OfficeMax To Open New Stores
OfficeMax®, Itasca, Ill., will open Dec. 5 a superstore in Chicago and Independence, Mo., and two superstores in Houston. The stores provide a one-stop shop for all office-related needs, according to the company.

Flint Ink North America Increases Price for Packaging Ink Products
Flint Ink North America, Ann Arbor, Mich., announced a price increase for packaging ink products ranging from five to seven percent depending on ink type. The increase, effective Dec. 1, comes in response to the rising costs of transportation, energy and raw materials integral to printing inks.

FedEx Kinko's Goes Greener
FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Services, Dallas, increased the recycled content of the paper used behind the counter at more than 1,100 U.S. FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Centers. Moving from 10-percent to 30-percent post-consumer recycled content in the company's highest paper consumption area is expected to raise the company's annual post-consumer recycled content average to an estimated 26.2 percent. This represents a jump of nine percentage points over its 2003 average.

High-Tech Meets Homemade for the Holidays
Cutting-edge technology is helping gift givers create personalized gifts this holiday season. Photo scanning, digital photography, color copying, digital printing and online programs are just some of the tools being used to create one-of-a-kind, custom calendar gifts through CopyMax® centers located in OfficeMax® retail locations. Full story.

A Pioneering Presentation
An innovative product deserves an innovative presentation. That thought led AdvancMed to call Corporate Image, a printer of custom presentation materials based in Des Moines, Iowa. AdvancMed, a medical education company headquartered in Lexington, Ky., recently introduced a new self-guided program in continuing medical education.

"We'd always used plain, white slipcover binders with tabs produced at a local printer, and they did a fine job," says John Campbell, graphics coordinator for AdvancMed. "But when we had a groundbreaking new continuing medical education activity to roll out, we wanted materials that would reflect the program's innovation and sophisticated multimedia component." Full story.

CEO Summit
This year's program is packed with information, discussions and details you need to further your success. Join your fellow members with sales volumes of more than $2.5 million in St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb. 2-4, for what has proven year after year to be a great program! Click here for more.

Small Distributor Summit
This summit is for distributors with sales volume below $2.5 million. This year's program has new topics, new technologies and new insights. Designed exclusively by member distributors, this program brings top-notch education in a format that works for you. Your peers developed all of the programs, the schedule and the manufacturer sessions. Join us from March 12-14 at Embassy Suites Outdoor World, Dallas. Click here for more.

Here are this week's top unusual source requests received by DMIA:

1. Unit Set Checks; 3 part; booked with wrap around cover; 8 1/4" x 3 1/2"; void pantograph; consecutive and static MICR numbering; consecutive Arabic numbering; 25 checks per book; QTY=10 books of 250 checks and 4 books of 100 checks
2. CD Mailer; 5" x 5"; prints 4cp/4cp on 70# Topkote stock; 3.1/2” peel-n-seal strip; ink; paper and gum must be approved to use with food; QTY=100M
3. Stationary Manufacturers in Europe and Asia for a multinational project
4. Business Cards; prints 3 color thermography in one pass; QTY=500-1M
5. Cut Sheet; 4 1/4" x 11"; prints blk/0; scratch-off ink; 80# Matte Text; QTY=100M-3MM
6. Grout Sample Cards; prints 4cp; QTY=750M
7. Cut sheet; 30" x 73"; prints 4cp+Aqueous Coating/0 on 100# text gloss; final folds to 12.6" x 7.5"; QTY=10M
8. Stock Cut sheet; 11" x 17"; Mylar reinforced 11" side; QTY=2.5M
9. Unit set; 2 part carbon interleaved; (carbon is short); 4 1/2 x 7 3/4; prints 2 colors; numbered in 9 positions; 3 lots; QTY=10M
10. Blankets in the shape of a Brandy Snifter; silver lettering on a Black and Burnt Orange background; QTY=5M

If you have a source request—for anything—call the Hotline at (800) 333-2828 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, or use the Source Hotline Database online. For new sales ideas every day, try our 1,000 Sales Ideas Database. Manufacturers, if you produce any of these items and would like to check your listing with the Source Hotline, please email Cheryl Rush.

Sales and Marketing Tip
Planning Marketing Communications
For small businesses, often a marketing communications plan is all that's needed to drive marketing efforts. The plan provides focus for your message, the audience you intend to reach, and ways to deliver the message to your desired audience. Full story.

E-Commerce Spotlight
E-Commerce Business Booming
The Department of Commerce reports on the rise of e-commerce sales, which the agency says is up more than 20 percent over the same quarter last year. Full story.

Product of the Week
Business Forms Basics Home Study Course Text Only
Boost sales and sales service performance with this intensive course that contains modules on terminology, business forms materials, printing and production, forms products, the basics (including design, layout, specifications and order entry), and pricing theory. Code: HSC1BFB. $44.95. To order, contact Tina Davis.

Hot Sites
Paper Airplane
Here's a web site dedicated to making paper airplanes. It offers links to web sites with information on paper airplanes and images with accompanying text on paper airplane folding. Planes submitted by visitors to the site also are posted. For the technically inclined, there's an essay on paper airplane aerodynamics.
Visit the site.

Musipedia
Previously known as "Melodyhound," Musipedia is an open music encyclopedia—a searchable, editable and expandable collection of tunes, melodies and musical themes. Essentially, every entry can by edited by any concerned visitor, and entries can contain pieces of sheet music, a MIDI file, and text that describes the work and its composer. Visitors also can whistle or sing a melody through their computer's microphone to search the site and find out more about that individual song or melody. Requires Windows Media Player. Visit the site.