I’ve been using Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners for years. My first scanner was already an excellent device, but each new model has added features and speed that took excellent products and made them even better. Now Fujitsu has announced two new models — the ScanSnap iX1600 and the ScanSnap iX1400. Both models are powerful, and they will make digitizing your workflow easier than ever.
Scansnap’s scanners have been a mainstay of my move toward a paperless life. They have also played a huge role in my digitizing much of my rabbinic library. I wrote about it here and here and here. The hardware is always top-notch and the software integrates with the hardware to create an excellent and seamless workflow. And while I have enjoyed using the mobile scanners I’ve reviewed it has been the desktop versions of the device that have truly been a huge help to me as I have continued to convert my documents and library into electronic formats. The company…
My move toward becoming increasingly paperless began a number of years ago when I saw my cousin Jamie’s ScanSnap scanner. I was impressed with the speed with which it was able to create digital copies of hard documents. I bought the same scanner and then, when I “saw the light” a year later, swapped it out for the version that worked with Macs. (Current models work with both Windows and OS X.) In the years since I have used and reviewed a number of other ScanSnap scanners. In spring of 2010 I reviewed the S1300. (Read the review.) And last…
As I have moved further and further away from using paper and pen and more and more into eEverything having a good, high-speed scanner has become increasingly important. My Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is my workhorse. It handles up to 50 sheets of paper at a time and does duplex scanning. When I am “covering” a book to an eVersion (a laborious process that starts with me cutting the binding off of it) this is the tool for the job. The NeatDesk Desktop Scanner (reviewed here) is perfect when I have a few pages or receipts to scan. When I am…
One of the keys to Apple’s remarkable success with their iOS devices is the fact that they control both the hardware and the software side of things. Good software is nice to have. So is nice hardware. But when you put the two together; when the hardware is specifically designed to work with the software and the software is specifically designed to work with the hardware… now THAT is a combination worth speaking about. The result? Well just take a look at Apple’s numbers since the iPhone was first released. The same holds true for Neat’s organizational tools since they…
We were having a conversation among the site’s editors last week with regard to items that we reviewed. It’s one thing to use an item for a few days or a week or two (which is the average) and quite another thing to use it for a month or two or three. There are times when an item looks great in the initial review but then there are some issues that arise with it down the line. Of course, if there’s any radical change in our perception of an item after using it for a while we will update the…
I’ve tried a number of different business card scanning apps that let you take a picture of a business card with your iPhone camera and automatically pull information from it in order to create a new contact. It is a great idea but I have thus far been a bit disappointed in the accuracy of them. After all, it is not a time-saver if you take a picture, scan it and then have to manually edit almost all the information fields. When I say that ABBYY, one of the leaders is optical character recognition was entering into the ring I…
A number of years ago I wanted to begin moving toward having a “paperless” life. I was tired of being swamped by piles of paper. It was getting out of control. The first step in my trying to unclutter my life (it is still “in process”) was to purchase a high-speed scanner. I did a good deal of research and eventually ended up with one of Fujitsu’s products, a ScanSnap scanner. It blew me away. It had the ability to handle up to 40-50 pages at a time. It did two-sided scans. It scanned fast, Created high quality scans and…
I am a huge user of Evernote for saving, storing and accessing my documents. I find that it works remarkably well. I especially love the fact that, thanks to the ability of it to apply OCR to documents and images that are put into the system, it lets me search for information using just a few keywords. I have a Fujitsu highspeed scanner and find that it works quite well in conjunction with Evernote. I have many friends however who are not all that comfortable with storing data “in the cloud”, even when local copies can be kept as well….
Speck offers a wide range of ways to protect your devices. In recent months they’ve kicked things up a few notches in the style department. One of the newer cases that they’re offering is the SeeThru Satin shell for the MacBook Pro. I’ve been using one for a week now and am quite fond of it. Let’s take a look …
Just as the right side dish can make or break the meal, the right accessory can take a good device and make it even better. Something as simple as a case or an external battery can be the difference between a nice device and a truly great one; between a device that is usable and one that is a pleasure. Accessories have the power to remedy shortcomings, increase usability and, in some cases, save the day or a trip to the repair shop. This post is the first in a series of device accessory posts that begin with the question……
Over a year ago, whilst working feverishly on an overdue college paper, I spilled a large glass of water over my laptop. Cue panic attack as the MacBook Pro sizzled. I had a backup of that document on my Fujitsu tablet, but it was several days old, and so was the previous SuperDuper backup of the MacBook. Fortunately, the MacBook was fine after several hours by a heater (with the battery out, of course). I got round to looking at online backup services after that. I evaluated SugarSync (pricey), Diino (no Mac client) and settled on Mozy. After the initial…
Yes, the BlackBerry Bold and Touch Pro reviews are coming, but the Mini 9 showed up on my desk two days ago and I just had to post my thoughts on it, since it’s the first “netbook” I’ve really used since I sold off my Eee PC, and I could instantly tell what I thought of it. Out of the box the Dell looks great. With its glossy black lid and compact dimensions, it’s absolutely fabulous to carry it around. This morning I left home early so I could go to the coffee shop for a little while before work,…
I’ve been using voice recognition software for a number of years. Back in my Windows days I used Dragon NaturallySpeaking Speaking. I started with Version 8 and the accuracy improved through my use of Version 9.5. (Version 10 has just been released and it promises to be even better!) When I made the move to Mac a little bit over a year ago I went searching for voice recognition software. I found and purchased iListen from MacSpeech. It worked well enough but was a far cry from the power and accuracy of Dragon. A few months ago MacSpeech updated iListen,…
I am a huge fan of mobile broadband. Since getting on the bandwagon last year, I can’t imagine not having my datacard with me to get online for work, uni or general surfing when out. I started out using my phone tethered via either Bluetooth or USB, which worked ok but wasn’t overly fast, was slightly unreliable and when using Bluetooth resulted in a dead battery after about 90mins. More recently I switched to using a Novatel Merlin XU870 HSDPA datacard which is fabulous. Uber fast connections at the coffee shop, on the train, or (when the cable is out)…
I wasn’t planning to write about my experience with the Eee this soon but I’m so excited about this thing I just couldn’t wait. Yesterday morning I headed out the door with just the Eee in my bag, leaving the MacBook Pro on my desk at home. While it probably isn’t as good for my self-imposed weight loss program, it did feel nice to have a lighter bag. I chucked the AC adaptor in my bag so I could charge the unit up at university should I need to. On the train I hooked up my USB HSDPA modem so…
About a week ago I sent the Shift review unit back, so I figured it’s time to tie up my thoughts on this controversial device. Prior to receiving the Shift, I read several reviews of the device, and they all seemed to sing the same tune: it was too slow and too expensive. In my experience only one of these was the case. In the current market, with competition from low-cost ultra-portables like the ASUS Eee and the HP Mini Note 2133, the Shift is too expensive. Sure it has features that the other two don’t have, like a convertible…
[Sorry about the delay on this, I’ve been a bit swamped recently] I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the chance to try out two excellent ultraportable notebooks recently, the MacBook Air and the Fujitsu P8010. Shortly after the P8010 went back, the mailman knocked on the door with year another ultraportable, this time the Toshiba R500. The model I was sent included the 64GB SSD drive, just like the MacBook Air. I’m not sold on these priced-like-gold hard drives, they just seem too expensive for what they are at the moment, but to each his own! The first thing…
[Sorry about the delay on this, I’ve been a bit swamped recently] As you all know I really liked the MacBook Air, because it had a gorgeous screen, top-notch keyboard and fantastic build quality all in an incredibly thin case. Unfortunately those are the four things that bugged me during my testing on the Fujitsu P8010. The screen had pathetic viewing angles, look at it from any angle but dead on and it looked terrible. The keyboard wasn’t full sized, and took a bit of getting used to. The machine was thick, but it was so small that it wasn’t…
Yesterday, as my Fujitsu T4215 was experiencing an irritating hardware failure, and as the whole world was grinding to a complete stop, a box in a plain brown wrapper showed up on my doorstep. I had had little advance notice, and there was absolutely no fanfare. Inside, was this – the new AT&T Tilt, AKA the HTC Kaiser. Finally, a bright spot in my day. And no, I do not get to keep it. The box content list is printed on the side… The opened box… All of the included AT&T paraphernalia, program disks, special offers, etc… Opening the tray…
For the last month or so, I have known that this would be a very hard review to write. Not because of the subject matter, but because once the review is finished I’ll no longer have an excuse to keep “my” Toshiba Tecra M8 loaner. Ah well, the deadline has come and gone (eep!) and I can’t procrastinate any longer…so let’s jump right in. Toshiba has different lines of laptops designed to meet different people’s needs: Satellite, Qosimo, Tecra, and Portégé. Satellite are listed as “Laptop PCs with all the new mobile technologies at affordable prices;” Qosimos as “Entertainment media…
