We live in a digital age, so why do business cards refuse to die? They're a hassle to store and an environmental suck to produce. Plus, who among us has time to manually transcribe contact info into a phone, PDA, or PC?
Needless to say, I was geeked to try Business Card Reader, a $5.99 app that turns business cards into iPhone Address Book entries.
Specifically, BCR leverages your iPhone's camera to take a snapshot of a card, then uses built-in optical character recognition (OCR) to convert the image into text and populate the appropriate contact fields.
After snapping a photo, Business Card Reader scans the card and adds the data to a new contact.
That's the theory, anyway. In practice, BCR requires near-perfect lighting conditions and decidedly non-fancy cards to achieve reliable recognition.
Make no mistake: This is a terrific app, one I'd absolutely buy despite its limitations; it's just that handy. But let's not overlook those limitations.
For starters, it requires an iPhone 3GS. Older models lack the autofocus capabilities necessary for sharp close-ups (though you might be able to get by with one of those third-party macro lenses).
Next, while BCR does a decent job identifying names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers, in my tests it rarely got the company name right. Likewise, if a name included a middle initial, it placed that initial in the Last Name field and ignored the actual last name altogether.
It's also a challenge to get sufficient lighting while avoiding glare off the card itself--particularly if it's a glossy card. And what with all the fancy logos, layouts, and color schemes these days, it's no wonder BCR encounters its share of difficulties.
That said, when it works well, it's a thing of beauty, and it's a lot faster and easier to edit a few OCR mistakes than it is to manually enter the information.
I also like the app's option to look up a contact on LinkedIn and/or merge the scanned card data with an existing iPhone contact. Plus, it recognizes not only English, but also French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Another perk: the Card Holder view, which stores the actual scans in a slick-looking mock-leather "holder."
Business Card Reader may not be perfect, but it's about $150 less than a dedicated bizcard scanner--and it works right on your iPhone.
Have you found another card-scanning app you like better? If so, hit the comments and tell me about it!
Whether you're watching a movie on an airplane or interacting with your iPhone while it's charging on your desk, some kind of stand is essential. That's why I read David's Mobile Xtand review with great interest.
Pretty cool product--but $40? That's way too rich for my Cheapskate blood. Fortunately, there are iPhone stands that cost significantly less--and some that cost nothing at all. Here's a look at three way-cheaper alternatives:
- The business-card stand Far and away my all-time favorite, this 60-second Instructables project turns any business card (the thicker, the better) into a perfect little stand. It can return to your wallet when not in use, and it has an unbeatable price. Be sure to read the accompanying comments for lots of other DIY ideas.
- The Crabble OK, it has arguably the worst product name since the Sony Clie. But this cool $4.99 stand is essentially a hard-plastic version of the previous one, and it can hold your iPhone for either portrait or landscape viewing. Plus, it folds flat, so it's just as wallet-friendly. See it in action in the above video.
- MovieWedge The bean-bag chair meets the iPhone. This soft-sided, microsuede-covered stand is ideal for uneven surfaces--including your dashboard, for those times when your iPhone is pulling double duty as your GPS. It's $9.95.
OK, your turn: What's your preferred method of propping up your iPhone?
Lexmark's 4.3-inch touch-screen LCD.
(Credit: Lexmark)Not to be outdone by HP's recent touch-screen printer, the folks at Lexmark just debuted their line of Web-connected touch-screen all-in-ones.
The big difference between the two is that although they both have touch technology, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web is meant to live in the home, while the three printers featuring Lexmark's MyTouch technology are designed to increase productivity for the business market. Nevertheless, this won't stop us from putting them side-by-side in the first ever Web-connected, touch-screen-printing kumite.
Only three out of the eight new products include a large 4.3-inch touch screen, coincidentally the exact same size of HP's LCD screen. I had a chance to preview the entire lineup, and I was impressed with the comprehensive set of new features built into each device. The "SmartSolutions" button layout lets SMBs streamline their work flow by customizing their home screen with easy-to-use applications that include template shortcuts, address book favorites, RSS feeds, ID and ID card copies--all built into the machine with updates available through the host computer.
Four of the new printers also feature 802.11n wireless connectivity and all eight include Lexmark's Vizix technology that uses individual ink tanks to produce higher quality output at a cheaper refill cost. Business users will also be happy to see Lexmark's new business card scanning technology that recognizes and automatically uploads contact information into popular desktop software suites. One drawback: the technology isn't available for Apple's vCard address book sync.
All of the new printers will be available in September, and we'll be getting units into the CNET Labs as soon as possible to begin testing, so check back soon to see who will win in a head-to-head match.
(Credit:
Moo Print)
Web-savvy printing company Moo.com has finally buckled from the requests of customers and is launching full-size business cards. The new offering will be available in the next few days.
Card design will still use the same Web-based editor that's been available for Moo's other products, although users will be getting more than twice the size they're used to with Moo's flagship mini cards. There's also a selection of design templates for the front side of the card that will contain all the contact information, which can now be slurped up right from LinkedIn.
For the back side of the card, users can grab up to 50 different photos from popular hosts like Flickr, Facebook, Bebo, and others and get them printed out for $21.99. However, users who sign up to be part of Moo's mailing list can get 20 percent off, bringing the price down to $17.60.
For the environmentally conscious, the new cards also come in two different stocks: the original stock used in the mini cards and a new "green" stock made from 100 percent recycled paper.
A promo video for the new cards is below.
... Read more
(Credit:
Buy.com)
If you frequent trade shows or spend a lot of time making new business contacts, you invariably wind up with stacks of business cards and the tedious task of adding the info to your contact manager. A card scanner can speed up the process considerably; now's your chance to scoop one up for $16.99, shipped, after a $60 mail-in rebate.
The Plustek OptiCard 820 is a portable color scanner designed for business cards and photos up to 4x6 inches. It weighs just under 7 ounces and draws power from your PC's USB port, so there's no bulky AC adapter to pack. Optical scan resolution tops out at 600 dpi, which is fine for cards and snapshot photos.
The included CardIris software, used to convert business cards into raw data, can automatically save to Outlook, Lotus Notes, Palm Desktop, and other popular PIMs. PC Magazine's review of the scanner dinged it for so-so character recognition, meaning you might have to do some manual clean-up of the card data--but it's probably still faster than entering it manually.
This rebate deal ends January 31.
(Credit:
CEO IQ)
A digital business card is one of those products that would have seemed like science fiction in the mid-'90s but now feels outdated only two years after we first heard of it. Part of the reason is that the rCard's 1GB of storage, which was enormous back then, is now common enough to be found on promotional giveaways like USB keys.
Its size is still a relative novelty at 3.6 inches by 2 inches and 0.17 inches thick, as Everything USB notes, but its 2-inch display seems small by comparison and its battery lasts only two hours at a time. It would be one thing these were cheap enough to hand out like its paper predecessors, but at $40 retail it doesn't seem like an ideal candidate for mass production now that it's finally hitting the market.
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