March 13, 2006 – A startup created by former Intel, HP and Kodak employees launched a service today that cleans up digital pictures of documents and whiteboards. scanR, Inc., processes photos taken by digital cameras and camera phones and can email or fax them as PDF files. This technique saves consumers from searching for a scanner or fax machine when traveling or otherwise on the road. The service is being offered free at www.scanR.com for a limited time to introduce consumers to its product.
“Saving, finding, and sharing printed documents and handwritten notes are challenges that everyone faces,” said scanR CEO Rudy Ruano in today’s press release. “scanR brings mobility to the multi-billion dollar scan, copy and fax market, by taking the scanner off the desktop and putting it in your pocket.”
The company states that now is a good time to enter the scene because of the maturity of the digital camera market and the increasing sales of camera phones. Ruano said he expects 400 million camera phone units to be sold in 2006.
The scanR service requires that digital cameras or camera phones have at least 1 megapixel. Using this, consumers can snap shots of whiteboards or documents and then email them to wb@scanR.com for whiteboards or doc@scanR.com for document scans or faxes. If consumers want the info faxed or emailed to another recipient, the contact info must be placed within the body of the email.
The scanR service cleans up the image and eliminates shadows, low light, blur, and angle issues. It can also tag keywords so the documents can be easily found on a desktop using Google Desktop or Microsoft Windows Vista. The documents are transferred from JPEG to PDF files and faxed or emailed to the consumer and recipient. Currently, the scanR service is free but the company plans to offer premium service in the future for a fee.
