Editorial Review:

Item Description:
The IRISPen Express 6 is the most intuitive electronic highlighter. Simply slide the pen over text and numbers from letters, newspapers, magazines, faxes, etc. and they are instantly retyped right at your cursor in your favorite application. The IRISPen recognizes 3.15 inches (8 cm) per second and retypes 1,000 characters per second. The IRISPen scans and recognizes 128 languages and features the Smart wizard, which assists you with blurry text, numbers or small images. Whatever you need to scan, the intuitive wizard guides you through the process. The efficient USB connection enables you to capture characters from the largest variety of media at the fastest speed. USB powered, it doesn't require any battery.

Amazon.com Item Description:
The Iris USOA400 IRISPen Express 6 Pen Scanner is a portable, hand-held scanner that works just like a highlighter. You simply slide the scanner over virtually any printed text, and the text is automatically scanned directly into your computer. Ideal for remote research projects or any task in which a flatbed scanner would prove too cumbersome, this pen-sized scanner operates at a rate of over three inches per second and recognizes 128 languages.

The Iris USOA400 IRISPen Express 6 Pen Scanner offers: Small size for easy portability. Automatic conversion of text on paper into editable text on the screen. Recognition of 128 languages. PC and Mac compatibility.

The pen-sized scanner scans at a rate of over three inches per second. View larger.

Fast Scanning and High Accuracy
The IRISPen Express 6 includes Optical Character Recognition software, or OCR, that is up to 100% accurate with 128 languages. Whether you're scanning print from a newspaper in New York, Istanbul or Ljubljana, this scanner will provide you with highly accurate results. It can even read wavy and distorted images, as well as colored text and numbers, and text on colored backgrounds.

If you have special text needs, don't worry. The IRISPen can recognize alphanumeric characters, numeric data, special characters, mathematical symbols, currency symbols, and much more. The IRISPen also reads virtually any font, in a wide variety of styles and point sizes (from 8 to 20 points), as well as formatting elements, such as vertical lines, separating table cells. The scanner can even scan logos, signatures, and other small graphics.

While the speed will vary according to usage, the IRISPen can scan up to 3.15 inches per second. You simply slide the 'pen' tip across your text, just as you would a highlighter, and the text is scanned directly into the application of your choice.



Wide Software and Hardware Compatibility
The IRISPen doesn't care if you're a Mac or PC user. It's compatible with practically any platform you use. The pen connects directly into the USB port of a PC, notebook, Tablet PC or Macintosh computer. Powered by the USB port of your computer, the IRISPen doesn't need an external power supply and features an 'idle' mode to save energy when it's not in use.

Use the IRISPen just like a highlighter and the text appear right on your computer screen.

The scanner software is easily configured. You can assign key board shortcuts and follow the intuitive smart wizard for the quickest and easiest way of defining your settings. It proposes a series of templates with pre-defined settings means for the reading of certain types of data: text, text from columns, numeric tables, etc. These templates can be either used as such, or modified to fit more particular needs.

Once connected, your options for the destination of your scanning is virtually unlimited. You can scan your text directly into Microsoft Excel or Word, into text files, emails--you name it. If you can type in it, the IRISPen will let you scan into it.

Scanning Everything From Albanian to Zulu
Amazingly, the IRISPen recognizes 128 different languages. All American and European languages are supported, including Central-European languages. Greek, Turkish, the Cyrillic ('Russian') and the Baltic languages and Hebrew are also supported. Optionally, the IRISPen reads Asian documents in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean.

You can activate a mixed alphabet of Greek or Cyrillic and Western characters. This is useful if Western words pop up in Greek of Cyrillic texts (this is often the case with proper name, brand names, etc.). The IRISPen will automatically switch languages whenever needed.

What's in the Box
IRISPen Express 6 pen scanner, CD-ROM, quick installation guide, register card, user's manual, test sheet, and calibration sheet.




Accessories:
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Accessories:

• HP Pavilion DV6910US 15.4-inch Laptop (2.00 GHz AMD Turion X2 TL 60 Dual Core Mobile Processor, 3 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

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Rating: - * A real time saver for citing sources with quotes & research notes! ... I was a little afraid to buy this, with about as many detractors as promoters of the device in the reviews here. After receiving it and staring up within 15 minutes, I'm glad I tried it out! I find the character recognition excellent and send the scans directly to MS Word - I just place the cursor where I want to insert the scan, and it's right there! I think that if you're having problems with character recognition, you could consider recalibrating the device each time you go to a new place. It's sensitive and on cloudy days when I'm scanning in the living room using ambient light, the output quality can range just because the sky gets darker and lighter than when I calibrated it. I can predict bad scan quality by keeping the scan window open and looking at the quality of the scan pre-OCR - if the scan is light or dark, recognition will go down. Luckily, recalibration is very easy, or you can scan somewhere with a more constant light supply. With constant light, the accuracy is about 90+% for me, and learning how to hold the pen and how fast to scan took just a few minutes out of the box. Rating: - * Satisfied ... I was well pleased with the IRISPen Express 6 Pen Scanner, it did everything it claimed it would, and is easy to install and use. Rating: - * Terrible ... I got this thinking that it would be great for college. Well now I am trying to see how fast I can return it. This was so difficult to use. You had to angle it just right or it would not work and it was even harder to get the whole word. I tried doing it out of a textbook and it was impossible. I would not suggest spending any money on this at all. Rating: - * Does the job ... I used to use Optical Character Recognition software in Mac OS9 but haven't for years. Usually the result wasn't much better than typing the material from scratch. Professional OCR software for OS X was way beyond my budget. I hesitated to buy this product because of the negative reviews but finally did so anyway. Setup took less than 5 minutes and I was soon scanning with about 90% accuracy if I followed the directions, which took about 2 minutes to read. If I was careful and the text didn't have weird characters, I could get close to 100% accuracy. The "learning curve" was almost zero - open the program, put the cursor where you want the text in your document and just hold the pen scanner like a pencil as you trace over the text. You do have to hold the scanner solidly to the text. I think people have an unrealistic idea of OCR - it will never be perfect. I think this is a great little gadget that is going to save me a lot of work. If a 60+ year old lady can do this with no problem, anyone ought to be able to. Rating: - * Doubtful but pleased ... After reading some of the reviews I wasn't going to purchase but one said it worked. So I decided to give it a try, glad I did. Right out of the box it worked great on regular type on white or book paper. Doesn't do well with text on color paper. As long as the arrow is on the text line and it is moved at a steady pace it performs well. It has saved much time over typing or flat scan into a document. Well worth the cost. Learning curve 5 minutes.