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The Palo-Alto, Calif.-based company, which has seen its $24 billion printing empire declined during the recession, has developed new touch-screen printers -- each with their own email address -- that range in price from $100 to $300.

The new machines will be able to connect to an HP website, from which users can tell their printers to do specific things at certain times, such as printing out copies of the day's top news stories every morning.

"Every printer will have an email address," said Vyomesh Joshi, the head of HP's printing division. "You'll be able to download information and print it directly, without a printer being hooked up to a computer."

Customers will be able to, for instance, snap a photo with a phone, email it to the printer through a mobile app and have a printout waiting for them at home. Users will also be able to share the printer's email address with family and friends. So consumers, for example, could buy a Web-enabled printer for the grandparents. Photos would automatically be pumped out without much interaction -- except to replace that pricey ink.

The company is also racing to line up partners for an online marketplace, dubbed ePrintCenter, which it hopes will foster the growth of third-party software and services, similar to what Apple has done for its smartphone. HP envisions consumers printing out coloring books from Crayola and birthday activity packs from Nickelodeon.

"Now that HP is going mass-market with this technology, we will more actively program to it," said Steve Youngwood, a vice president at Nickelodeon.

The company has also teamed up with Google to let people to send jobs from the Internet search giant's services, like Docs and Calendar, to the new printers.

HP, the world's largest print maker, has seen its printing revenue deflate as people do more of their reading online, rather than on paper. Over the last several years, the company has bolstered its portfolio of products to include technology services and software, and is now the world's largest PC maker.

Last month, reports surfaced that HP was developing on a tablet device, code-named "Hurricane," running acquired handset maker Palm's WebOS software.

The company said it plans to launch the Web-ready printers starting this month with more products for small businesses releasing in September.