The business model around home printers is well known - buy the hardware at an affordable price but then shell out the big bucks again and again for ink cartridges.
In the US, things have moved to a new level of irritation. Tech corporation Canon is being sued for $5 million for selling an all-in-one printer which disables all of its functions - including scanning and faxing - when the ink runs low.
North Carolina technology journalist Steven Vaughan-Nichols spoke to Corin Dann.
