Xpaper Saves Time and Money

I'm sure if you are in a school or running a small business you are constantly being asked to sign papers and fill out forms. So in the process, you generally print the forms sign them and then if you are like me and have moved away from using a fax or snail mail, you have to scan the document and save it as a PDF, which always takes extra time. According to Infotrends the cost of handling paper which would include filling it out, copying, faxing, scanning can cost between  $.65 to $1.89 per page.  Likewise, PriceWaterhouseCoopers has estimated that the costs associated with handling paper forms can cost companies up to $20 dollars per form and this doesn't include the costs associated with finding a misfiled form. So what would happen if your changed your workflow and used a solution like Xpaper? Xpaper utilizes a digital pen and paper solution for handling the filling in of forms and automatically creates a crystal clear PDF which you can file and archive. Lets find out how it works!


So yesterday, I received a contract in via email that I had to sign and return to the originator. Prior to me using Xpaper, I would have had to print the document sign it and then either decide to fax or put it through the mail. All these options would require extra expense and time but with Xpaper all I had to do was print the contract out on my color laser printer as I would normally do and use the Xpaper printer driver. But here is the difference, using Xpaper-my laser printer printed the contract on the paper with a very fine dot pattern watermark on the paper that my digital pen could see. The watermark is very faint and allows the digital pen to know exactly where I am writing on the page. Once I completed writing on the contract I simply docked my digital pen and voila the ink was merged onto the contract and I had a crystal clear PDF file with my signature and information that I could now email or archive. So without changing my workflow, I immediately benefited from the time savings of using Xpaper to create a PDF which I can now store. Using Xpaper I could also use specialized connectors to automatically create customized workflows to send document to a ftp site or email. If you are interested in learning more about Xpaper and how you can use it in your school or business to improve how you handle paper forms, please feel free to contact me. Feel free to email your form so that I can show you how Xpaper works.

IPevo Delivers with the IPEVO Typi Folio Case

I have always been impressed with the iPevo Company and the innovative products that they develop for computers and iPad. I had a chance this past week to review the  IPEVO Typi Folio Case which is a well constructed portfolio type of case for the iPad 2 with a Bluetooth Wireless keyboard. The case is made of soft leather and felt which is light weight, slim and attractive. To get started using the IPEVO Typi Folio Case just slide your iPad 2 into the case and press the Bluetooth connection button to pair  the keyboard. Pairing the Bluetooth keyboard was a breeze and within seconds I was using the keyboard to type a memo. The top row of the keyboard has dedicated keys to make it easy to navigate, adjust the volume, and play videos. The IPEVO Typi Folio Case, Bluetooth keyboard is comfortable to use and has a region below the keyboard which acts as a a palm rest. The Bluetooth keyboard has a magnet base which keeps the keyboard in position but if you like you can easily detach it and use it away from the base. The IPEVO Typi Folio Case comes with a mini USB cord to charge the internal Li-ion Battery that fully charges with Bluetooth keyboard within 3 hours. The keyboard has a good feel to it and like most of the portfolio cases on the market for the iPad the keys are slightly smaller than you would find on a laptop computer which may make it difficult for some individuals to use. The IPEVO Typi Folio Case allows the user to change the viewing angle to any of the three positions available. Overall, this is a high quality product and one that bears looking at in that it is priced very competitively at $79 dollars. The IPEVO Typi Folio Case comes in both tan and black.

Kingston Wi-Drive: Expanding Your Storage Capacity on Your iPhone & iPad

While having a 16 GB iPhone or iPad sounded like you would have lots of storage capacity when you first bought it-before you know it the apps, movies, music and documents begin to take up lots of space and soon you are running on empty. Now what are you going to do? Well with the advent of the Kingston Wi-Drive there is a solution and a good one at that. The Kingston Wi-Drive is available in a 16GB or 32GB configuration and is about the size of the iPhone but slightly slimmer. Once you charge the Kingston Wi-Drive via the USB charger that is supplied and installed the Kingston Wi-Drive app you are ready to test it out. Simply plug the Kingston Wi-Drive into the USB port on your Mac or PC and drag documents, movies, music, and videos onto the drive to copy them over. Once the files are copied dismount the drive and go to your  Settings on your iPad, or iPhone and  to connect to the Wi-Drive Network. Now launch the Wi-Drive app on your iPhone or iPad and lo and behold all of your files, music and videos can be accessed. With the Kingston Wi-Drive it is possible to store your files on an external drive and access them whenever you need to. It is a handy device that can expand the storage capacity of your device and it is easy to transport. At this time you do need to disconnect from your other Wifi networks when connecting to the Kingston Wi-Drive-but lets hope they will figure out a way around this issue. All told, I am very happy with my purchase of the Kingston Wi-Drive and the ease of setup and its functionality.

ATIA 2012 Followup

Just got back from attending and working with Ginger Software on the Exhibitor floor of the ATIA 2012 Conference in Orlando, Florida. It is always so exciting to be able to attend this conference which is packed with passionate educators who are looking for the newest tools and strategies to assist their students. As much as I love walking the Exhibit floor looking for new products it is reconnecting with my fellow assistive technology colleagues that makes this conference very special. Having the time after hours to share ideas, resources and experiences is a great way to learn and expand on your skills.

While I was at the ATIA 2012 Conference I had was in the Ginger Software Booth demoing the latest version of Ginger which is the leading spelling and grammar correction tool for students. When Ginger is analyzing the errors it is taking into account the context of the words in the sentence so that when it makes it suggestions it is right on target. Ginger is a great tool for both students with writing disabilities as well as for student where English may not be their native spoken language. Ginger software can provide students with high quality text to speech support so that students can hear the suggestions that are being recommended. Students will love the fact that Ginger is able to make all of the changes to the sentence with a click on the Approve button. Ginger is available to schools for a starting price of $190 dollars which includes 10 licenses which also extend to home use. Ginger can track student errors and provide teachers with prescriptive grammar and spelling lessons based on the student's error patterns. Now students can also continue to use Ginger at home when they are doing their written work.Consumers can download a free version of Ginger which can provide spelling and grammar checking but lacks the text to speech component. Ginger is available for the Windows platform. If you would like a web based demo please contact me.

Wikisummarizer Adds Keyword Cloud

If you have ever played around with Wordle then you know just how much fun it is to see the keywords from a website jump out at you- visually showing you the topics that have been covered. I was very glad to receive an email from Henry Lewkowicz from Context Discovery that a Keyword Cloud feature has been added to Wikisummarizer. I gave it a try and searched on the term "Assistive Technology" to see how the Keyword Cloud feature would work. Wikisummarizer generated the Keyword Cloud very quickly and when I was done I copied the embed code that was supplied and pasted it into my blog for all of you to see. Works like a charm as you can see- so go give it a try and let me know what you think!

braille Assistive technology disabilities speech design rehabilitation umbrella term keyboard universal design alternative communication

NoteControl - Taking Charge of Your Resources

With information coming at us at a frantic pace it is no wonder that we can quickly become overwhelmed. This is especially true for students who have a need to curate their notes and sources when writing research articles. Life was a lot easier for me when I was in school, there were simply books and journals, that I used to cite my works. Today students are faced with the myriad of Internet sources, books, journals, podcasts, and multimedia to keep account of when doing research. In this light, Matchware, recently released a new product NoteControl aimed at students to help them collect, collate, and sort notes when doing a written research paper. The coup de grace is the ability of NoteControl to output a perfectly formatted bibliography in many accepted and recognized formats (ie APA, MLA, Harvard to name a few.).

The premise of the program is quite simple-you create a notebook and then use the space to capture all of your notes which can include: Text, Picture, Sound, and Web notes. NoteControl allows the user to create a Folder structure to organize your notes and it is easy to move Notes that you capture from one folder to the next. For example, if you want to create a citation for text from a web site, you can simply go to the web site and highlight the text you want to use and then Click on the Text Note icon. This will bring up a note card with the text automatically included- you can change the name of the note card and once you click the Accept button your noted will be stored along with the source.You can use the same technique to capture graphics from websites or store needed  files (Word, PDF's) for your research project. If your computer has a microphone it is easy to store audio notes in your notebooks from within NoteControl.

Matchware has teamed up with WorldCat to enable users of NoteControl to access their large database of resources and collections from libraries around the world. Students are able within NoteControl to search the WorldCat database and have the citation automatically filled out with all of the necessary information for a properly formatted entry. If you have all of the information for a citation you can also manually add a citation to your research Notebook. Students will find the WorldCat tool a very handy tool to use for doing research and will find it even easier when it is time to generate the bibliography.

After you have collected your notes and resources NoteControl really shines when it is time to export all of your notes and create your bibliography. With one click of the mouse NoteControl lets you export your source listing, notes and bibliography directly to Word. NoteControl will export your notes and bibliography to any one of several formats including APA, Chicago, and MLA styles. The bibliography is perfectly formatted saving you the time an effort to manually recreate it once your paper is completed. You will find NoteControl an easy to use tool that is ideal for high school and college students who are writing research papers. As students begin to utilize more and more Internet resources they will find NoteControl and ideal tool to take charge and organize their resources for use in their papers. For those students who have access to MindView 4 and want to see their notes and resources in a mind map you can export them directly from NoteControl. Overall, NoteControl is an easy to use program that delivers on its promise to provide students a way to organize, sort and curate notes for research papers and projects. A one year subscription to NoteControl is prices at $49 dollars and at this time is only available for computers running Windows OS. There is a trial version of NoteControl available for student to try out which I would highly suggest. At $49 dollars for a year, NoteControl is good value and another tool that you should have your students take a look at to help tame the paper tiger when it comes time to write that research paper. It would be great if Matchware could add Text to Speech (TTS) supports within NoteControl for students that benefit from this type of support. NoteControl also allows students to work on collaborative projects across the web which adds value to this fine product. Give it a try and let me know what you think.