Product Reviews: The ScanMarker

Every so often, a product comes along that works so well it makes me want to shout, “Eureka!” from the rooftops. Because I do a fair amount of information entry for my work, I feel like I’ve been waiting for something like the Scanmarker all my working life. With this handy device, I can scan printed text from a book, magazine or document into any computer application within seconds simply by scrolling over sentences the way I would mark them with a yellow highlighter.

Gentle pressure activates the scanning light, and one simply “scans” a sentence the way one would use a highlighter.

I was able to scan library book, borrowed documents, and anything else I didn’t want to mark.  Imagine being able to scan information right into your lap top from catalogs at a dog show, entering the sometimes impossible names of foreign born dogs from a pedigree, or inputing show information if you’re a club secretary….

Scanmarker software gives you the option to use the device in your right or left hand.  I have small hands, but the “pen” was easy to use

The Scanmarker comes with software and a cord that’s long enough to connect from one end of the pen to a USB port on the computer and still allow you to have “elbow room” as you scan.

At present, the Scanmarker can only be used on a PC, but a Macintosh application is expected to be available by the end of the month. In addition to scanning text, the software also enables you to hear your computer “say” aloud the words you’re scanning, as well as translate from over 50 different languages while you scan. The