June 19 - 10:30am EDT   Plustek has launched a new, large-format scanner, the A300, in its OpticBook series of flatbed scanners. The scanner line consists of four different models geared for scanning books and other bound documents, with technology designed to correct curvatures and eliminating shadows caused by the depth of book scans. The series now includes the OpticBook A300, the OpticBook 3600/3600 Plus and the recently-released OpticBook 4600. The new A300 scans large format (12x17 inches) A3-sized pages at a 2.4-second pace, with support for thick books without requiring unbinding. The device also features automatic PDF conversion and optical character recognition (OCR) technology. [full story]

February 17 - 1:25am EST   Plustek has announced BookReader V100, a device created to transform printed words into audio output. BookReader V100 enables users to scan books into an audio MP3 or WAV format, which can be imported into any MP3 player or listened to from the computer. The device offers features such as a magnifying tool, color contrast function, zoom text capabilities, assignable hot keys, being able to save scanned pages in PDF format, and a text editing ability to allow the modifying of scanned text. A word spelling function is also added to enhance learning accuracy and pronunciation. [full story]

March 19 - 12:00am EDT   Plustek today unveiled several new OpticFilm scanners, the 7300, 7500i SE, and 7500i AI, three consumer models that feature a scan resolution of 7200 by 7200 dots-per-inch. In addition to offering four-scan multisampling and a multi-exposure engine, the 7500i models feature SilverFast's Infrared Smart Removal of Defects technology, which removes defects on the surface of the film in the scanned image. The two 7500i models will sell for $400 and $600 respectively, while the 7300 is priced at $300. [full story]