I may have mentioned before how I hate desktop printers. They’re loud, weird, gawky pieces of plastic that only use one type of specific ink that costs so much you wonder if the Cyan tone is made with gold dust and angel tears. They haven’t improved much since they got rid of the paper that has the holes on the sides, and no, slapping a scanner/copier on top does not count as improving. In a world where iPhones and Google Glass exist, you’d think there’d be more innovation in the Inkjet world.

The ZUtA Pocket Printer may be the innovation I’m looking for. The softball-sized device is small, portable, and compatible with any operating system or device, from iPads to PC’s. In essence, ZUtA Labs stripped away all the components of an inkjet other than the printhead (the part of the printer that moves and puts the ink on the page). The Pocket Printer is placed on the upper corner of the page and moves under its own power, printing 1,000 sheets of grayscale documents on a standard ink cartridge.

ZUtA Labs co-founder Tuvia Elbaum helped created this product when he saw a need. He said to Mashable “The world is mobile and to some extent we got used to having everything available around us. I was banging my head, it makes no sense. We’re in 2014, how come there’s no portable printer?”

The Kickstarter campaign for the device has already passed its goal with 10 days left to go, with contributors receiving a Pocket Printer after pledging $200.

What Sparks Our Fire: Someone is finally trying to solve a problem I’ve had for years, and it’s awesome.

Is this the sort of innovation you think will lead to the future of printing?