This is up there among the lamest products of the year: a scanner that will convert a book to speech. Well actually, it sounds quite good. I’d imagined a device that could flip the pages over while you sit back nursing a Scotch. When everything’s done the scanner converts the text to “high quality speech … Read more
I’m always amazed at how weak the market for scanners is. The devices aren’t always that good, and the software that accompanies them is generally speaking pretty awful. Those that were once good, like PaperMaster, are now dead. So it’s good to hear that NeatReceipts, once interested mainly in, well, scanning receipts, is now … Read more
(This is the text of my weekly Loose Wire Service column, written mostly for newcomers to personal technology, and syndicated to newspapers like The Jakarta Post. Editors interested in carrying the service please feel free to email me.) A lot of folk ask me whether they should buy a scanner: those things that take bits … Read more
This kind of thing has got to be the future of files and folders so long as we have files and folders: the Innolab 3D File Manager from Adam Miezianko, Kristopher Rambish, Karen Fung, Zavnura Pingkan at Boston University. (Thanks, visualcomplexity.com) This design is like a ferris wheel which organises contents by their relationships rather than … Read more
You’ve seen those little lockers in malls, restaurants and supermarkets where you can store and recharge your phone. Well now you can do the same thing with your laptop. The newspaper Bury St. Edmunds…