Brookstone iConvert Scanner for iPad 2 and the new iPad

With the iPad 2 and the New iPad, many hardware and gadget vendors have decided to build all new accessories to enhance the use of our favorite tablet. One device that I have recently purchased is the new iConvert Scanner from Brookstone. This device lets a user connect their iPad to a document feed scanner device available only at Brookstone. With this device, a user may scan documents and photos straight to the iPad.

How does it work?

The iConvert scanner is a device that plugs in to AC/DC power with an included power cord. Once the device is plugged in, the user places the iPad in the stand on top of the device, and then holds down the scanner’s power button for 3 seconds. Once this is complete, the scanner is primed and ready to accept documents. To use this device, go to the iTunes App Store from your iPad, and look up the iConvert app from Brookstone, which is free of charge. Download this app and then start it from your home screen. Once you have started the app, look around the screen using VoiceOver. There are several settings in here but the main thing we want to find is the scanner status and the scan button. The scanner status will tell us if the scanner is connected and working, and the scan button will let the user scan a document. Before you double or split tap the scan button take your document, and set the margins on the scanner to fit the size of your paper. Then, take your paper, and gently start feeding it in to the scanner. If the scanner is on, the feeder will grab your paper and move it in to the scanner proper alignment. Now, we can press the scan button on the iPad. While this process is going, sit back and wait. This should not take longer than 3 to 5 seconds, Once done, find the save button on the screen. This button will be in the same place as the scan button. Once you tap the save button, your scanned document will be saved to the camera roll for further use. The saved image is at 300dpi, so you will have a clean and crisp version of your document.

Conclusion

Even with a price tag of $140.00 the iPad scanner is a great and crisp scanning solution for mobile devices. Eventually, I would love to see Brookstone come out with a bluetooth version of this that will work for the iPhone and iPad, but this is pretty nice as it is. In my next post, I will really give the argument why this is really handy for the blind, and yet, it does have to do with OCR.

Nuance Dragon Dictation for iOS

This time, I thought I would make things a bit more interesting by dictating much of this entry. I have had to make punctuation corrections, and a few edits, but this is basically word for word what the program took down.

Recording from Nuance Dragon Dictation

This time I decided to try to do the blog in the Nuance dictation app. This review is about Nuance dictation. This app came out quite a while back, but just received an update that allows for more functionality and social networking integration. There is also a partner app called Dragon search which allows you to speak keywords and get results from all the major search engines. We will look at that app at a later time. Dictation is a revolutionary app that allows a user to talk and the application will take your voice, and convert it to text. Once you start the dictation application all you have to do is tap the big button in the middle to start recording. If it’s the first time you start using the app however, you must agree to certain terms and conditions, such as allowing contact information to be stored on the Nuance servers for quick retrieval and you must also say yes to location services once this is done you’re free to record at will anything you’d like and it will be converted to that as soon as you finish recording. So to start recording, press the big button in the middle of the screen.This will start recording speech to be sent to the Nuance servers. Once you press the stop button at the bottom of the screen A new window will appear with your converted text in it. One drawback of the application however, is you only get 20 seconds of recording time. When your 20 seconds is up you must press the record button again at the bottom of the window. This is a limitation because it has to filters through the Nuance servers and an Internet connection is required. So the reason why 20 seconds is the limit is so that the upload will not take too terribly long. once you’re done recording if you are a voiceover user,  you will not be able to initially see your converted text. you have to press the keyboard button which puts you in edit mode.  This mode also allows you to make any edits including punctuation and spelling that may be wrong in your converted text. Once you’re done press the keyboard button again and it will return you to the previous screen where you can enter keyboard mode,  record more text, use the menu button to send our your text. from here you can use Facebook twitter or even e-mail your text to any of your accounts. you may also send this text through an SMS text message or by copying to the clipboard and sending it through another application. This will be quite useful if you use any other iPhone apps that require a lot of text especially if you do not like having to use keyboard for  text entry.

Conclusion

One thing this app does not do well is punctuation. You must speak any punctuation marks such as, “period”, or “comma”. This can get quite frustrating when trying to speak a lot of text. I find it easier to sometimes add punctuation after the fact, but that also leaves you open to miss things. I am sure I have in the paragraph above. Ultimately, Dictation got almost all of my words correct with very few errors. This App is a free app in the App Store, and I urge all VoiceOver users to try it out.