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Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Hardware Central newsletter 6/7/05

Hardware Central newsletter for June 7, 2005

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http://www.hardwarecentral.com
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Volume 8, Issue No. 23

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In this issue:

* Review
- IrisPen Executive

Any scanner lets you turn printed texts into digital documents, but this
portable USB pen can scan one or a few lines, then read them back to you in
any of 12 voices before pasting them into your word processor. Gerry
Blackwell finds whether the gadget's speed and accuracy merit its $200
price.

* Latest News and Analysis

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Review
------

IrisPen Executive
A Pen That Reads Aloud

Optical character recognition (OCR) technology that turns printed documents
into editable computer files has been around for half a century. Handheld
scanners have been around almost as long, though the rising popularity and
falling price of flatbed models has pushed them into a market niche centered
on pen- or highlighter-like scanners that copy text from paper to PC one
line at a time.

So what can a new product like IRIS' IrisPen Executive ($200) bring to the
table? It talks. Seriously: You plug the candy-bar-sized IrisPen into one of
your computer's USB ports, drag its scanning tip over a line of text, and
when you lift it from the page, IRIS' OCR software reads back the resulting
text in one of several pleasant, fairly realistic-sounding digitized voices.

It sounds impressive, but just as with other applications that rely on
predictive techniques (e.g., speech recognition), you must practice with the
scanner before it delivers results as advertised.

When using a hand scanner, you need to keep your head down and concentrate
on what you're doing -- dragging the scanner tip in a straight line at an
even speed, neither too fast nor too slow. The IrisPen's "auditive
feedback" -- its synthesized reading aloud of scanned text -- saves you from
having to move your gaze to the PC display to check the results after each
line; if the voice recites gibberish, you know you need to scan a line again
...

Gerry Blackwell
Hardware Central
(See complete text at
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Latest News and Analysis
------------------------

WinBook W235 Review
Does a 14-inch screen sound a bit small by today's laptop standards? Well,
when you consider it's a wide-aspect-ratio screen that both leaves room for
a full-sized keyboard and keeps system weight under 5 pounds, you might
think it's just right -- and Pentium M 725 power and DVD?RW for $1,299
doesn't sound too bad, either. How does WinBook's midsized notebook measure
up? (
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1nzp,1,kpmz,9njo,co7e,jjlo
)

Apple To Drop PowerPC for Intel Processors
All those rumors over the years about a version of Apple's Mac OS X for x86
processors? They came true Monday, as Steve Jobs announced Apple's migration
from IBM's PowerPC to Intel CPUs, beginning in 2006 and to be completed by
late 2007. (
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1nzp,1,hdo4,a1sx,co7e,jjlo
)

Lenovo Turns ThinkPad X41 Into Industry's Lightest Tablet PC
The new owner of what used to be IBM's PC division plans to rev up the
sluggish Tablet PC market, adding a flip-and-pivot 12-inch display and
touch-screen stylus input to the executive's-favorite-featherweight ThinkPad
X41. Intel's new 915GM chipset and low-power Pentium M are under the hood.
(
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1nzp,1,1ei7,8m3i,co7e,jjlo
)

Dell Gets the Lead Out of Updated OptiPlex Desktop Line
Lead-free power supplies and motherboards, as specified in a 2006 European
Union directive, join Intel's new 945-series chipsets, Graphics Accelerator
950 video, and 64-bit-capable Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors as Dell
moves its business desktops to the cooler and quieter BTX design. (
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1nzp,1,jcs4,4h0s,co7e,jjlo
)

Visit us at http://www.hardwarecentral.com

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