Zink, a company that has developed a portable inkless printer, will today announce the finalists for its Zero Boundaries design contest. People and companies have been competing to find the best way to make use of Zink's inkless printing technology--we've written about Zink here and here--and I had the opportunity to participate in judging the competition.

As a judge, I got to see all of the 75 entries. Many designers proposed laptops and tablets with integrated printers, business and flashcard printers, and instant cameras with integrated printers. A number of participants thought that small Zink printers would be useful for making large-scale images, such as wallpaper designs and posters. Some concepts included a function that allowed the printer to crawl over a space, heating the surface coated with the same heat-sensitive crystals found in Zink paper. By far, the most unexpected submission was an acrylic nail printer in which fake nails are coated with Zink's heat-sensitive crystals.

Polaroid might have stopped making its instant film, but Zink, a spinoff of the company, is trying to find its place as a maker of portable instant printers. The challenge isn't straightforward: today, most people share photos digitally, on the Web or via e-mail and Twitter, and they print pictures only when a special reason warrants it.

Zink launched its competition in April with hopes of spurring interest in its technology, highlighting up-and-coming designers, and inspiring Zink partners to create interesting products. The contest had two components: one called for a product that would appeal to youth, and the other called for a product that rethinks printing completely. All of the finalists can be viewed here, and the public can vote on a favorite. The winners will be announced on July 15.

ZINK Imaging, a Waltham, MA-based Polaroid spinoff, hopes to make printing from a digital camera or cell phone immediate and easy--without ink. Bypassing ink and the bulky cartridges that hold it, the company has been able to make ultraportable printers that fit in the palm of your hand. ZINK claims that its printers can even be made small enough to be integrated into mobile phones. The company presented the printer at DEMO, a coming-out conference for technology companies in Palm Desert, CA, running from January 30 through February 1.

ZINK's trick is to use special photo paper. Each sheet of paper, which will cost 20 cents, has microcrystals embedded in it. The ZINK printer heats the paper, "activating" the crystals to reveal color. According to the company, the images are "high quality, long-lasting, and durable."

The company expects to launch products--mobile printers and fully featured seven- megapixel digital cameras with ZINK printers inside--by the end of the year. Check out the AP article here.

Thanks to TR's senior editor Erika Jonietz for the updates from the DEMO floor!