Doxie, the amazing scanner for documents Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got a Doxie because it's so portable.
It powers entirely though the USB, so if you have a laptop you could basically use it anywhere. I used it once in a hotel once, and once in my university library, both for sending documentation that needed to be rushed. But mostly I scan receipts and goofy stuff like forms from my insurance company.
It's been reliable, but the one time it was acting up, the support people were quick and efficient.

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You've got paper. Get the smart scanner that makes it easy to archive and share.Scanning documents doesn't need to be complicated: introducing Doxie, the modern mobile scanner that makes scanning all of your paper easy -- at home, at work, and on the go. Doxie works with the apps you already use, so it's easy to scan and share, automatically. Doxie is small, ultra-portable, USB powered, and highly affordable for your home or small business.Designed to be easy to set up and use.Using Doxie is easy -- just plug it in, launch the Doxie app, put in your document or photo, and press the button. Doxie makes stunning, high quality scans you won't find in scanners three times the price. Built-in tools for saving and sharing make getting organized a snap. Save as PDF, JPEG, or PNG... scan to your desktop, send to the cloud, even send to iPhone or iPad.Works with Google Docs, Evernote, and more.Doxie's built-in Cloud menu sends scans directly to popular web apps like Evernote and Google Docs -- or just click save for a PDF or JPEG to your desktop.Cross-platform for both PC and Mac.Doxie's modern, cross-platform desktop app offers a clean, uncluttered way to scan without configuration hassles. Simple and sophisticated -- that's Doxie, the amazing scanner for documents.Doxie named Inc. Magazine's Best Portable Scanner!Inc. Magazine named Doxie, the critically acclaimed mobile document scanner from the makers of IntelliScanner, as Best Portable Scanner in the 2010 Business Travel 50! Doxie is ideal for scanning at home, and on the go.

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Iris USOA447 IRIScan Express 2 Portable Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)Nota bene: I am a Mac user, and this review is only about the products interaction with Mac OS 10.5.
The IRIScan express 2 beats the DSmobile 600 hands down in terms of Mac compatibility, but that was still not enough to encourage me to keep the product. Despite the great OCR functionality of Readiris Pro 11 and the promise of convenience of Cardiris (which I did not get a chance to use), the software interface and workflow has a "we just managed to get this out the door" feeling to it. The interface is not at all Mac-like, and the scanner does not, on the Mac, provide a TWAIN or Image Capture driver. That lack forces you to use the provided clunky applications to make any scan.
Despite Readiris's outstanding OCR performance, the PDF output is less than optimal. The Windows software included with the DSmobile 600 (the only portable, sheet-fed competitor that claims Mac functionality [and doesn't deliver]) produces perfect facsimiles of scanned pages and adds OCR text to the PDF that allows you to search and index it without losing the character of the original document, just like Amazon's "Search Inside This Book" feature for those of you who haven't experienced PDFs like this. Readiris Pro does not have this feature. Its PDFs are what you would get if you took the text document output and printed to PDF: disappointing and not at all useful for archival purposes, my motivation for purchase.
Also, the scanner is EXTREMELY slow, and all-caps are deserved in this case. The scanner takes more than 60 seconds per page. This is impossible to use if you are looking at a stack of documents you need to digitally archive. Enough said. If you are looking to do paperless office on the Mac platform, you need to use either a sheet-fed all-in-one machine from Canon or HP or, even better, get the Fuji ScanSnap, which at $600+ is insanely priced but works like a charm... so I've heard.

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The Iris USOA447 IRIScan Express 2 Portable Scanner is a light, small, USB connected multi-purpose color scanning solution that is ideal for your remote scanning needs. This highly portable scanner lets you scan all your paper documents, from receipts to legal size documents, your business cards and even your photos directly into in your computer.
Advanced Editing and Conversion Features With the IRIScan Express 2, you can scan and convert all your documents to PDF, Word, Email, Excel, etc. With the included extended software suite that features Readiris Pro 11--one of the most powerful OCR programs on the market--you can quickly and accurately scan virtually any document into fully editable and searchable text files. The software also lets you convert PDF to Word, Excel, etc. just as easily.

The applications for IRIScan Express 2 are virtually limitless. After a busy weekend at a conference, you can use the scanner to convert all your business cards into Outlook contacts with the included Cardiris software. This advanced program allows you to export all the data they contain, including the card images, into Outlook, Address Book, Act!, CSV, etc.

With the included Roxio Photo Suite 9 Special Edition, you can even convert a shoe box of photos into shared digital memories, and you can even fix and enhance your photos with the software's powerful editing, effects and touch-up tools.

Worldwide Language Support The IRIScan Express 2 includes software that recognizes 124 languages. Asian character recognition includes Japanese, Korean, P.R. Chinese (Simplified Chinese) and Taiwan (Traditional Chinese). It can also read and recognize Middle East languages, including Arabic, Farci and Hebrew characters.

Included with the scanner is Promt translation software that even lets you translate between the languages you scan, with 11 language pairs that include English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The IRIScan Express 2 measures 1.9-by-9.7-by-1.3 inches (HxWxD) and is compatible with both Macintosh computers and PCs and is Windows Vista compatible.

What's in the Box IRIScan Express 2 portable scanner, software suite (Readiris Pro 11, Cardiris 3, Promt, IRIS Desktop Search, and Roxio Photo Suite 9 LE), travel case, and cradle.

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Brother MFC-240C Color Inkjet All-in-One Printer with Fax Review

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(More customer reviews)I was hesitant to purchase this based on all the mediocre reviews, but I am extremely happy with the 240c. I think its about the best multi-function you can get for under a hundred bucks (with the possible exception of tha Canon Pixma). First, a few of these reviews contain critical errors about the unit. First: It IS possible to scan multiple documents into a single PDF file. One simple way is to load up your documents into the top paper feeder, then scan to PDF, and every page it scans will be put into the same file. Another way to do it is to use the Presto Pagemanager software that comes on the installation CD. Second: the 240c DOES have incoming fax capabilities...you have to enable it in the Fax options on the unit's menu setup (not on your computer). It does not have a handset so you cannot use it as a phone, but at least on the 240c that I have, it can indeed receive faxes. Third: the reason the unit will not print anything even if only one cartridge is blank is because it uses a suction type cart (different from most inkjets), and damage to the unit will occur if an empty cartridge is left in. That said, here's my review.
Build quality is overall very durable, with the possible exception of the paper tray. It won't turn any heads with its bland utilitarian appearance, but its compact and sturdy for home or home office usage. It also looks like an office machine, as opposed to the flimsy Fisher-Price looking offerings from HP and Lexmark. The controls are laid out sufficiently and you should be able to figure things out by surfing through the unit's menu, although there are alot of setup options so you may have to do some searching. The only complaints about the design are the small, non-backlit display and the paper tray. The paper tray is more like a paper container with a lid, that loads like a cartridge. If you only print on one type of paper its fine, but if you want to switch and print envelopes, 4X6, etc., it can do it but you have to take the tray out, take out all the paper, adjust the slider, then put in the new paper and re-insert.
Print and scan quality are just fine. In fact, the scanner is very impressive and scans are much better quality than the Canon it replaced. Print quality is just fine...I dont see any washed out colors or anything else others have noted. Its prints as good as any unit will under a hundred bucks. The copy and scan features work just great and fast. You can either use the computer to make copies or you can bypass your PC altogether and use it as a standalone copier. Most of the features can be run either from the software or the unit itself, which is great. The top-feeding document accepter is a huge time saver. Also, the lid on the scanner is hinged allowing you to scan thicker items, like books, easily.
As far as ink usage, some settings must be adjusted to get longer life. First, disable "bi-directional printing" as it uses alot of ink and wrinkles the paper. Set the paper-type to "plain." This is huge, because if you dont, even if you select grayscale printing, it will pull ink from the color cartidges. Also, if you print mostly text, set the print quality to the "fast" settings, and it looks just fine. You want to conserve ink, since these cartridges run about 20-25 bucks for black, and around 12-14 for each color. But, the cartridges are huge so they should last average users a while. For heavy office use, you may want to look at a a higher end or laser model.
The fax feature I dont use so I cant comment much on how that works. It also accepts most major memory cards for photo printing, but without a preview screen your better off printing pics from your computer. It is also worth noting that this unit IS Mac compatible (many of the sub-$100 machines aren't), although I had to update the drivers and software from Brother's website after installing the CD to get some scanning features to work. I'm assuming this has something to do with the whole Intel / PPC switch. I'd highly advise you to do the same...their site is just their name, and the update offerings fixed the few bugs I encountered.
Overall I am very impressed with this unit. I had returned an HP c3180 multi-function because it couldnt hold a handle to this as far as overall quality and value. Highly recommended for home and light home office use.

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The Brother MFC-240C Color Flatbed Multi-Function Center combines all your basic office equipment needs into one space-saving device. This unit is ideal for small or home-based businesses because it performs so many functions in one compact, stylish machine. Fast, reliable, and extremely user friendly, the MFC-240C can help boost efficiency and increase productivity.By offering color printing, faxing, coping, scanning and photo printing, all from an easy-to-use control panel, this PC and MAC compatible system can boost your bottom line, save you money, and help your business thrive.Fast, Reliable Printing and Scanning The MFC-240C works quickly, minimizing wait times so you can take on other tasks. This system prints color documents at remarkable speeds of up to 20 pages per minute (ppm) and 25 ppm for black-and-white, so you can have your documents in your hands fast. The 10-page Automatic Document Feeder and front-loading paper tray with 100-sheet paper capacity mean you won't have to worry about complicated paper-changing techniques slowing you down. This system also gives you professional photo lab quality results by printing borderless photos in all standard sizes. For added convenience, you can print images from your PictBridge-enabled cameras and media cards without a computer; the MFC-240C accepts Memory Stick, xD PictureCard Types M and H, CompactFlash and SecureDigital. The flatbed color scanner offers up to 19,200 dpi (interpolated) resolution and up to 600 by 2400 dpi (optical) resolution, so all your images will be sharp and clear.Easy, Versatile Copying and Faxing When you need to make copies or send a fax, there's no need to purchase a separate machine; the MFC-240C offers speedy, dependable results each and every time you use it. With copying speeds of up to 18 copies per minute (cpm) in black-and-white and 16 cpm in color, the MFC-240C virtually eliminates time spent waiting for a job to complete. You also have the option of customizing your copies so they're always clear and easy to read by simply reducing or enlarging in one percent increments from 25 to 400 percent. For added convenience, the fax machine offers both black-and-white and color faxing with a 14.4 Kbps high-speed fax modem. As versatile as it is efficient, this system also supports Caller ID and distinctive ring fax broadcasting from any PC.

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