documents posts

Filed under: Hardware, Peripherals, Portables, Beta Beat, Snow Leopard

TUAW Sneak Preview: Doxie scanner from Apparent Corporation

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 5th, 2009

Apparent Corporation, makers of the popular Intelliscanner barcode scanners, has announced that their new Doxie document scanner is in private beta-testing and on track for release to the public in November, 2009.

Doxie is a USB-powered 600-dpi photo, document, and receipt scanner designed to integrate with a number of undisclosed Web and Mac apps. While I'm personally disappointed that Apparent didn't go with the pink and white Good & Plenty candy color scheme, the Doxie is heart-friendly and comes emblazoned with a number of pink hearts. The biggest heart is on the single scan button, which is just visible in the top right of the photo above. I was shocked to find a mistake in the press release, in which they said there were 9 hearts on the device. There are actually 10: one above the "i" in the logo, 8 after the logo, and one on the scan button.

A cool thing about Doxie is that it will automatically know when you're trying to scan a photo, clean up the photo (straighten it and trim if necessary), and then politely offer to put the photo into your iPhoto Library, Flickr pool, or other web apps. As an Apparent spokesperson noted, the company isn't interested in coming out with yet another piece of software to store your receipts and documents. Instead, they want Doxie to work with as many existing Mac, Windows, and Web apps as possible.

One comment from the developers that may point to some rather unique functionality is that they recommend using Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Doxie will retail for $129, and you can sign up for updates and early release information at the new website, which went live today.

Tags: documents, intelliscanner, iphoto, photos, receipts, scanner

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store

First Look: MiGhtyDocs

by Cory Bohon (RSS feed) on Aug 18th, 2008

Google Docs gives you document storage in the cloud, so why shouldn't you be able to access your documents anywhere you are connected to the cloud -- including your iPhone? Well, Google Docs viewing on the iPhone has been a bit kludgy ... until now.

Thanks to MiGhtyDocs (iTunes link), you are now free to roam about the office to view your Docs on the go. You can't edit and you can't view spreadsheets or presentations, but MiGhtyDocs does cache your documents for offline viewing.

This application just does one thing, and does it great. And did I mention that it's free? You can download MiGhtyDocs from the iTunes App Store today.

Tags: .doc, App Store, AppStore, docs, documents, firstlook, google, iphone, microsoft, MiGhtyDocs, word

Filed under: Humor, Hacks, Odds and ends, iPhone

Do you take this iPhone, to have and to hold?

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Dec 27th, 2007

So you're the groom at a wedding this last Saturday. You realize, 10 minutes before the ceremony, that you forgot to print out your vows. You try to get an HP printer to plug and play with a Windows Vista laptop, but no dice-- they're playing "Here Comes the Bride," and Windows is only telling you "Found New Hardware." So what do you do?

If you're bob.blog, you just email the document to your iPhone, and voila-- the groom reads his vows right off of the gadget of the year for 2007. Pretty darn nifty. No word, however, on if the bride sent her "I do" via SMS.

Now, it's not the first time an iPhone has made a wedding possible, but it is, from what we can tell, the very first actual iPhone-assisted wedding ceremony (Update: Not true-- see below). Just think what we'll be able to do with wedding software when the SDK hits. With this ringtone, iTheeWed!

Thanks, Ben!

Update: It's not the first time this has happened-- TUAW's own Mike Rose tells me that he can personally attest to this having been done before. He attended a wedding where the groom read his vows right off of the iPhone. Looks like a burgeoning market of vow-reading software to me.

Tags: documents, email, iphone, pastor, sms, wedding

Filed under: OS, Software, Apple, Leopard

24 Hours of Leopard: Stacks

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 26th, 2007

Feature: Stacks, which are what Apple is calling clickable icons on the Dock that fold out to show other clickable icons.

How it works: It's actually an updated implementation of the old "Piles" idea, in that you can have one icon that gives you access to lots of different things. But Apple's Stacks fill another role-- they get icons off of the Desktop for good, and down into the Dock without looking cluttered. For years and years, almost every Desktop on every computer ever has had icons all over it, from apps to various downloads to whatever ended up there. But Leopard is different-- all of its icons aren't spread on the Desktop, they're piled into the Dock. Click them, and they span across the Desktop (or line up in a grid, if you're boring), click them again and they disappear. That's the real innovation here-- now, finally, you can work your way down to a completely empty, icon-free desktop.

Oh, and I should also mention that Stacks aren't just static. Leopard comes with two stacks-- Documents and Downloads, and the Downloads stack will automatically fill out with anything you download from Safari, Mail, or iChat. No more downloading random files to the Desktop and using Expose to let you go find it. Now, just click open the Stack, and get access to everything you need without ever leaving the window you're working in.

Who will use it: Everybody! And Windows users in 2010, too, since it's almost guaranteed that Microsoft is already working on a way to get this into Windows 7.

Tags: 24-hours-of-leopard, desktop, documents, downloads, os-x, piles, stacks

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Tips and tricks

Faster printing through Quicksilver or a simple drag and drop

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jul 23rd, 2007

At TUAW HQ we absolutely love Quicksilver, the powerful, incredibly extensible and indispensable productivity tool, as it's capable of speeding up just about any conceivable operation on your Mac. Still, with everything Quicksilver is capable of, I honestly never thought it could be used to help you print documents faster. Sure enough, I have been taught my lesson to never doubt Quicksilver's reach by Mark Fisher, author of this Faster Printing with Quicksilver. In summary, Fisher's how-to walks you through adding your printer to Quicksilver's catalog so it can be used as a target for sending files to print. Combined with the Quicksilver comma trick, you can send multiple files to your printer at once, all from the streamlined efficiency of Quicksilver's search interface.

One downside to Fisher's tip, however, is that it requires a bit of digging around in Quicksilver, not to mention a decent workout training oneself through the app's arguably steep learning curve. If all this tinkering simply isn't your bag, there's a much easier trick I wrote about last year for creating a drag-and-drop desktop printer. This is much easier for virtually anyone to set up for themselves, and as a commenter on that post mentioned, you can drag that desktop printer to the right side of your Dock and delete the Desktop icon altogether, saving precious space for... well, probably all those documents you need to print off to begin with.

Ultimately, either of these tips are a great way print your documents more efficiently, as they remove the need to open each individual app and print the documents manually, one by one.

[via 43 Folders]

Tags: documents, printer, printing, quicksilver, tips, tricks

Filed under: OS, Software, Productivity

Apple updates Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts doc

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on May 9th, 2007

Keyboard shortcuts are one of the finer pleasures of computing, especially on a Mac. While we've been blogging all manner of these shortcuts, especially some of the gems in Mac OS X, there is always the One True Keyboard Shortcut Document to Rule Them All; the one maintained by Apple themselves. The doc came across my RSS feeds which means that it has recently been updated, though I admittedly couldn't tell you exactly what is new. When it comes to a list of shortcuts like this, I think I exhibit the Homer Simpson syndrome, where I always learn something new that inevitably knocks out one of the older shortcuts. Take Option-Command-Right Arrow when in the Finder's List View, for example - I have no idea if that's new (though I highly doubt it; List View has been around for ages), but it expands both a folder and all of its subfolders. Option-Command-Drag (again, probably not new, but new to me) to create a file alias in a new location will also prove darn handy, as my home network is finally demanding more and more use of aliases across my machines and hard drives.

No matter how you work, taking a glance at this recently updated doc just might help you get things done a little better.

Tags: apple, documents, keyboard shortcuts, KeyboardShortcuts, shortcuts, support, support doc, SupportDoc

Filed under: Software, Productivity

WriteRoom 2.0 goes official

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jan 4th, 2007

We reported a WriteRoom 2.0 beta from Hog Bay Software early last month, and the company has now announced an official release. Version 2.0, as you might remember, brings with it rich text editing, a live word count, saving documents wherever you please and a standard text/rich text storage format and more. In addition to an official version release, WriteRoom's price is now $24.95 (up from its previous 'free' and $14.95-while-in-beta prices).

WriteRoom 2.0 is a Universal Binary, and a free demo is available.

Thanks everyone who sent this in.

Tags: documents, hog bay software, HogBaySoftware, writeroom, writing

Filed under: iPod Family

iPod 101 support docs

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Nov 17th, 2006

Apple just went nuts releasing a slew of iPod 101 support documents, most likely just in time for all the iPod-toting user who are about to unwillingly embark on a new side career this holiday season: supporting their family members and friends who just got their own little white (or black, or pink...) music player. Instead of forcing you to trudge through Apple's Support docs, using their less-than-stellar search, I thought I'd link everything I found for your bookmarking pleasure. Don't forget the last doc about backing up one's library, as well as the backup overview our own Scott McNulty wrote about this rocking new feature when iTunes 7 launched:

and of course, the ever-pertinent:

iPod 101: Backing Up Your Library

Tags: apple, doc, docs, documents, holidays, ipod, ipod 101, Ipod101, support

Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Software, Internet, Internet Tools, Apple

Apple adds Nike+ section to iPod Support site

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jul 16th, 2006

Apple must have heard our jab at their one-line Nike+ Sport Kit support document yesterday and decided to whip up a full-blown Nike+ support section of their much-loved iPod Support site. Delusions of grandeur aside, the support section offers the typical troubleshooting and 'How do I...' sections, along with a video tutorial detailing ~~how to run~~ how to get on your feet with using this slick new kit to enhance your run. It also includes a link to Apple's new Nike + iPod Sport Kit discussions sub-category which lives under their iPod nano forum. While these should be handy new resources for all sorts of internet-related arguments over Nike and why 5G iPods didn't make the cut, just remember to still get out on your feet with your shiny new running kit, as we're pretty sure Apple Stores won't accept "I just never got around to it" as a return excuse.

Tags: apple, documentation, documents, faq, ipod, nano, nike, plus, site, support

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