[gui-talk] new scanner and OCR alert (fwd)

[Karen Lewellen]

Hi Eric,
Granted this may be off topic, but Have you Never seen a reading-edge?
The scanner is designed so that the book in its entirety can fit on the 
glass, with a tip-back aspect that does not require breaking the books 
spin.
  I may be showing my deep love and respect for books, but I have never 
broken one, and the reading those words here gave me the shivers!
they can still be had, but  one must know where to seek them, which I do.
Karen

On Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Erik Heil wrote:

> Ok guys.  Sorry for the off-topic message, but I thought that this might
> be interesting to the rest of the list.  Keep in mind that all of the
> software mentioned in this article runs on Winblows, but I'm confident
> that their may be a driver for such a scanner for Linux.  I haven't
> checked out the Web site of the vendor, but perhaps some of you can report
> back on this fact?  If so, I'd be interested in this product, because like
> many of you, scanning published material, notably books is not ideal,
> having to break the spine and everything.  Well, enjoy anyways.
>
> -- 
> Erik Heil <eheil at va3duk.serveftp.com>
> Phone: (865) 673-0542
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:05:08 -0500
> From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> Reply-To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org, blindtlk at nfbnet.org, nfb-announce at nfbnet.org,
>     dtb-talk at nfbnet.org, gui-talk at nfbnet.org, nfbcs at nfbnet.org,
>     promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [gui-talk] new scanner and OCR alert
>
>
>> New Scanner Eliminates Spine Shadow
>>
>>> By Mike Berman
>>
>>> Frustration is trying to scan pages from a book on a flatbed scanner.
>>> The solution: the new OpticBook 3600 ($249) from Plustek.
>>
>>> It's happened to all of us _- we try to scan or copy pages from a book
>>> or other publication only to discover that some of the type is distorted
>>> or the type
>>> near the spine is lost in what has become known as "spine shadow."
>>
>>> So, we end up either breaking the spine of the book to get it to lie
>>> flat or cut the pages out of the book, neither of which is a desirable
>>> solution.
>>
>>> Enter, stage left, the OpticBook 3600.
>>
>>> Plustek has developed what they call SEE (Shadow Elimination Element)
>>> Technology, which allows book pages to lie flat on the bed of the
>>> scanner and uses
>>> a lamp with curved ends to scan type close to the book's spine. The
>>> result is a readable, undistorted copy in eight-to-10 seconds.
>>
>>> Of course the scanner has all of the features we've come to expect from
>>> a flatbed including the ability to email, copy, and scan images at the
>>> touch of
>>> a button. But the additional "book action buttons" allow us to preview,
>>> color scan, grayscale scan or text scan those pesky book pages.
>>
>>> In addition, the scanner comes with Book Pilot software, which:
>>
>>> _ It automatically rotates images as consecutive pages are scanned.
>>
>>> _ It gives you an image preview in 3.5 seconds.
>>
>>> _ It allows you to save images in JPG, BMP or PDF formats.
>>
>>> _ You can convert images to Microsoft Word or PDF documents.
>>
>>> _ You can adjust the scan frame size to fit the book size.
>>
>>> _ You can save all the images of a particular job into one file.
>>
>>> Plus you can scan to OCR, view images in "real time" to make adjustments
>>> in contrast, brightness and gamma, and categorize your images.
>>
>>> The scanner comes with the standard software bundle (except for Book
>>> Pilot): NewSoft Presto Page Manager, ULead Photo Impact XL SE, ULead
>>> Photo Explorer
>>> SE and ABBYY FineReader 5.0 Sprint.
>>
>>> Specs on the scanner, for those that are addicted to such things, are
>>> pretty much what we've come to expect from the new generation of
>>> flatbeds:
>>
>>> _ A high-speed USB 2.0 interface.
>>
>>> _ Hardware resolution of 1200 dpi with software interpolated resolution
>>> of 2400 dpi.
>>
>>> _ 48-bit input and 24/48-bit output scanning mode for color, 16-bit
>>> input and 8/16-bit output for grayscale.
>>
>>> _ Single-pass scanning mode.
>>
>>> _ A cold cathode lamp.
>>
>>> For more information, check out the company's web site at
>>> www.plustek.com.
>>
>
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