scanner

The Transportation Security Agency is planning to accelerate adoption of software it says will help "enhance passenger privacy" for its controversial full-body scanners.

TSA chief John Pistole said yesterday that the software, which shows only generic body outlines rather than actual images, soon will be installed on all full-body scanners that use millimeter wave technology. Testing on body scanners that use backscatter X-ray technology will begin this fall.

The announcement comes after TSA said in February that it would begin testing the software upgrades on scanners in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (See related CNET Q&A … Read more

Viper - the Anti-plagiarism Scanner, promises to scan uploaded documents for plagiarism, a serious issue in academic, business, and publishing spheres. Like other services of its type, it's aimed primarily at students and is intended to reduce the copying and shopping of term papers and essays. Also like the others, it offers free and paid subscription services, both of which offer the same level of checking from the same database and other similar and virtually identical services. The chief difference is what happens to your work nine months later.

On the one hand, Viper is easy to use and … Read more

The Transportation Security Agency violated federal law when installing controversial full-body scanners in U.S. airports without following proper procedures, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected arguments from the Obama administration that the TSA was exempt from laws requiring federal agencies to first notify the public and seek comments.

"It is clear that by producing an image of the unclothed passenger, (a full-body) scanner intrudes upon his or her personal privacy in a way a magnetometer does not," wrote Judge Douglas Ginsburg for the three-judge panel. … Read more

Apple has released an update for its printer driver software for Canon printers and scanners. The update includes the latest drivers for Canon's devices, so if you have a printer from Canon, you might consider updating the driver, especially if you are having printing problems.

Keep in mind that while these driver updates may fix problems with working printers or provide support for new or previously unsupported printers, it will likely not fix the latest printer bugs found in Apple's OS X 10.6.8 update, which is more of a problem with the print subsystem than with … Read more

Still think the paperless office is a pipe dream? Half the battle is scanning all your documents, which is a pretty big hassle with typical flatbed (and even sheet-fed) scanners.

That's what makes the NeatDesk such a cool tool: it quickly batch-scans documents, receipts, and business cards, then organizes them into digital filing cabinets. There's no other product quite like it.

Alas, such efficiency doesn't come cheap. The NeatDesk retails for $399.95, and it's rare to find it selling for much less. Today only, however, Woot has a refurbished NeatDesk desktop scanner for $269.99, … Read more

This will almost certainly sell out, but it was in stock as of 10:30 a.m. ET.

Regular Cheapskate readers know of my weird affection for multifunction printers, especially those of the Wi-Fi variety. There's just something magical about scanned and printed documents traveling wirelessly between PC and printer.

You'd think that kind of magic would cost a small fortune, but nuh-uh: Canon has the refurbished Pixma MX340 Wireless multifunction printer for $39.99 shipped.

This is a compact, entry-level model, one best suited to homes and very small offices. It prints (in color, of course) at … Read more

The Transportation Security Administration appears to have pulled off an Internet first: hiring the U.S. government's most controversial spokesblogger.

All federal agencies have spokesmen. Some have blogs. But it's the pseudonymous Blogger Bob who, more than anyone else, has come to represent the online voice and personality of his employer--not always with entirely successful results.

Internet fact checkers have accused Blogger Bob of eliding relevant facts about disputes involving the TSA. A Forbes.com column noted that Blogger Bob had curbed critical comments (and then subsequently permitted them). Reason Magazine has dubbed Blogger Bob someone who's … Read more

The thought of an animal bar code scanner generates some primal worries.

Do lions, tigers, and bears need bar code scanners? What would they be trying to price--antelope shanks? Are pet shop clerks skimming hamsters across laser scanners like so many cans of discount tuna?

Relax. No one is scribbling black lines onto goldfish with Sharpies. The bar code scanner in question is StripeSpotter--a serious tool in the tracking and cataloging of animals in the wild.

Just as no two human fingerprints are alike, the markings on zebra, giraffes, tigers, and other be-striped creatures are unique. StripeSpotter can identify such animals by scanning their markings off photographs. Once an animal is captured in an image, the software can identify the animal from any photograph by reading its markings. The system can even pick individual beasts out of a crowd. … Read more

Shop Savvy Premium Barcode Scanner is certainly not the only bar code reader in the iTunes App Store, but it offers some unique features to make it a handy shopping companion when checking prices. Like other apps in the category, ShopSavvy lets you use your iPhone camera to "scan" a bar code then view the item and prices from various locations. The interface is set up to be as simple as possible, but it offers nice touches such as the ability to initiate a scan by swiping upward on the product display screen.

After a bar code scan, … Read more