How to Scan Documents Into Your Mac Using an iPhone

By Mahit Huilgol

Continuity binds macOS and iOS, and with macOS Mojave it’s become even more useful. Now, Continuity Camera lets you use your iPhone or iPad’s camera with your Mac as a document scanner and much more.

This helps you avoid the hassle of uploading and transferring images, making your iOS device a full-fledged scanner. Let’s see how it works.

Continuity Camera Prerequisites

Broadly speaking, you can break the Continuity Camera feature down into two parts. First is a feature that directly inserts a photo into the app; the other lets you scan an image or document. Like other stock apps, the Continuity Camera app has limited functionality but gets the job done.

Both these Continuity Camera features will function only when you’ve met these conditions:

1. A Mac running macOS Mojave.
2. Any iOS device running iOS 12 or newer—check out what’s new in iOS 12.
3. You’re logged into both devices with the same Apple ID.
4. Both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
5. You’ve enabled Bluetooth on both your Mac and iPhone. Get help with iPhone Bluetooth trouble if something isn’t working.

Do remember that scan quality will depend on your iPhone/iPad’s camera.

Use Continuity Camera to Add Photos to Documents

Let’s look at how to use Continuity Camera to insert a photo into a document. These instructions are for Pages, but should work across all Apple apps, including TextEdit, Mail, Notes, Numbers, and Messages. Ensure you’ve updated the app to the latest version for best compatibility.

1. Launch Pages and open the desired document.
2. Place the cursor on the document and right-click.
3. Select Take Photo from the contextual menu.
4. If you have multiple iOS devices, macOS will ask you to choose one.
5. Point your iOS device at the subject and capture the image.
6. Tap Use Photo and the image will import into your document.

Use Continuity Camera to Scan Documents

Continuity Camera comes in handy when you want to scan documents or even something trivial like a fuel receipt. The feature saves your scan as a PDF, making it great for archival.

Again, we use Pages here but you can scan documents across various Apple apps:

1. Launch Pages and open the desired document.
2. Place the cursor on the document and right-click.
3. Select Scan Documents from the contextual menu.
4. Use your iPhone to scan the document.
5. Crop the image if necessary.
6. The scanned image will appear on the document.
7. Tap on Keep Scan to save the image.
8. In case of multiple pages, continue scanning. Tap Save for each scan to appear in your document.

As you can see, Continuity Camera is an easy way to scan as many pages as you want into a document. However, it’s a shame that Apple didn’t include OCR functionality here.

How Image-to-Text Works (aka Optical Character Recognition) How Image-to-Text Works (aka Optical Character Recognition)Pulling text out of images has never been easier than it is today thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology. But what is OCR? And how does OCR work?READ MORE

Use an iOS Device to Send Pictures to Your Mac

Transferring photos from an iOS device to a Mac is now easier. Continuity Camera allows you to snap a picture and store it directly on your computer. There’s no uploading to the cloud, using AirDrop, or hooking up your phone to your computer.

Here’s how to use your iOS device to take a picture and save it to your Mac:

1. Right-click empty space on your Mac’s desktop.
2. Select Import from iPhone from the contextual menu.
3. Select Take Photo.
4. Capture the photo on your iOS device.
5. Tap Use Photo.

That’s all there is to it—the picture directly appears on your desktop. To scan a document instead, select Scan Documents in the third step.

Common Continuity Camera Issues and Fixes

We’ve witnessed the utility of Continuity Camera, one of macOS Mojave’s best features. However, the new feature does suffer from some minor pitfalls. One of the most common issues is a Could not import from iPhone message.

If you run into this problem, try the steps below to troubleshoot it:

1. Ensure that both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
2. Enable Bluetooth on both devices.
3. Try signing out of iCloud and signing back in. You may also need to troubleshoot common iCloud problems.
4. Restart both your iOS device and Mac and try again.

Alternatives to Continuity Camera

If you need more than Continuity Camera can offer, check out one of these iOS alternatives. We’ve covered other awesome mobile document scanner apps for additional choices.

The 7 Best Mobile Document Scanner Apps The 7 Best Mobile Document Scanner AppsYou don't need a scanner if you have a smartphone! With these Android, iOS, and Windows apps scanning is at your fingertips. Scan, save to PDF, and be done.READ MORE

1. Scanner Mini

Scanner Mini offers a feature that lets you scan text files and images. This text recognition (OCR) feature comes in handy while scanning documents that need further edits. The app also offers Radar, a feature that automatically scans your photo gallery for bills and receipts.

Overall, Scanner Pro offers a more powerful set of scanning features compared to Continuity Camera. It’s a paid app, but you can check out Scanner Mini first if you don’t need the advanced features.

Download: Scanner Mini (Free) | Scanner Pro ($4)

2. Adobe Scan

Adobe Scan is another popular document scanning tool. You can convert the scanned documents into PDF files. However, the PDF export feature is available only in the paid version.

Download: Adobe Scan (Free, subscription available)

3. Office Lens

Office Lens from Microsoft is capable of scanning your documents, receipts, notes, and business cards. The built-in text recognition feature recognizes both handwritten and printed text.

Download: Microsoft Office Lens (Free)

4. CamScanner

CamScanner also deserves a mention. This app lets you document notes, receipts, business cards, and whiteboard discussions. The app also offers an automatic touchup feature that cleans up your text and optimizes your scan.

Download: Camscanner (Free, subscription available)

The Best New Scanner in Town

Continuity Camera is a nifty feature. I’ve taken advantage of it to scan my favorite articles and put them in a folder. It might sound like a stretch, but Continuity Camera seems like a good replacement for flatbed scanners, at least for general purposes. It’s impressive how Apple has integrated the feature into nearly all first-party apps.

Of course, the feature isn’t perfect. Hopefully, Apple will include OCR and add other quality-of-life features to the scanner. In the meantime, you might want to check out the Image Capture app on your Mac, which has plenty of great uses.

4 Practical Ways to Use Your Mac's Image Capture App 4 Practical Ways to Use Your Mac's Image Capture AppYour Mac's Image Capture app is a quiet but useful tool. Here are some practical uses for Image Capture you must check out.READ MORE

Source: www.makeuseof.com

How to Detect Hidden Surveillance Cameras at Home With Your Phone

By Christian Cawley

Have reason to be suspicious of a partner or employer? Feel that someone is watching you, perhaps with a hidden camera?

You could discover the truth if only you had some way of detecting the presence of a hidden camera. Fortunately, apps are available to help you find hidden surveillance cameras using just your smartphone.

Ready to find those secret cameras?

You Are Being Watched

Someone is watching you. This is pretty much irrefutable in the post-Snowden era. But digital surveillance of emails and telephone records is a little less hair-raising than someone actually observing your movements via a hidden surveillance camera.

It’s unlikely that you have never been filmed out in public. You’ll have been caught on CCTV or in the distance on a TV news report.

Over the years it has become less surprising as we’ve become more accepting of closed-circuit cameras, security cameras, etc.

But what about closer to home? Are you comfortable with surveillance cameras in the office, development room, bathrooms, and dressing rooms? Or are these places where you wouldn’t normally expect to find a camera watching your every move?

Without being made aware of such surveillance in advance, you could find yourself being recorded, your movements and actions tracked, judged, and no doubt misinterpreted.

This intrusion might be performed using professionally manufactured security cameras, or custom built ones. You might even use a Raspberry Pi to build your own security camera. It might even be an old smartphone or tablet, re-purposed for hidden observation.

How to Use an Old Smartphone or Tablet as a Security Camera How to Use an Old Smartphone or Tablet as a Security CameraLearn how to easily set up your Android device to act as a home security camera!READ MORE

Smartphones Can Detect Hidden Cameras

While it might seem like something straight out of a James Bond movie, it is possible to use your smartphone to detect hidden cameras, as well as other 007 devices. In general, two common methods are used to achieve this.

The first is by using the smartphone hardware to detect electromagnetic fields. With the installation of a single app, you can move your phone around the area you suspect a camera to be hidden, and if a strong field is detected, you can be sure there is a camera secreted within the wall or object.

Is Electromagnetic Radiation Dangerous? How To Protect Yourself? Is Electromagnetic Radiation Dangerous? How To Protect Yourself?Can cell phones cause cancer after all? The media certainly knows how to screw with facts. How does radiation emitted by electronics really affect your body? Well, calm down! It's not all that bad.READ MORE

Another way that smartphones can be used is by detecting light reflecting from a lens. While this method isn’t quite as reliable, it is still worth having such an app, if only to find small objects dropped on a carpet!

Using Android or iOS to Find a Hidden Camera

You’ll find apps for both major smartphone platforms available in the respective app stores. For iPhone, the $4.99 Hidden Camera Detector is the best option,

Download: Hidden Camera Detector for iOS ($4.99)

Meanwhile Android users should consider Hidden Camera Detector. You can also check out Glint Finder for visible lens detection.

Remember that other options are available. If you have access to an infrared camera, for instance, this should detect a hidden camera, while low-cost devices using wireless networking may well appear in the list of nearby Wi-Fi devices in your home.

If you’re particularly concerned, you might also consider a $130 piece of RF detection hardware, capable of reading the signals broadcast by traditional wireless cameras, as demonstrated here:

Download: Hidden Camera Detector for Android (Free)
Download: Glint Finder for Android (Free)
Download: Hidden Camera Detector and Spy Cam Finder for Android (Free)

Finding Hidden Surveillance Cameras With a Phone

Whichever app you choose, you’ll be able to detect cameras and speakers, perhaps even hidden computers.

They generally work in the same way: proximity to a camera or other surveillance device is displayed, giving you an idea as to where it is.

For example, we used the Hidden Camera Detector. Ready to use when you load the app, it displays a red glow when the smartphone is in the proximity of a camera.

The scanner will also glow near other types of hardware, so watch the number displayed in the middle of the screen. This will exceed 100 when a camera is detected.

For added camera detection magic, Hidden Camera Detector also features an IR mode (limited to portrait orientation) with which you can find cameras that have so far eluded you.

This is done by pointing the smartphone at an area where a camera might be hidden and looking for a bright white disc. The disc indicates the presence of a hidden camera.

Effective Detection of Cameras

Note that when using these apps, you should first be sure that you know what technology is in the room. TVs, computers, smart assistants (such as the Amazon Echo) and other hardware can interfere.

However, it will also help if you hold the phone correctly. You might initially think that holding the device flat (like a remote control) will give better results. Where the sensors are placed within your phone will affect this. A bit of practice will help you get the best angle.

If you’re still having trouble, remove the phone from the case. Some case materials can block signals from other devices, as well as disrupt the phone’s own radiation field. Removing the phone from the case briefly should give you faster, more accurate results.

What to Do When You Find a Hidden Camera

It’s all very well knowing that a hidden surveillance camera is watching you, supposedly without your knowledge. But what should you do about it? Well, you could always take it to a higher authority, but in the meantime, you might wish to act.

Note, however, that the problem with this is as soon as you do this, you may well alert the observer to your realization.

However, if you’re determined to be seen, you should employ things like masking tape or adhesive putty to cover the lens, or conduct affairs beyond the camera’s viewing angle. For cameras possibly hidden high up, in lightbulbs or smoke detectors, staying out of sight can be difficult.

Meanwhile, don’t forget that these tips are for everyone, and could be used against you. For example, you might use hidden cameras to check on your babysitter.

The 6 Best Hidden Cameras for Checking on Your Babysitter The 6 Best Hidden Cameras for Checking on Your BabysitterLooking for a discreet security camera so visitors won't know they're being watched? Try these hidden cameras for around the home.READ MORE

Source: www.makeuseof.com

How to Download Anything on the Web for Free: 12 Tips and Tools

By  Rahul Saigal

There are lots of useful things online that aren’t easy to download. Photos, music, videos, maps, and other exciting content don’t come with a download button. It’s also possible they’re no longer free or they may be gone from the web altogether.

We’ll show you how to download all the stuff from the web that you thought you couldn’t for free but without breaking the law.

How to Download Content That No Longer Exists

1. Apps Not Available From the Play Store

Google usually ban apps that are potentially malicious or deceptive but also object to apps that undermine its business model. Some apps are not available because of geo-restrictions. Also, the newer version of a particular app may not work well or has removed the features you need. You can download such apps from F-Droid and APKMirror.

While you should avoid installing apps from third-party app stores, these two marketplaces are an exception. They’re both community-run software projects and implement strict security practices to keep you safe from malicious apps.

To install the app, you’ve to enable sideloading. Read this guide on how to manually sideload apps on your Android device.

How to Manually Install or Sideload Apps on Android How to Manually Install or Sideload Apps on AndroidWant to sideload apps on your Android phone? Installing APKs manually on Android opens up a whole new world of apps, and it's easy to do.READ MORE

2. Old and Discontinued Software

Developers frequently update their apps to bring new features and fix bugs for modern operating systems. But sometimes upgrading to a newer version can cause problems. It may not be compatible with older OS, may get bundled with adware and nefarious APIs, and much more. You can download an older copy of the app from OldVersion and OldApps.

These repositories offer thousands of old versions of apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux across many categories. Just click the name of the program and choose the version you want to download. Before you download, ensure that the app meets the system requirements, is free from junk, and avoid installing outdated browsers as it puts your PC at risk.

3. Websites Taken Down From the Web

Websites vanish from the web every day—perhaps abandoned by the creators, banned due to legal problems, or pulled down due to hacking attempts. Wayback Machine stores more than 341 billion snapshots of web pages. The search bar on the homepage lets you quickly access the archived online index, and with the help of third-party apps, you can download defunct sites.

Wayback Machine Downloader lets you download any website from Internet Archive. Sign up for the account and click the Add new site button. Type in the domain name, specify the level of site pages you want to save and choose a snapshot date from the dropdown menu.

Then click the Save button to start converting the site and download it as a zip file. While you can save a copy of the old site to your machine, there are many other types of content for you to download at Internet Archive.

5 Types of Free Content Riches You Can Dig Up at the Internet Archive 5 Types of Free Content Riches You Can Dig Up at the Internet ArchiveThe Internet Archive keeps a variety of old content alive on the Web for the future. What kind of content can you dig up, and why should you care? Let's find out.READ MORE

How to Download Content Without Paying Anything

4. Get Personalized Ringtones

Default ringtones that come pre-installed with your device are boring. Personalized tones are popular, but you may have to pay for them. To make your phone sound more interesting, try these apps.

Zedge has more than million free ringtones to download via its website or the app. It comes with built-in tools to save favorite ringtones in personal lists and access them from any device. Once you download your ringtone, tap the Set button to set it as a ringtone, notification sounds, and individual contact ringtones.

Download: Zedge for Android | Zedge for iOS (Free, premium version available)

Audiko has an impressive collection of nearly 2 million top and fresh ringtones from every genre. You can download the ringtone either from the website or the app. But Audiko also lets you upload your favorite track, cut your segment, and download it to your phone. You don’t need third-party apps or music editing skills to create your personalized ringtone.

Download: Audiko for Android (Free, subscription available)

5. Audiobooks of Classic Literature

If you’re fond of classic literature, then you can get ebooks for free, but the audiobooks version is still pricey. To get free audiobooks, try the LibriVox site and its app.

LibriVox provides free audiobooks for books that are in the public domain. The books are read by volunteers and you download it for free without registering for the site. The site gives you many options to browse the catalog by author, title, genre, and subject.

The free Android app lets you browse catalogs by favorite lists. Try the “Best of Sherlock Holmes”, “National Geographic’s” archived articles, sci-fi novels, and much more.

Download: LibriVox for Android | LibriVox for iOS

6. Paid Software for Free

Sometimes a paid version of the software offers more features and power with no ads or bundled junk. You can download paid software for free every day with the help of these sites.

Giveaway of the Day and Giveaway Club offer free licensed software for Windows, Mac, and games you’d have to buy otherwise every day. The software is available for 24 hours or more. The vendor gives you the license keys and is completely legal without any limitations.

Just sign up for the newsletter or follow them on Twitter or Facebook for regular updates. Although some of the apps and games are obscure, you’ll occasionally find great apps. Then if you’re hungry for more free apps, try these tips and tricks to find Mac and iOS App Store discounts.

6 Ways to Find Mac and iPhone App Store Discounts 6 Ways to Find Mac and iPhone App Store DiscountsWant to get Mac and iPhone apps on sale and track the best discounts on the App Store? These tips, tricks, and services can provide big savings.READ MORE

7. Full Commercial Games for Free

Popular games for Windows and Mac sometimes cost a lot of money. But there’s always a chance you can get fantastic game titles for free. Visit this dedicated Wikipedia list of commercial games released as freeware. You’ll see dozens and more titles listed with the download links in the footnote at the bottom.

We also recommend /r/FreeGames and /r/FreeGamesOnSteam on Reddit for all kinds of freebie offers and deals. Often, big game publishers like Steam, GOG also release free titles to attract customers. To know more, read how to download premium games for free with these sites.

How to Get Free PC Games: 4 Sites to Download Premium Games How to Get Free PC Games: 4 Sites to Download Premium GamesWant great games, but don't want to pay? Here are the best sites to download premium games for free.READ MORE

How to Download Without a Download Button

8. Entire Wikipedia and TED Talks

Saving an individual article from Wikipedia is simple. Just click the Download as PDF on the left-hand side of the page. But having complete offline access to Wikipedia is helpful in situations when there is poor internet connectivity.

Kiwix is a free app that lets you search and read the whole encyclopedia. The app is available for every desktop and mobile operating systems. Navigate to Kiwix Internal wiki library and download the ZIM file. Then browse the articles from within the app. The wiki library also lets you download popular TED talks, StackExchange sites, Wikipedia sister sites, and more.

Download: Kiwix for Android | Kiwix for iOS

9. Images From a Web Page

If you want to save multiple pictures from a web page in one go, then the process of saving every file becomes tedious. You can use these extensions to save time and hassle.

Imageye Image downloader for Chrome lets you find and download all images on a web page with a single click. The extension has a built-in filter to select criteria for image size, URL, and dimensions. It also supports Facebook, Twitter, Google Images, and more.

Download all Images for Firefox allows you to find, filter, and save all images in the opened tab. The filtering tool is powerful. You can limit pictures based on their dimension, size, and image type. But you can also use custom regular expression filter to filter images based on the URL.

10. Capture Audio From Any Website

We all want to own copies of cool stuff you hear every day. While downloading audio from the browser is simple, capturing live radio shows, web-based voice calls, or podcasts is not easy.

Chrome Audio Capture lets you record any audio that’s playing in the opened tab, and save it to your computer in MP3 or WAV file format. Click the Start Capture button to start recording. You can save or cancel recording at any time and also mute tabs to avoid audio spoilers.

The maximum capture time is 20 minutes. If you have longer duration audio, you can either continue the recording and sacrifice audio quality or stop and restart the capture.

11. Photos and Videos From Instagram

Instagram lets you request a file containing every photo and video you’ve shared on the site.

1. On the desktop, click the Profile icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. Click the Settings gear next to the Edit Profile button.
3. From the menu, choose Privacy and Security.
4. Scroll down to the Data Download button header and click Request Download.

DownloadGram allows you to download your own/someone else photos on mobile and web. If the photo is yours, tap the three-dot button above the post and choose Share > Copy Link. To download someone else’s photos, tap the three-dot button again and select Copy Link.

Open the browser and paste the link to save the image. If you want to download videos, then read this article on how to download videos from Instagram.

7 Ways to Download Videos From Instagram 7 Ways to Download Videos From InstagramThere are multiple ways of downloading videos from Instagram, and in this article we detail some of the best Instagram video downloaders.READ MORE

12. Photo Albums From Flickr

Flickr is still a popular service for saving and sharing photos online. In the recent update by Flickr, they decided to limit new members to store up to 1000 photos of 200MB each. Free users storing more than 1000 pictures have a deadline till February 2019. Remember to respect copyright before downloading other’s photo albums.

To download a bunch of pictures of another Flickr member, click their username, then choose Albums. Hover your mouse or click the album thumbnail to make a download icon appear. Click this, then select Create zip file. A download link will appear after some time.

You Can Download (Almost) Anything Online

With so much stuff online, you can download virtually anything from the web. But the internet is much deeper. Search engines serve only 1% of the crawlable content. There are lots of valuable information buried inside online databases and dynamically generated pages.

They include patents, census data, climate data, academic data with scientific papers in every category, space exploration data, and secret onion websites accessible through Tor software. If this interests you, we have a complete guide on the journey into the hidden web for new researchers.

Journey Into The Hidden Web: A Guide For New Researchers Journey Into The Hidden Web: A Guide For New ResearchersThis manual will take you on a tour through the many levels of the deep web: databases and information available in academic journals. Finally, we’ll arrive at the gates of Tor.READ MORE

Source: www.makeuseof.com