Hasta La Gadget!

Bringing touch interfaces to real-world objects often involves putting hardware either inside the item or in front of it, neither of which is especially natural. Fujitsu has developed a control system that could eliminate those obstructions and bring digital interaction to many surfaces, even to old-fashioned paper. Its multi-camera approach can distinguish between objects on a table and the exact positions of a user’s fingers, right down to fingertip outlines; it’s accurate enough to scan text from a book as you drag your finger along the page. The system really comes alive, however, when its projector is involved. Besides providing visual feedback, the image overlay allows for both control of purely digital objects and interfaces tailored to real-world items. The company imagines brochures or maps that pop up extra details, among numerous other examples. While we wonder how long the technology will remain useful when there’s an ongoing push to go paperless, Fujitsu sees enough practicality that it’s anticipating a product in its fiscal 2014. That doesn’t leave long until we can get a very literal hands-on.

Filed under: Displays, Peripherals

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Via: The Verge

Source: Fujitsu

Thanko’s popular “Super Slim Scanner A4″ has become more powerful and useful. We’ve seen compact stick-style scanners before but this one has a liquid crystal display, so you can instantly check the scanned image without using a PC. Images can be checked at full size, 2x, 4x and 8x magnification.
Maximum resolution of scanned images has improved from 600dpi to 900dpi, and the maximum capacity of the microSD external card for data storage has increased from 16GB to …

Road warriors always carry around a select amount of hardware, where among them are compulsory such as a USB hub, a global power adapter, a power cable, and of course, a memory card reader. Well, if you want to throw something else into mix, would a scanner make the cut? Some might say that it is compulsory, while others claim that you are able to live without a scanner. Here is a portable scanner that might just change your mind for good, turning optional into indispensable, with the Doxie One portable scanner.

In a nutshell, if you are someone who does plenty of hand drawings on a professional basis and want to keep a digital copy of your work of art on paper (although a digitizer tablet from Wacom would be the far better option), then the Doxie One is not for you. Which crowd does the Doxie One target anyways? The casual user, who has nothing larger than an A4 paper to scan, or the person who made a New Year’s resolution to keep track of all his or her spending by scanning in every single receipt. Of course, we do not discount folks who have small 4R or 5R photos of yore that they want to preserve, those will do, too.

The $149 Doxie One is basically a dumbed down version (somewhat) of the Doxie Go that we reviewed last September. It lacks the built-in rechargeable battery, lacks a USB slot to scan to USB flash drives, has no integrated memory, and no 600dpi resolution. Still, does that mean the Doxie One is “broken”?

Absolutely not! In the first place, if you happen to fall under the target market of the Doxie One, you would amble along just fine at 300dpi resolution. After all, who would want to be bothered with 600dpi resolution where a receipt is concerned? 300dpi is good enough, so do not let that be a log in your eye as you continue reading our review.

Storage options on the Doxie One is basically narrowed down to just an SD memory card. I am quite sure that you will be able to scrounge around for a 2GB or 4GB SD card without any issue, and even if you so happen to be the only one in town without any SD card at all, picking one up at the local store’s bargain bin is not going to cost you much. A 16GB SDHC card from SanDisk costs around $11 from Amazon, last I checked, which provides more than ample storage space.

The Doxie One will be able to scan an entire A4 page in a matter of just 8 seconds, where the scanned image will be stashed on an SD memory card. From there on, you are able to insert said SD card into your iPad via a camera connection kit, place the SD memory card into your computer, or simply to connect the scanner up to the Mac via USB before you import it into the Doxie app which has options for additional processing.

Using the Doxie One is as easy as A-B-C – all you need to do is connect it to an AC power outlet (or throw in four AA batteries if you are traveling), and you’re good to go. It does paper and business cards with equal flair, and all scanned images are stored under the JPG format. You can choose to share the scanned files to Dropbox as well as a slew of other cloud-based apps, or export it to Evernote, or for the more old school type, send those files over to a folder on your hard drive.

The question is, $50 cannot really go that far these days, so forking out an extra $50 to get the $199.99 Doxie Go might seem to be a no brainer for some, while others think that it is not necessary to fork out that money. It is your call, really, but if you do a spot of scanning daily or once a week, the Doxie One is more than good enough, but more seasoned road warriors who need additional flexibility would do well to settle for the Doxie Go instead.

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[ Doxie One Review copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Lomography’s Smartphone Film Scanner has reached that moment that every crowdfunding project strives for, but often seems elusive: everyday sales. The peripheral is now sitting in stock at an ordinary, post-Kickstarter $59 price. As you’d expect, the functionality remains what we were promised earlier in the year. Slot in an iPhone, or certain Android smartphones, and scanning 35mm film or a slide is just a matter of lining things up and snapping a photo with the phone’s camera. Anyone who’s sitting on a treasure trove of old photos — or is just holding on to that film SLR for dear life — can shop for the scanner at the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile

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Via: Gizmodo Australia

Source: Lomography

I’ll admit that this side of something I order from Amazon or a paycheck, I’m not big on getting mail in my mailbox anymore. It seems like I get reams of sales flyers and scams trying to get me to buy extended warranties for my car that I end up throwing in the trash. If you are the sort of person who doesn’t want to bother with printed mail, but needs access to the things that come in your mailbox, check out this new service called Outbox.

The service sends someone to pick up your mail three times a week. If you have something important you need to keep such as a package they will leave it on your doorstep (or in the mailbox presumably). The rest of the mail they take to their office, digitally scan, and then shred the originals.

Those scanned pieces of mail are then available to access online from the Internet via just about anything from your computer to your iPhone or tablet. This is an interesting idea because then all of the mail is digitally archived so you don’t have to have files to save your bills are other important documentation.

If your mailbox requires a key, all you have to do is take a photograph of that key in e-mail it to Outbox and they will have a copy made. I’m not sure how legal that last bit is considering that most PO Box keys I’ve seen say do not duplicate. The service costs $4.99(USD) per month, and is currently available only in Austin and San Francisco.

[via TechCrunch]