scan

I'm a longtime fan of PaperPort, which began life as a scanner/software combination and now exists solely as software. I've never found a better solution for organizing and preserving scanned documents, which is why PaperPort is among the few software products I'm actually willing to buy.

But $99.99? Ouch. That's the list price for the latest version. Fortunately, software developer Nuance has partnered with Laplink to offer PaperPort 14 (Windows) for $49.99. (Just to clarify, this is PaperPort Standard, not PaperPort Pro.)

That's for the download version, though you can get a … Read more

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Friday, July 15.

• The social network wars continue. Google is taking on Facebook and its using its philosophy of openness to convince users to stay. Facebook hasn't been making it easy for users to export their data. With the Google platform, users can take their data elsewhere with just a couple of clicks.

• The U.S. International Trade commission ruled that HTV violated two of Apple's patents. In other related Apple news, Apple's A6 chip is in … Read more

As 23-inch monitors go, the Eizo FlexScan T2351W-L is fairly unique. It eschews the traditional foot stand in favor of an adjustable lever, it steers clear of even the smallest inkling of anti-glare coating (AG), and its reinforced glass screen makes it a perfect candidate for the included multitouch touch-screen feature.

Still, at the end of the day, it's a 23-inch monitor priced at more than $1,000, so I can't blame you if reading that price and size combo elicits only the most dubious of responses. Is it worth that price? You'll need to check out … Read more

There's no line, so you figure you'll try it. You put your shopping basket down, then you begin to scan the items. That part generally works fine. But then there's the bananas. How much do they weigh? How much are they per pound? Which button are you supposed to press?

No, you're not reading a hacked cell phone conversation between myself and my mother. I'm just describing the irritating technological phenomenon known as the self-checkout, an idea which, it seems, may have already had its glimpse of notoriety.

In a move that might stun those … Read more

On today's show, special guest Thomas Dolby drops in to talk with us about the state of the music industry and digital distribution, his new album, and the amazing sounding MMORPG that goes along with it. We're pretty overwhelmed by his brilliance. But we recover a bit for tech news, like Hulu's 1 million paid users (and imminent death), and whether the Droid Bionic can catch up to the Atrix 4G.

U.S. album sales for the first six months of the year grew 1 percent, which may not sound like much but it's the first time the recording industry has seen any gains for the period since 2004.

Research firm Nielsen SoundScan reported today that the total number of albums sold in the U.S. was 155.5 million, an increase of 1 percent from the 153.9 million albums sold during the same period last year.

Digital track sales were also up. More than 660 million units were sold, an increase from last year of 10 percent. These … Read more

To get the visuals it was looking for in L.A. Noire, its new detective game, video game maker Rockstar Games used 3D motion-capture technology called MotionScan.

In this video, GameSpot's Dan Chiappini sits down with Oliver Bao from Depth Analysis, the company that makes MotionScan, to get a deeper look at how the technology was used--and where it can go from here.

Apple's Preview application initially was just a quick viewer for displaying image and PDF files in OS X, but over the years it has acquired a number of features that have turned it into a useful utility, especially since it is much simpler than tools like Photoshop and iPhoto while offering similar basic manipulation options. We recently covered how to use Preview for editing and organizing multipage PDFs, but in addition it can be used to import images from various sources, including locally attached or shared scanners that use Apple's Bonjour print services. Unfortunately, even when scanning relatively … Read more

Google Books has great tools for keeping track of things you've read, are reading, or want to read. However, it can be a cumbersome task to add each book to the virtual bookshelf individually. So instead of spending countless minutes keying in numbers, follow these steps so you can easily scan and add all your books at once:

1. Install Barcode2File from the Android Market.

2. Open the app and press the Scan barcode button to start collecting a list of ISBNs from the books (one list at a time).

3. Once you're finished scanning, press … Read more