INFOGRAPHIC: BookTok Made Me Buy It!

From Scanners to Sentience: How TWAIN Direct Is Becoming the Bridge Between Imaging, AI, and Robotics

If you have spent any time in the imaging world, you probably think of TWAIN as the quiet behind-the-scenes handshake between devices and software. But if you were at TWAIN Converge 2025, you could feel it in the room: The scope of the standard is expanding fast. TWAIN Direct, the open, driverless, cloud-ready version of TWAIN, was started to modernize scanning. Yet what became clear during this year’s sessions is that TWAIN Direct is no longer just a scanning standard—it is turning into the trusted pipeline for any system that needs clean, authenticated, reliable data.

Better Print, Better Planet: Extended Producer Responsibility in the US: How It’s Reshaping Packaging and Print

Sustainability has become a defining force in packaging and in print. Governments are aligning with consumers in calling for producers to take greater responsibility for what happens to their products after use. That idea forms the foundation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a policy that shifts the cost of waste management from cities to the companies that make and sell products. Under new state laws in Maine, Oregon, and California, producers now help fund recycling and recovery programs through fees and reporting requirements. “EPR is forcing companies to rethink their role in the lifecycle of packaging,” says Jeff Wettersten, Vice President of Packaging at Keypoint Intelligence. “It’s no longer enough to design for performance alone. Producers are now being asked to design for recovery, reuse, and long-term environmental impact.”

Netrix Acquires Ricoh’s US Managed IT Services Business

The boundaries separating print, IT, and digital services have been blurring for years—and now the ownership lines are shifting, too. The latest evidence is Netrix Global’s acquisition of Ricoh USA’s US-based IT services business, announced November 4, 2025. The deal transfers Ricoh’s managed IT and cloud operations arm (largely built upon Ricoh’s 2014 acquisition of mindSHIFT Technologies) to Netrix, marking another chapter in the office technology sector's ongoing transformation.