Tag: Productivity

Productivity Software

85 Free Apps that will Save you Thousands of Dollars

Save Tons of Cash with the Best Free Software OVERVIEW: You can replace the most expensive applications on a typical computer with excellent, free software and internet services and never miss a beat. Why Pay More? Equipping your computer with the software that you need to get everything done can be insanely expensive. However, you […]

Podcast Productivity Tutorials

Create a Portable Document Scanner for your iPhone

Getting All of those Scraps into your Computer

Overview: You will learn how to turn your iphone into a portable document scanner for free in under 15 minutes. This will all be done using one piece of cardboard, a ruler, a utility knife and a pencil.

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Getting Things Done With Creativity and Elbow Grease

Occasionally I need to get digital copies of papers into my home and/or work computers. I don’t feel like having two full-blown scanners wasting space on my desks, nor do I feel like buying them.

What’s my quick, free, space saving solution? Build a stand that allows me to use my iPhone to make quick images of documents.

I have a few simple requirements for this document scanner:

  1. Must be able to be assembled quickly and easily
  2. Muse capture 8.5″ x 11″ documents perfectly (no cropping)
  3. Must be able to be disassembled, and stored quickly and easily
  4. Must be cheap (better yet, FREE!)

I searched for a few alternatives and found this really cool option by Kyle Koch.

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He sells them for $15 here. This is an awesome idea and $15 is very fair price. But what fun would that be? I decided to try to build my own for free.

This is my finished prototype:

portable-document-scanner.JPG


I place the document on the tray and the phone on the top supports with the camera application running. Then, I just press the “shoot” button and have a decent scan of the document. The key is to have the USB cable plugged in so that you can just grab them using the computer’s file manager. Also, the better the lighting, the happier you’ll be.

With a little bit of practice, I was able to get acceptable results on each documents first try.

Here are some of the document scans that I produced: (scaled down for this article)

scanned-docs.jpg

Not bad for $0 and 20 minutes time.

Instructions for Building your iPhone Document Scanner

I know, you want to build yourself one of these handy gadgets, right? Well believe me, it’s very simple.

What you Will Need

Supplies: Utility Knife , Pencil, Ruler or Yardstick, piece of cardboard (15″ X 30″), scissor.

Instructions:

Print out and assemble the Templates diagram

instructions.png

Trace two Stand pieces on the cardboard

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Cut out the Stand pieces using the Yardstick and Utility Knife (be very careful)

template3.jpg

Trace and cut out the two Bottom Brackets

Trace and cut out the two Top Brackets

Cut the notches into the Stands and Braces as shown on the diagram

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Insert the notches on top and bottom to assemble the Stand

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Place the rectangular base into the stand

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Place a document on the rectangular base

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Turn the phone’s camera application on and place it on the top braces so that the document is in the picture

Take the picture.

scanned-docs.jpg

Portable Document Scanner Video Tutorial

The following video tutorial shows you how to perform all of the steps necessary to make your scanner.

Productivity Tutorials

Complete Productivity Series

Be the Most Productive You Possible

RememberTheMilk Logo

Over the last few weeks I have written several articles focused on productivity and organization tips. I thought it might be helpful to create a page that groups, explains, and links to them in an organized manner.

I separated the articles into three general categories:

  1. Collecting Information
  2. Scheduling Activities
  3. Productivity on the Go 

Collecting Information

Processing, recording, recalling information is a critical part of being productive and organized. These articles cover effective ways to get a grip on all of the information in your life.

 

How You can Take the Greatest Notes in the World How You can Take the Greatest Notes in the World 

Taking good great notes is probably the best step to being more organized and productive. This article covers my personal technique for taking notes and using them to take action. 

Boost Your Creativity and Productivity by Using a Simple Notebook Boost Your Creativity and Productivity by Using a Simple Notebook

Trying to find ways to capture your creative bursts and brainstorms and use them effectively? One of the greatest tools ever invented is a humble notebook. Most of the creative, successful people that I see use notes as part of their creative process.

 

Boost Google Reader’s Productivity Boost Google Reader’s Productivity

There are a million different sources of information on the web that you need to check every day. Using Google Reader is the best way that I know to take in and process mountains of information in a short amount of time. Check out my favorite tips on squeezing every last drop out of it.

 

TITLE Never Forget Another Idea – Capture Everything with Evernote

If you want to take notes that you can use everywhere on any computer or phone, you need Evernote. This tutorial shows how to use Evernote on Windows, Mac, Linux, phones, and the web. This is one of my favorite productivity applications.

 

Scheduling Activities

After you capture everything you need, now it’s time to start putting it to work. You need a way to keep track of everything that needs to get done. Here are a few tips to help you get it together.

 

Get Things Done with RememberTheMilk Get Things Done with RememberTheMilk 

RememberTheMilk is my favorite web based task management tool. You can schedule, track, and manage all of your to do’s from the web or your phone. This is a life saver for the absent minded procrastinator. (I’m talking to you! and me.)

 

Getting the Most Out of Mozilla Thunderbird Getting the Most Out of Mozilla Thunderbird 

If you need a tool to handle Email, Contacts, and your Calendar, then give Mozilla’s Thunderbird a shot. I’ll show you how to stretch it beyond even Mozilla’s imagination with some of these extensions.

 

Productivity on the Go

None of us gets to sit down in an ideal office and handle everything that needs to be done. We’re all on the go these days. Well here are some great ways to take your show on the road without missing a beat.

 

Create a RoboSecretary for Yourself with Dial2Do Create a RoboSecretary for Yourself with Dial2Do 

This might be my favorite productivity tip in this series. Dial2Do allows you to take all of these productivity systems that I have covered and manage them from your phone. Dial the phone, say what you want done, and it just gets done. If you’re only going to read one article on this page, make it this one!

 

Create the Web Operating System Today Create the Web Operating System Today 

When you’re on the go, you never know what computer that you will be using. This article shows you how to put a full computing experience on the web and access it from any computer in the world.

 

Sync Files on Multiple Computers Using DropBox Sync Files on Multiple Computers Using DropBox 

If you do use multiple computers (work, home, school) you need DrobBox. This will let you sync your most important files between multiple computers with ease. Take a look at this tutorial.

 

Carry A Computer in your Pocket Carry A Computer in your Pocket 

If you insist on using desktop applications, then you should check out this article. You can load a bunch of your favorite applications on a USB drive and use them your way on any other computer.

 

What do you think?

If you have any other ideas or questions, please put them in the Comments below.

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