Sunday, August 6, 2006
Control, For the Rest of Us
The great diversion of our time: gadgets. They give a feeling of control in an out of control, uncontrollable world.
The techno-lust object of the moment is a scanner that has been receiving non-stop praise from both reviewers and users. It's a scanner which can turn your office/household paperless in the blink of an eye. It produces PDFs and you get a $300 program, Acrobat, for free. Some of the comments I read online were actually funny. One guy said he used to have things he had to scan and say, “I've got to scan that sometime”. Now, he says, he stands at the mailbox hoping a bill will come in so he can scan it.
For the Mac:
Fujitsu SCANSNAP FI-5110EOXM
For the PC (looks similar, think it may be a newer version, faster — but not for the Mac):
Scansnap S500
May as well also mention: I've become a big fan of AppleCare — Apple's excellent protection plan for their computers. I just had a latch repaired on an old Powerbook and the process was very well implemented, and fast. Apple scores again.
This iCurve Laptop Stand seems to be used by everyone — a MacWorld editor said he uses it, among many others. It looks precarious, but it must be solid or there wouldn't be so many recommendations. It is really designed as a laptop stand to be used along with a separate keyboard.
And it is overkill, let's face it, but this Dymo LabelWriter DUO is the first printer that allows Mac users to use internet postage — a convenience. It's the top of the line of the three Dymo printers that provide this feature.
Well, that's it from here at Consumer Central @ jollydays @ paintedmatter.com.