Use Your iPhone and JotNot as a Portable Scanner

JotNot Pro for iPhone can be used as a portable scanner. JotNot uses the iPhone's camera to take a picture of a document and then processes the image to the center of the screen. It  then removes shadows and noise. To make a PDF of a document simply take a picture of each page of the document with JotNot. JotNot will make a PDF that looks like it was made with a flatbed scanner. Once JotNot has produced a PDF you can email it or save it to a number of cloud services including Google Docs. To learn more about JotNot Pro click here. You can also use JotNot with Kurzweil. Simply email your self the PDF and then open it with Kurzweil. Once the PDF is opened in Kurzweil you can read it using Kurzweil's built in text-to-speech or use any of the Kurzweil editing tools to fill in the blanks, circle or highlight the document. JotNot is the perfect companion to Kurzweil. When you get a hard copy of a document you would like to read with Kurzweil simply take a picture of it with JotNot instead of going to a scanner. Click read more below to see JotNot screen shots and watch more videos.

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JotNot Scanner App (Giveaway)

JotNot Scanner is an app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. To download JotNot click here. JotNot requires a camera in order to capture the documents. JotNot allows you to take a picture of a document and then save it as a perfectly centered PDF file. The resulting document looks as if it was scanned with a flat bed scanner. JotNot even allows users to fax the document from your iOS device. JotNot is $0.99 in the App Store. If you would like to try out JotNot you can download the lite version here.

The assistive technology blog will be giving away free copies of JotNot over the next week. Check back frequently to improve your chances of winning.

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DocScanner OCR iPhone App (Giveaway)

DocScanner is an OCR app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. DocScanner allows you to take a picture of a document and save it as a PDF or JPEG file. To download DocScanner click here. DocScanner also positions the document so it fills the entire screen. Another DocScanner feature converts the text of the document into electronic text that can be read aloud using VoiceOver. This process is called OCR. To learn more about OCR click here. If you would like to test out DocScanner's OCR capabilities download SayText which uses the same OCR engine as DocScanner.  DocScanner allows users to scan many different types of documents including business cards, recipes, articles and even whiteboards. Once your document has been scanned you can save it to a server, Evernote or Dropbox. Norfello Oy describes the apps scanning capabilities as follows.

"DocScanner has industry leading image processing algorithms which automatically turn the picture to look like you have scanned the document with a flatbed scanner."

DocScanner is a competitor to ZoomReader which is another OCR app in the App Store. ZoomReader costs $19.99 while DocScanner costs $4.99. DocScanner has more features including Evernote and Dropbox compatibility and the option to save documents as PDF or JPEG. DocScanner also allows users to scan multiple pages into one documents while ZoomReader only allows you to scan one. ZoomReaders OCR engine does work faster and more accurately in my tests.

Giveaway


The Assistive Technology Blog will be giving away six copies of the DocScanner app over the next week. Promo codes will be posted to the blog over the next week. The first person to enter the code into iTunes will win the app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work. DocScanner is a $4.99 value in the App Store.


Click read more below to see more pictures of DocScanner.

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The Blio App is Here!

After months of anticipation the Blio app is out for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The app is free from the iTunes App Store. Blio is an eReader that can read PDF, ePub and XML books. To add a book either select a file and press open with Blio or transfer the file to Blio via iTunes. Once the books is in the Blio bookshelf there are many reading options including text-to-speech. Unfortunately the text-to-speech voice is not included and costs $10 as an app purchase. Blio can also sync audio books with the text and highlight as each word is being read.

Blio also includes an elegant note taking system that is similar to iBooks. To add a note select a section of text and then press note then a note will appear allowing you to type your note. Blio also allows you to search the text of a book.

One of Blio strongest features is visual customization options. From within the visual settings menu you can change the view, text size and more. On the iPhone and iPod Touch there is another view called “fast.” Blio claims this view can increase reading speed and eliminate eye strain. “Fast” view shows one word at a time in large print in the center of the screen and then changes the word automatically as you read. In “fast” view you hold your finger on the right edge of the screen then side your finger down to decrease word speed and up to increase word speed.

Another handy feature is Blio’s one touch look up feature which allow you to get a definition of a word or look up a word or phrase using Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica. Blio is a worth a try because of its text-to-speech capabilities and visual customization options. Keep in mind that Blio is free but the text-to-speech voices cost $10 each.

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