Comments on: Resolution Matters for a Paperless Office

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:05:48 +0000

The e-ink devices are nice fore reading on as long as you have plenty of light. They aren’t quite as contrasty as good paper but are great if you get them out in the sunlight.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:48:48 +0000

Mark, I too run two computers, one for reading and one for working. I find this is fine for critiquing, but for reading novels or large volume documents I like to have a hard copy. I actually must confess that I still print a few trees a year. I am trying to reduce this by saving for an electronic paper that I can use as a replacement to the copy paper. I still find it annoying reading from the computer whilst on the sofa or on the balcony, so hopefully the new electronic newspaper will suffice.

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:09:34 +0000

@Glenn – Both of those screen shots appear the same size on the screen. The one that looks bigger just has many more pixels because the resolution of that monitor is so much higher. With the smaller example, it is nearly impossible to read–not because of the size, but because there just isn’t enough detail to make out the letters.

With a higher resolution screen you can see the small details much more clearly. The two images show what a big difference there is between the resolution of the two monitors.

By: Glenn Biggs

Glenn Biggs — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:56:19 +0000

Mark,

What is the lesson about resolution?

I don’t understand your statement “Now I know looking at this post, the second example is much bigger, but keep in mind they are actually the same size on the two screens.”

I know more pixels produce better quality images but what’s the best way to make the text readable? What’s the best combination: more pixels, widescreen or normal, enlarging text, etc.?

Thanks,
Glenn

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:10:00 +0000

@Arjun – The ScanSnap comes with Acrobat which has OCR. However, I’ve found that DevonThink’s OCR is far superior so I prefer to use it instead. DevonThink uses IrisScan if I remember correctly.

By: Arjun Muralidharan

Arjun Muralidharan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:06:25 +0000

Yes Yep doesn’t have OCR capabilites, but as you noted, I rarely need OCR and if I do, I use the corresponding app.

I was wondering about the ScanSnap, does it have inbuilt OCR processing or do I still need another application for it?

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:54:39 +0000

@Arjun – From looking at it, it looks like Yep will scan documents and let you search documents, but you can search a document that you scanned. I don’t think Yep has any OCR capability. Is this what you’ve found? Of course it probably doesn’t matter if you are scanning handwritten notes.

Much of DevonThink’s power comes from its ability to classify documents automatically. This only works if it can read the text. So for example, if you scan in your bank statement, DevonThink will do OCR and figure out that it is similar to other bank statements and suggest that you put it in the bank statement folder.

By: Arjun Muralidharan

Arjun Muralidharan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:02:26 +0000

Mark, it’s good to have a monitor that can actually serve as a reading device. I don’t print out the slides my professors hand out at Uni, I just study while they run on my 20 inch iMac screen alongside. Saves paper, trees and storage – and time waiting beside the printer.

You asked whether Yep searches inside PDFs, and I can answer: Yes, it does. You can use tags, but Yep also scans the document (if it’s a PDF with the text information embedded).

I only recently came across the Fujitsu ScanSnap and was wowed by the speed this thing has. I always thought my Flatbed was the be-all end-all of things.

But the price is too steep for me at this moment, and I’m hoping to be able to buy one in February. I scan all my college notes and discard the paper for recycling. Again, saves space, and I’ll never lose a classes notes again.