TRENDY GADGET

Convergence has been a trend in tech for some time, whether it is cameras built into mobile phones or GPS devices that play MP3s. Now we have the first hybrid computer keyboard and scanner.

Occupying the same footprint as a regular keyboard, the KeyScan KS810 ($159) is a PC keyboard and sheet-feed scanner in one. The product scans black-and-white and color documents of various sizes -- from 3.5 x 2-inch business cards all the way up to 8.5 x 30-inch paper.

A full-page, 300 dpi (dots per inch) grayscale document takes about five seconds to scan. Output resolution tops 4800 dpi, which is ideal for digitizing cherished old photos.

Included with the KS810 is KeyScan’s proprietary No-Touch AutoScan software, allowing users to scan documents without pressing any buttons. Simply insert the paper into the feeding slot near the back of the keyboard, and the scanned document automatically becomes a searchable PDF email attachment. Alternatively, you can save the scanned item as a Word document, JPG or TIF image file, or in other file formats.

A Windows XP SP2- or Vista-based operating system is required.