Forget Copiers: Scanners You Can Take to the library

The NYTimes Has a Storyon cool new pen scanners.

If you have ever done research in a library, you have probably encountered this annoying situation: You\’ve found a paragraph ofhelpful information in an otherwise useless book. There is no point in lugging the book home for the sake of those 300 words. So you face twochoices: transcribe the paragraph by hand or trot over to the photocopy machine, stand in line, fish around for change and make three copies the wrong size before getting one that captures what you want.

The NYTimes Has a Storyon cool new pen scanners.

If you have ever done research in a library, you have probably encountered this annoying situation: You\’ve found a paragraph ofhelpful information in an otherwise useless book. There is no point in lugging the book home for the sake of those 300 words. So you face twochoices: transcribe the paragraph by hand or trot over to the photocopy machine, stand in line, fish around for change and make three copies the wrong size before getting one that captures what you want.

A new generation of handheld gadgets offers a third option: scan in the 300 words with a wireless pen-size scanner, tuck the scanner into a pocket and transfer the data to your computer when you get home