Brendan’s Blog

I prefer to store documents digitally, rather than with paper in drawers.  I have long sought a way to quickly convert paper documents into digital form for archival and search/retrieval purposes.  I recently found a great product which sits on my desk, and does exactly that.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner

Increase productivity in a snap with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Sheet-Fed Scanner. The S510 digitizes both sides of a document in a single pass at up to 18 pages per minute in color, making it ideal for a small office or home office environment.

Changing how documents are managed

• One button scanning to searchable PDF
• Scan directly to Microsoft® applications
• New multifunction Quick Menu feature
• Easily protect, preserve, & share documents
• Business card scanning
• Color Duplex 18 pages per minute
• Adobe® Acrobat® 8.0 Standard

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 is around the size of a toaster.  I can put a document in its feeder tray (up to 50 pages at a time) and just hit go to start.  Both sides of each page are scanned simulateously.  When its done, a PDF is created and OCR processes begin.  It sits just to the right of my monitor in prime desktop realestate.  I use the ScanSnap regularly to scan bills, paper correspondence, and even drawings created by my kids.

My only complaint is that the scanner driver is not TWAIN compliant, so applications like PhotoShop, and NeatReceipts don’t recognize it.  The “workaround” is to use the ScanSnap to scan first to PDF for import to other applications.

Update: I should point out that this product is not cheap.  The average price is around $400.  At the moment, a $50 mail-in-rebate is available though October 2008 at Newegg.com.

Everyone has different television viewing habits and preferences. Some don’t have a TV at all and there are times that seems appealing. My viewing habits can be summarized as follows:

• I don’t watch TV every day.
• I only watch TV using a DVR
• I only watch pre-recorded shows (except occasional sports.)
• I usually skip commercials and sometimes even boring content within a program.
• Most of my TV watching is late, when the kids are asleep.

Until recently I had been a DirecTV customer for over ten years. Their service was consistent, reliable, and reasonably priced. That changed when I decided to upgrade our primary TV to an HDTV set.

Several months ago I purchased a 42″ HDTV set from Costco. I chose Costco because they provide a 90 day return policy (in case I was not happy) and an excellent price.

None of my DirecTV receivers supported HDTV content, so I called to inquire about an upgrade. I was quoted an unreasonable (in my mind) cost for a new HDTV DVR box, with two additional unreasonable conditions:

1. I wouldn’t own the box. Even though I would need to pay hundreds of dollars for the new box, I would have to return it with no refund if I decided to leave DirecTV.
2. A 2 year term agreement. Like cellular companies, DirecTV wanted to lock me into their service exclusively for the next two years.

I called ComCast (my local cable provider) and ordered service from them. They promptly installed an HDTV DVR and lots of high-definition content with no one-time charges, and a lower monthly cost than DirecTV. Unfortunately I found ComCast’s TV service to be unreliable. Over the course of two months we logged a half-dozen service calls. Channels would dissapear from my line-up, the On-Demand service would quit working, and the picture quality would sometimes degrade to where it was unwatchable. Many technicians came out, but none could fix the problem which was “upstream”‘ somewhere.

I then checked out DishNetwork. Dish provided a dual-tuner HDTV DVR (ViP 622) for my primary set, and a standard dual-tuner DVR (DVR625) for our second TV. I ordered Dish through a reseller instead of directly ordering it from Dish. The reseller allowed me to specify which DVR boxes I wanted and had a promotion for discounted premium channels.

Installation was $49 (which the reseller offered to waive in exchange for a long-term contract.) Installation required two dishes on my roof. One provides all of the standard definition content, the other provides VOOM HDTV content. The installer did a great job concealing the cables running down my house, and patching the wires into my existing wiring.

A couple months later I am very satisfied with Dish. Like DirecTV their service is consistent, reliable, and reasonably priced. There is lots of HDTV content (currently more than either ComCast or DirecTV offer in my area.) The DVR interface/remote is very easy to use and even includes the 30 second commercial skip feature I had to reprogram every time my old Tivo lost power.

Update: Last weekend a storm damaged something and caused one of our two TVs to stop working.  I called Dish support and did basic troubleshooting over the phone.  It was quickly determined that my “switch” was bad.  A service technician was dispatched and showed up on Tuesday.  They replaced the dish LNB which has the multi-switch integrated.  This fixed the problem.  No charge to me for the visit.  Not bad.

There are many options and technologies to consider when planning a wireless network at your home. Products available today are much easier to use, and even less expensive, than in the past. I’ll describe a few factors that I consider to be the most important, and what I happen to use along with them. I will start with an overview of what is needed for a wireless network. A network consists of an Access Point and one or more wireless clients (e.g. Desktop and/or Laptop PC.) In the diagram below, the Access Point is physically connected to a router and modem for Internet connectivity. Frequently router and access point functionality is combined within one device. The modem (cable, DSL, or Satellite) is what connects your network to the rest of the world.

Wireless Compatibility

An international standards organization (IEEE) defines the 802.11 standards that most wireless vendors comply with. You must ensure each of your devices supports the same standards or they will not work together.

The wireless standards most commonly used in the US consumer market are as follows:

The newer protocols offer higher speed and range, but at increased cost. Some products use proprietary enhancements to the standard protocols which are only helpful if all of your equipment is from the same manufacturer. I use a “G” based network, though I may consider upgrading to “N” once I have computers that support it.

Security

Security mechanisms within the wireless network standards are used to both keep data private encryption, and keep unauthorized clients from connecting to your network. Three standards are common, with the newest standard (WPA2) offering the best protection. The WEP standard is very weak, as a malicious user can compromise a network protected only with WEP very quickly.

To provide the greatest protection you should implement the newest standard that all of your devices support. In addition to the access point, all of your wireless clients must support the encryption standard you use. If you have some older devices they may not all support the latest standards.

Home networks generally rely on a pre-shared key (PSK) to control access to an encrypted network. So in addition to specifying the use of WPA or WPA2, you will need to define a “key.” Anyone with this “key” will be able to access your network, and its data. The best keys are long, and not something a neighbor or acquaintance may be able to guess. I recommend one of two options here.

1. A long pass-phrase. A long passphrase is made up of several easy to remember words and/or numbers that would not be easy to guess. For example: “thethreelittlepigsbuilt3houses” Pick something long and unique to you.
2. A long random string. There are several password generation programs and web sites. You can try this one (at GRC) to generate a key such as “7BF9A06F64C3722F70E9173F1CC400C5E2B7″. Since this is more complicated, you will generally save the key electronically, and simply cut/paste it to type it in when needed.

MAC Filtering

Most access points support a feature called MAC filtering. Wireless network interfaces on client PCs are pre-programmed with a unique MAC address. With MAC filtering you tell your access point to ignore traffic from other wireless clients. This may seem like a security setting, but it is possible to bypass this protection by listening for traffic from your home and manually setting another network client to use the same MAC address. MAC filtering isn’t a bad thing, but it should only be used in concert with encryption.

Service Set Identifier (SSID)

When you configure an access point, you are prompted to enter an SSID. The SSID is your “station identifier” or name. This is not a password or a secret. Your access point typically broadcasts this value to advertise the presence of your wireless network. I recommend changing the default value to something else — you can decide if you want a name that lets your neighbors know whose network it is, or if you want to use a word/value that only you find meaningful.

My Network

I use a Linksys WRT54G as my router/firewall. The Linksys firewall is running 3rd party software called DD-WRT to provide enhanced features such as Quality of Service (QOS). I disabled the wireless features of the Linksys, and use a Netgear WPN824 as my wireless access point. I chose the Netgear because the MIMO feature greatly increased the range of my wireless network. Using only the Linksys, the wireless network reliably worked in only two rooms of my house. With the Netgear I can use my network anywhere in my house — I have even used ittwo houses away.

I have worked from my home office for around four years. As a result I spend many hours on the telephone. This post captures a few tips that I have learned from experience. Some are obvious, some may not be.

1. Don’t use VOIP. Home Internet connections are never 100% reliable. I use a standard copper phone line from Verizon for my home office use. Why? Because it works when my cable internet and/or power is out. The sound quality is also superior to anything else I have tried. It may cost more, but quality/reliable phone service is a requirement for telecommuting.
2. Use a high-quality phone. Don’t skimp on the handset you use. I’ve found the best wired handsets typically cost $50-$75. This would typically include two-line support, full-duplex speakerphone, caller id display, and a few speed dial buttons. I use an older version of this one from AT&T.
3. Get a high-quality headset. Long conference calls are a regular occurence for me, and the headset is much easier on the ears and neck than holding a regular phone. I use this one from Plantronics. It is wireless, but the transmission is digital. Wireless features allow me to make trips to the kitchen or to simply stretch my legs when on a call. The sound quality is high, and I never hear static. If I go to far away from the base station (e.g. when getting mail from the mailbox) the sound simply goes out until I am back in range.
4. Don’t use a speakerphone if you are talking. I have yet to hear a speakerphone that doesn’t also pick up your papers shuffling, keyboard typing, mouse clicking, dogs barking, and UPS ringing your doorbell. Speakerphones are great for listening, but don’t subject your peers to a two-way conversation over speakerphone.
5. Use Mute when you can. Whether on speakerphone, headset, or standard handset, be familiar with how to enable the mute function. If you get an unexpected knock on the door, call on the cellphone, or simply need to sneeze, don’t let the others on your call hear it.
6. No Answer / Busy Transfer. I use a Verizon service called “No answer / busy transfer.” This feature forwards inbound calls to my cell phone when my regular line is busy or I don’t answer after a few rings. This feature is not widely used, but you can likely ask for it if you call customer service. This has three important benefits:
   1. I only have to give out one number. All inbound calls go to my home office line.
   2. If I leave my office for lunch, a run to the post office, or for a trip somewhere, I can still answer my calls.
   3. All of my voice mails are in one place — my cell phone.
7. Set your cell phone ringer to vibrate first, then ring. I like this feature so that others in the room or on the phone with me don’t have to know I’m screening another call. If I can’t answer, I hit “end” to let the call go to voice mail. This is great during meetings or if I am in an important conversation. If I want to take the call, I can answer it before it even rings. Of course your cell phone may be in the other room so ringing after a vibrate alerts you then too.
8. Use a Conference Call bridge service. My current and previous employer provide these to remote workers. Essentially you get a toll-free conference number. Call participants typically dial a passcode to enter your meeting. This allows other participants to come/go when it is convenient for them. This makes life much easier than fiddling with three-way calling on your standard phone.

If you travel much you have likely seen advertisements and perhaps even kiosks in airports for NeatReceipts. The NeatReceipts product bundles a small USB scanner and custom software tailored to managing receipts and business cards. The product web site does an excellent job of describing how NeatReceipts works.

I like the product because I hate having small scraps of paper around my desk. Receipts and business cards are scanned and organized quite easily. The included software stores all information about your receipts and business cards (both images and OCR text) in a Microsoft SQL Desktop style database. Routine database backups are done automatically according to a schedule you set. I keep my database backup file in the My Documents folder.

Receipts are quickly scanned and automatically OCR’d for the vendor and total price.  This OCR process isn’t always successful, but it is easy to make adjustments if the metadata is important to you.  Receipts are organized using folders to group them together for the same trip and/or expense report.  Printouts can contain receipt copies and a summary of the data.  For my purposes I just print the receipts without the fancy report.  The software can even arrange smaller receipts to print on the same page.

My employer uses a custom expense reporting system (as many larger companies do.)  After scanning in my receipts, I generate the official report in my employer’s system and print the report to PDF.  I then use NeatReceipts to print the receipt image(s) to a PDF file too.  Since my employer accepts faxed reports, I can then transmit the two PDF files electronically without ever generating paper.

Receipts go in… reimbursement comes out via direct deposit.  Perfect.

In addition to receipts, the software does a good job of importing business cards.  Cards scan quickly into the same database that stores receipts.  After importing you can choose to synchronize your scanned cards to your Outlook Contacts.  This process worked easily for me, and even added missing information (like mailing addresses) to my existing Outlook contact records.

I have also used the included scanner to scan handwritten notes into Microsoft OneNote. While the scanning software controls are better suited to receipts and business cards, it does take in loose paper easily and the scanning device is small enough to stick in my laptop bag if I wanted to take it with me.

So is it worth the retail cost of $200? If you travel for work and/or accumulate lots of reimbursable business receipts it may be.  I purchased mine through Amazon.com and paid only $170 with shipping.