Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

"Pull" Barcode Scanning Could Be Android's Killer App

Posted by timothy on from the be-a-frugal-gourmet dept.

Seor Jojoba writes "The release of T-Mobile's G1 Smartphone is shifting focus away from push-based barcode scanning, where embedded URLs send you to locations of a vendor's choosing. There is now more interest in pull-scanning, where product information is retrieved from user-specified sources. It may be that QR-Codes and other 2D barcodes will have their thunder stolen by 1970s-era linear barcodes. On the iPhone, scanning a 1D barcode is slow and unreliable. But the G1's improved optics and Android's improved access to image scans has made 1D scanning quick and useful, opening the gateway for killer apps that help people make spending decisions."

22 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Freedom is the killer app by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's just hope Google (and her telco partners) don't fuck it up.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Freedom is the killer app by Tyger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My bet is on the stores to screw it up. Most stores get edgy about you whipping out a camera in their store. Now use that camera to potentially lose them money and see them throw a big hissy fit.

    2. Re:Freedom is the killer app by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You must go to different stores to me.

      Besides which, who cares about this bar code scanning crap? What's important is that we have an open platform with some decent market penetration that an industry can grow up on.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    3. Re:Freedom is the killer app by ijakings · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If a store trys to stop me whipping a camera out to compare prices ill just not shop there. If they dont stop me theres just a possibility I may not shop there. If they try to stop me using my own device they can fuck right off, even if they are the cheapest. ill just go to the next cheapest etc.

      Pretty drunk so please dont mod me harshley for this mini rant

    4. Re:Freedom is the killer app by AvitarX · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pricing isn't necessarily the killer app though.

      it's reviews of products. There is a lot of stuff I see, and would buy at a store, but can't tell if it sucks or not.

      Often times the instant gratification out-weighs the price savings of online. But rarely does it out-weigh the risk of crap.

      I would probably spend more at retail stores with this device.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    5. Re:Freedom is the killer app by blhack · · Score: 2, Insightful

      i'm not sure...

      I once went on a photo scavenger hunt....one of the things I needed a photo of was in target. I (like an idiot) had a Nikon D40 with a massive freaking external flash mounted on the top.

      I thought I was going to get thrown out or arrested, instead the store employees thought it was funny/a neat idea (the scavenger hunt, i mean).

      So you never know. Keep in mind that most fo the clerks you encounter are, in fact, 17 year old kids.

      --
      NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
    6. Re:Freedom is the killer app by ronocdh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If this feature is well implemented, people will use it. Stores can't do anything about a large number of their patrons behaving in a certain way.

      If you don't like the boundaries of what's considered acceptable behavior, behave exceptionally and let the boundaries catch up.

    7. Re:Freedom is the killer app by tehcyder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Besides which, who cares about this bar code scanning crap?

      Maybe people who are reading a story about bar code scanning?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    8. Re:Freedom is the killer app by Tanktalus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apparently, whatever application supports scan-barcode-and-show-comparison-pricing needs to also take into account:

      • The distance from where you are to the store with the better price,
      • The fuel efficiency of your vehicle, and
      • The current price of gas.

      Ideally, it'd also warn you of the time involved, especially with an on-line order that needs 2-3 weeks to get to you, but even for just driving across town (which can be hours for large towns, especially during rush hour(s)).

      Kinda like the idiots that drive all over the place looking to save a few cents per litre (or worse, per gallon) when filling up. Seriously, folks, saving an entire cent per litre, in my 60L tank, means I'm saving an entire 60 cents. At current prices, that's about half a litre of fuel. At my current fuel economy, that's approximately 5km of driving. Yours won't be significantly different. Same comparison has to be made about saving $1 on your DVD, or $250 on a couch (much more worth it). e.g., I saved about $300 on my last computer by driving to the other side of town (approx 30km each way). That was worth it. But most day-to-day purchases won't be worth it. Any app that fails to remind math-challenged users about this fact will be doing their users a huge disservice.

    9. Re:Freedom is the killer app by thelexx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just because it's the rule of the store doesn't make it _right_.

      --
      "Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
  2. Oh, god, no. by name*censored* · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If this takes off, it'll result with me waiting in the supermarket checkout line for 5 minutes behind some idiot arguing with the cashier because his phone says a different price to the register. As if phones in supermarkets haven't caused me enough grief...

    --
    Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
    1. Re:Oh, god, no. by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Insightful

      40 years ago you could do that, too. You just had to use the phone instead of a computer. What's more, many more people had a subscription to milk.

      Of course, there's a reason the job of "grocery deliverer" was something people would actually consider...

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  3. iPhone killer? Really? YES! by lancejjj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is spot-on. Yes, many years ago there was an attempt to invest heavily in barcode readers - the Cuecat, in particular, was a well-funded attempt to bring barcodes to the masses. But due to a major error in their business model - a grave error - the 'cat lived an extremely short life.

    Jump ahead to 2008. People are buying fancy telephones, and there are barcodes everywhere. Google is in a unique position to read and process these barcodes on the fly - using a well-connected application living on a mobile phone. Next thing you know, you'll be able to go to the store, pick up a six pack of Bud, and scan in that barcode. THEN you can find a cheaper vendor - maybe down the street. YOU WIN due to CHEAPER BEER.

    And we know that the world, with its flailing economy, will certainly needs cheaper beer. The cuecat was just ahead of its time.

  4. Re:smells like a polecat by Seor+Jojoba · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, this time, you will not have to carry around a plastic toy cat with you and look like a damn fool. That could make all the difference, you know.

  5. Killer App? by whisper_jeff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are we seriously considering a bar code scanner a "kiler app"? To me, a killer app is one which makes you absolutely want it, even if it means making a different hardware decision. You know, like how Halo is a killer app for XBox. A barcode scanner might be neat or even nifty and, to some rare individuals, it might be an absolutely killer app, but for the majority of people I see it being nothing more than a novelty app - something that's cool to have and you use from time to time but, most of the time, you forget you even have it.

    Then again, maybe the poster is using "killer app" in a different way than I would...

  6. A bit illogical... by denzacar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok... TFA pushes the idea for what would essentially be a product database.
    You scan the bar-code, it gets sent to the server, which returns useful data to you.
    OK... I can see how that should be useful to consumers as well as a hypothetical company that makes its living out of contextual commercials.

    BUT... The TFA goes on and on about how it MUST be 1D barcodes and NOT 2D barcodes - despite the fact that 2D barcodes are easier to read for mobile phones because of redundancy and greater bandwidth.
    And since The New PhoneTM has the optics that can FINALLY read 1D barcodes - let us make a database that handles ONLY 1D barcodes.
    Cause... there is like a lot of them out there.

    Hmm... how about this GROUND BREAKING idea I just had.
    Make the "killer app" capable of reading both 1D AAAND... wait for it... 2D barcodes.
    HA?! Isn't THAT fuckin' brilliant or what?
    At the cost of... umm... nothing... you get a "killer app" that works on The New PhoneTM AND all those phones out there already.
    Which it would be pretty stupid to just disregard.
    Cause... there is like a lot of them out there.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re:A bit illogical... by Ost99 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The whole point of using 1D barcodes is that they are EVERYWHERE. Every packaged item sold anywhere has a UNIQUE 1D barcode. Makes it a bit easier to build a DB from don't you think?

      --
      ---- Sig. gone.
  7. Re:smells like a polecat by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, yes, the CueCat was very cool and useful and I still use mine. Problem is, I found absolutely ZERO value in what they were actually trying to use it for.

    And therein lies the tale of why Android just might have a chance -- IIRC, CueCat did their best to stop people from using it in ways other than what it was sold for. They sued some people, IIRC, tried to obfuscate the data format, had a unique key from each cuecat sent back with the rest of the data for tracking individual cuecats, and generally acted like dickheads and thus went under.

    --
    Infuriate left and right
  8. idiots make money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    >apparently, idiots pay attention and it is >suddenly, somehow, feasible and marketable.

    Idiots pay attention when innovations like touchscreen phones and mp3 players flounder and someone finds a way to market it to them later.

    Idiots dont know if some idea is new or 10 years old. They wait for marketing department to tell them what they want.

    Remember when they were telling idiots that you needed 40, 80, 160GB music players.
    Then they told you that you only needed 4, 8 and 16GB...?
    Idiots believe a lot of things because idiots want to believe.

  9. Re:Interesting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You can reinvent something 10 years later that people have done for years, and now it is a "killer app". If Google does it, apparently, idiots pay attention and it is suddenly, somehow, feasible and marketable.

    Well, yes. Same thing with Apple.

    Email was along long before gmail, but gmail dramatically shook up the landscape for free email providers. Before gmail, you had to pay if you wanted to keep any significant amount of email in storage. The ajax threaded interface is different and most people like it.

    Online mapping (like mapquest) was around long before google maps, but it took google maps to show what can be done with good ajax coding to deliver smooth-scrolling click&drag maps with incredible speed.

    Cell phone location services were around long before google, but if you have google maps on a cell phone without gps, google will tell you where you are within 800 yards or so, which is good enough for most people.

    etc, etc. Google does a lot of nifty stuff, and they (usually) do it better than the competition.

  10. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  11. Store codes by searlea · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Two basic problems trying to scan store codes and convert to UPC

    1) the store's internal numbers may not be unique (may clash with another store, of they may re-use a number again and again as stock comes in and out.)

    2) The barcode will need different decoding software. Taking Borders as an example again, their barcodes contain far more stripes than a standard UPC barcode. More stripes require greater phone resolution and clarity to accurately scan. And different decoding algorithms (the barcode could be alpha-numeric instead of all-numeric.)

    BTW: UPC is dead. Every US store is supposed to support EAN now (13-digits world-wide standard vs 12-digit US-centric scheme)