scan

Canon introduced two new Pixma printers on Monday, August 11, the Pixma MP480 and Pixma MP190. Both of them are all-in-one printers, meaning they also do triple duty as scanners and copiers. These new models are supposedly ideal for both work and home, and include several new features that make the printing, scanning, and copying processes much easier for the end user. In addition, they also take on a slightly updated look from previous Pixma printers, with a sleek, but versatile, style incorporating flip-top LCD screens and a matte silver and black palette.

The $70 Pixma MP190 is a low-level … Read more

Pixily is a cool scan-by-mail service that launched in early June. Like Shoeboxed, which I checked out last month, Pixily is all about taking paper clutter out of your life by scanning it in for you and making it both searchable, and able to be organized into buckets. The big difference between the two services is that Pixily is focused less on receipts and finances, and more on day-to-day papers like insurance claims, long cell phone bills (with call lists on them) and little things like birthday cards.

Everything that's scanned goes through optical character recognition (OCR), so you … Read more

Money from Beatles record sales helped fund the invention of the CT scan (also known as CAT scan), a medical tool used to take three dimensional photographs of the insides of people's bodies.

As recounted on the blog Epidemix, the story starts with Godfrey Hounsfield, a researcher at EMI back in the 1950s. Although it's a (somewhat struggling) major record label today, EMI--which stands for Electrical and Musical Industries*--was once an industrial research company. Hounsfield did some pioneering work on computers, helping to build the first all-transistor computer, but the division wasn't profitable for EMI and … Read more

On Thursday, security vendor SecureMac reported seeing new variants of AppleScript.THT Trojan horse in the wild affecting users of Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5.

The new variations exploit a vulnerability within the Apple Remote Desktop Agent, and can avoid detection by opening ports in the firewall and turning off system logging. The new Trojans can log keystrokes, take screen shots, take pictures with the Apple iSight camera, and enable file sharing, according to SecureMac.

The Trojans are using an AppleScript called ASthtv05 and/or may be bundled as an application. You must download and execute the … Read more

CORONADO, Calif.--It's the mid-1990s for the mobile industry: lots of walled gardens, lots of fragmentation, and lots of promise.

We've been writing about the future of mobile computing for years now, and it's no surprise that panelists at the Future in Review conference are eyeing the same space. There's a clear shift going on toward mobile computing, seen both in the PC space, as notebooks overtake designs, and in the evolving handheld/subnotebook space with a surge in interest in smartphones and things like the Eee PC.

The current mobile situation reminds Jonathan Bulkeley, formerly … Read more

Xerox officially added five new models to its line of Phaser laser printers today, and I had a chance to speak with a product manager over at Xerox to get the scoop on the new product offering (Phaser 3100, 3250, 3635, 3600, and 5500).

While none of these new printers include built-in wireless, a feature that's been growing in popularity (Xerox sells a separate wireless network adapter for the 3600 series), we're still excited to get a few of these MFPs into the lab for some heavy-duty testing. Let's take a peek at some of the models … Read more

For years, biometric finger scanners have been used in ATMs and at the cash register. But there are problems with finger scanners. Researchers have demonstrated how a flat photograph or molded fingertip can easily fool these devices into giving a false approval. And while face recognition is improving, especially 3D facial mapping, these devices aren't yet in wide use today.

Fujitsu PalmSecure is another option. Already in use in hospitals and government offices, the device reads the hand's vein pattern using near-infrared light. On this week's Security Bites podcast, I spoke with Joel Hagberg, vice president of … Read more

I've been on a bit of a de-cluttering jag over the past year or so. Too much paper, too much "stuff" around the house. So I've been slowly dumping the junk and selling or donating the rest.

This includes photographs. I had stacks of snapshots of family, friends, places, and so forth sitting around in various drawers and boxes. I had made a half-hearted effort to digitize some of the old slides previously, but scanning is really tedious work. Scanning the hundreds of photos involved here was just more than I realistically felt like tackling.

Over … Read more

The recording industry has tried a lot of tricks to shore up their revenues as CD sales have fallen: installing CD anti-coyping software that is almost impossible to remove, suing customers for allegedly downloading songs without paying, and floating the idea of adding a few bucks to monthly ISP bills to compensate rights holders for illegal downloads.

Now, several labels are dreaming up a scheme to charge music fans any time they get a song stuck in their head. The technology is a few years away, but according to several well-placed sources in Hollywood, the labels are funding an organization … Read more