Android Scan: pricing and metadata for anything with a barcode

[Jeffrey Sharkey]

Hey there, just wanted to share the Android application I just
finished developing for the Challenge.

http://www.jsharkey.org/blog/2008/04/14/android-scan/

Scan is an Android application that finds pricing and metadata for
anything with a barcode. Check out the 3-minute video showing it in
action with real barcodes:

http://scan.jsharkey.org/

Here are some key features that make Scan stand out:

* Automatic barcode recognition using onboard phone camera using
ZXing
* Shows CD, DVD, or book cover along with detailed reviews from
Amazon.com
* Searches over a dozen stores, both online and brick+mortar
* Tracklisting for CDs, along with option to play sample tracks
right on phone
* For books, searches local libraries to see if they have a copy

I had a blast writing it, and I'm pumped about getting some actual
hardware. :)

[Muthu Ramadoss]

Hi,

This is a really useful application. The ability to scan anything and
lookup for reviews, buy etc., is a great idea. Good luck on your submission.

--
Thanks.

Muthu Ramadoss
http://mobeegal.in http://androidrocks.in http://intellibitz.com
http://twitter.com/intellibitz http://linkedin.com/in/tellibitz
http://slideshare.net/intellibitz
http://groups.google.com/group/android-chennai
+91 44 22476750

We develop innovative search solutions using LBS for Android.

[Jeffrey Sharkey]

Thanks :) I'm also looking for more ideas on how to improve it.
I've heard that people might like a general search box that tries
finding products when you don't have a barcode.

Also, I've seen a few others building their own databases of retail
prices. I'm really interested in that idea, and would like to help
out with it too. It would be sweet if we could create a uniform API
for several apps to query that db. We might talk with major retailers
and see if we can get raw pricing directly from them instead of
relying on user-submitted prices.

Just thoughts. :)

On Apr 14, 3:33 pm, Muthu Ramadoss <muthu.ramad...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This is a really useful application. The ability to scan anything and
> lookup for reviews, buy etc., is a great idea. Good luck on your submission.
>
>
>
> Jeffrey Sharkey wrote:
> > Hey there, just wanted to share the Android application I just
> > finished developing for the Challenge.
>
> >http://www.jsharkey.org/blog/2008/04/14/android-scan/
>
> > Scan is an Android application that finds pricing and metadata for

> > anything with abarcode. Check out the 3-minute video showing it in

> > action with real barcodes:
>
> >http://scan.jsharkey.org/
>
> > Here are some key features that make Scan stand out:
>

> > * Automaticbarcoderecognition using onboard phone camera using

> > ZXing
> > * Shows CD, DVD, or book cover along with detailed reviews from
> > Amazon.com
> > * Searches over a dozen stores, both online and brick+mortar
> > * Tracklisting for CDs, along with option to play sample tracks
> > right on phone
> > * For books, searches local libraries to see if they have a copy
>
> > I had a blast writing it, and I'm pumped about getting some actual
> > hardware. :)
>
> --
> Thanks.
>

> Muthu Ramadosshttp://mobeegal.inhttp://androidrocks.inhttp://intellibitz.comhttp://twitter.com/intellibitzhttp://linkedin.com/in/tellibitzhttp://slideshare.net/intellibitzhttp://groups.google.com/group/android-chennai

[Muthuselvam Ramadoss]

Integrating with the major retailers is the key. If the application can retrieve special discount prices from various retailers just for android, then the value add is immense. Having a common retail DB is a great idea, and am guessing its already out somewhere. If not creating one with some standards build into it would be a good start.

--
take care,
Muthu Ramadoss.

http://mobeegal.in
find stuff closer.

[Matthew Tsang]

I am also very interested in building a common database for all the
retailers. I am just starting to explore this idea for my
application. I think it will be hard to get the small retailers to
jump on board since they have very limited resources. I mean take a
look at Google Base. There are still very limited number of retailers
on it. I think web scraping will still be required to make this
work.

My idea is to use a combination of soliciting retailers and executing
a web spider that scraps information from known retailers. I am very
interested in helping out in the project. If there isn't one out
there, perhaps we can start forming a team.

Jeff, I think your project looks really good especially on the price
lookup feature. One idea that I have is to go beyond barcode and use
image recognition. This is where the common retail database will come
in handy since most likely it will store a picture of the actual
product. User takes a photo and the server will try to use image
recognition techniques to compare the photo with the actual product to
determine what the actual product is. I am also very interested in
this.

Regard,
MT

[Muthu Ramadoss]

There are couple of things which will be of benefit to the user.

1. The user types what he wants, the price comparison shows up along with where he can buy.

2. The user is in a store, scans the barcode.. get the price comparison along with details.

3. The user snaps an images, price comparision along with details.