Five Best Document Scanners for Going Paperless

Five Best Document Scanners for Going Paperless

Not every scanner is a great one if you're thinking about going paperless. You need a good one that'll handle all the documents, receipts, and oddly-shaped papers you need to digitize, and preferably one with great software support to help you keep all that stuff organized. Here's a look at five of the best, based on your nominations.

Earlier this week, we asked you which document scanners you thought were the best for the job. Not just any old scanner, or multi-function scanner/printer/copier—specifically which document scanners were best for helping you empty that filing cabinet and go paperless. We have a favorite of our own, but we've shown you how to go paperless with any scanner, and even cleared up some of your questions after the fact. After tallying up your nominations, here's a look at the top five.

The poll is closed and the votes are counted! To see which of these top five took the crown as the Lifehacker favorite, head over to our hive five followup post to see and discuss the winner!

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500/Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner for PC and Mac (PA03656-B005)

List Price: $495.00

Amazon.com: $426.98

The ScanSnap S1500 is technically no longer available, having been replaced by the newer ScanSnap iX500, but those of you who own them and nominated them noted that both models are exceptional at quickly scanning documents of different sizes and shapes, and even converting some text documents into searchable PDFs. While the S1500 was Windows only, the iX500 extends support to Mac users who want to organize their lives too. The S1500 sported 20ppm scanning, and the iX500 brought that up to 25, and both models have a document feeder that makes scanning multi-page documents as easy as loading the tray—no feeding each page one after the other. The iX500 also supports scanning to iOS and Android devices, can make PDFs with one button, and more. It'll set you back $500 retail ($430 at Amazon).

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Doxie Go

The Doxie Go is a great scanner—so much so that our own Adam Dachis used it to go paperless in two days, and showed you how you can do it too. It's a tiny thing, portable enough to fit into a bag and go with you almost anywhere, is powered via USB, and great for scanning everything from photographs to multi-page documents to tiny receipts on thermal paper. Best of all, the Doxie comes with software that makes the most of its features and helps you organize the documents you scan with it. If you scan text, the companion app does OCR so you can search the text in those documents, and if you prefer to use another platform like Dropbox or Evernote to organize your files, it syncs with those services as well. Even if you don't use another web service for your documents, the Doxie's software can sync with all of your (iOS) mobile devices and computers on its own. The Doxie Go will set you back $199 ($187 at Amazon), but the other Doxie models are a bit cheaper.

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Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i

If you're looking for a more affordable ScanSnap document scanner than the previously mentioned iX500, the S1300i brings a smaller, space-saving form factor to your desk without sacrificing much of the power that makes the ScanSnap line a great one for digitizing documents. It does away with the large body in exchange for a smaller, more streamlined model like the Doxie Go or the NeatReceipts, but still includes a fold-out document tray for multiple pages and papers of odd sizes. You can keep the tray closed and feed photos or other documents yourself though, and the fact that it's tiny and USB-powered makes it portable enough to take with you if you travel. It even supports multi-sided documents, and it comes with the ScanSnap software for Windows and OS X to make getting your documents in a format you can use easy. The ScanSnap software can also sync with and scan to other web services, including Evernote, Dropbox, and Google Drive, if you prefer to use one of those services to organize your newly digitized documents. The S1300i will set you back $300 retail ($260 at Amazon).

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Neat Scanner

Despite its appearances on infomercials and late night television, the Neat Scanner is actually a capable document scanner, and those of you who nominated it praised it for being speedy, portable, and able to handle documents of all sizes easily, from business cards to full-sized sheets of paper. The Neat comes in two varieties, the NeatDesk (shown here) and the NeatReceipts, a smaller, USB-powered version similar in size and shape to the Doxie Go. Both models include supporting software to make scanning and organizing your documents easy, and that also sync with the Neat mobile app for iOS and Android. Neat's angle is to get you hooked with the device, and then sell you additional services, like its Neat Cloud service, which is essentially a Dropbox clone with a monthly fee, or its NeatVerify service that puts a human eye on every document you scan to make sure it's been processed correctly. On its own though, the Neat scanner and software package make a powerful enough combination to keep your paper clutter to a minimum. The NeatDesk will set you back $400 ($380 at Amazon), and the NeatReceipts $179 ($140 at Amazon). Both models come with the desktop software.

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Your Smartphone's Camera

Several of you said that your smartphone's camera and an accompanying organizational app would work just fine for you. It's free, not including the cost of an app you may use, and it only requires the equipment you already own. This is true, but this is a perfect case of getting what you pay for: it may be free and easy, but it's slow, especially compared to the other contenders in the top five, and scanning large, multi-page documents you may want to digitize will undoubtedly be an agonizing process with a smartphone's camera. If you want the document you photograph to be legible and useful, or even searchable once you save it and organize it, good luck. Still, enough of you nominated it that it's worth mentioning as an option. Photo by Mauricio Lima.

Five Best Document Scanners for Going Paperless

Print to PDF in Windows

How to Print to PDF in Windows: 4 Tips and Tricks

Unlike most other operating systems, Windows still doesn’t include first-class support for printing to PDFs. However, PDF printing is still fairly simple — you can quickly install a free PDF printer or use the support included in various programs.

We’ll cover ways you can easily print to PDF, whether you’re on a home computer where you can install a PDF printer or you’re using a locked-down computer you can’t install any software on.

Install a PDF Printer

Windows doesn’t include a built-in PDF printer, but it does include one that prints to Microsoft’s XPS file format.  You can install a PDF printer to print to PDF from any application in Windows with a print dialog. The PDF printer will add a new virtual printer to your list of installed printers. When you print any document to the PDF printer, it will create a new PDF file on your computer instead of printing it to a physical document.

You can choose from a variety of free PDF printers available online, but we’ve had good luck with the free CutePDF Writer. Just download it, run the installer, and you’re done. Just be sure to uncheck the terrible Ask Toolbar and other bloatware during installation.

On Windows 8, PDF printers you install will appear both in the classic desktop Print dialog and the Modern printer list.

Use a Program’s Built-in PDF Export

Some applications have added their own PDF-export support because Windows doesn’t have it natively. In many programs, you can print to PDF without installing a PDF printer at all.

• Google Chrome: Click the menu and and click Print. Click the Change button under Destination and select Save as PDF.
• Microsoft Office: Open the menu, select Export, and select Create PDF/XPS Document.
• LibreOffice: Open the File menu and select Export as PDF.

You can generally create a PDF file from the print dialog or with an “Export to PDF” or “Save to PDF” option if the program supports it. To print to PDF from anywhere, install a PDF printer.

Print to XPS and Convert to PDF

Perhaps you’re using a computer that you can’t install any software on, but you want to print to PDF from Internet Explorer or another program without integrated PDF support. If you’re using Windows Vista, 7, or 8, you can print to the Microsoft XPS Document Writer printer to create an XPS file from the document.

You’ll have the document in the form of an XPS file you can take with you. You can convert it to a PDF file later with one of the following methods:

• Use an Online Converter: If the document isn’t particularly important or sensitive, you can use a free web-based converter like XPS2PDF to create a PDF document from your XPS file.
• Print the XPS File to PDF: Bring the XPS file to a computer with a PDF printer installed. Open the XPS file in Microsoft’s XPS Viewer, click File -> Print, and print the XPS file to your virtual PDF printer. This will create a PDF file with the same contents as your XPS file.

Quickly Create PDFs from Websites

If you’re using a computer without a PDF printer and you just want to print a web page to a PDF file you can take with you, you don’t need to mess around with any conversion process. Just use a web-based tool like Web2PDF, plug the web page’s address in, and it will create a PDF file for you. Tools like this one are intended for public web pages, not private ones like online-shopping receipts.

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This would all be easier if Windows included a PDF printer, but Microsoft still wants to push their own XPS format for now.

How to Print to PDF in Windows: 4 Tips and Tricks

Apps TO Track Your Fitness Regimen

Turning a Smartphone Into a Workout Buddy

By KIT EATON

 

Summer is coming at last. Like me, you may be thinking that a few improvements to your fitness and physique might be in order before you hit the beach. It’s also possible that, like me, you find it hard to motivate yourself to exercise or to head to the gym, and you don’t like the idea of a personal trainer. Time for an app, in other words, and there are many out there to help us get in shape.

The Android app Workout Trainer has simple animations of many exercise routines, and even more for a fee.

The clean interface of Nike Training Club is intended not to be distracting during a workout.

The interface in Gain Fitness Cross Trainer for iOS is a bit more cluttered. This guide is showing the "kitchen counter dip."

My favorite is Nike Training Club, free on Android and iOS. It has a simple, clean interface, so you can exercise without distractions. The home page has a summary of your training performance and a menu bar that takes you to pages with more details on your previous workouts. There’s also a rewards page where you can earn digital badges for completing workouts.

To start exercising, you click the Get Workouts button, or pick Quick Start and choose the workout you did previously. Workouts vary, depending on whether you want a leaner body or a stronger one, for example. When you choose an activity the app inquires about your experience level (beginner to expert) and offers a list of different exercise styles. As an example, the beginner level’s Get Lean workout has a 30-minute “sweat and shape” and a harder 45-minute “crunch and burn” workout.

Before you begin, the app lists the activities it will ask you to do. You can click on these to get step-by-step advice, with images, to help you do them correctly. Or you can watch a professional demonstrate the moves in a short video.

When you begin a workout, the app gives you a spoken summary of what’s ahead, and then starts a large on-screen clock. While you’re exercising, the app speaks aloud at key moments to give you tips or let you know how much time remains in the exercise. In the Straight Leg Kicks exercise, it reminds you to “roll up on the ball of the standing foot when you kick.” You can exercise to this voice alone, or listen to music from your device library with the coaching voice superimposed over your music.

The app has a huge list of different workouts and includes examples from famous athletes like Gabby Douglas. Its one drawback may be that it requires you to sign up for a free Nike account or connect through your Facebook account.

A great alternative app is Gain Fitness Cross Trainer, free on iOS. While its design is less glossy, it may suit serious exercisers. The app has prebuilt workouts like Torso Rush and Full Bod Livelong, but you can also add workouts customized to your needs. The app can suggest exercise programs based on your goals and where you exercise, at home or on the go. You can also choose a workout time and which part of your body you want to concentrate on (for example, full body or just legs and abs).

When the workout starts, an overview describes the different exercises it’s going to run through. For fun or for motivation, you can e-mail this list or share it through Twitter or Facebook. Tapping on the little information icon pauses the exercise and shows a list of text-based tips on how to carry it out.

While the workout is running, the app shows you an animated image of the current exercise. Beneath this image, a large progress bar shows you how much time is left for each exercise; below that is a smaller progress bar for the entire workout. At the bottom are controls for stopping the workout, skipping or repeating a particular exercise and controlling the sound.

The app uses audio encouragements like, “Nice,” and reminds you of time limits, but the words are spoken in a very neutral voice and can get repetitive. This may not necessarily inspire you to athletic heights.

Workout Trainer is a similar free Android app, with simple animations of each exercise and voice cues to help you with the timing. Its clean and simple visual design shouldn’t distract you as you work up a sweat. But the trainer voices on the free version are electronic and may grate on your nerves.

While there’s a sizable selection of workouts to choose from, many more require a $15-a-year subscription. Subscribers do benefit from human audio recordings and high-definition videos of the exercises, though.

Quick Call

The BBC has released an Android version of its Sports app, free on Google Play. Available internationally, the app has articles and breaking news on soccer, cricket, tennis and other sports.

Workout Apps That Keep Track of Your Fitness Regimen - NYTimes.com

Wi-Fi for Every Room in the Home

 

Wi-Fi for Every Room in the Home

The Securifi Almond looks almost like an obese Windows Phone.

Wi-Fi is awesome. But when the Wi-Fi signal is weak, it’s almost worse than having no signal at all. You see signal-strength bars, but you can’t connect. Or videos play, but with a lot of pauses. Or your e-mail program tries to download messages, but just hangs there.

I’ve always wondered about Wi-Fi range extenders — little $60 to $80 routerlike boxes that are supposed to grab a weak Wi-Fi signal and amplify it. Recently, I had the perfect chance to put one to the test.

My fiancée’s San Francisco apartment is a chain of rooms off a single hallway. Living room in front, then bedroom, then dining room, then kitchen. Her Wi-Fi base station sits in the living room at the front of the house. That’s where the cable company’s jack enters the apartment.

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Trouble is, in this old, stately building, the walls are thick and strong. By the time the Wi-Fi signal reached her bedroom, it was too flaky to use. Now and then, she could pull up Web sites or check e-mail, but video and music were out of the question. The dining room and kitchen had no Wi-Fi signal at all. That was a disappointment for a skilled chef who likes to listen to Spotify or Pandora as she cooks.

One possibility, of course, was to see about having a second router installed. But that would mean having the cable company install another jack. It seemed as if it would be faster, less expensive and less disruptive to get a Wi-Fi range extender — if those things really worked.

On Amazon, the highest-rated extender at the time I shopped in December was the Securifi Almond. It was billed as the first touch-screen router and range extender, and had strong customer reviews.

It looks great. Some of the range extenders seem to have been designed to be as ugly as possible — they look like, well, networking equipment — but this one looks almost like an obese Windows Phone, thanks to the colorful tiles on its touch screen. It’s very small (4.5 by 4.75 by 1.5 inches).

The touch-screen breakthrough is that you don’t need to connect the Almond to a computer — or to anything but a power outlet — to set it up. We placed it in the hallway outside the bedroom door; it sits nicely and nearly invisibly on the molding above the doorway. On the screen, I tapped the name of the existing Wi-Fi network, entered its password, waited about a minute, and that was it. Suddenly there was a new Wi-Fi network in the back half of the apartment, with the suffix “Almond” on the original network’s name.

This hot spot seems just as fast and capable as the real one, in the living room. My fiancée can now stream music or video, download files, do real work, everywhere in the apartment.

On her laptop, she has to switch manually to the Almond network when she moves into those rooms; my laptop usually hops onto it automatically when it wakes up.

The fine print: The Almond is also a regular router; that is, you can plug your cable modem into it to create a Wi-Fi hot spot. We didn’t use it in that configuration. If you do, note that its Ethernet jacks are not gigabit speed.

You should also know that rival range extenders are dual-band (they offer both 2.4 and 5 gigahertz bands, if you know what that means), whereas the Almond is 2.4 only. Rival extenders can cost less and offer more networking features.

But they’re also uglier and far more complicated to set up. The Almond does beautifully as a simple, effortless, attractive way for non-nerds to extend their hot spots into un-blanketed corners of the house.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/wi-fi-for-every-room-in-the-apartment/?pagewanted=all

Space Bar

Space Bar on Quirky.com

Space Bar - More Space, More Ports, Less Clutter

The Space Bar is a simple, elegantly-designed desk accessory that minimizes clutter while providing additional USB ports for your computer. After a long day of work, simply slide your keyboard into the designated space below the shelf and store your office miscellany — keys, digital camera, etc. — up top.

Features:
- Constructed of brushed aluminum with white plastic accents.
- Can stow a keyboard up to 18" long by 1.5" high and supports up to 30.5 pounds weight (the weight of a 27" Apple iMac).
- Six USB ports. Charge & sync USB devices on four front ports. Charge USB devices on two right rear ports. Also includes one mini-USB port and one AC adapter port.
- Includes AC adapter and USB cord.
- Color: silver.

This product is powered using an external power source with a range of 110-240v.