CutMeLoose.com

That's one real cool gadget.
Ummn..but how would it impact my digital lifestyle? well....I think I'd not know until I get it ;-)

regards,
jane
 

This will impact my digital lifestyle by allowing me to scan handouts in company meetings without having to file paperwork. I make notes/comments in my books like concordance references. I have had my bible for 15 years and since purchasing a Tablet, I have thought about scanning my bible with valuable notes.
 

"How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?"

I can see a variety of uses for a portable scanner like this and all of them would be helpful in helping me become more "digital".

For example, I purchased a tablet to help cut down on the amount of paper and notesbooks I had for work. The pen could even push this further in that I could scan other people's notes after meetings (or meetings I missed). I could scan book paragraphs and article snippets during research.

I could quickly scan all the little pictures of my nieces and nephews that my siblings send me!

I could scan business cards in a flash and load them into my contact software.

At the end of the day, let's face it, the pen is just a cool and very handy gadget to have. A tool like this will not only will be used for the things I listed above, but a host of new things I haven't even thought of yet.

email: theblackhole<AT>mvwood.com
 

Where I work currently everyone works like its the 70s, they print out their emails and print out memos for the office.

In meetings with my TabletPC making notes in OneNote people hand me their print outs of reports and documents. While I am travelling I try to travel light carrying only my Tablet PC but by the end I have paper falling all over the place and getting lost.

I have to wait before I get back to the office before I can scan them in then print them to PDF then transfer them to my tablet, the RC800 would make this so much easier.

I think the RC800 would make the people in the office think about how they work, and maybe if they didn't print out all their work that would make my life simpler as well. :)

email - jckeatingAThotmail.com

BTW - I'm in the UK

Thanks
 

How would this device impact my digital lifestyle?

Well, I am a still a student, I tend to be the technological trendsetter in my school. I puchased the first tablet, now many others are looking into getting a tablet instead of a regular laptop. I puchased a Dell Axim X50v instead of an iPod and have found greater functionality out of it, and recently I have seen others with PPCs and Palms instead of ipods. It's all about advancing the understanding of technology and pushing it foward, educating people about the advantages of new technology, and intergrating them into our lives instead of using alternatives,
i.e. like a huge flatbed scanner
;)

regards,
Nicholas

nkern(AT)anomisys.com
 

How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?

A pen-based scanner like the RC800 would allow me to bridge the gap between my Tablet-centric information management practices and the paper-based environment we so often encounter at meetings or at school. Even though many users have labeled it as too bulky to carry, I use my Gateway CX200S as my one-stop information manager; thus, I take it everywhere. Everything is in there: from my Outlook PIM to digitally-inked notes to PDFs of guidelines for the many grant programs with which I deal. Many people inquire about my Tablet when they see it, but some comment that it looks too complicated to be practical. Boy, are they wrong! Consolidating my legal pad, calendar, address book, and three-ring project binders into a single digital unit was the best decision I ever made. It has literally saved my sanity.

So how exactly would I use the RC800? I envision it making the most impact when I am away from the office for several consecutive days. It really does seem that my work life has become one perpetual meeting! Using the RC800, I could stay on top of my scanning while on the go. I could import handouts into my TPC at the meeting site and immediately begin marking them up with digital ink. This would ensure that all of the information I receive is archived on my Gateway and integrated into my filing system right where it should be. Another added bonus is increased productivity: when I do get some “task time” at the office, I can spend it getting things done rather scanning in the handouts from the last meeting I attended.

I am also getting ready to start graduate school soon and will be using my TPC heavily in my studies. The RC800 would be awesome in an academic setting as well. I could scan syllabi and other handouts in class, so there would be no chance of them getting misplaced. This would also allow me to start annotating them immediately using the power of digital ink. However, I see the RC800 making the biggest impact on the manner in which I conduct my research. Before when I went to the campus library, I would skim a book, and if I located information to include in my paper, I would compose the citation on a note card and then photocopy the necessary page(s) to take home. With the RC800, I could scan the title page and any additional pages I needed without worrying about copying fees! I could load them onto my TPC in the format of my choosing and mark them up to my heart’s content! This would save a lot of time and make me much more willing to spend a few hours researching at the library.

The beauty of the RC800 is that a connection to a computer is not required! Though I carry my Gateway most places (especially when I think I will need to take notes), I could leave it in the car every once in a while. The RC800 has built-in memory that holds several pages, as well as a slot for an expansion card. You could take the RC800 (sans TPC) to the library or a bookstore and scan to your heart’s content (within fair use limitations, of course).

It is easy to see how big a difference the RC800 would make in anyone’s digital lifestyle. I know that I could definitely put it to good use at work and school! Rob, if you think so too, please send me an email to wesleydelk at hotmail dot com. Thanks, and good luck to everyone!
 

I'd use this to scan in documents that would otherwise escape my paperless routine for the week(s) they sit in a pile waiting for a critical mass to form.
Biggest impact might be in showing the legal clinic I work at that going paperless is possible(at least partially), and could save them money.
And as I said, my girlfriend will be grateful to remove any excuse for the pile of loose documents on my desk.

email:saleem DOT mamdani AT gmail DOT com
 

How would a handheld scanner such as that effect my digital lifestyle? I would impact it greatly. I'm currently your average poor college student attending Montana State University. I have a tablet, in fact i've been trying to revolutionize the way that i go to school by trying to completly merge my entire schooling into my tablet pc. This is no easy task being i think only 2 other people attending this university also have a tablet. I have a couple professors who are nice enough to give us our notes in PDF so i can print to OneNote, but unfortunatly teachers NEVER give you handouts in a digital form. NEVER. I've been meaning to purchase a scanner for awhile, but don't really have the money. A portable scanner would amazing, being able to wirelessly scan handouts on the fly and give them back to the professor would be amazing. I would never have to carry any paper with me then!

email: jaderobbins at gmail.com
 

1. I'm a musician (conductor). I mark scores for breath marks, articulations, phrasing, translations, etc. The RC800 would give me the ability to study a (paper) score in Starbucks, mark it, scan it, upload it and email it to my students and/or other conductors.

2. To me, one of the features is the ability to make use of your own handwritten notes. I don't use my PocketPC (the bulk finally got on my nerves). If I have a thought while I'm eating or without my Tablet PC (or don't have the time for it to boot), I can write down my thought, scan it with the RC800, and upload it later. It's nearly an extension of the Tablet PC in this context.

3. Research in library I: often, quick notes or pieces of information are gathered from a variety of sources. Much information, in my music world, is not digitized or available online. The RC800 would allow me to gather pertinent info from journals not available for checkout.

4. Research in library II: There is ONE scanner in our university library, and it isn't the Omnibook text book kind. Some of the journals are kept in HUGE binder-books, making it impossible to create high-quality scans with the Library scanner. The scanner pen, I think, would make it possible to capture the article without much trouble. (I PDF all articles that are referenced in my class and give it to the students.)

5. Like others, it would be the ultimate in cool to scan documents in at meetings and mark it up in the Tablet. The paperless dream will have been realized.

6. I have become one who scans daily (I own two scanners and want another one): textbooks, student papers, syllabi. The RC800 would be an extension of that work.

7. To capture the fleeting document: I don't know how fast the RC800 works, but it seems to me that we all have documents we don't get to "keep." This tool gives us the ability to capture them.
 

I am currently going thru several Christian classics (Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon) and I would love to have the ability to scan specific quotes or whole chapters to my Toshiba M205 so that I could mark them up there. I don't relish the thought of cutting the spines off them so I can scan the sheets (like Tracy did). This pen would enable me to capture sections and make notes as I go along.

I also send a lot of quotes out to friends to encourage them. This would save me a ton of typing to capture these into email.

wmwillis at gmail dot com
 

forgot my email address:

philip.copelandATgmail.com
 

"How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?"

I'm certain that the RC800 would have a major impact on the way I use books from college.

Right now, I read thru a certain book and jot down the most important parts.

With the DocuPen I could just scan a whole page - import it into OneNote and anotate whatever I need - little bits of information our teachers give us, my own comments - since ON is so ... open ... I wouldn't be limited in what I end up doing with the content once it's in there.

I'm also certain that the DocuPen would help a lot with handouts we only get to keep for the duration of a session: Using the RC800 I could create digital copies of the content right on the spot and even send the file(s) to my classmates - if you look at it this way, you wouldnt only be helping me, but also other students from my class(es) as well.

email: liquidblaze (at) gmail (dot) com
 

Hi All

Very cool gadget would love to have one.

I am a high school teacher and I would use the pen in my class to scan students notes and then display them on the projector and share the scanned work with the class. Which would allow myself and the class to work through forumulas with the rest of the class instead of trying to explain verbally where the errors are and make corrections. It would be an ongoing and visual learning tool. This would just be amazing in my classroom thanks for the opportunity.

Cheers, Jim
 

The DocuPen RC800 would be the second to last of the final cords to cut in my digital lifestyle. (The last would be a good, small, high quality printer).

I'm a professional illustrator and animator, and I'm often called upon to scan in contracts, and color art samples when I'm on the job.

The DocuPen RC800 would allow me endless access to source material, (The amazing Powell's books would soon become my new second home) and the ability to capture my own drawings in high resolution, to be edited on my laptop.

Any work that can't be done on the TabletPc natively, would be scanned in using the Docupen. It would be a huge bonus to be able to scan invoices, and contacts, using the OCR to fax things wirelessly as well.
 

I'm the Purdue flight student who did the uber-huge Tecra M4 review last summer. The M4 has proven to be absolutely wonderful in my classes, but there is one small problem: I've found that some of my professors LOVE handouts. I try to keep them in a folder until I can go back to my room and scan them into GoBinder (as part of my efforts at a mostly-paperless semester), but it's slow and cumbersome to hang onto them and then scan them later (if I don't lose them somewhere along the way). Worse, the professor who gives out the most handouts (averaging about 6-7 pages per class period, 3 days a week) likes to start lecturing off them right away. The RC800 would allow me to scan them on the fly and immediately start annotating in class.

More importantly, as part of our textbooks this year we have the Ryan International Airlines Boeing 727 Operations Manuals, volumes 1 and 2. They are HUGE, containing hundreds of pages of diagrams and charts and well exceeding 10 lbs in weight. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to put them in my backpack and have room for anything else. Normally we just have to get by without them or take small sections out of the binders to bring to class or our 727 Simulator class, but I have been trying to scan all of them to PDFs and keep them in the M4. The greatest problem with that is that they are all double sided, so even with a scanner that can feed pages, it is very difficult to scan all of them and then re-sort them back into proper order later. With the RC800, I'd be able to scan each of the roughly 1800 pages in order as a picture and then use my OCR software to put them all together as a PDF for each chapter.

I could also use it to scan worksheets that we do in class and have to turn in during that same class period, preserving the data to study from later.

When I have a document or graphic to send back to the home office in Chicago (I work from school occasionally), I would be able to scan and send it right away without having to wait to go back to my room at the end of the day (when the office has long-since closed for the evening) and scan it there.

In conclusion, having a DocuPen RC800 would make it reasonably possible (and efficient) for me to go from a mostly-paperless system to an almost-entirely-paperless system, which would keep me much more organized and allow me to more fully enjoy the Tablet experience.

email: FlyingShawn@yahoo.com
 

As a medical student (soon-to-be-surgical intern), a portable scanner would help bridge the gap between paper and electronic patient records. A fair portion of my day is spent copying information from various paper sources. One of the challeges I have faced with my TPC is getting paper into electronic form when I am not near my flatbed scanner. On-the-fly scanning would save me time and wear-and-tear of the pockets of my white coat ;)

bpiltz-at-u-dot-washington-dot-edu
 

It would have more impact if the pen fit into my LE1600's pen slot and had the digitizer/eraser features ie full Wacom pen. The Pen slot has no inductive charger but it sure would be a killer feature if Motion and DocuPen got together on this.

I could then whip it out at the start of a paper meeting, scan in all the documents handed out, press a button and have them beamed into OneNote then spend the rest of the meeting marking them up in OneNote with the pen.

But I guess it could still be a positive impact even as "one more thing to remember carry with me and keep charged".

Email: scotty1024< at >mac.com
 

Well, I just bought a new sahara tablet pc and was hoping keep my binder completly paperless but it is proving to be rather difficult since my professors keep giving us 5-10 handouts plus articles to read everyday. They also print out and give us their power point presentations for the day which makes them pretty much useless for me since i cant scan them right as i get them. I am an Occupational Therapy major at a tiny school. I am the only person who brings a computer to class and probably one of the only people on campus who has a tablet pc. Most students dont know what it is. Eventually i want to work with assistive technologies and a portable scanner would definitly fall under that category.
I would love to see the look on my professors face when i start scanning documents in a 15 person class and putting them on the tablet. It would also be useful once i get into clinical settings as i would be able to scan patient notes and records in and have some of the premade forms already on the tablet to fill out.

Plus its pretty lol

swimrgurl@gmail.com
 

Hey, first of all thank you so much for giving everyone this opportunity. Even if I don't get it I am still grateful for having a chance to get it. THANKS!

Well, I would use this fantastic gadget to scan in my paper based notes (I am a University student). Also it would be great for library research as I would be able to scan references and citations from different sources which would make the research process a whole lot easier and my studying a fun activity.

I guess I would find plenty of other uses for DocuPen as well. But I am sure of one thing. I would use it a lot!!!

All the best,
David
David_inbox@hotmail.com
 

Hey Rob,

So you are a big rich guy today, huh! Giving away scanner pens and stuff!! You probably don't even remember me anymore.

Well, we went to the same school, and throughout school, I'd give you my notes to copy from. I even stayed up to make you copies of my chemistry notes. But Alas! It seems you don't recognize me. Perhaps you would if you saw my handwriting!!!

Give me the damn scanner, that way I can make copies of my chemistry notes and hand it out to my students, who like most young guys nowadays need notes sent to their tablet computers. Rob, you owe it to me, you owe it to the students I teach and you owe it to society! And if you still don't remember me, send me the scanner I'll send you the darned notes that you wanted so badly in school! Hmmmph!!


Contact me at banarijit@yahoo.com
 

Together with an ocr sofware and my IBM X41 I could:
1. Copy newspaper and magazines articles(the interesting ones like harper's magazine or speciuality journals not the mainstream garbage) are one of the few things that don't come in digital format and are going to create a lot of use for this scanner for me (I can annotate adn send them to my brother/friends overseas and chat with him about the content).
2. Posts on public boards (rentals/buy and sell/shows/services) at my grocery shop, swimming and skating arena and community center(I use a cellphone camera now, but it's not working too good).
3. Barcode/receipt/bill and bank statement archival tool preserver (sometimes I throw out too much paper stuff that I might later need). I would probably implement an archival application with time/date based cleanup, annotation support for comments, and export capability (I write software for living ;)
4. Artcover for CDs/DVDs that I borrow and rip on the fly.
5. Try to find some usage in the medical field (I'm doing medical imaging software and work for a very large US pharmaceutical distributor) so the hospitals could buy it. I'm thinking at least about barcodes for medication checkup and inventory stuff.
 

Simply enough, a scanner like that would provide me with everything I need to stay out of my dorm room for an entire day. Currently I must head back to my room in order to scan important documents, but with this pen I would be able to carry it alongside my tablet and even go so far as to digitally annotate my professors documents in class. Finally, a pen like that would help prevent my remarkably leaky memory from messing me up in forgetting homework. TabletCorry A@T gmail d0t c0m
 

The first thing that came to my mind was "Wow, wouldn't my colleagues be jealous if I got THAT new toy!!" I'm a woman who’s known for loving electronic gadgets more than most men. I'm proud to say, I have a daughter who craves these types of toys as much as I do. This is something we could both use.

There are endless uses for such a useful scanner around the office and in meetings. Oh the time I would save not having to transpose all the notes I've written during meetings into my computer (no, I do not have a tablet in my electronic gadget toy box yet). Then there's school...I've returned to school to finish my degree. Scanning in research materials alone would significantly improve my life by saving me time and money. I've spent far too much time dropping my hard in quarters into the copy machine in the library...not to mention the time spent arguing with the copy machine when it decided it was tired and wanted a break when I was pressed for time! This really is a great gadget and if I don't win it...maybe Santa will bring me one next year!!

Take care, and thanks for the fun contest!

Sharon
sskodnik@Adelphia.net
 

Wow, what a great bunch of responses, and a great many ideas I would love to incorporate into my future plans.

I am currently on a quest. A quest to unify my personal, travel and work life digitally. I plan to do that with an ultra-portable Tablet PC. At home it will be a remote control, accessory and compliment to my main system, as a window to it but with complete portability. In my car, with a mount and wireless USB in the near future, it will be a carputer, with custom playlists, GPS navigation. At work it will be my organizational structure for my job, note-taking device supreme and tool to achieve more. What will the DocuPen RC800 add to this? The ability to make information in any of these environments portable, and more importantly, accessible. While I am currently saving money for this digital lifestyle transformation (the Tablet PC purchase) I have already been looking for just this, device with other devices of a similar nature, small, portable, and practical ways to get information into the Tablet PC.
 

Hello Rob:
I wanted to give you thanks for offering this contest out of the goodness of you heart. I'm sure the prize will go to some deserving soul even if it might not be me.

How it would help my digital life style? Hmmm tremendously, I'm a student. Secondly, I'm hoping to become a paralegal.

As a student being able to be paperless would be a tremendouls advantage. Handouts could be scanned and forgotten. The fact that this scanner scans in color means I can get an accurate representation of whatever I'm scanning. If I go to the library looking for information then I can scan the information into my computer.

This scanner would serve me for many years to come. The legal profession is a career of pushing paper. Being able to scan documents and write on them with my tablet would be astounding and maybe I can change the environment around me to adapt my system. it would save me a large amount of time. I think this combo of scanner and tablet would be the unstoppable.

Thanks for the listen and God Bless,
Andrew
chong@cogeco.ca
 

To put it simply Rob, I am a graduate student and a parent, trying to mininize the amount of "stuff" in my life (stuff = papers, articles, journals, etc.) I have recently purchased a tablet PC in my efforts to become more "paperless". With the DocuPen, I could scan in my daily lab data, which would allow me to work on it at home, without making copies of it. This in turn would allow me to get home sooner, spend more time with my family and heck, I may save a few trees in the process. The ability to scan in data / information from trips and confrences would also be a welcome alternative to lugging home all of that paper propaganda! Thanks for your consideration and gererosity.

Bryan
bms23@buffalo.edu
 

I am a new Christian and i would use the scanner in both schools i am attending, nursing and Bible college. I have notes to take like any other student. I can see it working very nicely on scripture compilations, and also on my nursing notes and researching.

I would use the pen for one thing, to glorify God!
I can see a potential to use the scanner as our class does rounds in the clincs, nursing homes or rescue missions, to open doors for the gospel story. When nurses, doctors or patients ask, "What is that thing," I can do like Matthew 28:19 says, and tell the story of Jesus and how He gives people like me , an ex-alcoholic/drug addict/self-centered jerk, a new life, one that now has praise unto God on my lips, He has even given me a new spirit and I can't quit talking about what He has done, not only for me, but my alcoholic/ drug addict brother, who was saved 2 months before me. We are both in our fifties and back at school, thank you Jesus! I can think of no better thing to do with a gift than to glorify God. I am just learning this Bible and I am still a rookie, but I have the new heart God has given me and I have to tell others about what He did for me, if I didn't, it would be the same as accessory to homicide. I have already been blessed just being able to write this note,,, and you know as well as I do,,, you can't outgive God! Right!

pkirkll
workin' for Jesus now!
 

I am a historian and some of the archives in Latin America, where I do most of my research, do not have copiers that could help me expedite my work. I could use the RC 800 to copy from primary and secondary sources not available to me in America. The RC800 will also help me with the preparation for my courses.
 

How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?

I recently had back surgery and am limited in what I can carry. I purchased a toshiba M200 and am in love witht it! I find I need to carry little else. I am still a student but I also program to pay the bills. I frequently receive business cards and this pen would help me by letting me carry fewer items which would help the environment by not using up as much paper. I also frequently catalog things I own. I am a bit of an organization freak so scanning in titles and such would be far faster then my manually typing them in.

Oddly enough my Toshiba has helped me meet people. I am usually a bit reserved in that area but people come up to me all the time asking about it. I think this would also help me meet more people in the same fashion.

I could scan menus from places I frequent often, gas receipts, incorporate all that with quicken, and keep digital records instead of paper.

When in the library doing historical research this would be an incredible boon. Scanning articles, pictures, ISBN's and such for referencing when writing papers would be incredible!

Overall, I believe this would enhance my digitalization and move me forward on my goals to help the invironment by not having to copy everything on the copier.

Thank you for this opportunity:)
 

How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?

I recently had back surgery and am limited in what I can carry. I purchased a toshiba M200 and am in love witht it! I find I need to carry little else. I am still a student but I also program to pay the bills. I frequently receive business cards and this pen would help me by letting me carry fewer items which would help the environment by not using up as much paper. I also frequently catalog things I own. I am a bit of an organization freak so scanning in titles and such would be far faster then my manually typing them in.

Oddly enough my Toshiba has helped me meet people. I am usually a bit reserved in that area but people come up to me all the time asking about it. I think this would also help me meet more people in the same fashion.

I could scan menus from places I frequent often, gas receipts, incorporate all that with quicken, and keep digital records instead of paper.

When in the library doing historical research this would be an incredible boon. Scanning articles, pictures, ISBN's and such for referencing when writing papers would be incredible!

Overall, I believe this would enhance my digitalization and move me forward on my goals to help the invironment by not having to copy everything on the copier.

Thank you for this opportunity:)

hsnopi.at.hsnopi.net
 

I have a tablet PC so i prolly wont need this one. But if i won it i would tell you to, instead of ordering one for me, use the money to buy actual books and pens and donate them to little kids. that makes much more of an impact in my life than keeping in my pocket something this expensive but having little use for it.

EDIT: WHAT!!!?? I have to register to post comment????!!
EDIT 2: nevermind, i can post without registering now.

if you have more contest in future email me :D nietsni3 AT gmail.com, maybe i will be interested in other freebie that you throw out :D <3
 

Does James Bond have digital life style? :D
nguyenphucthuan AT gmail.com
 

Rob--

First, thanks for creating a very interesting contest. I've enjoyed reading through the other entries, and I don't envy your task of choosing from among them.

I teach writing at a community college, and I ask students to bring their stories and poems to class in some digital form--email, thumbdrive, cd-r, etc. I use a Tablet PC and project their work onto a large screen where we edit and comment as a class. I can then send the result to the student via email or save it to his or her transport medium, when possible.

Problems arise when a student either forgets to bring a thumbdrive or when a floppy won't work. In those cases, which come up in nearly every class, it would be great to have an RC800 to scan the story, poem, or essay right in class. Our current practice is to have the student read the paper, but the rest of us cannot see the writing, which limits the help we can give the student with his or her writing.

Thanks again for the opportunity.

Tim Trask
timtrask at verizon.net
 

That has to be the niftiest device ever concieved.

I'm a art student going to the Savannah College of Art and Design in the Sequintial Art department. I don't know how many times I've completed a small comic or concepts for my homework and simply lost the notes/sketches/etc sometime later. This device would drastically improve my ability to organize my thoughts and allow me to post them more freely on my new website I just started.

amuck50@gmail.com
 

This will revolutionize my life because I won't have to go to the copier to scan my butt anymore, so my odds of getting fired will be much less.

anonymass
 

Rob, This evening I told Marc Orchant that I was trying to think up a compelling reason why you should pick me. I joked that I hoped my reason would be more compelling than whatever Tracy could think up.

I think that Tracy would be an excellent person to get the pen, not only for the personal use she may put it to, but also for the value she would add to the TPC community by blogging about her experiences using it.

As for me. I simply want to know if you've found an easy to to import the scanned images in near-real-time into Acrobat and OneNote
 

"How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?"

As a soon-to-be-finished student i switched to a Tablet PC this year to cut the paperwork. A RC800 would help me greatly with establishing a total paper-less student life by scanning directly all references, papers and illustrations i come across during everyday work as well as keeping track of meeting handouts in the different projects i'm part of.

Additionally, as a network technician, it would be a great help to scan relevant parts of technical specifications and/or handbooks of the different hardware i have to configure and support.

All in all it would be a great, easy and stylish way to become more digital in cutting all paperwork and collecting all necessary documents on one central place.
Maybe i can even convince some of my coeds to switch their current behaviour of collecting handwritten papers and keeping track of them in big and ugly binders.

email: x |AT| xarumanx.net
 

i could stop ripping up book pages from the library!
honestly, it could help me stop spending hours rewriting the library with my tc1100. yes, touchscreen handwriting is good,even better than keyboard maybe,but not that good!

xixixix0001@yahoo.com
 

The pen would be very helpful in my daily work. As a pension consultant, there are many times when I need to go to an employers site and enroll new employees into their 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), or 457 plan.

This entails completing a two page (typically) enrollment form, complete with personal data, beneficiary information, etc.

I then gather all the enrollments and bring them back to the office where the service staff manually inputs all of the data on the form into our administration system.

They are basically doing what I have already done!

If I can't have the application on my tablet, which is what I really want (they could even sign the enrollment form), then the ability to scan the enrollment into my tablet would eliminate the clerical step 2.

Rather than have the service staff re-do what I've done, wouldn't it be great if I could just scan the form and directly upload the enrollments into the admin system.

This would literally save us about 40 hours of work per week! That is 2000 hours per year! At $20 per hour (it's more than that, really), that would save us $40,000 per year PLUS we would avoid the inevitable occassional error that we get when the forms are manually input.

Rob, wouldn't you like to have such a meaningful impact on a firm?What a great device for us!
 

As I am working on my dissertation, the DocuPen RC800 would allow me to quickly scan quotes and paragraphs from journal articles and books so that I could continue reading, yet retain critical ideas to be used when writing. I would be able to focus more on what is being read as opposed to having to stop and write down either 1) the reference information or 2) the actual quote, idea, etc w/ an explanation of how it applies to my topic before continuing to read. More fluent reading -> better understanding -> better dissertation.

email - nickhoda(AT)hotmail.com
 

drool! drool!

it would have a deep impact, rest assured pops ;) naah, i think you are better off giving it away to one of the other guys who really need it. just posting to make up the numbers :p

ciao
demi
 

I'm a home inspector. For efficiency, I use a tablet computer, a digital camera and a portable, color inkjet printer on the job. I'm able to take pictures of trouble I find, import them into the report software and print out color reports for my customers all before I leave the their house.
On the job:
This pen scanner would allow me to scan model numbers, serial numbers and bar codes off of appliances. I'll be looking for a way to automatically import the info into the governments "item recall" database to find out if any appliances were recalled for safety issues. I'll also use it to scan and save credit card information and any other personal info I made need on file from my clients.
At home:
I would probably carry this pen scanner with me all the time. I'm always finding new information in magazines and newspapers that I'm either tearing out or copying with the old faithful pen and paper. This would allow me to copy and organize my mad pile of notes and clippings.
I see unlimited possibilites with something like this. I'm sure I'll think of even more things as time progresses.
Good luck to all, and a big Thank You to Rob Bush for this opportunity to win something as cool as this.
dmacenterprises@bellsouth.net
 

I am an entrepreneur, consultant, and writer. I deal in Information and ideas. My accumulation of such data is too vast to deal with handwritten slips of paper. I know first hand the importance of digital information. The pace which information comes at me, which I find noteworthy is often too fast to capture with a pen.

Of critical importance is the processing this information. Is it of value to me now or later? Where does it fit in with other information? Does it support other data, or refute it? What analogical or deductive reasoning can I apply to it? How can I put it to use, and create value by knowing it, and sharing it at the right time with the right people?

I have taken to digital voice recording. Digital recording is good, but requires transcription later- double time. Often I need to capture things which are written. If information is already in written form, why would I want to record, only to later to have to write it again?

My experience has taught me that I need the right tools just like anyone else in their stock in trade. Just like the carpenter needs the hammer, nails, and saw. I need a laptop, Palm Treo 650, Digital recorder, internet, and good old fashion books. Add to that list the DocuPen RC800.

This pen would Rock-My-World as I would be one step closer to my goal of reserving my ink pen as strictly a tool for writing my signature as needed on checks, documents, etc.

Go ahead, Rock-My-World!

Saul Castellanos
Consultant, Entrepreneur, Writer
saul AT texas.net
 

I don't want to be considered because I don't feel I deserve one more than anyone else plus I could afford my own if I wanted. :)

BUT... I figured I would add to your comments anyway. I would love having something like this to scan receipts and stuff because I am completely disorganized when it comes to paper (but very organized when it comes to files) and I often misplace receipts that could be used for tax deductions.
 

How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?

This actually kind of a hard question for me to answer as my hope would be that for me, it's not about impacting my digital lifestyle as much as trying to create a digital lifestyle for my students.

I work as a science teacher with emotionally disturbed (ED) students -- kids with bipolar disorder, severe depression, anxiety disorders, severe ADD and ADHD, school avoidant kids (plus many of our students have learning disabilities on top of this) -- and we're a small school; only 36 kids in the entire school! My class size is between 3 and 7 kids! But, this also means we don't always have the tools that large public schools have the budget for. I'm the only science teacher for the entire school, and the youngest (25) so a lot of the integrating technology part of education falls on me since many of the other, older teachers simply aren't that knowledgable.

I try to integrate technology into my lessons, not just for learning's sake, but because our students have been left behind in tradional methods that aren't eye-catching because they are so internally distracted and because they are frequently more visual learners who do better with things like powerpoint, videos, and internet tools. At the same time, I try to teach them study skills that they can carry back to public schools if they make it there, and eventually college. This has meant talking to them about effective computer use (Google is great but doesn't write the report for you, just gives you resources :) )

So, I try and show them tools that are out there that they can take advantage of. Kids hate reading textbooks, but make a webpage out of it, and they're there. They'll lose their homework and misplace study guides, but know where all their documents are saved on the computer. We have a handful of computers in the classroom for them to use, but the tools to get their normal written work onto the computer so easily?!?! It would blow their mind. I think that if a lot of our kids knew they could go totally digital, they would. Their generation simply prefers it. I've even had in depth discussions with them about making their next computer a tablet pc (although we can't afford those for the school) just so they could do MORE digitally. They always love that idea.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'd use it too. Being able to scan their papers to show good examples to the class, keeping electronic copies of papers after I hand them back so that I can refer back to them, and scanning student documentation! You'd be amazed how much paperwork we copy, file, and write for every single student. Some of these students have their own file cabinet drawer (2 feet deep) of documentation on their disabilities, therapy notes, and case histories. Every teacher keeps a copy of the student's Individual Education Plan and other paperwork, but imagine if we could go digital! Not to mention scanning examples from old texts for future use in presentations and the like.

Honestly, the number of uses within our setting is almost countless, but like I said, it's not about just impacting a current digital lifestyle as trying to create one for some good kids.

Thanks for the chance at this.

--Aaron

aaron DOT m DOT bernstein AT gmail DOT com
 

Very nice product, especially because its portability. I would like to have one to facilitate my work.
 

This would affect my digital lifestyle as i will be going to university in the fall. I would be able to use it during classes to scan things from the text book. Plus it would totally make me cool with all the ladies! Hit me up at 12.oh.four@gmail.com!
 

I think the problem with most of the comments I've read so far is that they all focus on why scanning is good. A lot of what has been mentioned already can be done with existing scanners. This is the Docupen RC800 from Planon, folks! It is significantly different from every other scanner released to date!

So I'm going to be a little different here. Rather than just talk about how living the portable paperless lifestyle is good, I'm going to comment more on why the DocuPen RC800 appears to be, in theory, the first nearly ideal scanner for this purpose.

I spent a couple of days digging into portable scanners about a month ago. None of them really met the bar for me. The DocuPen was closest, but lacking in some areas. First of all, previous iterations of the DocuPen have been substandard in that the scans were in black and white (NOT greyscale) and were limited to 200dpi and tiny amounts of memory. 2MB? Come on. 300 dpi is also usually recommended for OCR scanning. You would have real trouble scanning for OCR or trying to get a high quality grab of anything with a picture in it with older versions of the DocuPen.

Now that the DocuPen RC800 is out, we have a whole new ballgame. It scans at 400dpi and in true color. In addition, it has the ability to accept a MicroSD card so that it can actually hold a decent amount of scans. Like its predecessors, it charges via USB so that you don't have to lumber around with an extra AC adapter. Wow! As you can see, they knocked the ball out of the park spec wise, as you now really have, in theory, a portable high quality scanner that can fully accessorize your tablet with a minimal travel size and weight impact.

The pen form factor is extremely important as well, and one thing I haven't seen mentioned. Folks, this is so very important. Most portable scanners nowadays are sheet fed. That means you can feed paper through, but if you want to scan a magazine or page from a book, you are up the creek without a paddle. This is why the release of the RC800 could be a watershed event for portable scanning. The hand scanner pen format allows you to scan virtually anything you want. Not just loose single sheet paper.

There is one area where the DocuPen RC800 falls short, mostly by practical limitations. And that is high volume scanning of magazines or books. If you have a need for both portable scanning and heavy duty scanning work, then you might need both the RC800 and a dedicated scanner at home for books and magazines. I don't view this as a knock on the DocuPen RC800, since it has a specific purpose in life and it has the potential to do that job very well.

So in summary, yes, I want to live the paperless lifestyle just like everyone else. I would use the DocuPen RC800 to scan printed meeting notes from others, important mailings, brochures at conferences, and interesting pages from books and articles from magazines when I'm at the bookstore. I would use the power of the computer to organize, consolidate, and backup that information in a far better fashion than regular paper ever could. The trick is knowing why the RC800 fits the bill so much better than previous attempts at this vision.

Finally, if I had a DocuPen RC800, I'd write a full review on my blog examining whether the RC800 lives up to the potential it holds, or if it ultimately gets held back by other details that one often assumes should work, but don't in a new product.

Written by rkuo[AT]snapstream.com
http://www.rkuo.com
 

Man, that is exactly what I've been looking for! I am an aspiring blogger and writer and this little wonder would help me to be more productive when doing research. Currently I have to type anything in that I want to transfer from paper to digital format -- what a pain sometimes.

I work with scanners everyday (the mid-size workgroup kind and the big production level guys) and have a great appreciation of the power to simply scan data into a system and turn it into meaningful information. This would make it possible to do so on a completely different level.

gods.geek [at] gmail.com
 

I would love to own this pen scanner. I am an employee of a small software company. My long run goal is to create an organisation that will focus on solving problems of helpless people. I am not talking about a social welfare organisation that goes on providing charity services for decades. I am talking about a firm with top notch management that will ask itself "why cannot people perform at their best and do justice to this life by being happy". For this purpose, I am doing my MBA in the coming months and this pen scanner will help me tremendously in scanning all of my certificates/marksheets and other documents. Thanks for this oppurtunity! email: shainu@gmail.com
 

My job as a Human Resources Director, in a non-profit charity, puts me in regular contact with workers and groups that generally have older or outdated technology at their disposal. It would be great to be able to take paper documents and turn them into digital files that would be easier for them to work with or to send electronically.

ian.mckenzie at gmail.com
 

A DocuPen RC800 pen scanner will impact my life in the way that it will allow me to be more efficient in the way I work. I am an electronic engineering student, in my final year; and spend a lot of time on my final year project. This involves reading technical papers, or writing code, formulae or reading PDFs, and of course taking notes. Having this pen will become up Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) between the stuff I do on a computer, and the things I do on paper! :) Definately will help in my final year project!

email: x@y.z
where x = soroshjavidi
y = hotmail
z = com
 

I'm in a Rock band, and I'm starting to work on our web site. With a scanner like this, It'd really be easy to scan photos and artwork (maybe even body parts) from wherever - even at one of our gigs!

ron.call [at] gmail.com
 

Here's where the docupen would help in my work: My job is in linguistics - taking an unwritten language figuring it out , determining the best way to write it given the situation, and then developing literacy materials in order to teach the folks to read (ok-so it takes years...). This means I live in remote areas working from laptops + solar power (I'm going bock with a Tablet!!). Transportation is a challenge and bulky devices are not an option. One thing that I hate is the grit (my last project was south of the desert in Africa & dust blows into everything). It grinds under your pen when writing & grits under your fingers when reading. I would LOVE to reduce this by being able to store more documents (like official government communication reports + papers) electronically. Also, there are No local photocopy machines within a couple days travel, so currently, if a collegue has something helpful to my project, ] need to copy it by hand or wait till one of us has a chance to get to a city.
That same scarcity of photocopiers leads to long delays. In a Place where mail takes months to years instead of days (my personal record is an item received 3yeas and 6 months after post-mark), ANYTIME something can be stored immediately or sent by email, it is an advantage. Remember the days before photocopiers were in libraries? It's still like that in many places.
But one of the neatest things I can see doing with such a device is with literacy. Currently, we can silk-screen materials locally, but illustrations are limited to stock images on hand. I prefer local illustrations, but that is a long process (couple months turn-around)of encouraging drawings, collecting them, getting them to a city, to the printer, back from the printer, and back out to the village. Just think how neat it world be to be able to scan pictures in on the spot and distribute something within a couple days! Wouldn't that be encouraging to local artists/contributors?
myoddends (at) hotmail.com
 

I'm a poor 16 year old taking a full load of college classes via dual enrollment. I only got my Tablet PC through two VERY lucky events. Without those I'd probably never be able to find/afford one until well after college. I am very interested in reducing my load as much as possible. I have to commute to college everyday (~1 hour each way via the city busses), and therefore have to lug around all my books for several hours in my bookbag that's probably not going to last the rest of the school year. Being able to scan my textbooks and those loseable handouts into my Tablet would really be helpful. There's no way I could even afford a regular scanner (I don't even have a printer yet) and I have yet to find a public scanner to use.

The pen's small size will also be useful for when I move out to go to a 4 year college and beyond. Also it will be interesting to see all those people curious about what I'm doing with it.

-Timothy

biolizard_alpha (at) yahoo.com
 

holy crap...im almost speechless...its the next best technology after the Tablet PC itself!!! I, of course, had to check the Docupen website out to check out all the features. Im utterly amazed. Ohhhhh if I could only send you the pictures of what this could do for me and my job !! haha. You should see my office and lack of space I have to deal with due to 'paper' clutter. And what a great person you are for donating one !! I found the TabletBible site and immediately sent it to my boss and a few other coworkers (we all have tablets). Amazing stuff!! Thanks for sharing !!
em: angele1966ATmsnDOTcom =)
 

I recommend you donate this device to the Veterans Administration. I anticipate it could be used to improve care, education, and record keeping. As the chief of orthopaedic surgery at the West L.A. Veterans Administration Healthcare Center I am fortunate to have access to all digital radiology and to use an electronic healthcare record, but my access to hardware is limited, and my duties take me throughout a hospital, a freestanding clinic, and to scattered meetings. This device would allow us to integrate clinical photographic images (that are not currently created digitally here), and integrate medical records and forms that originate outside of the VA system into the medical records of our veterans. In addition it would allow us to gather educational materials obtained in these far flung settings in a form that would allow us to more easily bring them to the point of care using a tablet or laptop computer.

Thank you,

Steven.Zeitzew@med.va.gov
 

I am a high school science teacher that is currently teaching biology and earth science. My digital lifestyle in the classroom includes the use of computers, PowerPoint, Excel for grade, Word for everyday typing, FrontPage, several brands of test creation software, LCD projector, computerized microscope camera, a digital camera.
I update my website daily with the homework assignments worksheets, notes, lab handouts, movies and games and also the occasional online test and WebQuest.
The resources I use tend not to fit the states science curriculum (NY). I utilize a flatbed scanner every day when I get home from work as I update the homework, and OCR a lot of worksheets, text books pages, my own notes to save and build a data base of materials that I can manipulate in the future to keep things fresh for the current students and to make changes for next year.

With the DocuPen RC800, I would be able to utilize my planning periods at work by having the ability to scan before I come home. There would be many hours of extra work saved. The pleasure to not have to fit a book on a scanner and the luxury when scanning a picture not to have to complete the tweaking of rotating, cropping and especially waiting for the scanner to preview then have to make a second pass to scan.

In the classroom I would use the DocuPen RC800, (Optimally 4 of them), for the students to scan their homework worksheet on the way to their seats. This would allow me to make snippets and type back comments, and most importantly keep a running record for communicating with parents and their Childs quality of work. It would also be great to have my excel grade book with links to the actual assignment turned in by the student. It would be easier for me to then keep track of issues with particular questions, trends on questions students tend to get incomplete, or tend to avoid.

Until then I would use the one it to do quick scan of pieces of homework on my daily homework check around the room, my daily 2 question quizzes, and especially for keeping track of data tables, graphs, observations, and drawing from the various lab groups… All of which once digitized is quickly accessible for the day’s homework review, and lab data analysis………
 

I forgot to include my email address...

mrgale@mrgale.com

website: biology.mrgale.com
 

Hi Rob,

Thanks for taking the time to review my response among the sea of responses. And of course, for making this into a contest!

A bit about me, I am a freelance designer. You couldn't imagine how many times I have heard from a client, 'this is my only copy of this.' Leaving it up to me to take it to Kinkos to be scanned/copied or take home and pray it doesn't get ruined in some freak accident inside my home office.

As you can see, the DocuPen RC800 would be a perfect companion for me. And in the future, I could whip out the pen and say 'no worries, let me scan a copy for myself now.' The client would be dazzled and impressed. And I would be saved the trip and or heartache of being responsible of their 'only' copy of their company logo/brochure/postcard, you get the idea.

Thanks again for having the contest!!

Sincerely,

Designer Diane
dlconnell@gmail.com
 

Hi Rob,

While I use an OpticBook 3600 scanner for my textbooks and papers, I am in several lab science classes this semester. I will continue to be in laboratory and clinical settings once I graduate at the end of this semester.

I need to do quite a bit of research related to these upper division courses. This includes research in documents as old as 150 years old! Being able to scan segments of these documents with the pen would make my research a bit easier. I also can't scan some textbooks, since they get thicker as I go farther into my education! (Why is that? You'd think when you get more specialized, the textbooks would get thinner!).

One thing that I will do is to also share this scanning ability with fellow students. Many have seen my TPC, and my scanned materials, and want to be able to do the same thing. By allowing them to scan in items, the DocuPen will allow me to show them how technology can enable them to perform better in their coursework and their lives. Share the wealth, right?

Renee Roberts
 

I want one - Please!! That would help me out soo much. I am currently a student about to transfer to another unknown university. I am double majoring in Biology and Art with hopes to be a medical illustrationist. That pen based scanner would be such a blessing. Currently the only thing I have for a scanner is a very large very useless three in one printer, scanner, copier, the only part of it that works now is the scanner, so I have this massive thing in my room taking up what little space I have. So anytime I need to scan anything into my Tablet, I have to lug it down off the shelf. This is not good when you are trying to go paperless, not good at all. But with me being a poor college student I can't afford to upgrade. A pen based scanner would be wonderful, I could scan the parts of books I need instead of the entire thing, because lets face it, they put a lot of useless information in some textbooks that I never use. I am also running out of room to store old files, but the pen based scanner could keep me from needing to expand my files. I also scrapbook, and being able to scan memorabilia fast and easy would be great. Another thing that would help me out is being able to scan quotes and sayings I run across instead of losing bits of paper everywhere when I dont have my tablet. Oh, and being able to scan important bits of what I read for school and having that all in one location would also be so very helpful.

Basically, I'm not the most organized person, and I am struggling for space. A pen based scanner would help me to become more organized and aide me in going paperless.

iampinkandorange AT hotmail DOT com
 

First off I have to say I'm the most broke college student on the planet. My net worth right now has to be in the -10k. I would love to have a scanner pen like that for all the handouts my teachers keep on giving. Plus I'm currently start to work on my senior thesis and I'm in the library non-stop. It would be soo much easier to just scan the information that I need and processing the information into my thesis.

Thanks for the chance,

Michelle :)
 

Greetings, Rob.
In a spirit of appreciation for unexpected opportunities that present themselves, I thank you for this one.

I've read your postings for quite some time on Tablet PC Buzz, which is how I came upon your contest...

I am returning to school, full-time, after about 25 years to become a social worker. I became unemployed (publishing) in early November when my company relocated my department to NYC and commuting 2.5 hours each way finally became untenable and lessened the quality of my life considerably.

I didn't complete my degree way back when--I could never decide what I wanted to do, many subjects interested me, and I wasn't inclined to embrace corporate culture--so I return to college now with excitement but a few traces of self-doubt about my ability to organize myself and be an effective learner. About 6 years ago I was diagnosed with ADD and this explained much to me though, thankfully, I've done pretty well compensating for many years.

Facing life as a student isn't something I thought I'd ever be willing to do again but I do now believe I can make certain sacrifices, financially and materially, and come out well, if not stronger, in the end. I am eager to rejoin the workforce again in a few years with my MSW(!) and assist in whatever ways I can people that need support and hope. And there are many.

I've been a tablet pc user for over two years, having purchased my Fujitsu in December '03. FYI, I use the Cross pen stylus for handwriting and find the typing option extremely useful as well. I love the convertablity of my tablet.

Anyway, I start classes on Monday (44 hours and counting down). I downloaded Agilix GoBinder Lite to set up an electronic binder and possibly for the calendar component. I have not had a chance to use the DocuPen 800 but I believe from what I've seen that it would be an enormously useful organizing tool to use for studying (i.e. pulling together the plethora of print material that will grow from each course, from handouts to library research).

Anyway, I feel rather self-conscious, frankly, putting myself into the running for this scanner pen as there are a number of other people that would make good use of it, for sure. But, on the realistically selfish side, I won't be able to afford this device and do think it could contribute significantly to being a successful student and I want that.

Rob, if I found that the pen isn't as useful as I envision it would be, I would want to return it to you to "re-gift" or otherwise offer it to someone else for free.

Anyway, I blab on.

Thank you!

Lisa
 

Ooops! How undigital of me!
Lisa = lisamusing@comcast.net
 

What a nifty gadget!

Here's how I would use it:

1. I'm studying for actuarial exams. As such, I end up needing to tote around quite a bit of material in order to be able to study when opportunity presents (at home, at the office, on the road).

While getting my notes and practice exams into OneNote for portability was easy, the bigger challenge is the textbooks into electronic format. I could scan them, but scanning 1000+ pages of reading material is extremely time-consuming, and somewhat wasteful.

I'd love to be able to make my first-pass read of the material while scanning, to maximize efficiency.

2. I telecommute and travel quite a bit for work, and I haven't quite trained my coworkers that paper is bad, especially for one who travels and needs to "tote". I'd love to digitize the odd papers I collect along the way...but sadly, full-sized scanners are a little large and bulky for someone who frequently lives out of a single carry-on bag. And I haven't yet convince either the purchasing division of our IT department, or the purchasing division of my household (my wife) that paper=bad, ultraportable scanning gadget=good.

3. In my travels for work, I frequently have meetings. And fortunately, our corporate culture is such that it's recognized as being efficient for only one person to take notes at these meetings, and then distribute xeroxed copies afterwards.

The time I acted as secretary for the meeting, attendees loved that I was able to take my OneNote notes, print them to a pdf, and mail them out. However, unfortunately neither Microsoft's handwriting recognition nor my coworker's eyes are all that good at deciphering my chicken-scratching.

I'd love to pdf-ify someone else's notes...and maybe start weaning the coworkers off of paper.

Michael Adams
mda@triskele.com
 

Thanks for giving someone, perhaps me, this opportunity. I have been looking for a product like the DocuPen for a long time. As a law student I would put this product to great use.

Right now I use my tablet, a Fujitsu 4010D for just about everything, from writing memos to taking notes. I love the pen based input and take all my class notes using handwriting.

Here’s the problem, I often need to take information straight out of a case or from my casebooks. Since these are often lengthily I usually type them, this means that I have to flip the screen around and use the keyboard. This can be a pain especially when I am trying to take notes as well. With the DocuPen I could just scan the parts I need and then insert them right into OneNote.

Another use would be to scan in syllabuses and class handouts. Often my profs will hand out problem sets or cases in class. Unfortunately they don't often provide a digital version of these. With a DocuPen I would be able to instantly scan these into my tablet and then answer the problems or mark up the cases right on my screen.

I could also use this in my personal life. I would love to be able to scan interesting things that I find and send them to my friends, or just be able to quickly and easily get information off of a business card or out of a book.

Thanks gain for the opportunity and I hope to hear form you

Scott Gifford
giffords@seattleu.edu
 

As an electrical contractor out on the field with the Docupen RC800, I could scan small customer floor plans, project specifications, contract specs. packing lists, and even COOLER equipment labels from electric motors or other heavy-equipment with lots of technical data that other wise in cramped tight spaces with low light is difficult to see and get to including electrical panel directories ect... Once I arrived back to my truck I would upload the scans to my tablet pc One Note customer file, or email them to the office so they could order the parts I needed w/o making more trips to the back to the shop. This would save lots of time and loss of notes and paperwork in my busy and not always possibly organized truck. (Cool Idea!)

Grant Wolf
grantwolf@msn.com
 

Hi!

So how would a pen based scanner like the RC800 would impact my digital lifestyle?

Well first of all I live in Pakistan where $299 amounts to Rs.18000, which I can't afford. So if I get it for free this would definitely be something way too important for me.

Secondly I am studying computers on my own. And I think that it will take a long time before I could earn so much that I could easily buy Zen Vision, Fujitsu P1510D, Microsoft's Ergonomic Keyboard, Wacom's Cintiq 21UX, some scanner, Ebook Gold and Macromedia's Flash Professional(Ya this is a short version of my wish list). So I think that I am quite thirsty for this free pen scanner.

neoxeekhrobe@gmail.com.
 

Wow. It would greatly reduce the amount of paper I use and also the amount of time I use afterwards for scanning and selecting the bits I need. This would in turn also benefit the teachers I work with.

Please, let me win.

email: nielsen_birgit@hotmail.com
 

I could be like every other student on here and come at it from the stereotypical "Oh, it would make scanning things in class so much easier" drill, but honestly… You are probably going for originality, right?

I am here to tell you something. I would be doing YOU a favor by taking this off your hands. Honestly. In return for the DocuPen, I can guarantee that warm fuzzy feeling for at least 2 weeks (or longer!) Think about how much better you will feel, how energized, how instinctively clearer you will feel. Imagine the possibilities. You will have increased focus. Your productivity will increase 12.2% (approximately).

Each night while you lay down in bed, you can remember back to the day you awarded that poor preacher's son that amazing scanner pen. You will think back to how, through your gift, you had made his med-school experience much more fluid. The young boy you helped will be able to copy notes in rapid speeds of 4 seconds a page. He will be able to store 100 pages, freeing him from the bulky scanner. When you are downtrodden, remember how you increased a young man’s productivity in the collegiate libraries. Imagine him recording research effortlessly. Let it lift your spirits.

And what’s even better, years down the line, when this young doctor begins his work with Doctors Without Borders, you can remember that you (albeit indirectly) helped save the lives of thousands of children in the Congo area. All because you helped one poor college student.

As far as I see it, if you found a student like this, your choice would practically be made for you.

Now… Where could you find such a particular guy.

OH! ME ME ME! I am a college Pre-med student dead set on oversees doctorial missions. I am the guy who would benefit from increased scanning capabilities. I am already a tablet user (Toshiba Customized R10), and I use an outdated Scanner at the library when I need it. When I get things from professors I have to use an old digital camera. All of the other tablet pc kids laugh at me… You would be saving me immensely from the emotional scarring I am currently incurring.

So, in conclusion, lets recap why I would benefit from the DocuPen. First I am a poor college student who bums other people scanners. Two, I am a future med-school student who could use this to further my researching capabilities. Three, I plan to make the switch to paperless at least by next semester, and the DocuPen (I like the name) would help note taking and PDF conversions. Four, I am probably the most creative applicant. And you have to admit, if anyone was going to come up with a new and creative use for this scanner, it would be me, am I right? (That’s what I thought!)

-Daniel Hunley
thedanielbaer@aim.com

---------------------------------
By the way, I wanted to say that you deserve major kudos for this contest. It really displays a genuine generosity. Thanks Mr. Bushway.
 

Hi Rob ^_^.

As you well know, I've been attempting to go completely paperless, with a large amount of success, but I believe I could do better.

Obviously, a device like this is meant to aid the digital lifestyle for anyone who owns this scanner. With my influence in the student and Tablet PC world, the device would aid not only me, but all my readers searching for guidance in their purchases.

The scanner would be invaluable in class and on campus for the widely reported reasons of scanning handouts before losing them, annotating on the fly, capturing information not available for purchase (library research, flyers...), and making general scanning of tests, homework, and books easier and therefore more likely to happen.

What I'm uncertain of is the quality of the scanner. I can't recommend a scanner of this type to another student or professional simply because I have no clue if the theory of use would meet the standards of reality. At $299, no student can reasonably afford to "hope" the device fits their needs (including myself), or even imagine the needs they could use it for without a first-hand student review.

Also, as Eric Mack persuaded me to try, my new OneNote challenge would benefit leaps and bounds by this scanner. While playing with OneNote 12, I found the import image from scanner option, and the automatic OCR capabilities along with the DocuPen would be phenomenal. I'd love to report my results to the community.

If I receive this scanner, I promise, in return, an amazing review investigating any and all ways the device can be used in a paperless, Tablet PC user's world. Similar to the influence The Student Tablet PC has given to the OpticBook 3600, the DocuPen could be the next big thing for the paperless individual, possibly replacing the OpticBook (which would be a wonderful find).

Thanks for the contest! The collection of entries makes for a great read.
 

"How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?"

1)A normal day in a life of a student:

He has a bunch of semi folded papers, some handouts, some test results, just stuffed into his bag. he avoids to open that section of the bag, till the end of the week. While in review, he get a series of déjà vu s of the papers he flips thru. He doesn’t start studying for the first hour, just trying to orient himself. The 1800$ he spent on the tablet pc (toshiba m200) haunt him during the night as it all sounds like a lost piece of the puzzle.

2)A normal day in a life of a student after he wins the DocuPen RC800 at cutmeloose.com !! :

As soon as he gets his handouts in class, he pulls out the humble friend, from his shirt pocket, and with a few seconds, scans the handout to memory. Now instead of stuffing the paper into his bag, he keeps it during the class for review, once class is done; he shoots the crumbled paper for the bin placed at corner of the class. His classmates applauded to his amazing bravery. Before he leaves, he will sync his DocuPen with his tablet PC. Now the puzzle is finally complete and he lives happily ever after (not to mention graduates).

Just my short story,
M Suhail
 

Sorry Missed out my contact :)
suhaildesigns@gmail.com

M Suhail
 

Medical informatics is a rapidly growing specialty within the field of medicine itself. Biomedical devices and software devices populate the operating rooms, intensive care units, and outpatient private clinics throughout the world. Sophisticated systems for collecting information now exist as separate entities; continuous electrocardiography, non-invasive pulse oximetry, bedside ultrasonography. However, most of the management of our patients still consists of assimilating these vast amounts of clinical data into a cohesive image of disease. This image is often-times the basis of minute-by-minute life or death decisions. Unfortunately, the many information resources and systems today are disparate, and since no universal standardized medical terminology yet exists, and since few hospital systems have electronic medical records, the brunt of the work of synthesizing these many paper data into a cohesive structure fall squarely on the health care team, particularly the physician.

Medical historical data exist on a wide format of media; scribbled notes of advanced directives stating the final wishes of a terminal patient, long strips of abnormal cardiac rhythms of a newborn infant in the ICU, CDs of MRI images documenting the progression of a patients’ metastatic colon cancer. In order to best care for each of these patients in the 21st century, we must synthesize all these paper and electronic data in a way that other physicians can access them in a timely and efficient manner. The tablet computer is poised to enable physicians all over the world to access, literally at their fingertips, the health information of their patients and share it with each other in order fulfill this obligation. Being able to translate these varied paper sources into one electronic media will enable us to begin this path to universal access. Here is just one role of the RC800.

We as modern physicians taking care of the very ill, not only must navigate vast amounts of clinical and historical data to seek the best care for a single patient, we must also access relevant research in order to apply the best new treatments to all our future patients. This requires health care professionals to keep abreast of the latest publications and research, averaging to some 20 journal articles a day just to stay up-to-date—an impossible task. Electronic summarization of key parts of paper based publications would allow physicians to stay relatively more current in their treatment decisions. The RC800 could facilitate this process as well.

Medical research often requires many hours in the library sifting through stacks of journals and original ideas often come by the cross-pollination of people in different fields. This years Nobel Prize in medicine combined the observations of a physician treating gastric ulcers with the experiments of a microbiologist studying a unique organism. Cross-pollination requires being able to share ideas with each other. Ideas generated on a piece of paper for a new device or treatment could be quickly scanned and sent to many possible collaborators creating a new avenue for interaction and innovation.

My digital life, and more importantly the lives of my patients, could change permanently in all these ways by having a device like the RC800, I am sure such devices will become ubiquitous as we begin the transition to a paperless world. Thanks for bringing it so much attention.

Jayant
jayantsteps@gmail.com
 

As a historian at a small public college that places an equal emphasis on teaching and research, the DocuPen will enhance my ability to make these two worlds come together.

I spend a little too much time in dusty archives pouring over old letters, documents, pictures, journal notes, magazine advertisements, etc. If a document is of interest, I ask the librarian to photocopy it. While this is fine for my personal research, it doesn't suffice for bringing those documents to my students, engaged as they are in the world of rich visual media. The DocuPen would vastly enhance my teaching by helping me to bring high quality documents to the classroom--a vlauable, if not the most valuable, pedagogical strategy for teaching history.

Gary Kroll
gary.kroll@plattsburgh.edu
 

This would be one cool tool as I travel the state, visiting our field offices. When I find information which the other offices could use, I usually have to lug the books, magazines, etc. back to our office, scan and post to our server or print and mail to all the field offices. This pen scanner would save my back, shorten the turn-around time to get the information into the hands/computers of those who need it.
 

WOW...as one of the "grandad" generation into technological improvements, I would love to have one of those DocuPen RC800 pens to allow me to scan items from my grandson's books to the computer. He gets a kick out of grandpa doing things on the computer...and he is 5 years old and becoming an avid computer user himself with my help! Thanks for hearing me out and I hope that we win!!!
 

I am no't fast own the computer i have a C.Pen 200 now but i do not have a computer with a infrared to read it would be nice to have the 800.thanks Jack
 

I've been "collecting & supporting" sheetfeed & flatbeds & handhelds since 1990 (some dozen or more pieces). Most worked and some didn't after a while (i.e., OS upgrades). Don't mind trying your "book" scanner.

Thanks for the opportunity.
 

It would make my days out of the office more productive,and it would be something cool to show my friends.
 

How can a RC800 help a 'senior'? well as a tutor at SeniorNet here in New Zealand, I have the same problem a most senior computer users, that is those 'senior moments' of forgetfullness! It would be of great assist not only to me but also my senior students. I could copy data and pass it on verbatum in class, post to our web site or put in our monthly newsletter without fear of errors.
 

I'm a physician, and would use to help with billing, scan the patient info off the chart, rather than copy it on paper
 

as a professional sculptor it would help me scan many things to sculpt that I cannot access due to flatbed scanner size limitations
 

How would this impact my digital lifestyle? Well, it would certainly make it (my life) more convenient. I'm a nerd or geek, at least my wife tells me that. I like to convert information to digital format and keep it handy. I scan in most of my magazines and store them on an external 320 GByte hard drive. The handheld scanner would assist by making it more convenient to scan in those small articles in the paper or other printed material that setting up the scanner doesn't pay to. Does that sentance make sense?
I'm looking forward to the time where those science fiction stories tell of all information being available. The handheld scanner is one of the next steps toward that end.
 

This will be great ... being able to scan/copy what one needs to right on the spot without having to wait for access to a scanning/copying device later on -- oh so handy, so stylish,and so convenient. Now ...

no more wasted time

no more forgotten gems

no more valuable misses

no more forced procastrination --
wow ... no more guilty conscience -- and that's invaluable!
 

I've been trying to combine a digital and a rural lifestyle. My fiance and I both work with computers but have moved to the country to get out of the urban crush.

As part of the move we purchased a house and the previous owner has defaulted on providing the well for the property. Researching Colorado Water Law has become a mejor endevor. The pen would help with researching and preparing the required documents so we can continue to develop our lifelong dream.

On a frivolous note, I do most of the cooking, and using the pen to collect and catalogue recepies would be wonderful. As I also do the marketing and most of the shopping, I can see adding the pen to my existing palm tools to save lots of time.

It would also come in handy to prepare notes and handouts for our Foster Parent Support group.

Darn, I'm going to have to get one even if I don't win. Thanks for your consideration.

Larry
softa_larry@msn.com
 

I am the secretary for the Official Board of my church and the DocuPen RC800 would impact my digital lifestyle by allowing me to be able to scan copies of the minutes of our Board meetings to keep better records. It would also allow me to scan copies of contracts, fund requests and presentations when parishioners do not want to give me their only copies. Our church could also use this pen to scan our membership and visitor records so they could be kept on computer rather than on so many small cards.

Thanks
bomaonl@hotmail.com
 

Hi Rob,

While I would love to have a DocuPen RC800 myself (grad student, attempting to be digital, etc.), I agree with Eric Mack: If you want to benefit the overall tablet pc community, to me it is clear that the best would come from giving it to Tracy Hooten. Her goal of paperlessness is something many of us are striving for, except that when Tracy figures something out, all her readers benefit because of the detailed, relevant, helpful posts on her blog. This device is particularly suited to her because her experience digitizing documents gives her the right perspective for evaluating whether or not this technology is really useful, and worth the price. Without hesitation, I think it would be extremely helpful for me if Tracy owned one of these and blogged about how useful it actually is in digitizing media.

Besides the above, to be fair and disclose, I also have a self interest in this: I am currently shopping for my first scanner and am trying to decide between an Optibook 3600 and the RC800, and would love to read a comparison on Tracy's blog (her advice played a large part in my first tablet purchase several weeks ago).
 

Thanks for giving people this opportunity! I know you have a big design to make, but I hope that you decide on a college student or teacher, where this pen would be the most useful.

Ok, I'll going to try to keep it short. I know how much reading you have had to do, and I do not envy your decision. Most of the uses have already been stated by other students; copy handouts, books (chapter by chapter anyway), etc. I also have many of the same reasons listed; poor, walk to school with multiple heavy books, copy readings at the library and even going to Montana State University (I don't know Jade though, I’ve never seen any other tablets here ether :-) ).

The main usefulness to me would to help with my reading. I am dyslexic and have trouble reading printed text. Computers have helped me with my reading and writing so much. I own a TC 1100 and it has made college a reality to me. I would love to use OCR to change my text books in to my own handwriting font and to have a reader program read with me to improve my knowledge consumption. I am in electrical engineering and deal with a lot of circuit diagrams in class that would be nice to scan into my mindmaps. Because of my lack in spelling and grammar I send a lot of writing work to my wonderful mother in Washington to proof read. I understand that some of this can be done with my old HP flatbed, but it is just not that practical at times.

I ready apposite the opportunity you are giving to someone who really needs it. I can not promise to change the world with a pen, but it would help mine. There is someone who desperately needs this pen; I hope you find him or her. If I don't get this pen I might just need to work more overtime this summer. This would be a valuable tool for my studies, just like my tablet. Sorry, doesn’t look like I keeped my “short post” promise.

BTW I feel that business men do not have the most to benefit from this offer. If they will save so much money, then they can afford to buy one for themselves. Sorry to rant.

You can just ignore the apple polishing of this part. I think this so wonderful. Someone is a position is helping strangers who don’t have the resources. Why don’t you hear of more of these unselfish things on the news. It is so up lifting to see this. Rob Bushway, you have shown your colors. I wish to one day be able in a position to help others by offering ways to further technological growth to people who can’t afford it.

Here’s Hoping
CoolChingster at gmail dot com
 

Wow! Great gadget. I guess thats what we call Technology in our ... pen :) It would impact my lifestyle in such a way that I would be able to scan my important documents at a seminar / conference. I can later transfer it to my computer and email my staff if need be instead of giving handouts to them. Life will certainly be easy.

Email address: nsajan@hotmail.com
 

How would this impact my digital lifestyle?
Well, being a college student it would let me scan in all of my notes, hand outs, and anything on paper that I was given. Then I could write on them with a tablet, and eliminate any use of paper.

Nate
tygrrwoods at gmail dot com
 

This will mean at meetings with my paperbound “dinosaur” colleges I can finally complete the last piece of my tablet pc integration into my everyday life, even if other people would rather cut a forest down to be able to read from paper.
 

Hi, I live in the Argentina (home of the Patagonia) yes down here!!. My english is awful so be nice with me jeje.
I´m a returning student to unversity first at arts, now as acountant. After i been working 7 years as an artist, now I´m working as IT in a small company of my family. And trying to describe best my personal situation, i´m growing my two brothers after our parents passed by 2 years ago.
Why i need this? basically as digital Inbox tray for my growing GTD implementation With my palm and my desktop PC and mostly evernote. I have many physical trays and the Docupen can become my portable INBOX tray. I use alot the digital recorder of my cel phone as inbox, but don´t have camera, so all those things that are visual, get in the mobile folder tray (it knows really well how to be big somethimes). There is a lot of things coming from all kind of sides, and this can helpme to cape that. I expect the system will be complete when i can afford a Tablet.
And mostly as a scanner for the all handouts and book in use at the university. I travel 100 km everyday to get to the uni, so there is plenty of time to study on my palm in the bus.
At the work i run into a lot of metings and must do a lot of photocopies and hand notes and scan in my pc. And mostly i doný do by becouse the hassle to do that. This will cut that 3 steps in one, and without leaving the room so GREAT improvment :).
I used to run a blog named "a la palmera (to the palmtree)"(coming back soon) as a envision to get out of the everyday stress of our life and live as we are siting under a palmtree, and i think the Docupen can help to get there.
I know a lot of people who can be influenciated to try to get one of these around me, but "this kind of bizzarre gadgets" are impossible to get here.
Thanks for the possiblilty you give to all us to get one of these.
Matias Mazza
gmmazza AT gmail.com
 

How would I use it?
There are several opportunities for use.
I could use it at work during meetings when handouts are.. well, handed out. We get so many, I lose track of what's important.
When out in the field, literally, I do drawings. Not having to lug a laptop computer will make the whole process of documenting flora and fauna that much more enjoyable.
Thanks for the chance to win.
Tom.VelnaATnielsenmedia.com
 

How would this impact my digital lifestyle?

As an avid genealogist I find myself making many copies of information that I find, and then taking these copies and either inputting the information by hand into a digital format or running them through recognition software and making and digitizing the information that way. Either way is a very long and drawn out process.

Having a DocuPen in my possesion would allow me to get more work done in a shorter amount of time, which would allow me to be able to share this information more readily with others.

Thanks
Greg Hubert

My email address is hghubert@hotmail.com
 

How would DocuPen RC800 change my life?
I scan and read lots of articles in technology related fields. I have a bad memory so I clip pieces of paper to remind my to do further study. My pockets are full of scaps of paper everyday and it drives my wife mad. I would use the DocuPen to collect my data and then I'd be able to go paperless.
thanks
dave baehr
zippidee@gmail.com
 

This sweet little piece of plunder will allow me to break free from a desktop scanner. I can scan my business cards and not have to worry about losing a contact. I'm not attempting to gain a sympathy vote, but digital records saved my firm's backside when Hurricane Katrina blasted our office on the beach in Biloxi. I lost all of the business cards I have collected over the years (and my Billgatus of Borg poster - does anyone have one for sale?). I don't want to let this happen again. That is how this little piece of geek plunder can improve my life.
 

I'm a single father (yes, we do exist) having the responsibility for my three childrens well-being every second week. I've got twin girls in fourth grade, and a five-year old boy in kindergarten.

Having a full-time job as a software developer makes it really important for me to quickly be able to catch up with messages from the school and kindergarten. Each day I need to keep track of four different people's needs and schedules, and this can often be a problem when plans are changing or when they recieve papers from school with important messages I need to take into account when sorting out ours plans.

My twin girls have different activities almost everyday, including football, band rehearsals, violin rehearsal, chess and dance lessons. This means that I need to keep track of what they are going to do each day and what type of clothes/equipment they need to cary out their activites.

A lot of the information is given me through small notes that they drop on the kitchen table or that I find at the bottom of their bags. It would have been a tremendeous help for me to be able to scan these and add them to my outlook schedule or save them in OneNote.
 

What an amazing tool for the road warrior. How would this affect my digital lifestyle? First off, I do a lot of traveling and am usually on the road about three weeks of every month. The way that I file my expenses is by taping receipts to a piece of paper, scanning the page and then e-mailing or faxing the whole thing to my boss for approval. Unfortunately, since I'm traveling a lot, it usually only leaves me time to do this on the weekends when I am home, time that can be much better spent with my family. With this tool, I can prepare my expenses on the road, scan them with my new DocuPen RC800, and send them to my boss for approval.

Where else would I use this? Business card scanning. I spend quite a bit of time hand keying all the relevant information from new contacts business cards into my contact manager. This will save quite a bit more time for me as well.

Lastly, this would be a great tool for notetaking at conferences as well as at 30,000 feet. I go to quite a bit of conferences and this would be ideal to scan pages from the conference guide and presentation handouts. Additionally, sometimes you're reading through that trade mag when trying to relax on the airplane, when that new customer's ad pops right up on the next page. Great time to pull out the ole handy dandy DocuPen RC800, scan it in and then send an e-mail when you land congratulating your customer on a great looking ad. Sometimes in that same trade mag, there's a great article that you want to share with colleagues, but don't feel like lugging the whole mag with you, cutting out the pages, photocopying them when you finally get home and dropping them in the mail or at the next meeting, when the ad might have already lost it's relevance. But, with one scan of the DocuPen RC800, scan the article, and then send out the e-mail to your colleagues.

Looking forward to hopefully receiving a brand new DocuPEN RC800.

Christopher Smith
CSmithHPS(AT)yahoo.com
 

Im planning to buy a TabletPC and this pen would come very handy.

Im a Student and my first impression was to use it for scanning test handout papers because its not allowed to take them with us after a test. It would help other students who could prepare better for these tests.

Just a thought

best regards
prendinger@gmail.com
 

Hello Rob!
I think it is really generous from you to give away this scanner.
I am studying physics at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Our lecturers are not really good at using computers for their teaching-most of them still do their lectures on the blackboard and don't offer lecture notes. I am also volunteering for the local students' association, which has the side effect that I tend to miss some lectures. To get the notes from these lectures I usually borrow someone's notes for a day so that I can copy them, which is not always easy because people need their notes to study. It would be a hell of a lot easier if I could just scan them on the spot.
To combat the lack of "official" lecture notes I help maintain an archive of copied lecture notes that students can borrow and copy. When students offer their lecture notes for this archive, they often come in paper notebooks and so I can't put them into a document feeder. It would help a lot if I could just move the scanner over every page instead of having to copy up to 200 single pages with the copy machine.
Also, I would like to use the scanner to scan some pages out of library books-and make them available to my colleagues if they're relevant for an assignment.

I must admit that unlike many people in this forum I don't own a Tablet PC and I don't have a really mobile lifestyle at the moment. I used to take my laptop to Uni but it was stolen from me while I was backpacking Oz after an exchange semester. Since the insurance companies are saying "nay" I'm stuck with my old desktop until I can afford a new laptop :(

Anyway, I'd like to congratulate you to your really interesting blog!
Keep up the good work,
Daniel
(daniel imrich & gmail com)
 

Hypothetically, many instructors are full of much bacterial and viral matter, obtained from their hordes of students over the years from student-teacher and paper contact.

With this device, I will scan my papers, and immediately toss them into a trash receptacle for disposal. This device will greatly allow me to reduce my contact and exposure time to contaminated handout lectures and graded papers by about 77%.

Finally, I would like to add, even though it may only slightly improve my efficiency, I will feel so much better not needing too always ware gloves when reviewing handouts and returned papers from instructors; thus eliminating the need for lamping them under Ultra Violet radiation 15 minutes before touching them bare handed. God willing I will own this gizmo.

Cheers,

;}flowtn
 

This pen seems to be just the tool for someone that is trying to bring the power of new technology to his fellow students.

I'm attending college in Germany and since our universities don't have a lot of money they don't use up-to-date technology as much as their students. Since starting my studies in physics I have set out on a quest to bringing all of our lecture notes and scripts online and making them searchable documents.

Since we get a lot of handouts during lecture it would be amazing to be able to scan them right there and then and then be able to incorperate them into the database and upload them immediately.

This would prove valuable to all my fellow students, who often have trouble keeping everything together and having information at hand quickly. It seems like the RC800 would be an amazing tool that would enable me to achieve this task.

Regards, Paul
heine.paul(AT)gmail.com
 

At work I often have to look through large amounts of old documentation and try and figure out what is valid/correct or what is invalid and should be ignored. We cannot throw any of this documentation away (because there is no way to get new copies) and we cannot leave thousands of sticky notes in the documentation because it would become too combersome. Having a hand scanner of this type would be a great way to digitize much of the pertinant information and allow us to annotate in a non destructive fashion. I think in normal circumstances we would just photocopy the docs or scan them in by hand, but there is so much information that is not useful, and so much of it that this isn't practical. Being able to scan in just a page at a time, while just browsing documents would possibly give us a better work flow and allow us to digitize and annotate specific sections of the document in a non destructive fashion. I can even imagine that some day we could have all of the necessary information in a searchable digital format without adding much more effort for our current process of dealing with this mess.

gaspode_(at thingy)hotmail.com
 

A scanner pen, interesting. I'm in industrial sales and let me tell you, it really takes a bit of the spy mentality to be successful in sales.

You hear about a potential new customer, do research trying to gain knowledge of them, a way through the defenses to find that right person to speak to.

We oftentimes call the receptionist at the front desk "The Gatekeeper". Sometimes they help, sometimes they hinder refusing to offer any small shred of information.

I could see a small scanner like this being useful when I drop in unannounced to cold call looking for names. Rather than trying to grab a half dozen possibly relevant cards before being shoed out the door, I could scan names and numbers. I could scan names of visitors from their visitor log books as possible other leads for my equipment. Usually a pretty nice list of their suppliers and customers are right there, but they'd never let you copy all that info down. Short of the spy camera glasses, a scanner pen seems like the next best choice.

flatspinATintelligenciaDOTcom
 

I’m sitting in a waiting room reading an interesting article. I hear my name being called. It’s my turn. I smile, take out my DocuPen, in no more than 2 seconds I scan the rest of the page knowing I can later on read the rest of the article.
I’m sitting in the library. I look at my watch. It’s almost time for the next lecture. I take out my DocuPen scan the last few pages and read them up after the lecture. I am still in time.
I missed the first minutes of a lecture because I have been busy talking to an other professor about a subject. I enter the auditorium and my fellow student is as courtesy to hand over her first papers of notes which I scan in a few seconds and hand her back immediately. She asked me if she can get a digital copy. Of course she can.
I meet a colleague at the floor. He shows me his latest research results, hand written, and wants my opinion on it. I take out my DocuPen scan them quickly and tell him to call him back as soon as I could have a look at it.
I’m on a travel. New in town. I am looking for specific service. I go to a phone booth. I search for the suppliers in phone book. I take out my DocuPen and scan the numbers from the book so I can call them later at any time without having to grap paper from the book.
I have an error message on the display of whatsoever screen. The system is hang. I try to scan the error message on the display with my DocuPen and send the exact error messages to the administrator using my laptop.
I car crashed into mine. I take out the DocuPen and scan the others persons insurance license, as well as his driver license and his number plate.
There’s a man at the door collecting money for charity showing me his membership card. I scan the card with his approval asking him to step by in a few days when I have verified that he really has been send from organization xy.
I’m on a journey through a new city. I have forgotten the city map but can see a street map at the bus station. I step out of the car using my DocuPen to make a copy of it which I can now use on my laptop.
I am doing research. Working through several books. To make my own brief summary I scan some paragraphs, sentences, pictures of different books and later on use the material to finish my own quick reference.
I ask somebody at the information desk for an information. He tells me to take a note handing be over a paper where I can see the numbers. I just take out my DocuPen and scan it.
I’m sitting in the train and see how someone next to me reads an interesting book. We talk about it and I decide to buy it too. I just scan the international bar code of his book so that I later will be able to order the right one.
In the pharmacy I am offered 3 different products and I have to clue which is best. I just scan the package of all of them with my DocuPen coming back when I have done my research on what I really need.
There is something written on a wall which interests me. I just take my DocuPen and scan it.
I walk through a store. See something interesting for a friend and scan the title / specifications to later hand her over.
I’m sitting an a restaurant. There are some very interesting combinations of meals. I take out my DocuPen and scan them so that I memorize them when I want to make them on my own.
I have document laying in front of me of which I need an expertise. I am not at home. I use my DocuPen to scan it. Take my laptop and my cell phone to fax it to a friend then waiting for his call.
I’m archiving the serial numbers of my gear. Instead of making errors by writing them off I just use my DocuPen and scan them. It even works on the bowed but plain surface of my guitar.
While being an a train travel I had a nice conversation with a woman. When I have to leave the train I see her writing her phone number on the windows not very readable and mirrored too. As the train is about to leave I still was able to scan over it with my DocuPen. Hopefully I can decipher it later.
I step by a shop. It’s closed. The opening times are complicated not very intuitive. I just use my DocuPen and scan them.
A device in our computer room died. I just go down use the DocuPen to scan its serial number and back on my desk I file the RMA.
I am in a store willing to buy something for my work at home. I wasn’t aware that there doesn’t seems to be a real standard and that the product is available in tons of different sizes all being shown in their catalogue. I scan the page with the sizes go home and measure what I really need.
My boss shows me the new road map with dates and asks me when I will be able to step in for a colleague. I just take out my DocuPen scan the map on his wall telling him that I will get back to my desk comparing them with my schedule and letting him know fitting available slots.
Colleagues arguing about a mathematical equation on the board. When I come in to say goodbye they ask me for my opinion. Unfortunately I have a splitting headache and can’t really help them. But I promise to get back to them with my opinion as soon as I can think again scanning the equation with my DocuPen for later.
I am on an exhibition. Somebody tries to sell me the coolest and newest product ever. It sounds ok, but doesn’t do they always … Unfortunately so many people have been there that they are out of flyers. I scan the product spec sheet and verify and research back at work how cool it really is.
I’m into an ancient building with ancient documents. There are some interesting papers but late in the evening and in between it has become to dark to read them. I just use my DocuPen scanning the pages hoping that its own scanner light will produce a good enough output to read later.
I am stepping by a friend and she shows me a most recent picture of her daughter with her puppy. The picture is so nice I want to share it with my girl friend. Of course she wants to keep the picture for herself. No problem. I just take out the DocuPen and …
I am reading a book in a foreign language. Unfortunately I can’t understand everything. I scan the passages I do not understand for later looking them up.
I am to visit in an Asian country. When I walk around on my own I am stuck since I can’t decipher the writings and signs. I scan them. I see a photo with a headline on a paper which I can not decipher too. I scan it too and later ask my Asian friend which invited my what the writings meaning was.
There is something interesting which I want to scan … I just take out my DocuPen … and notice that the batteries are empty … I look for a pencil and have none … I now have to rely on my own memory as in good old times ;-)
Joe aka (Johannes.Lauer@freenet.de)
 

Hi,
My name is Edward Schaefer and I am a 20-year-old college sophomore. I am an Economics major at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, and to the best of my knowledge, I am the only student on campus with a tablet PC. I am on campus right now, and as I write this my backpack contains four textbooks (3 of which are hardback and in excess of 1000 pages, one is soft and around 500 pages) a copy of Candide by Voltaire, a 5-subject spiral notebook (because you never know when you’ll need to turn something in on a sheet of paper), an expandable file folder with many handouts in it, a graphing calculator, iPod, pens and pencils and flash memory drive. My laptop would be in there if I wasn't using it to write this.

Of my 5 classes, not a single one offers digital copies of handouts, readings, assignments, etc., and after spending many hours online looking, writing e-mails and making message board posts, I was unable to obtain digital copies of any of my textbooks.

The reason I sold my old laptop in order to purchase a tablet late last year, was the simple fact that I have poor organizational skills, and had a tendency to lose handouts, worksheets and the like. Last semester a couple of my classes would post digital copies of everything and I would immediately put it onto my tablet. Last semester my grades actually improved because of the increased organization and functionality my tablet gave me.

I've been looking into pen-based and book scanners to try to help keep me on this new fast track to organization and better grades, but as a full-time college student don't have the money to actually afford any of these things. If I were to win this DocuPen RC800 it would help me out in so many ways, from reducing the number of books and papers I have to carry each day, it would be a life saver to be able to scan in the chapter we would be going over that day in class into my tablet so I don't have to take the whole book with me, to keeping me more organized by allowing me to scan handouts, readings and worksheets immediately, and completely eliminate any opportunity to lose or misplace anything that is important for my class.

Furthermore, I am required to write a few papers this year and my school library has a fairly extensive collection of academic journals, which are not available to be checked out. It would be wonderful to be able to look up an article in a particular journal, and scan it into my computer. It would save time in the library and create a simpler task in outlining, highlighting, taking notes and citing the article.

I know there are probably many, many students on here who have a similar story to mine, but something I would like to mention is the number of people I interact with on a daily basis because I use a tablet. People are always asking me about it in classes or at the library, and are always curious about my experience in having a tablet. I always tell people I love having a tablet and how much easier it makes my life, but I can't help admit to them that handouts pose a serious problem that I can't work around. If I had a DocuPen RC800, my recommendations to people about switching to a tablet PC could be stronger and even more sincere, not to mention MY love for tablets would increase 10 fold.

Thank you for your time,
Edward Schaefer
Edward.J.Schaefer@gmail.com
 

If I had a DocuPen RC800 with me on business trips I could scan in all those odd size receipts I need for my expense report. If I lose the originals I would still have electronic backup copies to submit. Belt & suspenders accounting!
JimP
engineer -at- entermail -dot- net
 

If I had the RC800 I not only could scan research straight from books in libraries but I could also scan little bits of everything all over the place and make a really cool digital collage of all the collected scans.
 

Ok, Rob, here's my entry in your contest. Hope you enjoy it.

http://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/life_on_the_wicked_stage_/2006/02/what_would_i_do.html
 

Ok, I'm a miserable failure at getting Html into comments

Try this and scroll down an entry or two.
http://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/
 

Wow - just about got in with 2 days to go.

OK, I wasn't going to post an entry to this, but since Warner did I will :)

What would I do with a DocuPen RC800? Save the world! No, I'm serious. Give me a Docupen RC800 and I can singlehandedly start to save the world. Without one, we're all doomed.

I'll explain. Tablet evangelism is relatively easy. Just walk into a meeting where people are shuffling piles of paper and sit down quietly with the tablet in prominant view and you can almost guarantee the questions that will follow. "Is that a Tablet PC?", "How, that's slick - how's it work?" etc etc.

Ultimately though people feel that a Tablet PC is a neat thing, but not something they can fit into their lifestyle. "I simply have too much paper". "I can't convince everyone to send me electronic documents". "If only my workflow was more 'electronic' that would be great for me'.

Well, with an RC800 people would hand me papers in meetings, I'd make a big deal about scanning them, right there and then, and then hand the documents back. "Thanks for that - please recycle this".

Ultimately people would start to question what I'm doing, so I'd show them. They'd see digital ink AND digital renditions of paper documents. They'd start to realize that a digital workflow is possible. They'd start to realize that they don't need to process stacks of paper all the time, that perhaps there are other ways to work. They'd then buy Tablet PC's, buy their own RC800s and ultimately pay it forward.

The net result of course is that within a couple of years my paperless activism would result in a 95% drop in demand for paper (don't panic, we'll figure out how to give everyone in the paper industries jobs later - Utopia never has any problems). The rain forests would remain standing. Trees would stay alive all over the world, doing the great job othey do of reprocessing carbon dioxide and generally cleaning the place up.

With everyone now working digitally for everything, and using their own RC800s to evangelize digital workflow to anyone that's not, more people would start to work at home, using the Internet to communicate with co-workers. Fuel usage, pollution from cars, traffic congestion and ultimately traffic deaths would drop drastically.

Stress levels would tumble, and with them crime, divorce, unhappiness and all that bad stuff.

Ultimately, everyone would live much happier, caring lives with more time for friends and family.

The world would be saved from itself!

And all because you gave me an RC800 scanner :)
 

I think the biggest selling point of the docupen is it's ability to scan almost anything, without being tied to a scanner. In my current occupation as a student, large format works like folios, maps, and prints cannot be scanned, even with the largest scanners available. This is especially frustrating considering I never really want to capture the whole work, but only a specific portion, and it's often difficult to do only that with scanners.

The other main advantage is the ability to capture ink from non-tablet users instantly. In terms of collaboration and note making, being able to swipe a pen over a few pages of handwritten notes could save me the trouble of meeting up to exchange and return notes, and the expense of xeroxing them... resulting in a near 100% digital workflow.
 

My "digital lifestyle" would be enhanced in many ways. For high quality scanning I imagine I would wait to use a flatbed scanner, however in my occupation there are many instances when I would like to scan something right away.

I teach a vvariety of subjects at college. Most of the courses I teach have good digital resources available (such as programming a networking). However I also teach an electricity course (Industrial Maintenance program) where the materials really aren't any different than those that were available 20 (or more) years ago. I am trying to change that (since the students grew up using the web they expect to receive things this way) and am converting many resources that until I came along were (at the highest end) available for an overhead projector (OHP). There are however many things I would like to include that crop up when I am nowhere near a flatbed scanner. Being able to take the scanner with me would help immensely.

The second thing I would do is to digitize some of the materials "handed in" by students. I don't currently do it now, for the same reasons I cited above.

The third thing I would use such a device for is ad-hoc map scanning. I have an older Garmin GPS (12XL) which works fine. I use it with a few different computer applications, sometimes while driving. There have been numerous instances when I don't (either through bad planning, time restraints, or simple goof-ups) have a digital copy of a map where I am, but I've got a paper copy in the glove compartment (or I can stop at a gas station and buy one). It would be great to be able to scan portions in - while still on the road (figuratively speaking).

Jim Ronholm
ronholmj@canadorec.on.ca
 

If you want the absolutely honest answer to the question, the RC800 wouldn't be the perfect tool -- yet. WizCom's Quicktionary is a bit closer to being what many of us need, but it is still half-hearted in its attempts to get a user into a multilingual communications space. If we had a Quicktionary or a DocuPen that had good character diagnostic software, it would without a doubt FUNDAMENTALLY revolutionize the way people can become proficient in reading non-Roman script languages.

For the past 5 years, Quicktionary (http://www.wizcomtech.com/Wizcom/products/product_info.asp?fid=80) has been in stasis. It's only able to convert Roman to non-Romanized script, not the other way around.

The need for Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, or other exotic script translators is huge and unmet. If a learner is trying to read an unknown Chinese character, the process of identifying just a single unfamiliar character routinely takes on the order of a half an hour with a dictionary in hand.

It's no use going into detail on this, but the problem is in essence that (1) there's no correspondence between characters and phonetics, and (2) there's no easy way to find the 'radical' under which the character is actually indexed in current dictionaries. That means that reading can only proceed at the pace at which one invests in memorizing characters beforehand. There's no way to learn a language by pouring over found reading materials that are of real interest to the learner. For the most user-friendly model of current Chinese language dictionaries, visit zhongwen.com

Of course, a scanner capable of looking up scripts like this would have to have a fairly sophisticated character recognition diagnostic suite built in, because fonts can radically distort the look of characters on a page. (For online character translation, the process is much easier because of the underlying coding for each character, but few companies have exploited that angle either.)

But think of the potential.... Cutting the time to translate just one unfamiliar character down from half an hour to a millisecond?

One billion people speak Chinese. We Westerners aren't savvy enough to speed up the learning process? Comparatively, the Chinese economy will have a lot easier time making up for the language barrier than we will ... until we get over ourselves and make this one basic software jump.

In the meantime, the RC800 will do just fine for all of our Anglocentric preoccupations.

Impatiently yours,

Marty
 

"How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?"

I am a high school senior going to college this year, and of course this would be a great device for me as I step into the crazy life of college studying (Probably going to UC Berkeley). So here's a few things that would cut down some time for me with the RC800:

1. Another item to show-off, of course. Not the most important, but it's there and everyone will do it. One of the many perks of having high-tech devices.
2. Ability to scan practically anything I see is great, since I don't know when I will need to take a print of something. So having a mobile scanner would be great to carry around.
3. Handouts, magazine article, anything relatively short can be scanned and not having to copied right off the bat or make a note and come back later.
4. Share work with other people. With a physical copy of my written notes/homework, I can only pass them around one at a time. But with a scanner, I can just send it to everyone instantaneously in class.
5. When someone show me a picture, I can keep a copy of it with the RC800. Great especially with the volumes of pictures girls tend to carry with them...
6. When I go buy stuff, I usually just toss away the receipt because it's not that big of a purchase and keeping a small piece of paper is quite troublesome as they can add up in my pockets and I've to toss them out anyway. But with the RC800, I can scan them and toss them away as I please and still have a copy of it on my hard drive. Great for keeping tab of my spending.
7. Of course, it will give me a chance to send it to my tablet and show others how useful a tablet pc is and encourage them to purchase one in the future.

That should sum up all the uses I will actually do with it, thanks for this chance to win such an expensive item, as a student like myself just can't shell out $299 for a high tech device like this. Good luck to all.

Andy Lin
Chronicles24[@]gmail[.]com
 

If I had a RC800,

I would no longer rely on photocopy machines, making a copy of that all important memo would be a flick of a pen away!

I would rely less on my memory,
making a note of a web site in a magazine would be a flick of a pen away!

I would spend less time rewriting other people's notes, copying them for future reference would be a flick of a pen away!

That's how my digital lifestyle would be, everything now a flick of the pen!

email: airsoft_snake/AT/hotmail.com
 

Hello Rob,

First of all, thank you for your generosity and for supporting the movement toward a paperless and environmental friendly society. Every little effort counts.

How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle? I am also a student and would much appreciate this RC800 scanner. Here is my situation: Starting September, I will be attending an abroad school where it is in a third word setting. The expected duration will be two years. There will be many challenges and hurdles to overcome. To start with, traveling from the US to the school will limit the amount of items I can carry. Thus, the idea of bringing along a traditional bulky and heavy scanner is out of the question. Once there, there is a library but very limited in resources -- equipments and loaning out written resources. Books and journals at the library are loan out not by days but by hours basis.

Perhaps, we shouldn’t even try to compare, but just for the heck of it, technology/equipment availability in this third world country is no where close to what we may have in a minimal equipped junior college in the US. To my understanding, currently, there are no scanners of any kind (school’s provision, that is) available for students to use. There are two copy machines but often break down due to age and over use by the entire student body, let alone the expensive cost in using such limited equipments.

My hope is to be as prepared for a digital lifestyle as possible. A few of my preparation to minimize the difficulties associated with these challenges include saving enough to purchase a moderately priced tablet pc, some kind of voice recognition software, and some sort of pen scanner. With regards to the later, I have looked at the iris pen scanners, but these have their own limitation in that they can only scan line by line, let alone the inability to scan a figure. There was no real practical way to adequately prepare until I saw this DocuPen RC800 scanner contest.

The DocuPen RC800 scanner will no doubt have a tremendous impact to my digital lifestyle and that of my classmates who may chose such a lifestyle. I can quickly scan written resources both from the library and/or handouts from the professors. From there, there are numerous benefits. Additionally, the potential positive impact of the DocuPen RC800 will extend beyond those who may have a tablet pc or a laptop; it will indirectly help the rest of the student body. How? There will be at least one less student lining up either for the limited copy machines and/or library books and journals -- that is once I scanned what I need, these resources are then quickly returned and ready for other waiting fellow students. Of course, the potential for sharing such scanned documents are there for those who may wish.

After two years of study, no doubt there will be documents that I would like to keep and bring home. The DocuPen RC800 would definitely allow me to bring home such valuable documents, but not in binders of printed materials.

In closing, as an poor and indebted student trying to prepare to go abroad, your DocuPen RC800 will directly make a huge difference in my digital lifestyle and indirectly the lives of my to be classmates. Also, if chosen as the recipient, I would be happy to share my personal experiences with the RC800 here at your blog or wherever most people would most benefit. Here is my contact information: cleeheal(at)yahoo.com

Once again, thank you for your bigheartedness. Whoever receives the RC800 would no doubt be much blessed and well deserved. Best wishes to all.
C. Lee
 

I'm not sure how much the RC800 would impact my digital lifestyle. However, I can see some pretty exciting possibilities. I’m in the military and it would be great to be able to scan all those documents you would like to have copies of (orders, forms, captured documents) and never have the resources to while you’re in the field.

Carl.Strickland at vxnerve.com
 

Think Expense statements
I work for a fortune 100 and travel the majority of the time.

I can now scan my receipts every night even when I chose to watch TV instead of do e-mail. At the end of the month I can download my receipts and e-mail them and my expense statement back to the home office.

No more late fees on my corporate card that I have to eat even though I am half a world away. I can't think of any other way to do this. I could even do expenses on a plane sitting in the back none-the-less.

I would love to give it a try. If it works on our locked down PCs that are jump drive compatible, you may have an IT Architect evangilizing. I probably would not want to pay out of pocket to prove it worked though.
 

As a law student, I work with a very large volume of paper documents. It would make my life so much easier to have a scanner like this! It's truly something I can throw in my laptop bag, and take to court or the library while I'm reading documents.

Pick me please!

merritt.chandler@gmail.com
 

I just ordered my first tablet PC yesterday after seeing a student using one on campus last semester, and saving every penny I had for 5 months. It was love at first sight and I can't wait to find out how well I can enrich my life through technology. I'm studying to be an Astro-physicist and believe me any device which can make my life easier is a welcomed addition. I never knew such a thing as a scanner pen existed until I came across this contest on tabletpcbuzz.com, but I was immediatly enamoured. I can't even imagine how exponentially better my tablet PC experience will be with such a powerful tool in conjunction with it. The barriers between a physical medium and the digital world would be shattered! I could have pages from my books to highlight without ruining the actual book. I could copy an assignment and finish it on my tablet so I can edit it until it is perfect. Look ma, no white out!

Plus I've never won a contest before so I'd be totally stoked. :) Thanks for considering - Jesse S.

spicyitalian739@gmail.com
 

So the question is How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?
I guess the biggest impact would be the WOW factor, with the people who see you use the scanner, but for me the most important impact would be accountability, my business is commercial construction, so I’m often in the field where we are often ordered or asked for change orders, so they (Construction Manager) scribble on any piece of paper we can find what it is they want to change in the project, to speed up the change order process which can take up to two weeks, and with this portable scanner I’m thinking I can scan the changes with the sketches as well as make who ever it is that is asking for the changes in the project to sign and that way make them accountable for any changes in the projects budget, and archiving the scanned images in the projects file. Thanks for your time; this is a good thing you are doing.

areyes at gmail dot com.
 

I would finally be able to automatically organize my hundreds of archive cds and storage boxes. I could scan barcodes and know if what I'm looking for is inside. I could take fast notes too. Maybe even off my computer screen, haha..

seyeklopz on msn
 

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Ah! a magic wand. It sure beats the old days of having to scan with a black and white cctv camera and three color filters!

Apart from the boring stuff of scanning the endless business cards and customer technical requirements, this will finally stop me from stealing beer mats from bars!

No more sodden pieces of cardboard,I can go paperless and scan them in full 24-bit color.(Just a quick wipe first)

Also, no more wi-fi war driving, here comes war scanning :)

grantDOTcaleyATntlworldDOTcom

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 

I use the Tablet PC to grade in my university courses and will use the DocuPen to scan the hand written submissions of students so I can electronically grade them with my Tablet PC. Steve Myers myers@uakron.edu
 

This will impact my digital lifestyle as a student by allowing me go truly paperless. Often in class handouts are, well, handed out and immediately commented on. Rather than having to break my desire to be paperless in the upcoming semester, I can scan these papers in and immediately annotate them. Also, this will allow me to scan in books without being tethered to a scanner, which makes me much more likely to bother spending the 3-some-odd hours per book, since I would be able to scan in books while riding on buses, in public places, etc.


brian *AT* nerdlife *DOT* net
 

How would the RC800 impact my digital lifestyle?

As a tablet ink addict, I can use One Note and Outlook to be nearly paperless. I can take my notes in ink, annotate other people's documents in Word, even use the Print to One Note powertoy to mark up PDFs or attachments.

But at meetings you still get saddled with those handouts or printouts of slideshows that you end up writing all over then have to transcribe. How much cooler to have a device you could have with you right there in the meeting to grab important bits from the paper documents to drop into your One Note document...

I keep thinking of it like the Snipping Tool for the tablet, only for the real world. Someone shows me an interesting article in the newspaper at lunch? Scan the interesting bits on the spot. A friend shows me a book I want to read? Scan the ISBN so I can remember it. Someone makes a sketch I want to remember on a document they need to keep? Digitally snip it out and take it with me.

And best of all, everything I grab ends up in my tablet, were I can paste and manipulate it to my heart's content.

Wow. What a concept.
 

Oops. Forgot to put my mail in my post...

willi.augurin@verizon.net

(see, I need something that will help me remeber things)
 

How would the RC800 impact my digital lifestyle?

As a student of industrial design I cannot imagine living with out my tablet pc. I am constantly on the go and where ever I may be headed my tablet is with me, a constant creative companion helping me to realize and illustrate my ideas. I am constantly using it to sketch, design layouts, create 3d models and most importantly communicate. However, as great of a thing as the tablet is to my work flow and creativity I am still not able to fully realize total mobility in my digital creative work. I am hampered by the fact that there are mountains of paper that I must either scan or bring with me. From sketches I make by hand on the way to school, the sketches of students working on the same project to the massive amounts of reference material that I scan from magazines, books and newspapers I must bring to a traditional fixed scanner. For me this means lugging the material half way across campus or back to my house for scanning, which to me defeats the purpose of mobile technologies. The RC800 would revolutionize the way in which I work, allowing me to effortlessly scan a drawing and begin work immediately , helping me amass the reference material I need at the library, and most importantly help to take ideas from a group project and integrate them into the process live with out a break in the synergistic creative energy of a meeting. The RC800 is not only a beautifully crafted piece of technology but the missing piece in what is an almost fully realized mobile digital life style.


M.Ripp
drmutiny@gmail.com
 

Hello Rob, Hello All,

I fell in love with Tablet PCs in the summer of 2004 and have been obsessed with them ever since. I am a sophomore college student and entrepreneur. My HP TC4200 has been great in helping me in both of the areas mentioned.

In school, it seems as though the entire community is apathetic to advancements in technology unless the technology goes mainstream (MTV says it’s cool). Tablet PCs are not an exception to this trend. On a campus of 13,500 people, there may be 100 Tablet PC users. My friends, my professors, and other administrators all tend to complain about the same problems that the Tablet PC solves. The problem colleges face is that as someone acquires more knowledge that person tends to got through a rainforest worth of paper and books. It is a daunting challenge to organize and store all of the paper associated with acquiring knowledge. With my Tablet PC I have found this task easier than ever before. I do all of my homework and record all of my notes on my Tablet PC. I am able to reference this work with ease because of the great handwriting search capabilities. Although the ability to do all this with my Tablet PC is already a great boon, I feel like I would want to do more with it. My books literally (no pun intended) occupy a quarter of my tiny dorm room. With a scanner I would be able to go fully paperless reducing the clutter in my room and allowing me to recycle a huge load of paper. The DocuPen’s size makes it ideal for a college student since dorms do not afford a large amount of space for a student. Students have to scan in class or at the library. It would be impossible to do this with the regularity required in college.

I quixotically call myself an entrepreneur but I am more of an advocate. I am convinced of the numerous benefits increased use of state of the art technology can offer society. I offer consulting services to small businesses, teaching proprietors how to make business process more efficient and bottom-line friendly through the use of technology like Tablet PCs. My passion though is to show my classmates how new technology works so that they can adopt it for themselves. My latest endeavor has been to start a school chartered technology club that seeks to illustrate the conveniences of technology as its guiding principle. Through this club, I hope to start a student-led grassroots movement to put pressure on our college to reduce its use of paper, to increase its use of technology, and to eventually go paperless. So far, I have had trouble acquiring technology to demonstrate. A DocuPen would be a perfect tool to demonstrate and allow the members of the club to use and spread the word about.
A pen based scanner like the RC800 would impact my digital lifestyle by allowing me to further reduce paper waste in my own life and to introduce this technology to people at my college with whom I hope to reduce paper waste throughout the entire campus.

Best,
Gabe
gmg28@cornell.edu
 

I am a student in electronics engineering technology. Last year I saved up and purchased a used Motion M1400 for school. I like the idea of storing all my notes in this digital binder as everything is time-stamped and I can look things up with ease. Fortunately my courses do not rely on textbooks much and I do not have to carry those heavy textbooks to school every day. All I need to do is to pay attention in class and jog down my own notes. I don't have the problem of scanning textbooks either as I'd rather read them at home and write down the key points on my tablet instead. I found it easier to review on the go.

However, the examples and practice problems in the books and handouts are the hard parts. I want to include some examples in my notes to help me understand, but rewriting the questions and solutions is inefficient and often introduces mistakes, especially most of the questions have circuit diagrams in them.

A portable full-page scanner, such as the RC800, would be my best solution. It is light and can scan the whole width of a page, allowing me to import examples and circuit diagrams into my notes when I need them. The RC800 has the advantage of being able to scan in colour, hence the coloured diagrams would show up in my notes in the way they should be.

Having said that, this solution is nowhere within reach as my money has to go towards food and rent, and spending $299 on a gadget is too much of a luxury for me, especially after the purchase of my Tablet PC.

Ken
freelongd1(AT)yahoo(dot)com
 

How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact my digital lifestyle?

First, it will cut down the space usage on my desk. Second, instead of using my camera to do a page capture away from my computer, I can actually use docupen to do the job when I need it. Third, it is all about mobility, and DocuPen fits that category.

Cheers,
Yusri
wdphish_AT_yahoo_DOT_com
 

You asked: How would a pen based scanner like the RC800 impact your digital lifestyle?


My reply: I'm a graphic designer, so I find lots of inspiration from the world around me. Having the RC800 would mean I would be able to scan many of those inspirations. Be it a pattern on a waiting room sofa or restaurant floor, a creative way of scanning things to make them look "funky", or just trying crazy new things, it would boost my creativity, even during a brain fizzle, and allow me to bring new art and new ideas to life (okay, fine, to the computer screen and print).

With the pen not needing to be hooked up to the computer to scan things to memory (great idea!), I can use it practically anyplace without having to bring and/or startup my Tablet PC there before scanning the object. This means I can be walking down the street with the RC800 in my bag (it's large enough to fit the length of this pen), pull it out, scan something, and continue on my way.

I knew someone a couple years ago who would use his digital camera to take photos of interesting, catchy, or unique advertising signs/posters/billboards he came across in his travels. He'd use the photos in his sermons to illustrate a point. This is where I got the idea from, just so you know it's not completely original! *Grin*

I love to scan 3D objects, and have done so with flatbed scanners in the past, and think using a pen would definitely create some great new art!

I can't afford such a "toy" myself as my disability has kept me from working most of the time. Now that I have my new laptop (Tablet) I will be able to work more as I can work from home when I need to. This device is far off my radar for things I need/would like to purchase once I have pay coming in, such as a particular printer and a colorimeter and, unrelated to computers, a special type of harness for my service dog (better for my needs than what I use now).

I do hope you don't think I'm telling you this as a sob story or anything, I just felt I needed to explain why a graphic designer would not have the funds to purchase such a tool, since normally one would!

(If chosen as the winner, I would take the Crimson Pearl color 'cause I think it's the prettiest one [yes, I'm female *grin*]. Also, you would not have to send the book/CD combo, but if you still wanted to, I would find them a good home. Perhaps, though, you can give them to a runner-up in this contest instead.)

Thanks for taking the time to read all these posts! Wow!!

~ Eagle4031
C M T S 8 0 C M [AT] p r o d i g y [DOT] n e t
 

I am an English teacher and an avid reader, I can easily envision using the DocuPen often. Most of the time I am away from my home office and I often come across interesting things that I would love to share with my students and/or collegues. without a scanner handy I have to remember to mark the passage or rip it out, then remember to scan it at home. The more difficult it is to do, the less likely it will get done!

Also, as others have mentioned, there is the cool factor. As a teacher, I need all the cool I can get with the students. By now they are used to my tablet, so I need a new infusion of cool (although I know that ultimatly any such attempt will be short-lived at best)

aadamsATlebanon.k12.nh.us
 

It will interesting being able to scan notes, leaflets and business cards on the spot instead of having to bring them home. Scan and discard in the field.

It'll be great being able to scan reference books at the library instead of making photocopies to bring home.

I can also see it being useful for scanning friends' photographs without having to borrow them.

e-mail: qixosajitra[at]mighty.co.za
 

I'm currently preparing to become a student again, as I'll be enrolling in the Seminary to study to become a Pastor. I'm an avid Tablet PC used right now and like to keep as much information as possible in OneNote. Currently, I have to painstakingly scan in books, theological papers, etc. by hand using a flatbed scanner. While this is doable, it only works for things after the fact. Often, I receive papers and handouts at the same time that a lecture or talk covers that information. With the RC800 I could scan those papers in on the spot and begin taking notes on top of them immediately.

I can also see it coming in handy for just moving as much of my life as possible into the digital realm.

Anyways, great contest and very generous of you!
 

As a self-employed actor, writer, and real estate appraiser ( and in general a person-about-town), my world is filled with endless avenues for me to take information which will be useful in any of my several income streams. I need to be able to acquire and digest information quickly, but I also need to be able, on some days, just to take an afternoon off from lugging my expensive laptop around -- which, if lost, I'd feel I'd lost my arm. If on some days all Ineeded to do was put a slim scanner in my coat pocket to acquire the information I needed for the day -- including pages and pages of public records, invtiations, public notices, the odd reference to agent or manager in an article -- I'd feel more likely to acquire the information, rather than let it go because one doesn't just whip out a laptop -- but one can just whip out this pen, scan, and move on. Sounds great to me!
 

ADDS EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW: As a self-employed actor, writer, and real estate appraiser ( and in general a person-about-town), my world is filled with endless avenues for me to take information which will be useful in any of my several income streams. I need to be able to acquire and digest information quickly, but I also need to be able, on some days, just to take an afternoon off from lugging my expensive laptop around -- which, if lost, I'd feel I'd lost my arm. If on some days all Ineeded to do was put a slim scanner in my coat pocket to acquire the information I needed for the day -- including pages and pages of public records, invtiations, public notices, the odd reference to agent or manager in an article -- I'd feel more likely to acquire the information, rather than let it go because one doesn't just whip out a laptop -- but one can just whip out this pen, scan, and move on. Sounds great to me!
imcgrady1@mac.com
 

I am looking to simplify my life and cut back on expenses. I am switching to cable/digital phone service which will make it difficult to use my conventional copier/fax. The DocuPen would allow me to scan the documents that I need to fax and easily send them without using the conventional telephone line.

abcortiz@comcast.net
 

I too am a (poor) university student and saving my pennies to buy myself a Tablet...
Once I saw what the DocuPen R800 offers I new right away it would salve all My problems (I'm not kidding!). Such a portable scanner really solves the only issue I had with tablets- the interface with other people who still use paper...
Other comments describe this quite well, so I'm going to tell you how this device will impact my digital lifestyle from a different angle. I'll tell you my story Without referring directly to the Tablet PC I'm getting but it is clear that the combined effect is many times greater...

My story is so typical of me...
Since it is a bit long, I've posed it as a seperate text file here:

http://hyperupload.com/download/5812a339/DocuPen.txt.html

Thanks for the opportunity!

Gil
gildoc1 /#/ AT /$*/ yahoo.com
 

I travel across the state of NC providing staff development on integrating technology into the K-12 curriculum. I would use this technology to scan and house documents that I create for training. I would also share the ease of use and how it could easily be implemented in the classroom. What a wonderful way to teach copyright and plagiarism. In other words, I would use it to share with teachers and students across the state.

regards
Gail
 

I'm a part-time graduate student and currently I'm spending a small fortune in libraries copying information from material that cannot be borrowed to reduce the time I spend typing information from these documents. In addition, I use a lot of my libraray time to take notes from reference materials that are too heavy to be placed on scanners or photocopiers. With the DocuPen RC800 I would be able to make far more efficient use of my library time which is very limited due to working and studying at the same time.

My professional work would also be greatly assisted since I do a lot of field work where travelling light and compact is of importance.

I use a lot of colour material (maps for example) so the colour capability is also a big plus.

At conference when persons have single copies of papers it would be possible to borrow the paper and scan it quickly rather than having to rely on the "I'll email/send you a copy" to come through.

The possibilities are endless!

tedwards@email.com

TE
 

I'm a part-time graduate student and currently I'm spending a small fortune in libraries copying information from material that cannot be borrowed to reduce the time I spend typing information from these documents. In addition, I use a lot of my libraray time to take notes from reference materials that are too heavy to be placed on scanners or photocopiers. With the DocuPen RC800 I would be able to make far more efficient use of my library time which is very limited due to working and studying at the same time.

From a responsible user position as well, the DocuPen RC800 would help me conserve a lot of the material I use which dates back to the 1700s and 1800s. This type of scanning would minimise movement of the volumes and paper while giving me copies and images that I can work with and therefore prevent repeated handling of the material since I could work with the digital copies.

My professional work would also be greatly assisted since I do a lot of field work where travelling light and compact is of importance.

I use a lot of colour material (maps for example) so the colour capability is also a big plus.

At conferences when persons have single copies of papers it would be possible to borrow the paper and scan it quickly rather than having to rely on the "I'll email/send you a copy" to come through. In fact just about anywhere that you need to capture information repidly and be able to access it after this device would be a big help. Think of less Post It notes and random pieces of paper.

The possibilities are endless!

tedwards@email.com

TE
 

Im a college student strugling to understand what the book is saying and it would be helpful if I can scan the pages and put them in to my computer so my computer could read it back to me.
 

Im a college student strugling to understand what the book is saying and it would be helpful if I can scan the pages and put them in to my computer so my computer could read it back to me.
 

Wow what a great tool for me and my kids. I am currently a college student getting ready to transfer soon to get my bachlor degree in teaching. I have seven children three of which are in college also.We could surely use this docupen for many purposes like scanning class handouts,notes, scanning books for our countless research papers. It would save me trips to make copies and to the library. My 6th grader could use it for his book reports to scan pages of a book and then at home choose which ones he really needed without the extra cost of making copies at the library. My other children could also use it for their studies as well as myself. Another way I would use it is if I was at the doctors office and I saw a really good recipe for my family. I could simply scan the recipe without having to rip it out of the magazine and having others miss out on the delicious recipe.I think that it is really nice that you can bless someone.Our family would really put it to great use.

Sincerly,
Sonia Armas
 

I could scan in virtually anything (docs, pics, important notes) in a fraction of the time that taking my larger scanner with me. It would help with my scrapbooking and other projects.

miss_jae80@ladyfire.com
 

Hey,

First, I just wanna say that it was mere luck that brought me over your blog as I was looking for slate tablet pc pictures, so I hope i'd be lucky enough to get this scanner

I'm currently a student, an Egyptian student. I got into the habit of taking my notes digitally in lectures after I got my tablet pc. After a while i thought why not having my text books as well and perform the OCR so I'd be really the first " digitalized " student in the whole campus. And I have to say that with the regular scanner it worked just fine. But the problem that I faced was that I had to photocopy the text book first so i could be able to scan it properly cause when I tried to scan the text book pages i just got less accurate results in the OCR and I couldn't search the text well.

So, after doing some web research I came across this pen-based scanner, and it was just what I needed to take my digital experience to the next level. So, if i got it , I won't face the same problem with scanning my text books or the even the text books in the library ( which for some reason I can't borrow them out of the library) so, getting this would be much help for me.

The 2 problems that stopped me from getting my own pen-based scanner is, 1)it is expensive price ( well, $299 worth about 1,725 Egyptian Pound, which is the price of a brand new whole computer ) and 2) I don't have much experience about buying online and the shipping and whether there would be added taxes or whatever

Anyway, thanks for the competition

Name: Ahmed Gamal Aldeeb
My email is: ahmedgaldeeb@yahoo.com
Country: Egypt
 

I work in a very fast paced environment. I work for a millworking and fixture company. I'm often taking a sketch or drawing, cutting it to size, copying it then scanning it then finally sending it as an attachment to email. I've read about the DocuPen RC800 and can't wait until I have one! It definately will make my job very, very much easier. Mahalo,
Tom Carson
 

These DocuPen's are the rage and a very hot item to keep in stock. Well that could be because we have the best price on the web! Actually the best prices anywhere. The winner will love the RC800 for sure and with the permission of the web master I ask you to leave this post up here so that all interested in getting a brand new RC800 or the RC800 Pro visit our site. We have this item for $230.00 with free shipping until the end of the month. So ask me a question and visit our site at www.twobearsretail.com

Thanks , Denny
 

I know the deadline is up, but I would ask you to hear me out. I am a missionary with Frontiers working among the Iraqi refugees in Jordan. In our organization we are always scanning receipts for all our ministry expenses. I could really use a portable efficient scanner. I also teach Greek and Hebrew to people online and I need to scan hundreds of pages from various text books. check out my blog at learnbiblicallanguages.blogspot.com
I have to scan several textbooks because I allow the person being tutored to choose which book they want to use in case they have one for a class. my email is jeremyhbullard@hotmail.com to confirm my ministry shoot me an email and I'll give you the password to my website. please remove this comment if I am not chosen
 

Hi can you please remove my info from your website- Jeremy B
 

*Well, when I got my RC800 I felt great. I could keep All my Architectural books and not damage them. At same time this beautiful pen gave me many more ideas, But..one day , some how something went wrong with this expensive pen scanner.. I then realised that there was no relationship between the seller in England and the seller Canada what so ever. They wasted my time sending emails back and forward to each other, They were just not getting any where. Nobody is able to give the pen maintenance or even replace the battery. So it seems that after a hundred pages scanned this handy pen became a disposable TOY!
 

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