Maybe I'm showing my age yet I can't help but shake my head when
I see how so many take our modern electronic devices for granted.
Take cell phones for example. They literally bristle with abilities
and features like color screens, digital sound and digital cameras.
They weigh only a few ounces, fit easily into a pocket and let you
communicate with most anyone in the world. Yet we hardly give them a
second thought even though the technology behind them is simply
amazing.
As a kid, communication devices like that were the stuff of
science fiction.
I remember wishing I could own something like that but I never
thought it would really happen. Amazing technology devices we could
hold in our hands was the stuff of fantasy and dreams. And while so
many of us are oh so blase about these things, from time to time
something comes along that is so cool that it makes us sit up and
take notice. One such device is the DocuPen RC800 from Planon.
Looking much like a quality pen, the RC800 is actually a 24 bit
color scanner. With resolutions from 100 to 400 dots per inch, this
incredible little 1.75 ounce piece of technology lets you take a
full-sized page and scan it's entire contents into the pen in around
4 seconds. Unlike previous pen scanner models that only scanned in
one or a few lines at a time via the tip of the pen, the RC800 uses
its entire body length to scan in the complete page. Just move the
pen from top to bottom or left to right if it's a bound book.
As you move the RC800, little multi-colored indicator lights tell
you if you are moving the pen at the correct speed during the scan
as well as indicating battery level, scanning resolution and
available memory. The pen's dual roller guiding system insures you
move the pen in a steady direction. The RC800 comes with 8 megabytes
of flash memory that can store up to 100 pages of text. Images such
as color photographs can take up more room. If 8 megabytes is not
enough for your needs, you can insert an optional Micro SD Flash
memory card into the pen. These tiny memory wafers are available in
128 and 256 megabyte sizes.
Once the page is captured, you can offload the data into your
computer by connecting the RC800 to a computer via its USB port.
While connected, the pen also recharges its Lithium Ion batteries
for the next time.
The included PaperPort software lets you display your color
images and has the ability to convert any scanned in text into
actual text that you can edit in any word processor. This is known
as optical character recognition or OCR. The application offers
other features as well but if you plan to do more sophisticated
editing, the images from the RC800 are in a standard format and can
be used by most any other application such as Adobe Photoshop.
The DocuPen RC800 is an incredible piece of technology that even
I find a bit difficult to believe possible. But it is, it's here now
and you can have it for $299.99. The DocuPen RC800 is available in 7
different colors including Blue Streak and Crimson Pearl. Currently
it works with Windows only.
www.planon.com
