Turn your camera into a scanner with Snapter
Using a camera as a scanner is nothing new but it depends on how good the software is that performs the optical character recognition (OCR). Snapter is a program that has just exited a beta program that purports to be the solution for us all. To use Snapter you take a picture of a document with your camera, even phone cameras will do, and bring it into the program on your Windows-based PC. Snapter has three different "project" types to optimize the recognition depending on what you are trying to capture, document (for flat pieces of paper), card (for business cards), and book. The book project handles the curving of the pages into the spine and is used to capture text from open books.
Page orientation doesn’t matter to Snapter, it can detect when pages are sideways for instance and handle them accordingly. What the program sets out to do is provide the equivalent of portable scanning using any phone at hand and lets the user capture those bits of information that are too important to let get away. The program is $49, kind of pricey for a single function program but the type of utility that if you need it you really need it. To use Snapter you must have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed, and they offer a 14 day fully functional free trial.
To give jkOnTheRun readers a chance to give the program a good try the Snapter folks have supplied four free licenses to the program. All you need to do is leave a comment on this thread describing how Snapter could be a useful tool in your mobile toolkit and we’ll pick the best four. Those lucky folks will each get the $49 program totally free so enter right now. We’ll announce the winners in a day or two so don’t delay. Make sure you use a valid email address with your post so we can notify you if you’re a winner.
UPDATE: The winners have been chosen and this contest is now closed. Thanks for participating and visiting jkOnTheRun!
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I do a bit of record paper keeping for home and my church and having a digital copy would be GREAT! I’d really enjoy using this as everything is paper at the moment.
that should be paper record keeping ;)
As an osteopath i have alot of paperwork from my patients eg: doctor prescription , X-rays and MRI scans. Since I do not own a scanner, this program would be great so I could load the image onto my ASUS R2H. This product would make my daily routine truely mobile.
This would be a godsend to me. I’m trying to build an automatic book scanner and I have to say I’m not having much success. I’ve almost figured out the page turning mechanism (only for one book size so far) but I’m loathe to dismantle my scanner for the next part. If I could just use my old digital camera instead that would be a lot easier.
I’ve tried using a camera before but the recognition on normal programs isn’t good enough.
Hi James. As the Founder of Planet Ark, I’m always on the look out for newspaper articles about the environment. So many times I’ve read an article in a cafe and cannot take that newspaper or magazine with me as it belongs to the cafe. Having this would be very useful as it would enable me to scan and OCR that environment article ‘on the run’.
I used to use readiris for this, but results where not always that good. It all depends on how sharp your picture is. Maybe this program does a better job.
Ooh! This would be so cool. I tried scanning pages with my digital camera before, but I just didn’t find that it was all that readable. As a CPA, I work with tons of paper documents. I have a scanner at the office, but my Q1 is my primary computer when I’m out of the office. I’d love to have a mobile scanning solution that I can take with me to clients and for working at remote locations like the home office. Plus, I’m working on an oil and gas industry tax book and a portable scanning solution would be ideal for collecting research materials for the book. I also am a musician and I want to scan all me lead sheets into my Q1. I’d love you to pick me, but I realize that there are lots of worthy candidates. Hmm…save taxes or save the environment…maybe I’ll be paying retail. LOL
Maybe I will use this for posting newspaper clippings on my blog.
I scan in sketches from my sketchbook all of the time. I wonder how this program would handle in scanning drawings, and sketches. It would be nice to try.
James,
How could the paperlessundergrad not have a copy of this? As I live away from campus right now I’m having a real problem getting a hold of critical books and articles. It’s a problem that’s never transpired before but as I’ve moved into 3rd year the shortage of books means that most of them are on short loan i.e. 4 hours max. I partly get around this in a paperless way by using the only scanner on campus but it is located in a room that’s often used for training. Therefore more often than not I either have to skim read it on campus or commit the most cardinal of sins and use the photocopier..gasp!!
However it wouldn’t be all take take take on my part. Snapter looks like an app that’s made for a paperless operative’s toolbox so I’d also provide a full review of this on my own blog and as Snapter also also looks like the ideal app for the TabletPC operative i.e. scan and annotate, I can write a review article at StudentTabletPC too.
Seriously if I had the $49 I’d go and buy it right now. It seems to tick so many boxes for me and gives me that warm fuzzy feeling :o)