Here's a $100 Amazon Gift Card for the first lucky reader: A9BF 592M GB28 DJ29. 

No, sorry. Kidding, I can't afford that. But imagine for a second this was an actual newspaper, or sticker, or poster, or basically any form of non-digital media where you didn't have the luxury of "copying and pasting" on your device.

Can't relate to physical-gift-card experiences? Same applies to the extremely long Wi-Fi passwords printed on your actual routers, or credit cards, or even your license/passport number. The process of typing all of this is long and annoying, but it shouldn't be.

P.S. Did you receive today's email in any place other than your inbox? Try doing this.

Forward this email to a friend for a chance to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card (again, still can't afford this).

I'm hoping that by now you have figured out what today's tech-tool is about. Anyline Keyboard is a free (iOS & Android) application that lets you instantly scan and modify printed content. 

You know how you can scan documents using your phone? There's only so much you can do after. PDF editors now let you add text and colour to your documents, but you can't really edit the text that has already been printed on documents.

Anyline Keyboard is more than just a scanner, as it allows you to interact with the text you scan (copy, paste, modify). Best part is, you don't even have to open this app every time you want to use it.

Do you remember when "emojis" were a new concept? We had to look for emoji apps that would let us add emoji keyboards to our list of smartphone keyboards. Nowadays, folks don't have to worry about that, but it wasn't always as straight forward. Sigh, the younger generation will never understand our struggles-- the wars, the emoji keyboards. 

Similar to the emoji keyboard, once you download Anyline Keyboard and grant it the permissions it requires, you'll be able to add this new keyboard to your existing list of keyboards (have I said "keyboard" enough times?) and access it every time you need to use it.

The GIF below shows you how this works.

Continuing with the example above. The person in the GIF wants to connect to their home Wi-Fi. In any normal case, we'd have 2 options. 

1) Literally go one by one and copy each character onto your phone,

2) Ask someone else to do it. 

Once you install Anyline Keyboard, each time you need to access text that is physically printed somewhere, simply switch your phone's keyboard; this will open up a camera that will scan the text. In the example above, the woman scans her router's Wi-Fi password and the whole process doesn't take any more than a couple of seconds.

Again, remember that this is just one example. On their website you'll find a couple more, but for reference, it even works with text you see on a computer/TV. 

For added comfort, you can even choose what type of content you're about to scan, so that the application can pre-format the content accordingly (or know exactly what to look for).

Also, don't worry if you don't speak English-- Anyline Keyboard is also available in German, French, Italian, and Spanish.

This free-to-use application is available on the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store, both with their respective installation instructions. 

Summer's over, but your fight for privacy isn't. If you're unaware of what a VPN is, check out this tech-letter for a brief summary.

But until then, the last few years has taught me that NordVPN is the most effective VPN solution out there; allowing you to protect up to 6 devices at the same time (including browsers, most cellphones, and operating systems).

What can you do with a VPN? Change your IP Address so that hackers and other third party entities can't see what you do online. You can also change your location to use streaming services like Netflix, and even access private information (like online banking) without being worried that someone might spy on your data. 

Why pay for VPN? Because digital privacy is worth it, and the free VPNs are invading you privacy. You can try paying for any other VPN, but you'll only end up paying more. NordVPN currently has a 2-year sale for only $3.71 a month. For the cost of a monthly coffee, you can keep your data safe.

Price? Free ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Format? iOS and Android app ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐