The idea that one day we'd have paperless offices was first mooted in the 1970s, but 40 years on we're still firmly wedded to sheets of pulped wood.
Even a geek like me can see the attraction of paper - while screens are becoming better for reading they're still useless for taking notes. State-of-the-art iPad apps are a clunky alternative to a notepad and pencil.
But when it comes to sharing and organising notes, digital opens up a clear advantage – I can find the electronic receipt for a computer I bought in 2004 in seconds, but ask me to locate paper-based notes from last week and I'd struggle.
Two years ago I reviewed Doxie, a clever portable scanner that allows you to scan documents and organise them using a range of online services (or "cloud based" in the lingo). With one click paper could be digitised and turned into an editable, easily shared document.
The limitation with that model is the PC connection. Although Doxie is portable it still needs to be tethered to a desktop or laptop computer to perform a scan. Now the company has created Doxie Go, a sleek, business-like model capable of scanning anywhere thanks to a built-in battery and storage (good for 100 scans and easily recharged over USB or from the mains).
Doxie Go produces sharp, vivid scans with tons of detail (up to 600dpi for stats fans). It's pretty quick too, scanning photos in around five seconds and A4 sheets at a rate of around seven pages per minute.
One limitation of Doxie Go is that it doesn't have a wireless connection. To transfer stored scans it is necessary to hook up to a computer using the supplied USB cable, a memory stick or an SD card. In practice I found the SD card option easiest, scanning a pile of documents then plugging my SD card into a PC worked quickly and flawlessly.
If you've been following this column closely you'll be familiar with Eye-Fi, the SD memory card that magically adds Wi-Fi capabilities to any digital camera. Could the same memory card transform Doxie Go into a completely wireless solution?
I'm pleased to report the answer is yes. All of the standard Eye-Fi features are supported on Doxie, so it's possible to send your pages directly to Flickr, Facebook and other popular cloud services straight from the scanner.
Update (26 Jan '12): Since this review was published Doxie announced a bundle of the Doxie Go scanner with an Eye-Fi card - basically the ideal package I recommended in my review. Was that a coincidence? Yes, it almost certainly was!
Doxie Go Scanner
Positives: Perfect for business travellers or anyone with limited desk space.
Negatives: Eye-Fi required to break the PC tether permanently.
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