Hong Kong-based company Design to Innovation (DTOI) has developed what it is claiming is the world's first wireless scanner mouse. The Zcan Wireless is designed as a standard optical mouse, but does away with the cord and packs a miniaturized scanner, enabling users to instantly scan images and text.
We've seen a number of mice that double as scanners emerge over the last couple of years, with the launch of products like LG's LSM-100 and the IRIScan mouse for Windows. It now appears the technology can be miniaturized to the point where a battery and wireless communications technology can also be squeezed inside, without compromising on size and comfort.
The Zcan Wireless communicates wirelessly via 2.4 GHz frequency when used as a mouse and connects to a computer via Wi-Fi for scanning. It is powered by a rechargeable lithium battery and features a scanner that uses SLAM Scan software that allows real-time processing of text and images, instant editing, as well as easy sharing of contents. The software was developed by Swiss company Dacuda, who used it in its own PocketScan portable wireless scanner.
Connecting via Wi-Fi and swiping the mouse over a document or image will see it appear instantly on the user's monitor. At present, the Zcan Wireless is compatible with Windows 7 and 8, Mac OS X 10.6 or higher, third-gen iPad and second-gen iPad Mini, with iPhone 5/5S support slated for the end of the year.
Scanning images and text at a resolution of up to 400 dpi, files can be saved as Excel, Word, PDF, TXT JPEG, TIFF, PNG or BMP files. It also supports more than 199 different languages through Optical Character Recognition (OCR), a neat little feature which, when linked Google Translate, allows text to be instantly translates into different languages and read aloud.
The team is looking to raise US$30,000 on Indiegogo to scale up production, develop Android drivers and bring the Zcan Wireless to market. An early pledge of $79 will have one of the wireless scanner mice shipped your way in October, if the campaign runs as planned.
You can check out the team's pitch video below.
Source: DTOI