KNFB Reader App: Amazingly Fast and Accurate

The KNFB Reader is a text recognition app that is shockingly fast. Take a picture of a newspaper article or practically any printed text and within a couple of seconds the app will be reading the text back to you. A "couple of seconds" is no exaggeration, the KNFB Reader app is that fast. For people who are visually impaired or have difficulty reading, the KNFB Reader is perfect for accessing printed text.

Once a document is properly framed, only one more step is necessary to start reading the document. Simply press the take picture button and within seconds the app will recognize the text within the document using optical character recognition (OCR) and begin reading it with text-to-speech. No need to crop or adjust the image, once the picture is taken the app does all the work. All recognition is done locally on the device so personal data is never transmitted over the internet.

The KNFB Reader app has a number of features that help users capture images of text. For users who are blind and visually impaired the app offers a "field of view report" which offers spoken feedback to help frame the document in the view finder. This feature will let a users know how many corners of the document are within the field of view and if the document is tilted. In addition, the app offers automatic picture taking mode which will automatically snap a picture of a document when it is properly framed.  The app also includes the ability to capture multi-page documents with batch mode. The field of view feature worked well with loose paper documents, but I did not have success using the automatic capture feature with books.

In addition to using the device's built in camera to capture images, users can also import image based PDF documents and JPG files to be recognized with the app. For example, using the "open in" feature of Google Drive will allow a user to import an image to be recognized and read with KNFB Reader.

Text is can be highlighted word-by-word or line-by-line as it is being read aloud by the text-to-speech voice. Users can adjust the layout and appearance of the text and change the speaking rate of the text-to-speech voice. Only the default iOS text-to-speech voice is available, so users hoping to use another voice will have to export the text to another app. The built-in text reader also lacks the ability to highlight or annotate the document, so once again users looking for this functionality will need to export the text to a different app.

While the KNFB Reader app is faster and more accurate than competing products such as Prizmo, Prizmo does include some useful features that KNFB Reader does not. Prizmo, which is significantly less expensive, includes the ability to export PDF documents. This means a user can take a picture of a document, have the text recognized and any images on the page retained by Prizmo, so that it looks identical to the printed page. KNFB reader, by contrast strips away images, and only retains the printed text. If PDF export is an important feature to you, Prizmo may be a better option. Click here to learn more about Prizmo. 

If you are looking for a text recognition app with great speed and accuracy, I think you will be quite pleased. If The KNFB reader fits your budget, you won't be disappointed. KNFB Reader costs $100, to download the app from the App Store click here. It is compatible with the iPhone 4S and newer and the iPod touch fifth generation. Click read more below to view screen shots of the app.

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HoverCam: Portable Scanner and Document Viewer In One

The HoverCam is a collapsible document camera and scanner all in one portable package. The HoverCam first slides out of the base and then swings out from the arm. The HoverCam T5 has a five megapixel camera which allows the HoverCam to capture crisp scans of documents up to 11" X 14". The HoverCam plugs into a Mac or PC using USB and does not require any external power. To begin using the HoverCam, launch the HoverCam Flex software which is included with the HoverCam T5. The HoverCam Flex software gives you the option to start scanning, capture a video, or show and annotate a document on a projector. Click read more below to learn more.

Scanning:

In order to scan to a PDF, JPEG, or other file type, place the document under the camera and position it properly then snap the picture. If you have more than one page you can use an included alignment bumper to line up each page more quickly. The HoverCam takes pictures very quickly with almost no time lag. Scanning documents with the HoverCam seems to be more difficult than scanning documents with a flatbed scanner. A scanner requires less aliment and adjustments but at the HoverCam is much more portable than a flatbed scanner. A scanner with a multi-page feeder would also be much faster than the HoverCam at scanning multi-page documents. The document quality is similar to the quality of a scanner which is impressive for a device of this size. From my experience the HoverCam has similar quality and speed compared to a portable scanner. I would not recommend students rely on the HoverCam to scan documents during class unless it is at a work-station during study hall . Using any scanner during class while the teacher is lecturing or other students are working with the print material can be distracting and time consuming. Scanning of books is one of the strong suits of the HoverCam. You can just put the book under the HoverCam, align in correctly, and then scan the first two pages then just flip the page to scan the next two pages. With a flatbed scanner it is much more difficult because you must lift the book after each page. The HoverCam includes built in LED lights for use in dimly lit rooms. The HoverCam also includes a mat with tactile alignment ridges for the blind and visually impaired.

Video:

Video recording is not the HoverCam's strong suit. The video seemed very choppy and the audio from the built in microphone was muffled. When moving a hand across the screen the hand would have a ghost effect.  

Document Camera:

The HoverCam also has document camera functionality. It allows teachers or presenters to display documents to a group. The built in LED lights provide good image quality even in dimly light rooms. When showing a document you can add annotations including text and underlines. The HoverCam also includes a Kensington-compatible security slot so you can lock it up when you're not using it.

Kurzweil Compatibility:

Kurzweil 3000 users can use the HoverCam as a scanner to directly scan documents into Kurzweil. Watch the above video to learn more about HoverCam compatibility with Kurzweil. 

Pricing/Availability:

The HoverCam T3 costs $219 and the HoverCam T5 costs $279 from thehovercam.com. The HoverCam T3 includes a 3 megapixel camera while the T5 includes a 5 megapixel camera. The T5 includes some other features that are not available on the less expensive T3. Visit thehovercam.com to learn more. 

Who Can Benefit?

The HoverCam could be a good tool for students who use Kurzweil and does not already have a scanner. With the HoverCam you can portably scan documents which is impossible with a flatbed scanner. The HoverCam is similar to a portable scanner in terms of speed and quality. For teachers, the HoverCam is a good document camera with annotation options.

Sample Document Scans:

Using HoverCam:

Using Scanner Pro for iPhone:

This product was provide to reviewer for purpose of review and was returned

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Scanner Pro Review

Scanner Pro is an app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It works best with the iPhone because it has a higher quality camera. Scanner Pro allows you to take a picture of a multi-page document and then convert the images into a PDF file. Images can be taken with the camera or imported from the camera roll. When using the camera to capture an image there is an option to have the picture taken when the camera is perfectly still for better image quality.

Scanner Pro allows you to take pictures of multiple pages before saving them to a PDF which speeds up the process of scanning multiple pages. Once you have taken the pictures of the document you can change the contrast and brightness. Scanner Pro can automatically detect the edges of a document but it does do not do as good of a job at detecting edges as other scanner apps such as TurboScan and JotNot.

The app struggles even more if the document is on a light background. The inability of Scanner Pro to consistently detect the edges is a major downside. If Scanner Pro does not recognize the edges of the document automatically you can adjust the edges manually but this takes time and slows down the process considerably. Once you adjust the edges Scanner Pro has great features to manage and share your document. You can send documents by email, iDisk, WebDAV services, Evernote, Google Docs and Dropbox. The app allows you to share you documents over Wi-Fi as well. Another cool feature allows you to password protect the entire app or individual documents. Scanner Pro costs $6.99 in the App Store.

Scanner Pro is a well done app but the problems detecting edges really slows things down. Because of this one problem I would recommend JotNot or TurboScan instead. If Readdle, the maker of the app, fixes the edge detection problem it would be a different story.

Click read more below to view screen shots of Scanner Pro in action.

       

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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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Kurzweil Bubble Notes

Bubble notes is a great feature in Kurzweil 3000. Bubble notes allows teachers to easily assess students. Bubble notes also helps students easily complete tests and quizzes. To insert a bubble note go to tools, then notes, and then bubble notes. When a student reads up to a bubble note it will automatically open and be read aloud. Bubble notes can have multiple choice, true or false, matching and open ended questions Once a student completes the assessment the teacher can extract the student's answers to easily grade the student's answer. Bubble notes can make tests and quizzes easier for students and teachers. Watch the video above for more information. For more Kurzweil tips and tricks click here, here and here.

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Kurzweil 3000 Online Tips

The above video is a short example of how to use online downloading in Kurzweil 3000 version 12. Online downloading allows users to download content from many sources directly into Kurzweil. Kurzweil allows users to download books Project Gutenberg, Bookshare and many more. To use online book downloading go to the online menu and then select search for books. Once you search for and download the book go to file and then open to start reading the book. This method of downloading books directly into Kurzweil allows you to quickly access books from many sources. To watch this video with YourTube click here. To learn more about YourTube click here.

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Assistive Technology Blog Podcast Now on iTunes

Today, Assistive Technolgy Blog Podcast became available on the iTunes store. The podcast contains a short summary of every article posted to bdmtech.blogspot.com The new Podcast is an easy way to keep up with the blog while on the go or away from the computer. The Assistive Technology Blog still has exclusive video, images and reviews. Subscribe to the Podcast and you will get the next episode while you sleep. To download the Podcast for free click here.

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Using a Digital Camera As a Scanner in Kurzweil

Kurzweil 3000 is a great tool for reading text from the web or printed material. With Kurzweil you can scan a document and it will recognize the text (OCR) and read it back to you. If you do not have a scanner near by and need to read a printed document you can use a digital camera to import the picture to Kurzweil. Watch the video above for step by step instructions. When you open the JPEG file in Kurzweil it will recognize the text within the document and read it back to you. Also you can use Kurzweil's great annotation options to alter your document. When using this method the picture of the document must be clear with the document in the center of the picture. When using this method the OCR quality is below average but is still better than nothing.

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Edit Underlying Text in Kurzweil 3000

This video shows how to edit the underlying text of a scanned document in Kurzweil 3000. If a word is being read incorrectly you can correct the mistake using the edit underlying text feature. Additionally this video explains how to use zone editor to improve your scanned document. With zone editor you can change the order that the document is read and what text is read.

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Using Image Selector in Kurzweil 3000

Kurzweil 3000 is a software application that can interpret scanned documents and read them back to you. Scanners are not perfect and sometimes a scan comes out poorly, luckily, Kurzweil 3000 has tools to improve your scans. One of the best tools to improve your scan is image selector. With image selector you can delete a part of your document that came out poorly. For example, if scanned document has a black mark down the side you can use image selector to delete the blemish. To activate image selector go to the edit menu and then click on image selector. Next you will have to click draw a box around the blemish you wish to remove. Then under the scan menu go to image fill and then select white. Now your black mark is removed from the page.

There is another useful way to you image selector. If you are using the fill in the blacks feature and it mistakenly finds to many blanks. Now your document has text boxes all over. To delete all of the unwanted text boxes use image selector. With image selector draw a box around all the unwanted text boxes then go to tools then notes and then delete this process will delete all text boxes in the selected area.

For more tips on improving your scanned documents click here. 

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