Array Speakers Enhance Classroom Acoustics

Recent data indicates that the majority of American classrooms have a speech intelligibility rating of 75 or less, meaning that listeners with adequate hearing can only understand 75 percent of the words read from a list. To help with this problem, Califone International Inc. has released its new Array speakers that target the audience directly instead of losing valuable information in the classroom void. Oftentimes, sound generated by an educator is superseded by ambient noise in the classroom, such as the humming of an air conditioner or sounds transmitted from outside the room. Designed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, all three of the Array models narrow the sound distribution directly at the students while preventing sound waves from reverberating off walls. The series is comprised of three speaker models: the PI30 ($199), PI30-PS ($175), and PI-30SP ($99). All three models come with a wall-mounting bracket and the six-year Califone warranty, which includes coverage for school and library use...

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Fujitsu Rolls Out Enhanced ScanSnap for Mac

Fujitsu has just started shipping a new, enhanced version of its ScanSnap document scanner for Mac, the S500M. The new model succeeds the ScanSnap fi-5110EOXM, adding faster scanning speeds and other functional improvements. The ScanSnap S500M is a document scanner designed for converting paper files to PDFs. It offers a 600 DPI dual CCD array for scanning both sides of a document at the same time, and includes a 50-page automatic document feeder. In terms of improvements over its predecessor, it now boasts 20 percent faster scanning speeds, up to 18 ppm for single-sided documents, and 36 sides per minute for double-sided documents...

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