Mobile Scanner, Signature Pen and Lamborgini Sesto Elemento

A collection of consumables, home furniture and gadgets

Published: Dec 2, 2010 06:36:43 AM IST

Updated: Nov 30, 2010 02:06:37 PM IST

ON THE GO
For road warriors, managing documents, business proposals, business cards, etc can be a major pain. HP’s mobile scanner can help. It comes with a sturdy padded carry case, and there’s no tangle of cables to manage since it gets its power via USB. On top, you’ll find just two buttons — one to scan and another to cancel. Apart from the TWAIN drivers from Windows and Mac, it also comes with Nuance PaperPort for scanning and document management, Nuance OmniPage for OCR (optical cfaracter recognition), and Presto BizCard for managing business cards (all Windows-only; you’ll need to arrange your own for any other OS).

The inherent limitation of a sheet-fed scanner is that you can’t scan from books or magazines, but otherwise it can handle various types of media, and scan them directly to PDF or MS Office documents. There’s no document feeder, so you’ll have to feed it sheet by sheet, but it lets you scan both sides of a document in a single pass. Scanning speed is fast, and we found the quality good both in terms of images and text. The bundled software also do their jobs fairly well, except BizCard, which needs you to edit scanned information quite a bit. If you need digitisation no matter where you are, this is a great, though slightly pricey, solution.

Rs. 10,499, www.hp.com/in

HOME
Haute Decor

Made of solid wood with lime wood veneer, the Calico three-drawer unit in happy colours can also be used as individual stools.

Ebony Gautier (Noida & Bangalore),
Rs 12,995.

Cappellini’s glossy-lacquered Stitch Chair (right) folds in on itself, and is made of aluminium plate. It comes in white, blue, yellow, grey, red and black options, as well as a multicolour version.

Ebony Gautier (Noida & Bangalore),
Rs. 29,631.

Cloud, the double-faced bookcase from Cappellini (above), is crafted in white, red, light green and dark green plastic. The elements can be combined with white clips.

Poltrona Frau (Mumbai), Rs. 34,748

SPORTS
Horsing Around

The cream of society. The exotic hats. The knowledge that vast sums of money are being wagered all around you, sometimes more on instinct than real information. No, it isn’t the stock market. The Forbes India Million, the season’s most anticipated horse race, is back. If you happen to be in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Race Course on the afternoon of November 21, do look for us. We’ll be the glum ones wishing that we had as much time to research horses as we have for our business stories.

STYLE
Signature style

Montblanc marries imaginative technology with fine penmanship in its Personal Code Ink set. Encased in a black lacquer box, two gold-plated Meisterstück pens — one felt-tip and one ballpoint — contain ink specially formulated with a unique, coded botanical “fingerprint.” Upon presentation of a document, Montblanc can verify the authenticity of your signature (or at least of your ink) by conducting a forensic test. Just be sure to keep the pens in a safe place once the papers for the Big Deal have been signed and sealed.
$15,850.

montblanc.com

AUTO
Carbonated

Sesto Elemento simply means ‘sixth element,’ i.e., carbon. It’s Lamborghini’s first concrete step towards favouring losing weight rather than pursuing horsepower. The company has tied up with Boeing, University of Washington and Callaway, the golf firm to expand the use and application of carbon fibre. The Sesto showcased the styling of the next Gallardo, but more importantly, it was a vision of what Lamborghini could do with the strong, light material. The Sesto has a 570PS V10 powering a supercar weighing 999 kg — one kilo lighter than the Maruti Swift Vxi! It takes 2.5 seconds to 100 kmph and will hit over 300 kmph. The material is called Forged Composite. The styling is busier than usual but has all the spectacle of the brand. The future, then, is light!

TECH
The sidekick

The Sony Ericsson LiveView is a dinky little accessory that pairs with your Android phone via Bluetooth, and displays incoming calls and text messages on its 1.3-inch OLED screen. You can play music, select tracks, control volume, and even keep up with Facebook and Twitter updates. SE’s LiveWare Manager helps users source compatible apps in the Android Market.
sonyericsson.com

On The Go, The Sidekick : Courtesy T3; Haute Decor: Courtesy Better Interiors; Carbonated: Courtesy Overdrive