It works just like a highlighter, but it’s many times more powerful: The IRISPen Express from I.R.I.S. Group. This pen scanner plugs into a USB port on your Mac and enters text and numbers directly into any application as you slide it across a page. It knows 55 languages and can recognize up to 1,000 characters per second, even ones printed on colored backgrounds.
You can assign keyboard commands to the two buttons on the IRISPen, which draws its power from the USB port. It requires a G3 processor, Mac OS 9.x and up, including Mac OS X, and 50MB of free disk space. It’s available now for US$129.99.