Pen-Sized Color Scanner Reviewed

moto writes "ThinkComputers has a review up of a cool pen-sized scanner, the Planon RC800 Portable Color Scanner. From the article: 'I've noticed one major constant about most technology, as it changes it gets smaller. Take scanners for instance, I have a few of them, an older one that is pretty big, you could use it for a computer case if need be, if I lined them up in order of age you would find that they get smaller as they get newer. Today for review I have the smallest scanner yet, it's from Planon, and they actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.'"

Comments

Useful in class/workplace

[SteelV]

This is a great way to start moving even further from the paper world. Every one or two-page document you get in class/the office you can quickly scan with a pen, then upload wirelessly to your computer. The day this becomes effective and viable--and the software for converting scanned images to text/pdf/.doc files becomes more accurate--we'll start to see an even greater shift away from traditional documents.

Already, most handouts in class can be found online. This will just make it even easier to keep everything on your computer for easy retrieval--especially through SEARCH (spotlight, google DS, vista, etc.).

Can't wait till they technology is cheaper and more efficient.

Re:Useful in class/workplace

[Forbman]

People said the same thing about the old Logitech Scanman portable scanners (twas about the size of a trackball. With the software, it made it easy enough to join up scan strips into one whole). Then there is the Visioneer scanners, etc. Now would be a digital camera with a ring flash and a good high quality macro lens and good quality sensor. The flash would need to be bright enough yet diffuse enough to allow for hand-held picture taking, and if the optics are good enough so that simulating pixels (ala digital resolution) isn't a bad deal, either.

Re:Useful in class/workplace

[Planesdragon]

So while it is theoretically possible to move towards a paperless society, and devices like this would help, it is not exactly practical within the existing legal frameworks of many nations.

The computer works best when you think of it as a box that does wonderous things that you used to use many pieces of paper for.

The stream, for those that still get paper in, should be "recieve paper -> Scan document -> archive or discard paper -> Create product -> print product." You start having a paperless society by having a paperless office, which means that you care about the "original" only in an abstract way, and you never touch it again if you don't have to.

I'll wager that every accounting firm in the world uses computers to track and tabulate every single line of every thing they track. The paper product they produce is usually the form of a statement, which is in paper form mostly for the convenience of their client. (The government is starting to mandate electronic filing over here.)

Medical records in paper form--well, maybe for insurance reasons, but that's a backup and not the primary record. (Unless your doctor happens to ENJOY hiring two extra staff just to handle the shelves.)

Engineering documents and specs -- well, you're right, blueprints and draft materials are usually in paper form. Because that's the only high-resolution zero-power medium we've got. Come up with a cheap 36" x 48" 1200 dpi piece of electronic paper, and watch how fast blueprints adapt. (A dead tree version of buidling plans may very well be finally filed with the local jurisdiction for archival purposes, but that same office likely won't balk at a DVD of the same images that it can store alongside them. Big-budget offices will likely ask for this.)

Oh, and as for the rest of the world--the part that isn't engineering or government-bean-counting, including those insurance companies you mention--getting rid of paper as a permanent data source has either already happened or is going to happen in the next ten years, on pain of bankruptcy. There's just too many beneits for it not to make sense to do so.

Re:Horray for useless technology? ahem!

[Anonymous Coward]

James bond could use one of these to quickly copy classified documents and so on. It seems more like a spy gadget than an office gadget but neat nonetheless.

Useful to genealogists

[brian0918]

This would be useful for those doing research in libraries' historical records. They rarely lend out their older collections, and in some cases won't let them be scanned either. This could be a useful covert way of doing just that.

Re:When size matters...

[typical]

Actually, "small" and "futuristic" are not necessarily mentally intertwined as you might think.

I remember looking at old futuristic art from, oh, the 30s through the 50s. The future was big. Big buildings, bridges, ships, and later big airplanes and spaceships. Big cars, big roads. I suspect that for the typical person from that period, "futuristic" would be more closely associated with "big" than "small".

WTFC?

[AlterTick]

and they actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Honestly, is there anyone over the age of 12 that's still impressed with anything in the Guiness Book of World Records? And even if so, why is a record of "Worlds Smallest Scanner" even worth recording? It'll be beaten as a matter of course when the R900 comes out.

Re:I remember my first scanner

[morcheeba]

You're constraining the possible solutions to fit your notion of the technology.

It's like saying "the world's smallest boulder is so small that it fits in a hat box!"

I've got a motorcycle that runs circles around most cars -- it is bigger than a peanut, but accelerates faster than a supercar and still gets 40 mpg. (my other bike is faster than 85% of all cars, but gets 90 mpg and is 1/5th the cost of a stripped civic). The only reason you would think it's useless is because it isn't a car. But, it does everything I want it to. (I don't ask it to haul stuff or work in bad weather - I have a car for that).

I've got a camera that I use as a scanner - it's much smaller and totally portable. It scans notebooks and huge chaulk boards with equal ease. It operates on a totally different principle than most scanners (focus at infinity instead of near-field) but it's a viable alternative.

So, I don't think there is a right size for most technologies if you don't unnecessarily constrain them.

Who knows... a 4" mind-controlled violin could be a really cool instrument to play while jogging!