Toshiba Develops Bar Code Reader Technology for Camera Phones

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_hi_te/japan_mobile_blogs' target='_blank'>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_hi_te/japan_mobile_blogs</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Checking out the Internet buzz about a DVD, book or candy while on the go will become as easy as taking a snapshot of the bar code on a product. Toshiba Corp., a Japanese electronics company that makes DVD players, laptops and nuclear power plants, has developed mobile-phone technology that searches for product reviews on up to 100 Web journals, or blogs, in 10 seconds. Just use the phone's digital camera to snap a photo of the bar code of a product you're thinking about buying. The technology can decipher if the blog chatter is positive or negative and tallies the count to show if a product is getting rave reviews or being trashed by consumers. That's useful if you're in a store about to buy an item."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-Feb06-BarCode.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />This is the kind of technology I would like to see on my Smartphone, so that I can finally start using the otherwise useless camera on my cell phone. I have used the camera on my Smartphone a few times to take snapshots of the product labels so that I can carry out detailed research once I get home, but the technology demonstrated by Toshiba is the way to go. Another product that can help increase the use of the camera on the cell phones, at least for me, is the <a href="http://pixid.com/products/wbp.asp">Whiteboard Photo Image Capturing</a> software from PolyVision. I tried it recently but the quality and the resolution of the photos from the Cingular 2125 makes it tough for the otherwise awesome software.

[Mike Temporale]

Very cool. It would a handy way to keep track of items you're interested in buying. Or to do competitive price look ups while you're out shopping. :mrgreen:

[encece]

My friend has an app on his mac that catalogs all of his books, dvds and games by taking a picture of the SKU# with his iSight camera (webcam). It does a lookup and imports all of the relevant information including the cover.

Pretty cool in that the app then puts all of the books on a virtual bookshelf using all of the real books.

These are more of the apps we need for the phones. Not more of the redundaant programs we've been getting.

[Mike Temporale]

My friend has an app on his mac that catalogs all of his books, dvds and games by taking a picture of the SKU# with his iSight camera (webcam). It does a lookup and imports all of the relevant information including the cover.

Pretty cool in that the app then puts all of the books on a virtual bookshelf using all of the real books.

These are more of the apps we need for the phones. Not more of the redundaant programs we've been getting.

Oh, cool. I would like something like that for my PC and yes, my phone too.

I agree with your app thoughts. It would be really nice to see some new and innovative applications in the Smartphone space. We really don't need another calculator. :(

[encece]

the program is Delicious Library by delicious-monster.com

It would be cool to find a PC version if not a WM version.

[Kris Kumar]

Can't believe that there isn't a Windows version. :cry: :twisted:

[encece]

http://www.imediaman.com/

seems there is. It's looks identical. Either one ripped off the other or they seperate their MAC and PC software stores.

[Mike Temporale]

http://www.imediaman.com/

seems there is. It's looks identical. Either one ripped off the other or they seperate their MAC and PC software stores.

I've been meaning to search for a windows version since you mentioned this. I just can't think of a good set of search terms - or find the time to really look into this.

Thanks for looking and letting us know! I'll be downloading the trial version and test it out. :D

[encece]

I used: barcode, book, collection :)

EDIT: Oh, and I couldn't get it to read from my camera. My camera may not be good enough or there may not have been enough light. I'll try again today.

[Kris Kumar]

Thanks encece,

This is awesome, a Windows version, I will try it tonight.