set the dial to the asterisk (*) to signify a non-standard paper size, and you can specify the exact page size in the copier's user settings.  To get to the paper size settings, press the User Tools/Counter button on the operation panel, then on the touch screen select System Settings.  Go to the Tray Paper Settings Tab.  There will be a button labeled Tray Paper Size: Tray 1, as well as additional buttons for each paper tray that the machine has.  Touch the button for the tray you are using, and choose the paper size from the list that appears.  (You can scroll down to see more sizes.)

If the size you are looking for is not represented, press the Custom button, and you can input the paper dimensions manually.  Use the number pad to enter the width and length in inches, and press OK to save your selection.

Any time you change the paper size or orientation (for example, if you change from 8.5" x 11" portrait to 8.5" x 11" landscape) you have to change the dial as well, to let the copier know what dimensions to look for when it feeds the paper through.  If you try to run copies with the wrong paper size selected, the machine will detect timing errors and show a paper jam.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, July 2010)

(Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay)

Tips for loading toner in a Ricoh MP 2550 or MP 3350 copier

Ricoh manufactures a broad range of multifunction office machines.  The MP 2550 and MP 3350 are essentially the same copier, just with different processing speeds.  (25 copies per minute and 33 copies per minute, respectively.)  Both are good low-volume copiers for a home business or a small office.  Like their predecessors, replacing any of the consumables (toner, photoconductor, staples, or paper) is a simple task.

Loading toner is something you will have to do quite a few times over the life of the machine, but once you've done it the first time it's a piece of cake.  The new toner should come with installation instructions, but this article will walk you through installing new toner in your MP 2550 or MP 3350 copier.

The first thing you should always do is make sure you have the right toner.  Depending on where you ordered your toner from, you might have been shipped toner for a different copier by mistake, and they are not compatible.  The correct toner for both the MP 2550 and MP 3350 is type 2120D -- this number should be printed on the toner bottle.

Each toner bottle comes with a large black screw-off cap.  This outer cap gets removed; the inner cap (much smaller and gray) stays on.  Removing the inner cap before installing the toner can cause a huge mess and wreak havoc on your machine.

To remove the old toner bottle, open the copier's front door (the main cover in the front of the machine with the Ricoh label on it).  Lift up -- gently -- on the green toner handle, and then push down on the green lever to the left-hand side of the toner unit.  The toner hopper (the tray that the toner bottle rests on) should pop out.

Remove the old bottle, and be sure that the inner cap (the gray one) is still attached.  Occasionally this cap can come loose and remain in the toner hopper, causing problems when the new toner bottle is installed.

If you haven't already, remove the black screw-off cap from the new toner bottle.  Set the bottle on the toner tray with the top of the bottle facing toward you (away from the machine).  Slowly push the toner hopper all the way in, until the green lever on the left side snaps into place.  Gently push down on the toner handle until it, too, locks in place.

Once you close the front door, the machine will cycle the toner.  If there was previously a low toner or no toner message displayed on the screen, the copier will now load the new toner, which may take a couple of minutes.  Once the toner has been loaded, your copier is ready to use again.

These tips also apply to older copiers in the same family -- the Ricoh Aficio 1022, 1027, 2022, 2027, 2510, 3010, 3025, and 3030.  All of these copiers use the same toner (type 2120D) and it is installed in exactly the same way.  Each toner bottle is rated to last about 11,000 copies, but of course this depends on what you are copying -- how much text or image fill appears on each page, what size paper you are using, etc.

If you are having trouble installing the toner bottle, call your local service provider to see if they can walk you through the installation over the phone.  You can also visit Ricoh's Support and Downloads web page to download the product manual for your MP 2550 or MP 3350, if you don't already have it.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, 2010)

(Disclaimer: I earn a commission on Amazon sales made from links in this post.)

How to change the output trays for a Ricoh Aficio MP 5500 copier

A typical Ricoh Aficio MP 5500 copier (as well as the other copiers in the series -- the MP 6500 and MP 7500) has two options for paper output -- the finisher upper tray and the finisher shift tray.  Some MP 5500s are purchased without finishers; for these machines the only option for paper output is the plastic copy tray that hangs off the left side of the copier.

For stapled, sorted, or stacked jobs, the paper must exit out of the finisher shift tray, because of the paper path.  However, for other copy jobs -- and for jobs printed from a computer or from the document server -- the user can specify which tray they want the paper to be sent to.

When the MP 5500 is first set up, the output trays are not designated, and all output (except for stapled or collated jobs) defaults to the finisher upper tray (if a finisher is installed).  If you had previously designated output trays and then for some reason you disconnected the finisher and turned the copier on, the output tray selections would be erased, and you would have to re-enter them.

The output trays can be set up or changed through the copier's configuration settings.  To get to the output tray selections, press the User Tools/Counter button (to the left of the display) and then on the touch screen select System Settings.  The first tab is "General Features" (it should be the active one) and on the right side of the screen you should see options labeled "Output: Copier" and "Output: Document Server."  (If you have the print function installed, you'll also see an option for "Output: Printer.")

Pressing any of these choices will bring up the tray selection for that function.  If your copier doesn't have a finisher, "Copy Tray" will be the only option you can choose.  If the copier does have a finisher, you'll see options for "Finisher Upper Tray" and "Finisher Shift Tray," and "Copy Tray" will be grayed out.

To make a selection for one or more of the functions, choose that function, press the appropriate choice for the output tray that you want to use, and then press OK.  You can have all of the functions output to the same tray, or you can set the trays up any way you want.

You can use the same process to change output trays on other similar families of Ricoh copiers -- the 2051/2060/2075 series and the MP 6000/7000/8000 series, among others.  You can change the output trays any time you want, except when the copier is in the middle of a job; it won't let you into the System Settings screen while it's running.  Some error codes will also prevent you from accessing System Settings.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, 2010)

(Image by Crea Park from Pixabay)