OCR on the Run

So much text, so little time. Business cards, memos, charts, magazine articles--you want the information, but you don't want to carry all that paper with you. Wizcom Technologies offers a better way to capture and organize text information: the QuickLink Pen Personal Scanner, a compact and practical handheld text scanner with built-in optical character recognition capabilities. The $149 QuickLink Pen can hold up to 1000 pages of scanned text in its internal memory. It also doubles as an address book and syncs easily with desktop personal information managers, word processors, spreadsheet applications, and Web browsers.

The pen integrates 2MB of flash memory (user-upgradeable to 4MB for $50, or 8MB for $79). The lightweight unit runs on two AAA batteries.

Slimline Readings

Sleek and comfortable to grasp, the QuickLink Pen is just 6 inches long, and is about the size of a large marker. The pen tapers off toward the bottom cap; removing the cap reveals the scanner's sliver of a charge-coupled device, or optic head, flanked by two roller wheels that facilitate smooth scanning. The face of the unit features a 2.3-inch-long, three-line LCD that's remarkably easy to read. The seven buttons to the left of the display assist you in navigating through the device's menu options. By changing preference settings, you can flip the screen's display orientation so that you can read it easily if you're left-handed.

The QuickLink Pen's menu includes four applications: Notes, Address Book, Link Collector, and Tables and Charts. When you're ready to scan, you turn the QuickLink Pen on, scroll down to the application you want to use, pop off the cap (the optic head blinks to indicate that the QuickLink Pen is ready), and scan away. Optical character recognition is done on the fly using the unit's integrated Ligature CharacterEyes Limited OCR software.

The desktop software that ships with the QuickLink Pen lets you specify where collected data gets sent when you hook the device to your PC. For example, Notes data could go to a word processor, Address Book data to a PIM (including Microsoft Outlook), Tables and Charts data to a spreadsheet, and URLs obtained through Link Collector could be entered into your Web browser's bookmarks. If the QuickLink Pen is already connected to a PC and set to Send Immediately (the default setting), data is sent automatically to a specified program as it's collected.

The included software makes syncing the QuickLink Pen to your PC a simple matter. The QuickLink Pen communicates with your PC via the bundled serial port interface, which plugs into a jack on the top of the pen. The pen itself can be hot-plugged, so you don't need to reboot each time you attach the pen. (Those who purchase the QuickLink Pen after April 1 directly from Wizcom will receive a Universal Serial Bus adapter, as well; otherwise, the adapter is $30.)

In addition to the serial and USB connections, you can sync with your PC, notebook, or handheld using the QuickLink Pen's IrDA-port. The infrared port is compatible with standard IrDA protocols, as well as Ir OBEX, which is for communication with infrared-equipped handhelds and mobile phones.