Scanning for New Generation of Computer Users

Scanners are quickly evolving from a specialist’s tool into a must-have for serious computer users, and Visioneer of Palo Alto has developed a novel version. Its PaperPort ix is a combination keyboard and gray-scale scanner that allows you to simply plug it in and start scanning.

You don’t even have to open the software that enables you to handle the scanned document: Once you stick a page into the scanner, the software is automatically launched. PaperPort’s keyboard includes three Windows 95 shortcut keys, making it easy to take advantage of Microsoft’s operating system. (The PaperPort Vx is designed for the Macintosh.)

The scanner comes bundled with five applications. One, Xerox TextBridge, makes precise optical character recognition possible, allowing you to scan all the business cards in your wallet into your electronic address book. Another, PictureWorks Copier, turns your computer and printer into a personal copy machine, an obvious boon to any home office.

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Let the Sun Shine In: Skylights are great, but they tend to be expensive, tricky to install and feasible only in attics or rooms with a ceiling just below the roof. Now tubular skylights, an Australian invention that allows homeowners to have skylights in rooms below the attic, have taken an American twist in the form of flexible tubing that molds around attic obstructions, such as ducts, and opens up where you want it.

Sun Tunnel Skylights, based in Campbell, Calif., claims that roof-to-ceiling installation takes less than two hours and costs about a quarter what typical skylights do. These newfangled skylights receive sunlight through an acrylic dome on the roof. The rays reflect off the shiny interior of the tubing and down to the ceiling opening, where light is diffused throughout the room. The makers say the highly reflective tubing allows their product to deliver more natural light than a conventional skylight.

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Dial M for Motorola: If you’ve been trying to figure out whether a cellular phone, two-way radio or pager would best serve your communication needs, Motorola’s i370 could save you from this harrowing dilemma. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company has collapsed all three devices into a compact, digital, portable handset, which weighs just 8.7 ounces--about half what other two-way radio handsets weigh.

Users can switch at will among full-duplex cellular calling, instant conferencing and private two-way radio conversations and alphanumeric paging. Motorola has already sold about $100 million worth of the devices to Rutherford, N.J.-based Nextel, which is offering the product, called PowerFone, in six states: California, Nevada, Colorado, New York, Illinois and Washington. The new handsets are still a little pricey at $300 to $400, but the price should drop as demand grows.

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Gas Fireplace Cum Air Filter: How would you like a reasonably priced, efficient gas heater with built-in safety features to ease any concerns about carbon monoxide? Superior, a Fullerton company that designs and markets gas fireplaces, says it has come up with one. Vent-free gas fireplaces, which heat much more efficiently than the vented variety because they have no openings through which to lose warmth, have been around for a while. PureHeat, though, is the first product to combine the effectiveness of a vent-free unit with an air-filter-like ability to eliminate both the carbon monoxide it produces and any hydrocarbons present in the room, according to Superior. How does the filtering feature work? PureHeat includes a ceramic catalyst made by Owens Corning, which kicks in a minute or two after you turn on the unit. The catalyst boosts the heater’s initial temperature of about 500 degrees to 1,000 degrees--sizzling enough to destroy carbon monoxide. If the oxygen level in the room dips below normal, the unit shuts off automatically. And because PureHeat burns almost free of carbon monoxide, the flame appears yellow, giving it a more natural, wood-fire look than the typical blue flame that accompanies gas heat.

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