Page by Page

We’ve all been there, attempting to scan either a lost report back into the digital world, or all those old photos up onto the computer for the first time. We all understand the time consuming and tedious time that comes with the average scanning job. Well, Tokyo University is hoping to change all that.

The university has recently presented its prototype scanner that scans pages as they turn. The camera adjusts for movement and light and produces pretty clear copies of the original. Imagine the possibilities? Every book could make it to the kindle. Well, we’ll see how I feel about a full “paper-less” revolution when we get there.

Wireless Collaboration

We all love convenience, and what’s more convenient than a printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine in one?  Did I mention it’s wireless?

That’s right, the Lexmark X6675 can do everything from print pictures directly from a memory card to scan pictures back to your computer over its Wi Fi connection.  It claims to print 25 pages a minute in black and white.  Four machines in one, and not one extra wire.  How much better does it get?  How much space does that save?

For just over $100 it’s almost steal.  (If you’ve got over $100.)

A Reading Voice

Scanners are incredible, color photos, signatures, articles, all can be duplicated.  Yet, can a scanner go beyond the visual? Beyond saving a file to creating one?  The answer is yes.

The Book Reader V100 is up and running and ready to create MP3 files out of the written word.  It’s a simple and silent way to create your own books on tape.  I can’t say anything about how nice the digital voice will be to the ears, but it’s a start.  Think of the possibilities?  Get me a scanner that can copy my comics into video files and then you’ll really have something .

Photo Resurrection

So I’m not that old, but I must say that my earliest childhood moments are recorded on film, not online.  I remember loading film, and to be honest, I liked it.

So now the USB Negative Scanner comes into play.  Still have all those negatives hiding in drawers stored in envelopes from CVS?  Well now it’s time to share the memories in our new digital age.  It’s simple, load the 35 mm negative strips into the bottom of the scanner and suddenly you are the proud owner of a new wondrous library of digital pictures.

Give new life to old stories, upload an excellently embarrassing profile picture, the options are unlimited!  Think of how much extra use you’ll get out of any new film photos you take today.  I know kids taking a black and white photo class and as lovely as their final prints are it’s hard for those photos to translate appropriately to the computer through the lens of a digital camera.  Add in the fact that this scanner is much more desk sized than a regular scanner and you see how college friendly it becomes.  At $140 it’s not the cheapest gadget you’ll ever buy, but not the most expensive either.  And memories are priceless, right?

For The More Organized …

I know I own a lot of DVD’s.  I own more DVD’s than I do CD’s, Computer Games, and video games combined.  I’m a movie person.  But you don’t have to be a movie person to appreciate organization.

The Groqit is basically a miniature bar code scanner.  You can scan anything with a bar code (thus my example of DVD’s).  Groqit can organize your DVD’s, video games, even your CD’s on separate list within it’s 128MB of storage.  Sounds like a good idea, especially for people with larger movie collections than mine.

I kind of like the alternative use for the Groqit, not cataloging what I do have but what I don’t.  I have more trouble remembering what movies I’m in need of than the ones I have.  With the Groqit at a friends house or in my backpack I can keep of list of those DVD’s I need to pick up without carrying around scraps of paper everywhere I go.  At this point though I’m gonna have to hold on to my $95 for those DVD’s I may not think of right away.