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A chance to win* a NeatConnect scanner!

The Cheapskate is giving away this awesome cloud-savvy scanner, which has a retail value of $500.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
3 min read

neatconnect-scanner.png
The Neat Company

Oh, paper. You're still just as ubiquitous as the screens that promised to replace you. Bills, receipts, business cards, recipes torn from magazines -- they pile up until, in a fit of clutter-reducing frustration, you shovel them into the trash, only to discover two days later that you need that Home Depot receipt, dammit.

A scanner can help reduce paper clutter, of course, but only if you've got time to burn: Turn on the computer, fire up the scanning software, feed in all your documents, save them to your hard drive, upload them to Evernote, and on and on.

That's why one of my favorite products of 2013 was the NeatConnect, a standalone scanner that whisks scanned documents to the cloud service of your choice -- no computer required. It has three slots, one each for business cards, receipts, and documents; and it's lightning-fast at swallowing them. (CNET hasn't reviewed it, but here's my review if you want to learn more.)

Alas, it's is a pricey bugger, which is why I'm overjoyed about my new contest: Win a NeatConnect scanner! It comes with a three-month NeatCloud subscription and has a retail value of $499.95.

To enter, just register with CNET (if you haven't already), then hit the comments and answer this question:

"Have you gone paperless or are you still printing out hard copies and keeping receipts for your records?"

I think for most folks it's a combination of the two -- it certainly is for me. I rely pretty heavily on e-mail for digital filing, but there are still piles of paper nearly everywhere I look. Help me, NeatConnect, you're my only hope!

One thing about that NeatCloud subscription: After your three-month trial expires, it'll cost you a minimum of $5.99 monthly (or $4.99 if you prepay for a year) to continue it. The service isn't required -- you can still route scans directly to the likes of Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. -- but NeatCloud itself offers fast and easy organization of scanned documents. You may well decide it's worth having -- but, again, it's not required.

In any case, you've got until the end of the day Friday, June 20, to enter. Good luck! Oh, and if you're looking for a bonus deal today, hit up my Twitter feed.

Now for the fine print about how to enter:

  • Register as a CNET user. Go to the Join the Conversation section below my blog post and hit the Add Your Comment button. If you're not already registered please do so. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again -- you just need to be logged in.
  • Leave a comment below answering this question: Have you gone paperless or are you still printing out hard copies and keeping receipts for your records?
  • Leave only one comment. You may enter for this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
  • The winners will be chosen randomly.
  • If you are chosen, you will be notified via email. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the sweepstakes. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
  • Entries can be submitted until Friday, June 20, at 11:59pm PST

Some legalese: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the US, 18 & older, and a Registered User of CNET.com. Void where prohibited. Ends at 12 PM PT on 6/20/14. See rules for details.