The problem derives from printer manufacturers adding a supposedly helpful feature to their machines, which informs us when they've run out of ink. Now, you might have thought that it was manifestly obvious when a machine runs out of ink, because it simply stops printing ink, and starts printing fresh air. But instead of flashing a warning light, as a car might do when the petrol gauge is getting low, the machine sends a signal to the computer asking for a message to be flashed up urging us to replace the cart – and, in some cases, refusing to let us print out any more copies until we've obeyed the order.

Which would be fine, if the order didn't come well before the printer cart had actually run out of ink. Manjoo, surprised that he was being asked to switch carts before the print quality had deteriorated, came across a blog post where someone had tricked his printer into not flashing a warning by covering a sensor with a small piece of tape. As Manjoo says:

"I followed his instructions, and my printer began to work. At least eight months have passed. I've printed hundreds of pages since, and the text still hasn't begun to fade. On FixYourOwnPrinter.com... one guy says that after covering the sensor, he printed 1,800 more pages before his toner finally ran out."

In the past, lawsuits have been filed against printer manufacturers for failing to allow us to use all the ink that we've paid for; their defence is that there needs to be a reserve of ink in order to avoid damaging the print head. It's clear that the practice is still ongoing – but the question is whether keeping 1,800 pages worth of ink in a safety reserve is perhaps a little over cautious.

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