Conveniently scan a document with a device slightly bigger than that of a normal pen. In business, being on the go is commonplace. The problem of course with being on the go is the lack of resources.  When you are in a business involved with contracts, reading documents, or just meeting regularly with clients the DocuPen X05 is  good for you. Planon calls it “Office in a Pocket” and it better be with the current price sticker of $369.99 The sidekick to the DocuPen, which is not a requirement, is the Printstik PS905 ME. The Printstik comes with a 20 page roll of paper. Talk about portable, it’s only 11 inches long. The world’s smallest mobile printer goes for $299.99.

What you get

The DocuPen comes with the scanner, a case, the usb cable and the installation cd. The PrintStick package includes the printer, a case, the usb cable, an installation cd, and 4 power outlet adapters.

Design

The design is really nothing special. Four buttons and an LCD screen comprise the device. See the picture for details.

How these devices work

The DocuPen

It’s pretty simple. First set the pen to the mode you want it to be in (Printstik, black and white tif, gray jpg, color, or black and white png). Turn on the device and slowly glide it down the item you want to scan. As you scan the document, it will say on the LCD that it is scanning, so you know it’s working. During the scan, it’s really important to go at a relatively slow pace or else the DocuPen will explain that you are going to fast and it cannot read it.  It is also important to stay steady through the scan. This will give you the best outcome. When you are finished, the scan then saves to the pen.

The Printstik

Printing from the pen is extremely easy. After testing, the printing took approximately 90 seconds. Just power the Printstik on and after scanning something in Printstik mode, the DocuPen will ask if you want to print it. It connects via Bluetooth and boom, your printing. You can hook the Printstik up to your computer as well so you can print at any hotel from your laptop (as long as it’s a PC). The printing quality is not the best in the world, but you can’t expect more from an 11 inch device.

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What’s really great about the DocuPen is that it has Bluetooth connection. You can connect via Bluetooth to your computer, Printstik or Blackberry. Unfortuntely, I did not have a Blackberry to test this feature, but from what I understand, the DocuPen connects to the phone and the scan is loaded to your phone. This makes it perfect to quickly save the scan and/or email it. I hope they do this for all smart phones.

Problems

Mac: I began the review using a Mac. The box states that the software is Mac compatible, but I could not find any downloadable files.

Installation: I must say that this was a fairly complicated install. You have to install three different things just for the DocuPen: USB Driver, PaperPort, and DocuPen Applciation.

Recognizing Pen: Once I got everything installed, I was excited to see my scan, but it was not detecting the pen on the computer.

The sticker price: Planon definitely feels it is a luxury to have their products.

Conclusion

The DocuPen and Printstik are products that solve a problem. They do need to do something about the sticker price if they want to keep up with the competition. The iPhone is offering a few apps that do what the DocuPen does: DocScanner for $5.99, JotNot for $4.99 and Scanner Pro for $6.99.

Get your hands on a DocuPen X05 and Printstik PS905 ME.

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What does everyone think? Would you buy them? Is there a demand?

“From the road to your PC.”

That’s the simple slogan for the CarChip Pro, made by Davis Instruments, a company that has been around for thirty years. The CarChip Pro caters to many different audiences, but our focus is on small businesses.

The CarChip Pro, only slightly bigger than a quarter, is the ideal product for a business that consists of multiple vehicles and/or drivers.  Whether your business has company cars for employees, a single car used for errands, or a whole fleet of cars for a courier service, the CarChip is there to make sure everything is in order. The investment made in a CarChip helps you keep track of every trip. You won’t have to record how far you went each time you come home. You won’t have to wonder if your drivers are driving recklessly or using company cars for personal purposes. Keep track of average speeds, high speeds, travel time and distance, hard brakes and accelerations, accidents, and vehicle problems.

• • •

Here is what the CarChip Pro includes:

• USB Cable
• CarChip
• Software CD

What’s great about the device is how easy it is to use. At first, I thought I was not being supplied with enough information on how to make the toy work, but it really was as easy as the instructions explained. All you have to do is plug the CarChip into the OBDII port, which is found under the dashboard or steering wheel. Once the device is plugged in, you hear a beeping sound, indicating that it is in place. Thereafter, you do not have to do anything to the CarChip while you are in the car.

I tested the device on two cars with two different drivers. I kept all of the CarChip settings on default. I conducted the test over twenty one trips. I did not plug the device into the computer at all during the trial period. After the 21st trip, I installed the software, which by the way, only takes up a whopping 0.81 MB of space. For those of you worried about some space hog software, you can relax. The install was very simple. Thereafter, I plugged the device into the USB port and the software began downloading the information. It asked me if I wanted to add any parameters for the device to discover, but they were unnecessary. It then asked me to list all the vehicle names and drivers that would be using the CarChip. Once you input the drivers and vehicles, you can choose which driver/vehicle goes along with each trip. It took less than 5 minutes to complete the setup. The CarChip then downloaded the data and compiled it. The following pictures display the information obtained by the CarChip during each trip.

This is the Trip Log screen, which summarizes all the information. It puts each trip you took in a different row.

This is a plot of one of the trips. You can see a plot for each trip. You can see the speed along with any hard brakes or accelerations.

This is an individual trip log. Within each log, you can also leave a comment. This feature is great because it allows you to make note of things, possibly where this trip was to. It is just another way to keep track of your travels.

Obviously, the best features of the CarChip, are the information that it obtains and compiles for you through the software. There are some other great features though, including the alarm. The CarChip has an option to Enable or Disable the alarm. The alarm is what a driver hears when they go over a speed band, acceleration threshold, or brake threshold. The beep is fairly annoying, but it is a great indicator for drivers to either slow down or be more careful with their brakes and accelerations. If you decide you want to keep the alarm on, you can decide on appropriate speed bands, acceleration and brake thresholds.

• • •

There are eleven clickable icons. The first one, ‘Home’, displays a brief summary with two categories (Vehicle and Driver). Here you can see each vehicles and drivers total miles traveled and the high speed. The second icon stands for ‘Download’. With just one click of this, the data from CarChip begins uploading. The next icon, a magnifying glass, means ‘Browse’. You can browse through each trip individually. The chart looking icon displays all the plots. You can also find out whether your car needs a repair or not by clicking on the ‘Vehicle Trouble Log’ icon.

This picture shows you how to enable the alarm.

This picture shows the Set Speed Bands feature.

In conclusion, it’s pretty obvious that CarChip is an extremely easy device to use. If you can use a computer, you can use a CarChip Pro. It’s simple, efficient and effective. Stay on top of your business with CarChip.

Get Your Biz Savvy with CarChip.

• • •

The CarChip retails for $78.87 on Amazon
Purchase a CarChip:
Amazon
CarChip.com

Bose? What’s Bose?

Who needs a new innovative product in their life? Or even better, how about an affordable one? Able Planet’s True Fidelity NC300W is something to talk about.  This is the latest noise canceling pair of headphones released by Able Planet. If you’d like to read a quick review, here it goes…it’s a must have.

What’s so good about them? Here are a few words that describe the headphones: Sleek, Immaculate, and Futuristic. When you open the box and unzip the case, your eyes become instantly drawn to the appealing look.  It’s a bit futuristic. If there was a new season of the Jetsons, George Jetson and the family would be wearing them. But seriously, these headphones look hot.  The design makes this noise canceling headphone look a lot more savvy, fashionable, and professional. Comparative to many other headphones available that lack in fashion sense.

Other than being fashionable, they fit comfortably and are not bulky. They cover the ears fully with a soft cushion.  The top of the headphones are also comfortably padded. The ear cushions and the top cushion are the only parts of the headphone that physically touch your head.  This simple design technique adds a great deal of comfort.

The sound quality is what really creates the worthiness though. Able Planet boasts an innovative patented technology called LINX AUDIO. This technology does a few nice things:

• Enhances sound quality
• Improves speech clarity
• Filters undesirable sound
• Reduces distortion
• Restricts electromagnetic interference
• Increases perceived loudness without increasing volume

These advantages and more on how LYNX AUDIO works can be found here.

One advantage that Able Planet forgot to list is the increased relaxation. While listening to music, the sound quality, bass and clarity is intensified.  Furthermore, as I increased the volume, instead of the music becoming distorted, the quality did not change. After using the headphones on a high volume, I did not have a headache, which is not the case when using regular iPod headphones on a high volume.

Here is where Able Planets’s True Fidelity Headphones become important. Besides the fact, they are three times less than that of Bose’s popular QuietComfort 15, these noise canceling headphones are a crucial component to the life of a business individual. A business individual can be an entrepreneur, entertainer, employee, etc. Crucial times necessary for these are those in the office, at the airport, or at home. It is often extremely difficult to stay focused at these places. Many people have given up trying to do work at airports and on planes. Here is some math to put this all in perspective. Let’s say you have a flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. You would probably get to the airport two hours before departing and the flight itself is about six hours. That is about 8 hours that could be spent working of the computer. That is close to a normal day of work. If you just want a break from work, use the headphones to fall asleep. These headphones are a great way to help you get to sleep, without the need for earplugs (My sleep remedy was some Beatles with the headphones on). The relaxation and stress relief process is extremely necessary and using the headphones is an excellent way to go about the process. As I was using these it was easy to concentrate and think. My mind opened up.

In essence, if you are involved in any form of business, these headphones are a great investment.  Always be focused as the noise canceling headphones keep your brain from wandering. Although the best experience is gotten out of these through listening to music, the truth is, these headphones significantly eliminate distracting sounds altogether.

What else is included?

• Protective Case
• 1/4″ home stereo adapter
• Double-pronged airplane adapter
• 1 AAA Battery

Here’s the conclusion. Able Planet has received a slew of awards at CES since 2007.  It will be appearing at CES 2010 and will likely win some sort of other award. With this in mind, the product speaks for itself. These $99 noise canceling headphones are definitely worth the money. If a complete package is what you are into, then Able Planet’s True Fidelity NC300W is right for you.

The Able Planet True Fidelity NC300W Headphones are widely available. Purchase them from the following:
Able Planet
Best Buy
Amazon

“See what employees are saying.”

Here is a site that everyone should take excitement in.  At Glassdoor.com, you share information about your job and employer.  Glassdoor is the only site to provide these reviews and ratings for free.  All you have to do is sign up and write a review or post your own salary.   Don’t worry, it is all anonymous, so no one can get in trouble with their boss.  We all know about RateMyProfessors.com, which lets students read and comment on their professors.  This gives them an opportunity to pick classes with a better rated professor.  Glassdoor has basically the same concept.  As a job seeking individual you want to know what you are getting into.  Glassdoor takes this a step further and not only provides individuals with real reviews and ratings, but also gives them an idea of how much the salary is in the position they are looking into.  You can look up average salaries, how much an employee makes depending on experience, what bonuses are like, and other pay categories.

We did an example search.  We searched  ‘Google’ under salaries and then clicked on the first result, which is Software Engineer.  There are 67 salaries on Glassdoor.com for Google Software Engineer’s in the United States, which means 67 Google Software Engineer’s have contributed to this.  Just on this page we discovered the total pay to be $130,793, an average salary of $95,677, their bonuses. Not too bad Google Software Engineer’s! Thereafter we wanted to see how Google’s employees with more experience differed in salary.  We picked 10+ years, giving us 6 salaries with an average of $112,067. Alright, enough about salaries. How about some reviews?  From the same page we clicked ‘Reviews’.  It’s nice how easy it is to navigate through the site.  On the ‘Reviews’ page we scrolled down to the review to a Google Software Engineer.  You get to see the Pros, Cons, and Advice to Senior Management.  This employee wrote, “Best large company for a software engineer,” and gave a 5.0 rating.  On the other end of the pendulum, we found an employee stating, “It’s not what it’s cracked up to be.” He concluded with a 1.0 rating.  After all this, we felt like we had put ourselves in the shoes of a Google Software Engineer.

Of course, you still have to make your own decisions, but its obvious that Glassdoor is a big help.  Glassdoor is a much needed site and is a great way to prepare yourself for your job.  Highly recommended.

Read our Interview with Co-Founder Tim Besse.

Check out Glassdoor.com