Gadgets: The Epson FastFoto might be an ideal family reunion prop

Once old photos are scanned and organized, you can easily view them and share them. Getting to that point, though not usually difficult, can be expensive and time-consuming.

The Epson FastFoto FF-640, which is a feed-through duplex scanner for scanning printed photos and paper documents, scores points for its ease of use.

Unwrap the box, and there are just two pieces to put together, the scanner and the feeder. Plug it in, connect to a Mac or PC with an included USB cable and you are set to go. You can opt to have the Epson software make some adjustments (and improvements) to the scans, including color balance, reviving faded colors and eliminating red eye.

You can also opt to scan the backs of the photos, or enter descriptive information about them.

When the scanner starts on your stack of photos, you will be surprised how fast things go. If you opt for the post-scan processing, you'll hardly notice it, but it will add a few seconds to the end of the batch.

Adding keywords made it easy to search for them afterward.

The FF-640 is a photo scanner first, but it also does a very good of job scanning documents.

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

If there is one thing that you can learn from New Pixels, it's that you don't always have to think outside the box to make cool art. The iOS app presents you with a grid — the size can be of your choosing — and a handful of patterns and colors. Tapping on a color and pattern, then a grid square, fills in each square accordingly. Put it all together, and you may be amazed at the art you can create. Part of the fun is figuring out how to sketch what's in your mind's eye with just the basic building blocks of colors and shapes. Need some inspiration? New Pixels also lets users flip through a gallery of work others have submitted to the app. While you may not be creating masterpieces, it's a nice way to get a more frequent dose of doodling.