Pandigital Handheld Wand Scanner (S8X1101BK)

Essentially identical to the Pandigital Handheld Wand Scanner (PanScn08) that I reviewed last year (and is still available on the Web at this writing), the Pandigital Handheld Wand Scanner (S8X1101BK) offers all the same strengths and weaknesses. In particular, it combines capable hardware with highly limited software, which means it's a far better value if you already have the programs you need than if you have to go out and buy additional software.

At 1.4 by 10.4 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and 7.9 ounces, the S8X1101BK is on the large side for a wand scanner even though it's just two or three-tenths-of-an-inch larger in each dimension than, for example, the VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VPS . However, it's small enough to count as highly portable, and it works like any other wand scanner, letting you start at the top or side of a page, and scan down or across with a single sweep. Two sets of rollers on the bottom make it easy to control during the scan.

Like all wand scanners, the S8X1101BK scans to memory rather than a computer, which in this case means scanning to a microSD card. Sunglow includes a 2GB card with the scanner, so you don't have to buy one separately, and it also includes a microSD adaptor so you can easily plug the card into your PC if it has a card reader. Alternatively, you can leave the card in the scanner, connect to your computer using the supplied USB cable, let the computer recognize the card as USB memory, and then copy the files to your hard drive.

Setup and Scanning
As with most wand scanners, set up for the S8X1101BK is almost trivial. Simply insert the microSD card and rechargeable battery, and then charge the battery, either by connecting to a computer by USB cable or by connecting the cable to the power block and plugging into a power outlet. You can also optionally install the only program the scanner comes with, NewSoft Presto! PageManager. PageManager is a somewhat limited document management program. However it includes optical character recognition (OCR) to let you convert scanned documents to editable text or searchable PDF files.

Once the battery is charged, scanning with the S8X1101BK is easy. In addition to a power button that also works as a Scan button, the scanner offers three additional buttons, with each one letting you choose between two settings: color mode or grayscale, 300 pixels per inch (ppi) or 600 ppi, and JPG or PDF file format. The default whenever you turn the scanner on is color, 300 ppi, and JPG. Simply change one or more settings if you want to, and then scan.

As is typical with wand scanners, I didn't have any trouble getting good scans from the start at 300 ppi. At 600 ppi it's easy to go too fast, but the scanner will warn you with a blinking error light, so you know to start over.

Scan Results
Given the software that comes with the scanner, the only two of our standard suite of scanner tests I could run were for OCR and document management. As with the Pandigital PanScn08, the S8X1101BK didn't score well in either category, but the problems were mostly due to software issues.

The combination of scanner and PageManager did reasonably well for the very narrow task of recognizing text on a character-by-character basis, but PageManager did such a poor job with formatting that it would be misleading to say that it was at all accurate.

Similarly, the document management score suffered from PageManager's limitations, rather than any problems with the scan itself. Note too that although PageManager can combine multiple pages into a single PDF file, it won't do the same for text files. Each page goes to a separate file, leaving it to you to copy and paste the pages into a single file.

As a final test, even though the scanner doesn't come with any photo editing software, I included some photos to get a sense of the photo scan quality. Overall, the scans qualified as good enough for casual photo scanning?for capturing photos in magazine articles, for example, or for sending as snapshot quality?but not for anything more demanding.

Given the limitations of the software it comes with, it's hard to give the Pandigital Handheld Wand Scanner (S8X1101BK) anything more than a qualified recommendation. If it came with more capable software, like you get with the VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VPS or the Editors' Choice VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Wi-Fi PDSWF-ST44-VP, it would be a lot more attractive. As it stands, though, the only way to get the most out of the hardware side of this package is if you already have the scan software you need, or are prepared to spend additional money to buy it.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/q7wkJVi9ACw/0,2817,2415597,00.asp

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Canada: Schools, hospitals and the like paid $14 million for bogus bad-weather-prevention services

Thanks to the recent release of information the Crown corporation Pacific Carbon Trust fought to withhold, we now know just how much private corporations received in public dollars to allegedly retire public-sector, greenhouse-gas emissions.

By far the most money paid by schools, hospitals and the like was for carbon credits bought by the PCT from one of B.C.'s biggest logging companies. For "conserving" tracts of trees, PCT paid Timber West a tidy $5.6 million. The 2010 project has striking parallels to the scenario just described.

It rests on the claim that Timber-West "conserved" forests it otherwise would have logged. For this, the company sold 560,925 carbon credits to PCT. Because PCT holds a monopoly, public agencies were forced to pay PCT $25 for each of the Timber-West credits. The trouble is that on the open market that year, the average carbon credits sold for just $6. Thanks to PCT's mark-up on Timber-West's credits, our schools, hospitals and the like paid $14 million or more than four times the going rate.

Worse, in addition to lost services for school kids and hospital patients, that $14 million bought little if any climatic benefit. Here's why.

Source: http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2013/02/canada-schools-hospitals-and-like-paid.html

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LG Display drops injunction request on Galaxy Note 10.1, seeks 'alternative solution' with Samsung

A patent struggle between LG Display and Samsung Display kicked off late last year when the latter filed a lawsuit claiming its counterpart had stolen technology secrets tied to the production of OLED screens. In turn, LG threatened its own injunctions and the fight was on but now it may be moving towards a resolution. After rumors indicated the two were trying to talk it out a few days ago Samsung Display dropped its injunction request, and now LG has responded in kind. After dropping its request for an injunction preventing the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 in South Korea, LG Display says it is seeking a resolution "through an amicable negotiation" -- you can read the official statement in full after the break. With any luck, these two will have hugged it out by the time their latest round of devices are ready to ship, and we can enjoy our HDTVs, phones and tablets in peace.

Show full PR text

LG Display [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220], a leading innovator of display technology, announced today that it has withdrawn its request for a preliminary injunction in connection to Galaxy Note 10.1 against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display from the Seoul Central District Court of Korea.

LG Display seeks to stop the consuming dispute with Samsung and to continue its promotion of fair competition. Based on the firm belief that a patent should be fairly assessed as a product of innovation, LG Display seeks an alternative solution through an amicable negotiation with Samsung to clarify the respective rights and duties of each party and analyze the proper value of the patents.

###

Filed under: Displays, Samsung, LG

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/19/lg-display-drops-injunction-request-on-galaxy-note-10-1-seeks/

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UK patient dies from SARS-like coronavirus

LONDON (AP) ? A patient being treated for a mysterious SARS-like virus has died, a British hospital said Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, said the coronavirus victim was also being treated for "a long-term, complex unrelated health problem" and already had a compromised immune system.

A total of 12 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease, six of whom have died.

The virus was first identified last year in the Middle East. Most of those infected had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan, but the person who just died is believed to have caught it from a relative in Britain, where there have been four confirmed cases.

The new coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that cause ailments including the common cold and SARS. In 2003, a global outbreak of SARS killed about 800 people worldwide.

Health experts still aren't sure exactly how humans are being infected. The new coronavirus is most closely related to a bat virus and scientists are considering whether bats or other animals like goats or camels are a possible source of infection.

Britain's Health Protection Agency has said while it appears the virus can spread from person to person, "the risk of infection in contacts in most circumstances is still considered to be low."

Officials at the World Health Organization said the new virus has probably already spread between humans in some instances. In Saudi Arabia last year, four members of the same family fell ill and two died. And in a cluster of about a dozen people in Jordan, the virus may have spread at a hospital's intensive care unit.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-patient-dies-sars-coronavirus-110739376.html

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Ill. Catholic Conference Laments Senate Same-Sex 'Marriage ...

Illinois State Senate Chamber

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. ? The Catholic Conference of Illinois disapproved of the state Senate?s passage of a bill that would redefine marriage to include the union of same-sex persons, citing religious-liberty concerns.

?This legislation callously redefines a bedrock institution of our society and deteriorates the free exercise of religion in our state,? Catholic Conference of Illinois executive director Robert Gilligan said Feb. 14.

?We remain wary of government interference in the Church?s ministry and structure.?

On Feb. 14, the Illinois Senate approved a bill that would change the state?s definition of marriage from being ?between a man and a woman? to ?between two persons.? It was passed 34-21, and it now faces a vote in the state House.

Gilligan said the bill ignores the natural order of marriage, the complementarity of the sexes that is a foundation for families.

?Marriage joins a man and a woman in love to meet one another?s needs, to procreate and to raise children. This is the lifeblood of any human society,? Gilligan wrote. ?This legislation tears at that definition with unknown consequences.?

The Catholic Church teaches that authentic marriage involves only one man and one woman. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, ?The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution, despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures and spiritual attitudes? (1603).

In an address in June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI stated, ?The different present forms of the dissolution of marriage, as well as free unions and ?trial marriage,? including the pseudo-marriage between persons of the same sex, are ? contrary expressions of an anarchic freedom that appears erroneously as man?s authentic liberation.?

?

Religious-Liberty Concerns

The Church in Illinois is concerned about religious liberty under the bill. The conscience protections in the bill are limited for institutions and non-existent for persons.

Although the legislation says it would not force any religious denomination or minister to ?solemnize any marriage,? Gilligan warned of ?promises? made ?two years ago when civil unions were passed, and now Catholic Charities has been kicked out of its mission of serving children in foster care.?

Even though the Church received assurances its social services would not be affected, within six months of the passage of civil unions in the state, Catholic Charities adoption services was barred from working with the state.

While Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has already pledged to sign the bill should it arrive on his desk, its fate in the House is unsure. Even though it too is controlled by Democrats who support the bill, it is expected to face tougher opposition in that chamber.

Some Democratic African-American representatives may oppose the bill because of its criticism by black Christian pastors.

The same day as the state Senate vote, Democratic legislators in both chambers introduced measures that would amend Illinois? Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

William Haine, a pro-life Democratic senator who is Catholic, said the same-sex "marriage" bill is being pushed through ?on the basis of emotion? and fails to protect churches from discrimination for their views.

Source: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/ill.-catholic-conference-laments-senate-same-sex-marriage-approval

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Connecticut shooter wanted to top Norway death toll: CBS

(Reuters) - The man who shot dead 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school wanted to kill more people than the 77 slain by a Norwegian man in a 2011 rampage, CBS News reported on Monday, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

A Connecticut state police spokesman dismissed the report as inaccurate speculation.

Adam Lanza, 20, who killed himself as police closed in on him at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, saw himself in direct competition with Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting attack in Norway on July 22, 2011, CBS said. Breivik surrendered to police.

Citing two officials briefed on the Newtown investigation, CBS said Lanza targeted the elementary school because he saw it as the "easiest target" with the "largest cluster of people."

The report did not say how the investigators learned of Lanza's desire to compete with Breivik.

Lanza was also motivated by violent videogames and had spent numerous hours playing games and working on his computer shooting skills in a private gaming room in his basement with blacked out windows, CBS said. Investigators recovered a large number of games from the basement, the report said.

Evidence shows that in his mind, Lanza was likely acting out the fantasies of a videogame during his shooting spree with each death amounting to some kind of "score," CBS said.

Lanza killed 20 schoolchildren aged 6 and 7 plus six adults who worked at the school, shocking the United States and leading President Barack Obama to propose new gun-control legislation.

Authorities have not publicly spoken of his motive.

"This is not official Connecticut State Police information and is someone's speculation regarding the case," Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance told Reuters in an email statement.

When asked if the CBS report was in any way accurate, Vance responded, "No."

Breivik, a self-styled warrior against Muslim immigration, killed eight people by bombing the Oslo government headquarters and then shot dead 69 people at the ruling party's summer youth camp.

A Norwegian judge last year sentenced Breivik to the maximum 21 years in prison, though his release can be put off indefinitely should he be deemed a threat to society.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/connecticut-shooter-wanted-top-norway-death-toll-cbs-020949285.html

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Exclusive: Apple, Macs hit by hackers who targeted Facebook

By Jim Finkle and Joseph Menn

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:01pm EST

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc was recently attacked by hackers who infected Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure describing the widest known cyber attacks targeting Apple computers used by corporations.

Unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers that had been infected with malicious software. The malware had been designed to attack Mac computers.

The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp's Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch attacks against Facebook, which the social network disclosed on Friday.

The malware was also employed in attacks against Mac computers used by "other companies," Apple said, without elaborating on the scale of the assault.

Twitter, which disclosed that it had been breached February 1 and that hackers might gave accessed some information on about 250,000 users, was hit in the same campaign, according to a person close to the investigation.

Another person briefed on the case said that hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, had been infected with the same malicious software. Though this person said that the malware could have originated from China, there was no proof.

"This is a new campaign. It's not like the other ones you read about where everyone can tell it's China," the first person said.

Investigations into the breaches are ongoing. It was not immediately clear when the attacks had begun, the extent to which the hackers had succeeded in stealing data from targeted systems, or whether all infected machines have been identified.

The malware was distributed at least in part through a site aimed at iPhone developers, which might still be infecting visitors who haven't disabled Java in their browser, the person close to the case said. There is a version that infects computers running Microsoft Windows as well.

Security firm F-Secure wrote that the attackers might have been trying to get access to the code for apps on smartphones, seeking a way to infect millions of end-users. It urged developers to check their source code for unintended changes.

Apple disclosed the breach as tensions are heating up over U.S. allegations that the Chinese military engages in cyber espionage on U.S. companies.

U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant reported over the weekend that it has uncovered evidence that the Chinese military is behind a slew of cyber attacks on U.S. businesses. The White House said it has repeatedly raised concerns about Chinese cyber theft with Beijing.

The breaches described by Apple mark the highest-profile cyber attacks to date on businesses running Mac computers. Hackers have traditionally focused on attacking machines running the Windows operating system, though they have gradually turned their attention to Apple products over the past couple of years as the company gained market share over Microsoft Corp.

"This is the first really big attack on Macs," said the source, who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. "Apple has more on its hands than the attack on itself."

Charlie Miller, a prominent expert on Apple security who is co-author of the Mac Hacker's Handbook, said the attacks show that criminal hackers are investing more time studying the Mac OS X operating system so they can attack Apple computers.

For example, he noted, hackers recently figured out a fairly sophisticated way to attack Macs by exploiting a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's Flash software.

"The only thing that was making it safe before is that nobody bothered to attack it. That goes away if somebody bothers to attack it," Miller said.

NATIONAL SECURITY

Cyber security attacks have been on the rise. In last week's State of the Union address, U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order seeking better protection of the country's critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday that the Obama administration has repeatedly taken up its concerns about Chinese cyber theft with Beijing, including the country's military. There was no indication as to whether the group described by Mandiant was involved in the attacks described by Apple and Facebook.

An Apple spokesman declined to specify how many companies had been breached in the campaign targeting Macs, saying he could not elaborate further on the statement it provided.

"Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers. The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers," the statement said.

"We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple," it continued.

The statement said Apple was working closely with law enforcement to find the culprits, but the spokesman would not elaborate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment.

Apple said it plans to release a piece of software on Tuesday that customers can use to identify and repair Macs infected with the malware used in the attacks.

(Editing by Andre Grenon, Edwin Chan and Richard Chang)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-apple-hackers-idUSBRE91I10920130220?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

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