I have previously mentioned my admiration for Fujitsu’s document scanners. I was so impressed by the demonstrations I saw at Macworld Expo this past January, that I purchased a S510M scanner as soon as the Expo was over. I have not regretted it.

Although the S510M it is not a portable device, it is still quite compact. It certainly takes up less desk space than any flatbed scanner alternative.

From unpacking the ScanSnap to your first scan is just a matter of minutes. Once the one-time setup is complete, simply put a stack of paper into its feeder and press the Scan button. Then watch the magic. At a rate of up to 18 pages per minute, the pages fly through the scanner. It automatically scans both sides of a page (ignoring the back side if it is blank), effortlessly deals with different sizes of paper and even straightens out the image of sheets that fed through at an angle. When you’re done, one more click creates a PDF file of the entire stack of paper (or multiple stacks if you wish). There is no easier way to dispose of the collection of papers in your file cabinet, converting them instead to a series of PDF files—as you move towards a paperless office.

If you prefer, you can select to directly print your scans, rather than save them—converting your scanner to a photocopy machine.

A couple of weeks ago, Fujitsu started shipping their S300M scanner, a portable version of the S510M. I had the opportunity to test one out. While it is significantly smaller than the S510M, the S300M is not as portable as, say, a pen scanner. You’ll need a briefcase or backpack to carry this thing around. But (as I have covered elsewhere) pen scanners may be too portable to be practical.

Aside from size, there are only a few hardware differences between the two models. The portable can work directly from power supplied via your computer’s USB port, allowing you to use it with a laptop when there is no other power source available. The S300M is also significantly slower than the S510M, maxing out at 8 pages per minute.

While the S510M ships with a copy of Acrobat Professional, the S300M ships with Cardiris. The latter utility converts business cards to editable text, even importing the results directly into a program such as Mac OS X’s Address Book. When Cardiris works, it works spectacularly well. Unfortunately, I found that I needed to do additional cleanup at least 30% of the time, which seriously detracted from its convenience. For other OCR work, you’ll need to buy additional software for either scanner (although you may be able to get Readiris via a rebate, if you are willing to deal with the mail-in rebate game).

Beyond this, the S300M is every bit as magical as its larger sibling. Before you rush out and buy either model, however, there are a few caveats you should bear in mind:

Documents are fed through the scanner via a sheet feeder. This means that you cannot use the scanner for anything that is in a book or a magazine or whatever—unless you are willing to tear it out into single sheets.

Although the scanner can print color documents up to 600 dpi, it is not ideally suited for scanning photos. The quality will be less than from a good flatbed scanner.

These scanners aren’t cheap. The S300M retails for $295 (corrected price) while the S510M goes for $495.

If these caveats don’t rule out a ScanSnap for you, you owe it to yourself to try out one or both of these marvels. For me, they have turned the otherwise tedious task of scanning into something that is close to fun. I find myself trying to think of new things to scan, just so I can use the ScanSnap more often. If Apple made a document scanner, this is what it would look like. I can’t think of a much higher compliment than that.

I despise mail-in rebates. On the marketing irritation scale, mail-in rebates rank up there with infomercials for worthless products and telemarketers that consider the “do not call” list merely a suggestion.

I bring this up because I recently had to deal with two rebates for my Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M. To their credit, the Fujitsu rebates turned out to be less of a hassle than most. But they still had their share of problems.

The major problem with all mail-in rebates is that they are designed to have you fail. With an unethical deliberateness, rebate vendors make it both annoying and difficult to obtain the promised reward.

The most assuredly annoying aspect of redeeming a rebate is the waiting game. Unlike “in-store” coupons or “instant rebates,” you have (as implied by their name) to mail in something in order to qualify for the rebate. After making a purchase, you should probably wait a few days before doing anything (just to make sure you don’t want to return the item instead of claiming the rebate). At this point, you may take another few days before you get around to filling out the form, circling the item on the sales receipt, cutting out the UPC code from the box, giving thanks to Ra, and whatever other irritating tasks may be required. When you finally have it all done, and you’ve affixed the postage to the envelope and mailed it off, your real wait has just begun: you typically have to wait 8-12 weeks before you have any chance of seeing your rebate!

During this waiting period, there is often no way to check on the status of your rebate. If you’re lucky, you may receive an email notification that your submission was received, which is not the same as approved. Alternatively, there may be a Web site where you can get similar feedback. But don’t count on any of this.

This, in turn, too often leads to the rebate denial “gotcha.” After months of waiting and wondering, a postcard at last arrives. Is it your rebate check? Nope. It’s a note informing you that your rebate has been rejected. The card may offer no further explanation. In many cases, there is not even a phone number to call. At best, you may be able to write a letter of inquiry.

If you are told what went wrong, there is often nothing you can do about it. The company may claim, for example, that the required UPC cut-out was not included, even though you know you sent it. It’s an argument you will lose. In one case, my rebate was declared ineligible because I had affixed an address label to the form, rather than writing my name and address by hand. Filling the form out by hand turned out to be a requirement. And, no, I would not be allowed to resubmit.

If your rebate doesn’t arrive after the 8–12 week period expires, and you haven’t received a denial, and you know of some way to contact the rebate vendor, and you still even remember that you submitted a rebate, then (and only then) can you inquire about the status of your submission. The odds of success are quite low now. More than likely, the vendor will claim to have no record of ever receiving your envelope—at which point you can kiss your rebate goodbye.

Given all of these obstacles and irritations, I avoid mail-in rebates like poison oak on a hike. That is, I never buy an item that I would not have purchased even without the rebate. If the potential rebate savings is what would tip the scale in favor of a purchase, I just say no. If I do buy an item under these rules, and there is an associated rebate, I may reluctantly submit it—if it seems worth the bother. Sometimes it is not. I have seen rebates for as little as $1.00. Given that it costs 41 cents in postage just to submit the rebate, I won’t even consider wasting my time here. If the submission failed for some reason, instead of saving 59 cents, I’d lose 41 cents. What a bargain!

All of this could be avoided, of course, if you could instantly redeem the rebate at the time of purchase. But that would defeat the main purpose of the rebate—which is to get you to fail. The concept falls into the same ball park as gift card breakage. As stated on this Web site: “Consumer Reports estimated that 19% of the people who received a gift card in 2005 never used it.” Even if you do use the card, it is common to never completely use it up (due to forgetfulness or the card getting lost). The unspent value is pure profit for the card vendor. Similarly, if you never bother to submit a rebate or if your rebate gets denied on some dubious technicality, the vendor pockets the money instead of you.

As to the specifics of my Fujitsu rebates, there were two separate items: one was for $50. The other was for free Readiris Pro and Cardiris software. The first obstacle to redeeming these rebates was discovering that they even existed. Several of the sellers (including Amazon.com), that I checked when searching the Web, did not list the rebates as available. I could have easily missed them. I am not sure if or how this works to Fujitsu’s advantage. Perhaps they figure that knowledgeable users will seek out the rebate, while the rest will be content to pay the full price. That is not compelling logic to me. But who knows.

Anyway, if you do check Fujitsu’s Web site, you won’t have too much trouble locating the rebates.

Both rebates have exactly the same terms—same basic requirements, same deadlines. Fujitsu could have made things easier by combining both rebates into one. But, as I have already stressed, making things easier is not the point of these rebates.

After dutifully gathering and mailing off the needed materials, I waited the required 8 week minimum. At this point, I was notified that one of my rebates was denied (the other was approved, and I have since received my $50 check). The reason for the denial: the serial number I gave was incorrect. Fortunately, I saved a photocopy of everything I sent (something I recommend doing whenever you submit a rebate). I checked and indeed the number was in error: I had entered the part number rather than the serial number. An easy mistake to make, but a mistake never-the-less.

To my surprise (bonus points to Fujitsu here), I was able to contact an actual person and get this corrected without too much aggravation. The bad news was that I now had to wait an additional 8-10 weeks before I would receive the software. When I asked why this delay was necessary, I was given some song-and-dance about how the rebate company (which is independent of Fujitsu) had to send the material back to Fujitsu for confirmation. You’d think these companies had never heard of computers or how databases could easily make a resubmission quick and painless.

As things now stand, I am still waiting for my free software. I expect I will receive it eventually. However, if the software was critical to my use of the scanner, I would be looking at a 5 month wait before I could get anything done. It would either be that, or buy the software and defeat the purpose of the rebate.

OK, compared to the mortgage crisis and the war in Iraq, this is not the most pressing issue on the political agenda. But I say let’s ban mail-in rebates. If vendors can’t bring themselves to offer an honest no-hassle method for offering a discount, let them offer nothing.

In this month’s User Friendly View column, I offer my take on what an iPhone 2.0 future will be like. There were a few thoughts tumbling around in my head that didn’t make it to the column. I offer them here, as overflow comments.

First up is “push.” The demonstration of push email, contacts and calendar events at the March 6 iPhone Event was quite impressive. Unfortunately, as I understand it, these capabilities only work if you are connected to an Exchange Server. The only more general push function remains the one for Yahoo! mail (as noted here), which worked with the iPhone from Day 1.

I hope that Apple finds a way to extend these push features so that all users can get the benefit. One such solution would be for the iPhone to sync with .Mac. In this setup, when you sync Calendars and Contacts with .Mac (as determined by the Sync tab settings of the .Mac System Preferences pane in Mac OS X), any changes to the .Mac content would be instantly “pushed” to your iPhone. Your .Mac email would be similarly pushed. Some complications might crop up when you next sync your iPhone in iTunes, but these should be resolvable.

Not only would this open up push features to all iPhone users, it would provide an additional incentive to subscribe to .Mac—making it a win-win for both Apple and iPhone users.

Speaking of enterprise, the initial reaction to the new enterprise features in iPhone 2.0 have been largely very favorable (see this Macworld article for one example). Although I am not an IT person or enterprise user myself, it certainly seems that Apple did a bang-up job here. Still, I retain some substantial skepticism about what will happen down the road. Apple, from the earliest days of the Mac (I am thinking back as far as to when the LaserWriter was introduced in 1985), has had its eyes on the business and enterprise market. Yet, despite many attempts (some of which seemed very appealing at the time), it has never succeeded in getting a significant share of this market.

I have to wonder whether the iPhone may run into similar trouble. Some have already cited the iPhone’s restriction to one carrier (AT&T in the U.S.) as a significant impediment. This echoes opinions, from years past, that PCs were preferred over Macs because IT people did not want to risk dependence on only one vendor (Apple) for hardware. Apple is much better positioned today (with billions in cash and a sterling reputation) to refute similar arguments for the iPhone. But they will still come. There are also the traditional cultural conflicts that Apple always has to contend with (as detailed in this Mac Observer column).

Personally, I am betting that the iPhone can defy the naysayers and break through the enterprise ceiling (much as the iPod did in its market). But past history tells me to be a bit cautious in my optimism.

Finally, going back to the March 6 event itself, those on the stage were able to demo the iPhone by mirroring the iPhone display to a large screen. As someone who gives presentations from time to time, I would love to be able to do this myself. Unfortunately, this is apparently not possible with the iPhones currently for sale. Yes, there are composite and component video cables for the iPhone, but these only work to “watch videos or slideshows” (as quoted from the Apple Store description). Isn’t it about time that Apple gave this feature to “the rest of us”?

Apple’s iPhone media event ended just minutes ago. So this is a very rough first take of my reaction. And my reaction overall is positive. The news is much better than my worst fears, although a little worse than my highest hopes.

Here are the upside highlights:

• Developers will get full access to the iPhone’s toolbox. From the sound of things, any software that Apple can write in-house, developers will be able to do as well. For example, the iPhone accelerometer will be accessible, as seen in some of the cool games that were demoed.

• Apple will release an iPhone Simulator that allows developers to test out their iPhone apps on a Mac.

• The iPhone SDK is free to developers and a beta version will be available today!

• Distribution of iPhone apps to users will be through an “App Store” application on your iPhone. YES! This means that you will be able to get software onto your iPhone directly from the phone itself. You won’t need to go through the iTunes application on a Mac or PC (although there will be iTunes access to the apps as well). Steve said you should be able to access the App Store via Wi-Fi or EDGE.

• The App Store will permit distribution of free software. Other than an initial $99 fee to publish software, there will be no charge for posting free apps. Developers will get to decide whether and what to charge for their software. Apple will take 30% of the price, if it is not free.

• Although Apple will place some limits on what software is allowed (no porn was mentioned, for example), it seems like Apple is not going to be overly restrictive here.

Now for the bad news:

• The iPhone Software Update 2.0 that allows users to get all of this software will not be available until June. The wait continues!

• Apple will apparently do its best to prevent developers from distributing software on their own. Exactly what this will mean for the software currently available via jailbreaking is not clear. Maybe Apple simply won’t officially support alternative distribution methods, but will still tacitly allow jailbreaking to continue. However, I suspect Apple will try to put an end to jailbreaking. Whether or not they can succeed remains to be seen.

• Aside from the new enterprise features (which I am skipping over here, except to say that the ability to mass delete and move email messages is extremely welcome!) and AIM for the iPhone (which may be included as part of a default iPhone installation), no other upcoming new iPhone features were announced. There was no mention of a 3G iPhone, more open Bluetooth access or voice-dialing, to name three things that I am especially looking forward to seeing.

• There was also no mention of whether or not third-party software will be able to allow hardware devices to connect to and work with an iPhone. I am especially thinking of something like a wireless keyboard. It remains unclear whether or not such devices will be possible via the SDK, but it seems unlikely. Apple did specifically say that they would not support any apps accessing the Dock Connector, outside of those that are approved for Apple’s “Made for iPod” program.

Bottom line: Having to wait until June for the Software Update, after expecting it to be available by February, is obviously a big disappointment. However, once June rolls around, all will be forgiven and forgotten.

Most users will be more than satisfied, at least in the short term, with what the Software Update allows. I would guess that about 90% of the third-party software now available via jailbreaking will wind up in the App Store. For the typical iPhone user, that should eliminate virtually any incentive to jailbreak their iPhone. Some software, perhaps apps that allow direct manipulation of the contents of the iPhone’s drive and certainly apps that perform actions that Apple does not want to permit (such as unlocking the SIM), will still have to depend upon jailbreaking. But most users won’t want such stuff, or at least won’t want to risk jailbreaking to get it.

On the plus side, by Apple completely opening up its iPhone toolbox and providing a “legal” method for third-party development, we should see a much wider and more elaborate selection of software than now exists. The games that were demoed today, for example, far exceed the rather minimalist games now available via jailbreaking.

So yes, we could have gotten a bit more. But we could have gotten a lot less. Yesterday, the iPhone was one of the greatest technological devices ever invented. Today it is even better—much better. It’s hard to complain about that.

Recently, I recommended against jailbreaking an iPhone running the latest software, unless you were in a risk-taking mood, especially with the SDK’s arrival expected so soon. If you were already using a jailbroken iPhone, running iPhone software 1.1.1 (as was the case for me), I recommended sitting still, again until after Apple’s SDK release.

However, as is common in the rapidly-changing world of jailbreaking, I have already changed my tune a bit.

First off, jailbreaking methods have improved and become more reliable. And don’t worry if you’ve just upgraded from version 1.1.3 of the iPhone software to version 1.1.4; most 1.1.3 jailbreak methods still work for 1.1.4.

Second, what I predicted in a previous blog entry has apparently been confirmed — at least as much as these things can be confirmed in advance of Apple’s official announcements — by iLounge.com. In particular, Apple’s SDK announcement coming this Thursday is not likely to signal an end to the advantages of—or need for—jailbreaking. Jailbreaking is likely to remain the only way to get third-party applications onto your iPhone for months to come—and perhaps much longer, if ever, for applications that don’t make it to Apple’s “approved” list.

As a result of these two converging facts, I decided the time was ripe to update my iPhone to version 1.1.4 and jailbreak it. So I did it today. Even if it turns out that the news on Thursday is better than I expect, I no longer see a downside here. Still, if you are thinking you’d rather wait before jailbreaking, I wouldn’t argue with you.

For the record, I used ZiPhone to jailbreak my phone. I highly recommend it. It worked perfectly and took only a couple of minutes. To avoid some potential problems, I restored my iPhone before doing anything else. This had the side-effect of updating my 1.1.1 iPhone to 1.1.4. I next launched ZiPhone and selected the “Jailbreak” option. ZiPhone did all the rest, including installing the key Installer application. After that, I added my selection of “hacked” applications and resynced the phone. Done.

One caution: ZiPhone still does not work on the latest iPod touches. Otherwise, it seems as easy and as solid as you could hope for.

Next stop: Waiting for Apple’s March 6 iPhone event.