Now vertical dis-integration is the order of the day in autos, handheld computers, pharmaceuticals, ink-jet printers, health foods, cameras, microchips.

FORBES: Ghost cars, ghost brands

Friend's large molecules can be mixed into a solution and sprayed onto a screen, using the same technology as ink-jet printers.

FORBES: Magazine Article

It doubled revenue from 1993 to 1997, went from nowhere to a top slot in PCs and has sold 100 million ink-jet printers.

FORBES: All Carly, all the time

One of Nektar's earliest hires was Adrian Smith, a mechanical engineer who had designed ink-jet printers for Hewlett-Packard and medical devices at venerable design firm IDEO.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Under the David Packard approach, new product lines split off into autonomous units, and scores of disparate operations populated the four main businesses--ink-jet printers, laser printers, servers and PCs.

FORBES: All Carly, all the time

One of Nektar's earliest hires was Adrian Smith, a mechanical engineer who had designed ink-jet printers for Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) and medical devices at venerable design firm IDEO.

FORBES: The Impossible Made Possible

At the laboratory of Aurora, a San Diego-based firm specializing in such mass screening, little needles squirt a billionth of a liter of a potential drug into 3, 456 millimeter-wide wells. (The squirters come from another silicon-based business: ink-jet printers.) In the wells are biologically interesting molecules, such as enzymes, or cells that may present targets to new medicines.

FORBES: A hail of silver bullets

Other large standby drainers include ink jet printers, which can use from three to 20 watts, and mini-stereos, which can consume from one to 25 watts.

FORBES: Magazine Article