Throw out your scanner and unfold your Scanbox.
Turn Your iPhone Into a Scanner
Scanbox is so simple, you should have thought of it.
Web2Carz Senior Writer
Published: June 8th, 2012
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hances are, if you still own a flatbed scanner, it hasn’t done much other than take up space on your desk. Scanners used to be must-have computer accessories, useful for digitizing photographs or documents or the undersides of cats, but now since everyone takes digital photos and creates documents electronically, they mostly act as cumbersome paperweights. But should the odd occasion arise when you need a photo or a document scanned, Scanbox is here to cheaply and efficiently save the day.
The Scanbox, created by Phil Bosua, is not much more than a box with a hole in the top. But it’s designed to help you use your smart phone to make digital reproductions of all the things you used to need a scanner for.
It comes flat, about the size of a manila folder, and once you unfold it into shape, it forms a stand upon which you can set your phone, with the camera lined up with the hole in the top. Then you simply put whatever you want to scan inside the box, which is bright white and makes the perfect backdrop, and snap a picture.
The Scanbox makes sure that your phone stays absolutely still so the image doesn’t come out blurred. When you’re done, you fold it back up and put it away.
Of course, the quality of your photos will depend on the quality of your camera, but this is a ridiculously simple, elegant, and ingenious way to capture photos and documents. And if you pay for the non-free version of the Scanbox app, you can even get Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities.
Bosua is currently looking for donations to help get this device into stores. Visit his Kickstarter page here.
