I do a dozen or so presentations a year here at the Poynter Institute on gadgets for journalists. One of my personal favorites in the past was the
Ricoh RDC-7 digital camera. I like it because it has a very slim profile and an LCD screen that swivels 180 degrees. But my favorite feature is that it has a setting that allows you to take pictures of documents with amazing clarity. In the past I've used it to "scan" documents as well as chartpads after meetings.
That functionality may be coming to a cell phone near you. Slashdot has a
story about a phone technology developed by NEC that allows you to scan documents using the movie function of the phone. There are slim details, but it looks like you drag the phone over the surface of the paper. While this might make for a good copier replacement in a pinch, I'd like to see something closer to the Ricoh that allows you to "scan" from a distance for chartpads or posters.
