Neat app scans receipts from your phone

The people at The Neat Company are on a mission to banish document clutter. They started with NeatDesk, a $400 desktop scanner that would read and categorize all sorts of documents, from bills and invoices to restaurant receipts. Last year, they released NeatReceipts, a $175 portable version made for scanning receipts on the go.

Now they have made capturing receipts and business cards even easier by upgrading the free NeatMobile app that puts a scanner and OCR capability on your iPhone or Android device. With the mobile app, you can take a picture of a restaurant receipt and Neat will identify the restaurant name, the date and amount charged and assign the data to an expense category. It will do the same trick with a business card.

If the app's built-in OCR program doesn't get everything right, you can trigger NeatVerify, which will submit your image to Neat's staff of human editors who make sure the captured text is correct. 

Where does the text and images go? Neat stores everything in its NeatCloud where it's accessible from any computer browser and where it is merged with data collected through other Neat products. Importing data from other cloud services, such as Dropbox or Evernote, is an option. Unfortunately, I could find no easy way to export data from a scanned business card to Outlook or Apple Contacts.

While the app itself is free, the cloud and the verify services aren't. After a 30-day free trial, NeatCloud costs either $14.99 or $29.99 a month, or slightly less if you pay for a full year. Having your scans verified costs one credit and you can get 30 credits for $4.99 a month.

By: Ric Manning On 6/25/2013

Continue Reading

Audio-Technica earbuds stay put while you sweat

The maxim "One size fits all" never did apply to headphones. I have a Bluetooth set for dog-walking, an over-the-ear model for quiet music listening, and a noise-cancellation version that I always take along when I fly.  

Now, thanks to Audio-Technica, I have a new sporty set of in-ear phones that are perfect for more active pursuits, like running, biking or workouts at the gym.

The SonicSport ATH-CKP500 are especially designed to stay put in your ears, even when you're working up a sweat. Instead of an earlobe hook, these phones use a shorter C-tip that nestles in the outer ear to hold the earphones in place.

The phone's cable also sits in an angled tube that directs them behind the neck. That helps keep them out of your way when you're using your hands. The phones are also IPX5 certified waterproof. That means you can wash them after a workout, but don't wear them underwater. The SonicSport phones have a list price of $75 but you can find at amazon.com and other online sources for about $10 less.

By: Ric Manning On 6/19/2013

Continue Reading

Scanning services make it easy to convert photos and slides

Like many families, my parents had amassed a large collection of family photos. By the time that collection was passed on to me, they had filled 23 albums with something close to 8,000 photos. And that didn’t count the boxes of negatives and 35mm slides.

Then it was my task to figure out how to share the photos with family members and distant relatives scattered around the globe. That means getting the photos converted into digital images along with some of the slides and possibly the negatives.

I got started on the job using my home scanner, but to finish the work, I'm going to need professional help. Fortunately, there are a number of companies that will scan large quantities of photos and put them on a disc or storage device for a reasonable price.

I took a look at four services that get good user reviews and offer a range of services and prices. One services charges as little as 8 cents per print and another will work with photos mounted in albums.

For an over view of each, check out my latest column at MyWell-Being.com.

By: Ric Manning On 6/11/2013

Continue Reading

These apps can help your garden grow

Bugs In The Garden is one of
many apps for gardeners.

The iTunes store for Apple gadgets and the Google Play store for Androids are chock full of free or inexpensive apps that can help both novice and expert gardeners.

For example, Garden Tracker will help you map your garden and choose the best crops for the space you have available. It starts with a grid that represents your plot. Tap on a square to choose a flower or vegetable from a scrolling list with a picture and description for each entry. The mapping process helps you avoid placement mistakes, like putting lettuce rows under the shade of corn stalks.

The Beginner’s Gardening Guide is designed to get novice gardeners up and growing. It’s a collection of articles and images that starts with the basics, like good soil management, and proceeds through designs for vegetable and flower gardens and then on to plant and pest management. The app's design doesn't have a lot of sizzle, but the information it delivers is direct, useful and easy to comprehend.

And Garden Bugs lets you identify who is chomping on your cabbage. The app has photos of hundreds of common garden pests and recommendations on how to make them disappear. In addition to insect invasions, the program also helps you diagnose plant diseases and offers treatment options.

The Landscaper’s Companion is an encyclopedia of plants with entries for more than 26,000 vegetables, shrubs, trees and flowers. Each entry has a profile of the plant with information that includes its growing zone, growth rate, water and sun requirements, and its height and width at maturity. A couple of features can be especially useful for managing your own plantings. First, tag an entry as a favorite to identify plants that you already have or are considering, then use the note option to record comments or additional information. The app also lets you add photos of your own successes or failures.

Garden Pro also has a large database flowers, herbs and vegetables with details on their preferred soil, water and light conditions. It lets you add photos, keep a journal and set a program that will give you pop-up reminders when your plants are thirsty or need fertilizer.

By: Ric Manning On 6/03/2013

Continue Reading

Going keyless with Kwikset's SmartCode lock

I can recall the exact moment when I decided I wanted a keyless lock on my front door. It was the last time I had locked myself out and had to call someone to let me in my own home.

I never liked the idea of leaving a spare key hidden somewhere outside. Nor was I enthusiastic about passing out keys to friends, pet sitters, cleaning services and the like. A keypad lock with programmable codes was the obvious solution. The onmly thing holding me back was the expectation that electronic locks were expensive and that I would need professional help to get it installed.

Then I discovered the new SmartCode deadbolt lock from Kwikset, a keypad lock that has everything I wanted. It promised to be easy to install and program, it supports a second access code, and it was affordable.

Installation turned out to be smoother than I expected. The SmartCode lock fits the the standard holes for any conventional deadbolt lock and I encountered only one minor issue in my old door. The Kwikset cylinder that holds the bolt was slightly larger than the one I removed, requiring a little work with a one-inch drill bit.

Once that problem was solved, I had the complete lock installed in about 20 minutes. Programming was also fast and easy. Just push one button, enter between four and eight digits and press the Lock button. The system also has a switch that will automatically relock the door 30 seconds after it's been unlocked.

The SmartCode lock has a handsome metal keypad and lock on the outside that comes in three finishes: satin nickel, dark bronze or polished brass. The inside housing has a plastic cover that's colored to match. The system runs on four AA batteries that power the lock motor and also light the keypad buttons, a feature you'll appreciate when you arrive home after dark.

The lock sells for less than $100 at home improvement stores and at amazon.com. Kwikset also has a version that has a hand lever and a step-up version that communicates with the Z-Wave home control system.

By: Ric Manning On 5/29/2013

Continue Reading

Over app is smart and simple

I had to check out the Over app after a feature story on its developer appeard on the front page of this morning's Courier-Journal. The article told how Aaron Marshall convinced his pregnant wife to let him spend their savings on an app that lets people put text over photos.

The app lets you snap a picture or select one from your camera roll. From there you enter a block of text, choose a font from a list of options, and set the size, color and position of the type. Your labelled photo can then by emailed or shared over the usual channels.

There's a free version in the iTunes App Store and a step-up version with more than 200 fonts that costs $1.99.

Between the two versions, Marshall said Over had been downloaded about 1.7 million times.

Yep, it's one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas.

By: Ric Manning On 5/23/2013

Continue Reading

Fun with Kickstarter

It's tempting to view Kickstarter as an online store where you can find cool and unusual gadgets and place advance orders at discount prices. That's pretty much what attracted me to the website.

Browsing the listings recently, I found a phone charger that can fit on a keychain, a temperature sensor that plugs into a smartphone, and a device that turns a conventional speaker into a Bluetooth speaker.

But Kickstarter says that would be missing the point. The website notes that Kickstarter is not a store and that backing a project is more than just giving someone your money. "It’s supporting their dream to create something that they want to see exist in the world. People rally around their friends’ projects, fans support people they admire, and others simply come to Kickstarter to be inspired by new ideas."

Read more about Kickstarter in my column at MyWell-Being.com.

By: Ric Manning On 4/18/2013

Continue Reading

Concert Vault app streams thousands of live sets

With three top-name acts from the seventies coming to the Louisville area this week -- Fleetwood Mac, Janis Ian, and Karla Bonoff -- it seemed like a great time to open the vault.

I'm talking about Wolfgang's Vault. Wolfgang's website lets you listen to and sometimes watch thousands of concert recordings stretching back to the 1950s. The Vault's archive contains about 4,500 concerts ranging across all genres from rock and blues to folk, jazz and country.

In addition to the web, the shows are also available on Apple and Android mobile apps called Concert Vault and now there's a new app specifically for Apple's iPad.

    

The service charges a membership fee of $3.99 a month or $39.99 for a year. Members can stream concerts or individual songs and download two full concert downloads each week. New app users get a free 7-day trial to check out the service.

I found show recordings for all three of this week's performers:

•     Janis Ian at New York's Calderone Concert Hall in 1975
•     Three Karla Bonoff shows from 1977 at The Bottom Line
•     Seven Fleetwood Mac concerts between 1968 and 1975

You can hear Stevie Nicks' "Rhiannon" and "Landslide" on the 1975 set from the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, N.J. But long-time Mac fans will also appreciate hearing the Christine McVie numbers like "Sentimental Lady" and the Bob Welch tunes like "Hypnotized." Those are songs they are not likely to hear at the live show at the YUM! Center.

By: Ric Manning On 4/08/2013

Continue Reading