ScanR

Take this situation, for example: You're on a trip and entertaining a client. You pay the bill and you know that by the time you get back home you'll have lost the receipt, or forgotten to claim the expense, or both. A classic analog/digital gap. But if you were prepared, you could flatten the receipt on the table, snap it from above with your camera phone, then upload it to the Internet. A few moments later it would arrive in your email Inbox as both an Adobe Acrobat PDF file you could print out and a text version you could paste into your expenses spreadsheet.

This would be done courtesy of a free service called scanR (scanr.com) that scans and converts an image into something you can use: a business card, say, into a format you can drop into Microsoft Outlook; a whiteboard presentation into an image you can save and print out later; or a page from a magazine you found in a doctor's waiting room into text you can email to a friend. As well as English, the software is also available in Chinese and Japanese. As California-based scanR chief executive Rudy Ruano puts it, it's simply about "moving the physical form from one place to another." - from Loose Wire

For those on the go, scanning is now fairly portable. Use your cellphones or PDA's as scanners and this even includes clipping path - the object against a white background effect. ScanR lets you fax, copy and scan by just using your cellphone or digital camera. ScanR is a simple and practical tool that solves real problems.

Here's a step on how to use ScanR. -- courtesy from courant.com

1. Go to scanr.com and click on "Sign Up." Fill out the blank fields, check the box to agree to the terms of service and click "Sign up."

2. Take a picture with your camera phone and send it to the appropriate e-mail address: bcscanr.com for business cards, wbscanr.com for whiteboards and docscanr.com for documents.

You can also take a picture with your digital camera, upload it to your computer and e-mail it to the appropriate scanR e-mail address. If you need help, read the tips for taking pictures on the scanR website.

3. Wait for the automated message from scanR to arrive on your cellphone, go back to your computer and enter the activation code from the message into the blank field and click "Activate." You are now able to scan and upload pictures from your cellphone to the scanR website.

4. You'll get another message on your phone letting you know that the image you scanned and sent to scanR has been saved in your scanR account. You can view every image you send to scanR by clicking on "My Scans." You can also have scanR fax your image scans by sending images to docsscanr.com and putting the fax number in the subject line of the message.

5. Once your scans are uploaded you can download the images in several formats, including as PDFs, text files, or even as a vCard so you can import a contact into your address book.