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Paperless Office - Automate Batch OCR Processing

One of the things I would love to accomplish is getting a paperless office. As some of you who read this may know, thinking and trying to get the work flow accomplished are totally separate issues.

On and off, I have tried to automate this process so it would just require me putting the document in the scanner and then later tagging the document at my leisure.

For me to be paperless, I need to be able to
1) Put a document into the scanner
2) Forget about it
3) Scan another document, forget about it
4) Automatically start a batch OCR program at night on the folder of scanned documents
5) Later that week while watching TV, tag a few of the OCR'd documents using a program like Yep.

This seems simple, but has been a frustrating waste of a few hours this morning. I have a Fujitsu Scan Snap- works great. I have Yep, works great. The biggest problem is the automation of OCR. Adobe 8.0 Professional has a batch program, but forget about using Applescript. Complaints about Applescript and Adobe 8.0 are plenty.

I barely know Applescript, but it looks like I'd have to use Javascript for Adobe to get the batch OCR automatically working.

For now, I found this nice solution, but I have to drag the files I want OCR'd to a droplet.

Free HDTV. Step 2.

After getting an HD antenna that had good reviews and would satisfy the requirements in my area, the next step was to find a way to distribute that signal to the TVs in my house. Mrobsession recommended the Homerun HD, which seemed to have great reviews everywhere I looked. I liked how you could take a splitter from the antenna (probably should utilize a preamp) and create 2 signals for the 2 tuners available on the box. That would allow 2 computer TVs to watch different signals at the same time.

The solution would only send HD signals, but most of the channels we are interested in have an HD signal or will very soon.

Most importantly, the Homerun system works with eyeTV, which allows viewing of TV via a Mac/ AppleTV.

I got the system for 139 on ritzcamera.com.

HDTV for Free

Well, I decided that I am going to take the initial plunge into free HDTV. The majority of our TV watching is the old-school networks. CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX. We occasionally watch CNN and I will watch TNT and ESPN for sports. CNN is accessible via the web, and I really have no business watching all the sports on TV. Besides, the Mavericks and the Cowboys are yearly heart breakers.

Quick math= Cable + Internet + DVR= $110 ish per month. Getting cable out and going with "turbo" internet only= $50 per month. Savings of around $720/ year. Not too bad. Case closed- I want to make this investment to see if I could save the 720.

I read a great post from mrobssesion.com. He uses an HDTV antenna, a tuner HDHomeruns, and the eyeTV to view/ record HD feeds on all of his computer screens.

I thought I could utilize his schema because I have AppleTVs hooked up to my main televisions.

After doing some research on antennas, I decided to forgo the HD DB4 he recommended for a newer antenna (Antennas Direct - ClearStream 4 Long-Range HDTV Outdoor Antenna) due to reviews similar to this one.

Some browsing on the internet found prices at antenna direct's site to be $149

Amazon was a bit better, but the best price was on ebay at around $65. Sold.

Hopefully, this works. I now have to find a tuner. MrObsession suggests HDHomerun. I'll check this out in the next post.

Schlage Automated Lock

From the wires (Webware- Rafe Needleman)

Lock company Schlage is launching Schlage Link, a suite of products to allow over-the-Web control of a home's locks, lights, and thermostats. It also integrates with Webcams.

Use your mobile phone as a key.
(Credit: Schlage)

The new lock is the centerpiece of the system (as we would expect from a lock company). It can be opened by key, with a four-digit code, or through the online and mobile sites. The lock can also alert its owners via a mobile message when it's opened or tampered with (when incorrect codes are entered multiple times in a row).

An online control center lets you program the system to turn on lights when someone enters the house or at certain times, to send your phone photos of your doorway when a door opens, and so on. You can enable and disable specific codes as you wish--useful to give service people access only at certain times, for instance.

There have been several similar home-control and DIY security systems to hit the market in recent years, and none, to my knowledge, has gotten much consumer traction. Schlage General Manager Dwight Gibson thinks that the well-known Schlage brand will help this product succeed where others have failed.

I'm somewhat skeptical, not just because history teaches that having expertise in one technology, i.e. locks, doesn't always translate into another, i.e. Web services (Fortunately, Schlage has a partner, Crayon Interface, in this venture). But I also believe the Schlage product is overpriced. The starter kit with one lock set, one light module, and the home network connector box, costs $299, and the network access costs $12.99 a month. The hardware cost is within the realm of reason, but the monthly fee is usurious, in my opinion.

Sill, if you don't mind shelling out for the hardware and then continuing to pay for Web access, this could be a very useful product for anyone who would like better management of their home's security.

Meet Rovio

Well, since I only have a few readers on this blog, I have had a interesting idea for about 5 years or so... The idea was to have a in house toy blimp that you could control via your computer. The blimp could double as an internal security device because it would have an integrated, lightweight webcam. What was the the problem with bringing this idea for marketing to the masses? Well, I wasn't sure how to replenish the leakage of helium from the balloons. People would eventually tire of having to refill the helium...


A few weeks ago, I saw an idea similar to my mobile webcam, except that it was a little more down to earth.

Meet the Rovio.

Rovio is a "wi-fi enabled web cam that lets you see, speak, and hear from anywhere in the world." This thing looks like the Mars Lunar Lander. It moves around the house with commands from your computer that can be remembered for automatic play. In addition, the camera can play images to the web, so this thing could function as a security watchdog.

The price? $297 on Amazon.

Well, I thought, that's not too bad. After all, this could be a business deduction for a security device!

However, reading the reviews suggest a lot is left to be desired for this device. Two big issues stand out- the light is underpowered for dim lighting scenes and the camera is too low to provide human height level video of interest. The device is too expensive to take pictures of your house robber's Nikes.

Maybe there is still a way for the web-cam blimp to steal the show.

Automatic Switching between Speakers for Home Theater and Whole House Audio

I was amazed when talking to an audio installer that he was not sure about how we could use the ceiling speakers in the game room/ media room to double as surround sound speakers for the home theater set up as well as speakers for whole-house audio. The idea was to connect a Sonos or Apple Air Express + amp to the same speakers as our home theater 5.1 receiver. There may be some receivers out there that have the switching capability built in, but the price for the receivers really gets up there when you start adding multiple zones.

Anyways, searching for automatic speaker switch shows a lot of solutions that allow one amplifier (your home theater reciever) take over a pair of speakers (the speakers in your ceiling) with another amp (Sonos) to go with your multi-room audio.

The solutions don't look as cheap as I thought they would, unfortunately.